Double happiness

 

The skies were blue, the weather warm, the wind light, hurrah for the first day of Spring.  Anne came out in Derry the Skerry with me this morning, and we tried two up rowing. 

We tried to get Oz to settle down right at the other end, to help trim the boat, but he likes to keep down low, probably a good instinct, and we were down a bit in the nose I suspect.  But we managed to keep moving without too much effort.  Our moving average for the trip was 2.2 knots.

Anne and I used to row our double kayak "Xi" or "Double Happiness", over to Point Cook.  The kayak got harder to get into and out of, so I sold it.  Rowing the Skerry is a very similar experience in all the good ways.  It is nice to get into a good shared rowing rhythm, very companionable. The nice thing about the Skerry is that you are not so cramped, you can move round a bit.  And we can take Ozzie too.  I hope we get many more outings, and bit more time to be out would not go astray, so we could do a bit more drifting.  But no complaints, it was a great morning!

Nice work

 

I think Ozzie is getting the hang of this rowing lark. 

It was a blue sky lightish winds morning, though the wind kicked up as the morning progressed.  We got out again today, that's two days in a row.  I rowed straight across towards the Jaw Bone, and back, about 3.6 nautical miles, average moving speed 2.6 knots which seems to be what I can manage without busting a boiler. 

I rowed yesterday to the creek mouth again.  The tide was too low to get in, but it certainly gave me a good view of some of the scattered rocks lurking around the entrance. 

I shared this photo with Jim, who suggested it could be discarded ballast from a boat wanting to get up the creek.  I am reading "The Frayed Atlantic Edge" by David Gange, a historian who makes a journey by sea kayak down the Atlantic facing islands from Shetland southwards. He observes that "archaeology is rarely about discovering or confirming facts but more often a process of inventing the most plausible stories." I like the ballast story, I will look more kindly on those randomly scattered hazards.

Wind forecast looks promising for tomorrow, I might be able to make it three in a row with luck, though the weatherman says a high probability of rain.

Rain reading

 

Oz and I seem to get pelted by an icy downpour every time we set out for a walk. I missed the one morning I could have got out in the Skerry.  I was out of sorts all day afterwards, hopefully that will teach me. Maybe some ok days later this week.  I am keen to get down to Kororoit Creek mouth again.

I have had a few books on the go. Just finished Secret Water, which has some fairly odd parts - all the stuff about savages and eels and stuff doesn't age that well I find, but also some wonderfully evocative writing describing small boat sailing.  I like the mapping.   I see that the idea of rafting up is not new. I am very slowly working my way through The Frayed Atlantic Edge and Murray Darling Journeys, both books require a slow pace, perhaps to match the journeys they describe. 

The State Library of Victoria has an aerial photo, sometime between 1955 and 1970, of what it titles :

"Embouchure of Kororoit Creek into Port Phillip Bay"  

The google earth photo shows that it has changed a bit.  The point opposite Vancouver boat supply has eroded significantly, perhaps because of the massive tyres that have been put there in an attempt to slow what has been happening. The tyres sure haven't worked, beyond adding a few more hazards to navigation on the way in.

There have been strong westerly and south westerlies to go with all the icy air flowing up from Antarctica over us, and the icy rain down the back of my neck. The Northern Pacific starfish, an aggressive invasive species brought here in the 90's in ballast water in Japanese tankers, don't seem to have liked it much, the dog beach was littered with dead ones.  I can't see what was so different about the last few days and why there should have been a mass extinction event for them.  I hope it is not a harbinger of something going on out there under the water. 

The covid numbers show no sign of slowing down, and it is becoming harder to imagine a liveable future.  Maybe we are like the Northern Pacific starfish, an invasive species who has woken up one morning and found that something in our environment is going to polish us all off. 

Once more

 

It was a sunny morning, blue skies, light Northerly winds, and an inner voice told me I would regret it if I did not make the most of it.  I got the boat down to AYC ramp, took Oz for a walk, then got organized and launched.  Practice certainly helps, it only seemed to take a few minutes to get on the water.  The tide was up which helps getting going.

I retraced my route back into the mouth of Kororoit Creek, didn't hit anything this time either, which is a good sign.  I noted a few extra ominous shapes below the water, a couple  more rocks to keep clear of.

We got back, loaded and home with 10 minutes of my 2 hours to spare.  It all went pretty smoothly, I think I am starting to get the routine established.

Rowing is a nice past time I am finding.   

Up the creek

 

Another grey day, but the wind was mostly below 10 knots, northerly, which was good for trying my luck with finding a way into Kororoit Creek.  Tide was about 0.7m, and I found a way with at least 0.2 m at the minimum.  

There are a many weird marks out there, some I think put there to lead unwary strangers into the muck.

My way seemed to dodge most of the rocks and lurking obstructions.  Head for the gas pipe light, leave it to starboard if coming from the west.  

Head for the white pipe with red reflector, about 36 degrees M

Leave to port, a couple of rocks between it and the pole with the traffic cone on top. 

Turn slightly to port, heading round 4 degrees M, towards tilting white pole with bands around top.

Turn a few degrees to port, head for rusty pipe with notch

Now head towards the tank visible between break in shrubs.  Two large tyres vertical in water.  Bearing about 350 T, due north magnetic.  Watch out for tyre barrier to port, one outlier just below the surface, and the row seems to continue out, maybe with concrete poured inside them.   Once you can see along the creek, turn more to port.

Spring is coming

At last, some blue sky and sunshine and not too much wind.  Oz and I launched from in front of the yacht club, to avoid the crazy stink boaters launching in the safe harbor next door. 

We rowed to the dog beach, landed, and Oz met Lilly and Cocoa, old friends of his, and had very good run around and a jolly good bark.

Lilly and Cocoa's owners admired the Skerry, which did look pretty good on the sand bar there today in the sun.

After a run around, we re-imbarked, and rowed up to the mouth of the creek, keeping the sand bar close on the port side. I rowed in past the first mark, noting a couple of nasty boulders lurking below the surface.  I will learn how to get into that creek over the coming weeks, it will be a good project. Maybe like Secret Water, I can make a chart. 

We rowed back to the launch spot, to find that the tide was well out.  After a false start, I strapped the folding trolley on, and we got through the mud, no worries.  I had the boat back on the trailer and was ready to head home with 5 minutes to spare.

Another great little outing.  I am enjoying the Skerry in row boat mode.

 

Red stick

 

Another grey lock down day, but the wind forecast was not too bad so Oz and I got out in Derry the Skerry.  Low and falling tide, so I rowed to the dog beach, just past the wreck of the yellow peril, and beached so Oz could have a leg stretch.  He likes arriving at the beach from the water, it adds status.  He met his friend and relative Lilly and had a jolly good bark.

Some good gusts of wind came through while we were on the beach, so I figured rowing into the wind would be a better idea than getting blown a long way down leaving a hard slog to get home.  We rowed into the little bay up to the Seaholme Boat owners jetty.  When I stopped rowing, we drifted about 1.6 to 1.8 knots.  I tried out the small sea anchor, which slowed me down to about .6 to .8 of a knot, so about half.  The boat still seemed to want to drift on the quarter, I had hoped we would lie head to wind, but it could be that I was just holding the end of the line sitting in the middle of the boat.  If it was tied off to the bow, it might work better.

After I retrieved the line, I rowed around the red stick.  The wind had really cranked up.  As I got close, I was moving very slowly indeed relative to the stick.  Laverton recorded 20 and 23 knot gusts while we were out there. The boat is very stable. Ozzie sat stoically at the bow.  I was worried that as he had got wet, he would get cold, so we didn't stay out too long.

My new iteration of the rear view mirror attachment is much better, and I enjoyed rowing more today, learning how to use effort judiciously. 

Backing the little trailer is a challenge.  I loose sight of it, then over correct.  I am glad the ramp is quiet at the moment so I can work on developing better technique.  Very easy to launch, retrieve and put Derry the Skerry to bed, the ratio of time and effort required to get on the water to the amount of time on the water, which is restricted to about an hour or so thanks to lockdown, so pretty good.

It was a good outing.

Lockdown Row

 I thought I'd better get out for a row today, as the wind is below 15 knots, even though the sky was grey and the weather chilly. 

It was low tide and the swamp in front of the yacht club looked like hard work.  The safe harbour ramp was quiet so I drove round there and launched straight off the trailer.  

There was quite a stiff westerly blowing.  Rowing into it was hard work.  When I stopped rowing, the boat was drifting backwards at about 1.7 knots.  My GPS told me I had an average of 2.6 knots over the hour.

It was a good outing.  I can refine the process.