I tried to come up with a word that
starts with B and means “playing on small waves in a sea kayak that
would be better if they were just a bit bigger but lets not complain
about something inconsequential” but, strangely, I couldn't think
of a single word that covered that concept and began with B or even a
C, or D, or E....
My day started with a bicycle ride down
to the Esplanade and the bouldering area. On the way, I stopped at
the old quarry and did a few laps along the bottom of the quarry
cliff to warm up – not that you really need to “warm up” when
it is 28oC and 85% humidity. The old quarry is not really
a great bouldering spot as the bottom is too easy, and climbing
higher exposes you to a nasty fall, but, it a reasonable spot for a
lap or two on your way past. I was sweating so much by the time I
finished that I looked like a balloon someone had filled with water
and poked holes in – water was literally oozing out of me.
Down at the Esplanade, I got to
business, shoes on, chalk bag, MP3 player with a paleo indoctrination
podcast playing. There were a bunch of new chalked routes (chalk
instead of tape) since my last visit, courtesy of “Topknot” I
assume. They were actually pretty good routes. One had a bit of a
reach that I had to dyno for, which I made first time but, as I got
more fatigued over the session I never managed again. I briefly
thought about coming down for the group bouldering sessions (every
Tuesday at 5.00 pm) and then decided that would be foolish for
someone as introverted as myself. Chances are, I wouldn't like
anyone I met. I'm that kind of person. After about 45 minutes my
fingers were getting sore so I called it. I've popped tendons and
got tendonitis from bouldering walls before so I know how important
it is to restart slowly and not stress weak ligaments and tendons.
Cairns bouldering park
It would have been good to cycle down
to one of the fitness parks and do some pull-ups, ankles to bar, and
have a swim in the pool, but Doug and I were planning to go out with
the kayaks before lunch so I had to get home.
We took our kayaks down to Yorkeys Knob
where you can easily launch at the marina. A small wave breaks off
Yorkeys Knob immediately north of the marina. I'm not sure if the
sandbars in the vicinity make the wave break or if the tide coming
out of Moon River also contributes. The winds were pretty light to
non-existent so we didn't have a big wave. Last time we came down to
try this we came at high tide and found the wave washed out. The
best time is low tide.
Today the waves were a little bit too
small so you had to wait quite a while for a “set” of bigger
waves to come in to be able to ride any. Even then you didn't get a
very long ride. Once I got dialed into not expecting a long fast
ride I had a much better experience. Sometimes it is good to have
low expectations.
Baby waves at Yorkeys Knob
After a couple of hours we paddled back
through the soup zone to the marina. A couple of blokes had just
finished loading up two sit-aboard kayaks preparatory to paddling to
Cooktown and were hanging around smoking. They were strikingly ill
prepared without life jackets, stinger suits, or much of anything and
their entire food supply appeared to consist of green bananas, small
mangoes and a few star apples that they had filched off local trees
on the way to the boat ramp. They seemed pretty amped up about their
trip and said that “if things were going well” they might carry
on to Cape York or even right around Australia! I snapped a picture
of them by their boats for posterity and the rescue team.
For the rescue crew
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