The Rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. Aldous Huxley.
The golden rule of sea kayaking is no-one ever needs a tow when it is calm or you are paddling downwind. It was a funny sort of day. Calm with a low swell as we left Korners Park and headed east. I had thought we might paddle along the north shore of Batemans Bay as far as North Head and then back, but conditions were so good we headed off for the Tollgate Islands. The northeast wind was building, however, and by the time we got to the Tollgate Islands it was pretty solid at 15 gusting 17 knots. All but one paddler was solid but the one paddler was on the slow side so we turned and headed back without lapping the islands which we normally do. A good call I think as it would have been quite rough on the east side of the islands.
It was easier paddling back but we weren’t a lot faster, almost two kilometres an hour slower than Doug and I would paddle, but the wind slowly died and conditions calmed. At Snapper Island, a few paddlers went into the little channel to look at the cave, and the new bloke, put a face mask on and rolled over, looked at the sea life, then rolled back up. We did a bit more pottering around the rocks and then headed across to Square Head. The gutter could be paddled from the south end but it was too shallow for the northern exit although the new bloke did manage to get his timing right and paddle out across a little over-fall. There were a couple of seals at Square Head!
And then the wind hit! Straight from the west and funnelled down the Clyde River valley. Our slow paddler got slower and our speed plummeted. We were only three kilometres from Korner Park but that three kilometres would take an hour (or more) at our speed. The slow paddler did not want a tow – they never do! Half way to Surfside, the new bloke suggested a tow and the slow bloke agreed. So the new bloke towed the slow bloke about a kilometre into Surfside Beach. I took over then and towed to Pinnacle Point. At Pinnacle Point the coast turns due west and I could see streams of plume blowing back off the tops of the wind waves. Doug offered to tow me while I towed the slow bloke and I readily agreed. So we plugged on with an in-line tow for the last 1.5 kilometres to the beach.
Upon landing, I immediately put the BBQ on to heat as it was so windy I was not sure I could cook the meat I had brought for lunch. I built a small shelter around the BBQ with plastic bins to shelter the cooktop and the meat did cook. The slow bloke loaded his kayak onto his car but neglected to strap it down and, as we were finishing off hamburgers and sausages, a big gust picked the kayak up from the roof and slammed it onto the parking lot. Cracked right across the hull! Thereafter, with four people for each kayak, we lifted the remaining three kayaks onto cars and strapped them down. By the time we got home the wind was from the south; the only quadrant we missed was easterly.
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