Squeaking in

Forecast light South South Easterlies, and a 0.8m high tide round 11, it seemed like as good a day as any to try getting the SCAMP into Kororoit Creek.   The water was nice and clear so we could see the nice formations of potentially bottom gouging rocks that scatter the sand bars leading in.

The SCAMP with centre board and rudder up draws 180 mm, which was enough to squeak over the top of them, though we did scrape on some sand bar with the skegs at one point.  There are sticks with helpful signs saying "Keep left" scattered seemingly randomly around, but by following the track on the GPS from my last attempt in the Skerry, we got in ok.

Though I did nearly collect the row of submerged tyres that stretch out from the current spit location.  I was talking to Andrew G who came out with me, and stopped following the track and the clearly marked flag on my GPS from the last time I bumped into them.  

But we managed to miss and get into the nice stretch of deep water that stretches about a kilometer up the creek.  It is a really lovely spot, one of the hidden gems of the Bay.  

There were flocks of waders (Godwits maybe?), cormorants popping up next to us, formations of pelicans flying over head, and lots of birdsong from the mangroves on either side.  I really like river sailing - there is something very stately about gliding along in totally flat water, while the landscape slips past on either side. 

The SCAMP was very steerable downwind and on a reach with centreboard up and just a sliver of rudder in the water.  Getting back out into the Bay was not quite so elegant - the centreboard uphaul was under Andrew's legs, and I didn't quite clip it in adequately. It released, we pivoted to starboard, went out of the channel, and I rowed for quite a while not getting very far until I realised what the problem was.  When we got to deeper water, I think I hit one of those rocks with the centreboard too, better have a good look at the cb today. 

Once we were in deeper water, we had a nice sail over to off Altona Pier and back. A great day, except for getting back into Altona Harbour.  A combination of jetski morons and large stink boat morons put a bit of a dampner on the end of the day.  I will have to develop some alternative strategies for boat retrieval in Snapper season ... seems like the mornings are fairly mellow and you can pick your time, but the afternoons, with impatient dickheads wanting to get their boats out, and impatient dickheads wanting to get their boats in, is a fraught time. 

I suspect too that I am primarily a solo and solitary sailor - I really like pottering at my own pace.  Having company on the boat, however congenial, takes energy, and by golly I was completely stuffed last night!

Whatever, it was a good day, and sailing into the creek was something I have wanted to do for a long time. It means that I could overnight up there if I got the tides right.