There was talk of a weekend camp/paddle
but an iffy forecast on Sunday meant that instead we settled on a day
paddle on Saturday. Only a day or two before the Batemans Bay wave
height had been up to 6 metres but fell surprisingly quickly.
Sometimes that happens, and sometimes it does not.
The Dart surges ahead
We met at Wimbie Beach and headed out
to the Tollgate Islands. Mark and I managed to get separated from
the other three and Mark had to endure my rant about my Mum's recent
medical malpractice adventure. It was lumpy on the east side of the
Tollgate Islands with a lot of current. We continued on to North
Head Beach where Neil wanted to land. It was easy to land, probably
the easiest spot today, and we had lunch there.
East side Tollgate Islands
I thought it was far too early to go
back as we would have a tail-wind on the return trip so we continued
on around North Head - lumpy - to Oaky Beach. Mark was miles out to
sea and straight-lining for New Zealand and we all deafened ourselves
blowing our whistles to get his attention. I was too slow to get far
enough in to Oaky Beach to see how it would be to land but it looked
like quite a shore dump.
Mike passing the Tollgate Islands
Once we got back around North Head, the
sails went up. I took the top off my sail but should have left it on
as the wind was not as strong as I thought. Both mine and Doug sails
were cavitating a lot which was annoying. Mike was trying to teach
me to catch the wind waves but every time I speeded up the kayak, the
sail cavitated dreadfully and my boat felt like it was getting shaken
by a large shark, so the lesson was not a great success.
Kayaks and ocean, all you really need in life
Back at the beach, I took the Dart for
a spin and found it quite comfortable to sit in, except I could not
use the pegs or braces. The boat feels strangely stiff compared to a
plastic boat and catches waves exceptionally easily.
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