There was a strange green blob of 15 to 20 knot winds on Meteye along the coast from Durras to Batemans Bay, but the majority of the map was blue (5 to 15 knot winds). Meteye does the wind forecast in square tiles and three hour time periods. It something to do with how the map is constructed and produces odd hard edges and very precise lines when there is no precision or hard edges in the natural environment. That’s why people struggle with GPS tracks when ski touring or bushwalking. GPS waypoints take you in a straight line from point A to point B but straight lines are virtually never useful when navigating the natural world.
Whenever I see these oddities on Meteye I’m suspicious. How likely is it that 100 kilometres of coastline has winds to 15 knots except for this 10 km stretch where the wind is 20 knots? About as likely as those Epstein files ever coming to light or the ABC losing it’s obsession with identity politics. The correct answer is, of course, never. But sometimes you do get lucky, which doesn’t mean we won’t hear more about the patriarchy from the ABC.
We went north for our 30 kilometre day because there was a northeasterly wind forecast. That’s our typical summer wind, blowing on-shore as the land heats up. It was, global warming notwithstanding, a cold morning for mid November. Moruya was 4 degrees but we were a degree or two warmer. Still, I wore two shirts and long paddling tights, my usual winter kit, in, if you recall, mid-November!
With calm conditions, we set a good pace across the Bay, between 7 and 8 kilometres/hour and then we turned north to paddle up the coast. Usually I paddle close in shore because these longer days can be dull otherwise just looking at the ocean but we were set to do 30 kilometres and sometimes I just get sick of the rebound paddling close to shore. The paddling is slower and if you are out for distance it takes longer. It took about two hours to get to Durras where we had a very brief beach break then turned around.
The northeast wind started ticking up as soon as we turned south past Wasp Island and gradually ticked up. Not unusual for November. We were faster immediately. The northerly current is obviously running because the wind wasn’t that strong until we were passing North Head. Then, as we ran across the Bay, the wind got stronger and stronger and we were catching runners with our speed easily reaching (well not that easily, you have to paddle hard to catch runners) 10 and even 12 kilometres! We did the final six or so kilometres back to our home bay in a bit under 40 minutes. It was probably one of my easiest 30 kilometre days so early in the training cycle.
Could it be all the mountain biking I’ve been doing? Our local trails go up and down, up and down, up and down, so a 30 kilometre afternoon ride involves, at least for me on a nonnie (not a cheaters E bike) a lot of huffing and puffing up to the top of the downhill runs. It is a not boring way to get in your zone four training because the huffing and puffing falls quite naturally into intervals.
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