Great Scot September 2019 Great Scot 157_September 2019_ONLINE | Page 74

OSCA
My Norfolk Island
ocean challenge
ABOVE TOP: GLENN RONAN
WITH ONE OF HIS 'NOC THE
ROC' MEDALS
ABOVE: ON THE START
LINE FOR THE 26KM
MARATHON EVENT. GLENN
RONAN IS AT POSITION
THREE IN THE NEAREST
CANOE.
TOP RIGHT: GLENN RONAN
(RIGHT) AND HIS CREW.
72
Great Scot Number 157 – September 2019
In January I participated for the first time
in the Norfolk Outrigger Challenge, an annual
event known as ‘NOC the Rock’. I was a
member of the Paddlers Without Borders
Golden Masters Men’s Crew – the only Men’s
Golden Masters crew in the event.
NOC the Rock is a week-long festival
for Australian Outrigger Canoe Racing
Association paddlers at Norfolk Island,
an Australian outpost of just 35 square
kilometres, located in the Pacific Ocean,
1412km east of the Australian mainland.
The first event in the 2019 NOC the
Rock was a 28km circumnavigation of the
island. The capsize of our outrigger canoe
off the reef at the island’s Collins Head was
a shock injection of reality to the scale of the
challenge facing a new crew with no previous
experience of Norfolk’s rocky coastline.
Our first capsize was followed by re-entry
problems and a second capsize at the same
spot, with waves moving us ominously closer
to the reef. Our second capsize required
us to be towed off the reef by the safety
boat – and having to be towed meant that we
had breached race rules. Our second breach
was when our canoe passed to the west of
the safety boat, when we had been directed
to stay further offshore and to the east of the
boat. Our third breach was evacuation of an
injured paddler from our canoe, and the fourth
and final breach was the substitution of a
fresh paddler into the canoe.
But, although we breached the race rules
four times, by completing the course safely
we avoided the fate of another crew unfamiliar
with Norfolk waters; that of the First Fleet
flagship, HMS Sirius, which was wrecked
on the reef in the island’s Sydney Bay off
Kingston in 1790. Pleasingly, we did receive
medals for the following two events in NOC
the Rock: the 12km middle-distance event
at Cascade Bay and the 1.2km timed sprint,
from Emily Bay to Slaughter Bay and return.
NOC the Rock is an adventure tourism
initiative consistent with the spirit of Norfolk’s
eventful 230-year history, dating from when
Captain James Cook discovered the island
in 1774 and thought it could be useful to
Britain. It has been a convict penal settlement,
the site for relocation of the descendants of
HMS Bounty mutineers from Pitcairn Island,
a South Pacific missionary centre, and a
World War II aerodrome/landing base. The
island has a current population of about 2200
permanent residents, and it welcomes about
38,000 visitors per year. Norfolk celebrates
its heritage and generously shares it with all
interested visitors.
So, my journey to Norfolk was brief but
eventful and memorable. I discovered that
Australia’s third largest external territory has
an amazing coastline, well-suited to paddlers
alert to its rock features. I also discovered
Norfolk’s interest in preserving its heritage
and providing the opportunity for adventures
such as NOC the Rock.
GLENN RONAN (‘66)