A strong wind warning was forecast for Sunday with winds up to 25 knots and the South Coast was still under a “large and powerful” surf warning. Tricky conditions for organising an open water paddle with a mixed group. The Bureau of Meterology does not actually elucidate what conditions meet the criteria for the issuance of surf warnings; some unspecified combination of wave height, direction and period is used. On Sunday, the period was around 12 seconds which is long enough to give most kayakers pause and warrant careful navigation around bommies, reefs and when undertaking surf activities.
My paddle plan for the day, approved by my supervisor on this Sea Guide training paddle, was to depart Corrigans Beach and paddle south keeping a close eye on wind and wave conditions. We would land at one of the sheltered bays along the coast as soon as the wind started to tick up keeping well off from bommies or reefs and avoiding surf landings. I had Doug lined up to drive down and take some drivers back to the caravan park to pick up enough cars to transport all the paddlers and kayaks back to our start point. So far, so good.
And, as is so often the case, it was all good until it wasn’t. Off-shore the wind was already blowing solidly when we departed but inshore conditions were calm (apart from rebound). We progressed easily down the coast with some faster paddlers, some slower, some comfortable in rebound, others less so. Ocean paddles along this section of the south coast typically feature rebound and clapotis so if you paddle frequently you get quite used to bumpy water.
I pulled the group into Garden Bay, about 8 or 9 kilometres into the paddle, to regroup, drink and eat if needed, and also for me to get a sense of how the paddlers were handling the conditions. Although we did not have a big swell, the long period meant we had to paddle almost right into land at Garden Bay to get decent shelter. Passing Garden Bay we would have only one more sheltered landing site before Guerilla Bay and I did not think this group would make Guerilla Bay. It seemed likely we would land at Pretty Point Bay, two to three kilometres south.
Based on advice from other leaders, I had adopted a 10 point scale of how good people were feeling with 10 being having a blast and one being shit scared. I think I can definitively say after Sunday that asking people this question in a group will almost always elicit a seven or eight. No-one wants to be the person who shortens the paddle due to anxiety. This scale might work if you could quietly and privately ask people how they feel but in front of a group, no-one will blink.
Another couple of kilometres paddling and we were near Pretty Point. It’s almost always bouncy around Pretty Point but generally sheltered either side. It was just a bit too early to pull into Pretty Point Bay but I had no hope of us reaching Guerilla Bay. We were too slow, conditions would get rougher around Jimmies Island and there was no way I would take this group through the shallow water between Jimmies Island and Rosedale that makes a convenient “short-cut” to Guerilla Bay.
My plan was thus to nip around Pretty Point headland, pause on the sheltered south side and then nip back and land in Pretty Point Bay. But, just off Pretty Point the off-shore wind moved inshore abruptly and we went from paddling in perhaps 3 knots of northerly wind to 15 knots of northerly wind. I immediately called for the group to turn around and head into the sheltered waters of Pretty Point Bay but had not counted on the fact that a surprising number of people in the group had great difficulty turning their kayaks into the wind. Mistakenly, I had assumed that grade 2 paddlers were proficient at manoeuvring in the wind and bracing as required.
Eventually we got everyone turned around and pointed into Pretty Point Bay when I heard “H is in the water!” Turning back, I discovered one paddler had capsized and exited her boat. Luckily, H was right beside Rod, a strong paddler, when this happened, and Rod was already effecting a rescue. I found another nearby paddler to lead the group into Pretty Point Bay, while I went back and hooked my short tow onto Rod who was holding H upright and towed them both a half kilometre into the more sheltered waters of Pretty Point Bay. I admit to fearing for my boat as I was using my short, emergency tow line rather than my longer tow line, but, this was an emergency as the two paddlers were in danger of drifting onto the rocks. Meanwhile, M, my supervising leader, was contact towing J a short distance to ensure that J did not also capsize. All hell seemed to have broken loose in the space of mere minutes.
J only needed support for a short distance and then M was able to shepherd the remaining paddlers into shelter while I towed Rod and H in until we were only a hundred metres or so off the beach and Rod told me I could release the tow. I stayed on the water beside H who shakily paddled into land. What a trial by fire, or maybe I should say water, this Sea Guide business had been (day 42 of the Hard Things project).
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