The following summer, Paul completed a solo trip around the North Island, finishing with a three hour crossing of Cook Strait. The story was published as Cresting the Restless Waves in 1987.

His trip took 86 days, with 63 paddling days and 23 either weather-bound or rest days. At the completion of his paddle at Makara on 19 March 1979, Paul copped a pavlova in the face from his support crew.

In August 1979, Paul teamed up again with Max Reynolds for a crossing of Foveaux Strait and a first kayak circumnavigation of Stewart Island. Paul’s third book Dark Side of the Wave was printed in 1986. Sadly Max Reynolds drowned in a whitewater accident on the Aorere River in 1980.