Why Are We So Slow: The Current Edition

First table is wind speed (from Moruya airport), the last two columns (on the right) for the nautical minded are knots: average wind speed and gusts. Ticking up as the morning progressed (as forecast) but, easy enough to paddle into. The next image is the data from the Batemans Bay wave buoy. The scale is cut off the side but the high point on the graph is five metres with an average wave height of 2.5 metres, bigger waves are up to 4 metres. Not shown is the period, around 12 seconds. No drama if you keep your head up and stay away from bommies and reefs, although landing at certain locations could be a challenge.

The next graph is speed. Whoa, what’s going on there? At around 6 kilometres, our speed decreases. That’s pretty normal as we pass North Head where conditions are almost always a bit bouncy, the swell and sea pick up and there are currents. Around 8 kilometres, however, we are just getting progressively slower and slower. Remember, the wind is only around 10 knots. The last image with all the pretty colours are the ocean currents with a fire hose aimed at the south coast and speeds reaching up to 3 knots! As we were nearing Flat Rock Point, I was doing calculations in my head based on our current average speed and the resulting numbers were not appealing. Our speed was half our usual average!

We often get the East Australian Current along the coast in summer but I think this is the strongest I have encountered. It was reminiscent of paddling the Capricornia Coast in Queensland. Randomly, as we paddled north, we would paddle over patches of boiling water and standing waves as the current ran over undersea features. Turning around near Flat Rock Point, our speed, paddling with the same effort, bumped up to almost 10 kilometres an hour immediately!

I had not eaten so we stopped at Judges Beach for breakfast and a thermos of tea before some sprint training back to our home bay. A light tail wind at this point but enough to enable us to catch some runners. So, half the distance planned, which, as an obsessive finisher of check-lists and goals was a bit tough to reconcile, but not tough enough that I wanted to spend five hours covering only 20 kilometres.