Sunshine,jellyfish

After the cloud burned off Friday was a beautiful sunny day, with wind around 10 knots steady South Westerly.  Too good to miss, as the forecast for the coming week has strong winds every day. I've learned that if a good day comes along and I can make it, then get on out there.

Notwithstanding it took me most of the morning to get out of bed and get organized.  But when I got out there, it was well worth it, enough wind to move us along 3.5 to 4 knots, but no chop.  The boat sails itself pretty much, thanks to the Huntingford Helm impeder, and I could stretch out in the sun and take it easy.  Ozzie was pretty relaxed too.

It was a very low tide, so low that there was a guy riding his bicycle along the sand bars which are usually covered in water.  We sailed over to the mouth of Kororoit Creek, working on the Riddle of the Sands approach that you suss out the channels best at low tide.  Thankyou Davies, I think I can see the way into the creek now, something to try next high tide.

I experimented with wearing gum boots, on the basis that my feet got really cold last time.   It was good launching but when we landed at the creek mouth, of course, I misjudged the depth at a sandbar, and got both water over the tops of both boots.  So much for warm dry feet.

On the way home we didn't want to stop. and we sailed on past the Red Stick and over towards Point Cook.  There were an extraordinary number of Blue Blubber (Catostylus mosaicus) jelly fish out there.  Inevitably the centre board hits some of them, which is sort of distressing for me and must be much worse for them.  So after a number of jellyfish-centre board collisions, we turned round and headed for home.

The water is getting cold - 12.5 degrees at the moment.  I have been reading up on survival in cold water - I think I will definitely wear my wet suit and thermals from now on, just in case.

By the time I had packed up the boat, my feet had largely lost sensation.  A really memorably good day on the water though, one I think I will remember.

Maribyrnong River with the WBA

Despite an apocalyptic weather forecast it was a lovely day for the WBA river trip up the Maribrynong today.  After Ozzie's Agility training I got the kayak launched near Footscray Park by 11.30.

There seemed to be lots of floating bits of crap along they way, old bottles, polystyrene foam, plastic. I loaded up the front and rear of the kayak with whatever came within reach. Gave me a good excuse to have a break from paddling too.

It wasvery pleasant gathering of wooden boatey type people, lunch made nicer by the unexpected sunshine.

Heading back down river, I paced along with Graham in his pedal driven canoe. He cycles everywhere and is super fit, so it was a workout to keep up with him. Lucky i was only going a few miles, as I don't think I had much left in the energy bank when I got back to my launch spot.

Way cool

The weather has taken a distinctly wintery turn.  Every day for the last week or so has had gale or strong wind warnings, plus rain and thunder storms. Today was an ok forecast, nothing better coming up either, so I got the Mirror out. 

We sailed down towards the mouth of Kororoit Creek, half thinking that we might try to navigate through the maze of sticks and sand bars at the entrance, but when we got there the waves seemed to be breaking right across the whole area with no obvious deeper water.  And it was mighty cold.  I'd forgotten to re-rig the topping lift so rowing would have been a right pain as well.  Enough excuses, we turned round and beat back home.  It was a bit choppy but probably less than 10 knots.  A few cup fulls of spray over the decks though, much to Ozzie's disgust.  One ear up, one ear down, is an eloquent sign of disapproval.

It was good to get out though, and I always seem to bump into nice people while I am rigging up or down.   So all in all it was worth the effort.  I definitely need a few more layers now - the water and air temperatures are way down, and I was cold