Happiness is having a group of friends
who think the perfect Sunday is spent paddling about kilometres from
shore in a sea kayak searching for the wave rider buoy for no other
reason than it sounds like fun.
When Mike, hence forth known as “local
knowledge” proposed this trip I was, as usual, stoked to be
invited. What could be more fun that heading out to sea looking for
a small buoy in a big ocean. Two years before, Mike had found the
buoy 800 metres from the last published location. This time, it
would be a little different.
I planned to paddle over from our local
trolley accessible beach at Sunshine Bay as the best adventures are
those that start, hobbit like, right from your own front door. But,
I knew I would be the slowest paddler and crossing over from Sunshine
Bay to Maloneys Beach where Mike proposed to meet would add 10 km of
extra paddling to the day. No worries, I would arrive early and eat
a leisurely breakfast on the beach while I slurped down tea and
rested prior to the arrival of the rest of the group.
And then, half the group – the strong
half – also decided to paddle from Sunshine Bay – and when I
arrived a full hour before our agreed upon departure time at Maloneys
Beach, the rest of the group was already there with sails on kayaks
and fully kitted out ready to go! So much for my leisurely
breakfast.
Five minutes after the appointed time
we headed off east to Three Islet Point. We had a position location
from the relevant government site but no-one really expected the buoy
to be that easy to find. Pete gave us a bearing and with compass and
GPS we paddled for another 1.5 hours until we arrived at the buoy
location. No buoy. No buoy in sight. Local knowledge refused to
give any guidance on where he had last found the buoy, yet despite
that, we managed to organise ourselves into a rough kayak grid search
and spaced out over a kilometre or so we paddled roughly north in
search of the buoy.
No buoy, no buoy in sight. Grid search
back to the east and south again. Local knowledge is now providing
some information about where we might find the buoy. No buoy, buoy
in sight. We've been out for a few hours now. People's bladders are
filling while stomachs are emptying and patience may also be ebbing
away.
John suggested we sweep south one more
time and, just as we are about to give up, Alison somehow manages to
spot a tiny yellow speck that is intermittently just visible on the
horizon. She is off going like the clappers, and those at the back
of the group, doddling about drinking tea, who know who you are, are
not sure what is going on.
After 15 minutes, I can see a small
yellow speck, and then John can see a small yellow speck, finally we
can all see a small yellow speck which does gradually get larger and
resolves itself into a low lying yellow buoy with a small black flag
atop. The wave rider buoy is found. We are 4 or 5 kilometres off
shore and 6 kilometres from the last recorded buoy position. Selfies
with the buoy aren't really possible as a brisk northerly has come
up, but we do congratulate each other.
Mike and Alison head off back to
Maloneys Beach, apparently they had good sailing conditions all the
way. Doug, Pete, John and I head southwest to the Tollgate Islands
and on into Sunshine Bay. Despite a solid 5 hours in the kayaks,
John, Pete and Doug can't resist a paddle through the passage between
north and south Tollgate Island while I, the slow one, plug along
trying not to hold up the entire group.
We are all glad to land at Sunshine Bay
after 5 hours and 33 kilometres. And that's happiness.
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