Before Les Allen was introduced to sea kayaking, he actually had no idea what it was. Thirty years on and he now knows more than most, as he’s one of the latest inductees into Paddle WA’s Hall of Fame.
Les was acknowledged by Paddle WA as being a towering figure in the WA sea kayaking community for over 25 years and joins an illustrious group of inductees that includes a number of Olympians and elite level coaches.
Les is also one of the longest serving senior instructors and assessors in Australia and has been a guest speaker at numerous symposiums on the east coast. He’s also a past president of the association and a founding member of the Sea Kayak Club of WA.
Now heading toward age 70, Les first took up sea kayaking 30 years ago after recovering from a broken ankle as a result of a rock-climbing fall.
“My climbing buddy said we were getting too old for rock climbing and that he was going to take up sea kayaking and I said, ‘what’s a sea kayak?’. It all started from there and we set our first goal to paddle the coast from Coral Bay to Exmouth.”
Since then, Les has paddled most of the WA coast as well as countless expeditions along the east coast and Tasmania.
“I’ve battled huge seas and strong winds literally trying to stay alive while getting to the next safe landing. I assure you that life out on the ocean definitely leads you to see things differently.
“People in their day to day lives don’t care much about the phase of the moon or the ebb of the tide but when you’re on a sea kayak expedition the ebb and flow of the tide, the constant march of highs and lows across the face of the earth, is everything and your values change, ” Les says.
He explains that sea kayaking has two parts; there’s the expedition side that includes careful planning and navigating and there’s also the people side as there are so many you meet doing this sport. Les also says that river paddling and sea kayaking are based on the same concept but the two are as different as drag racing is to Formula One racing.
He added that his induction into the Hall of Fame labelled him as a ‘Legend’ but that he was “still the world’s biggest wuss” when it came to paddling in crocodile country.
“I did some work with Malcolm Douglas (Australian filmmaker and crocodile hunter) to try and overcome my fear, but having seen what crocodiles are capable of, I actually came away even more scared. I can tell you now that if I find out I’m paddling into crocodile territory I’m going home!”
