Fremantle - Circumnavigation of Rotto and return - 26th Dec - 61km

Matt and Jas after a good day at sea

Our flash new trailer ready for the trip - thanks Jas

Jas and I completed a trip that we had been to attempt from the beginning of our Bass Strait preparations, to paddle from a Perth beach around Rottnest and back in a day.  Waking up at 4.30am on boxing day was pretty rough but we got going and arrived at Leighton Beach at 5.30am to a beautiful morning and a nice 15-20kt ESE.  We were paddling away at 6.15am and were comfortably holding 9km/hr with the tail wind.  Starting further south than normal allowed us to stay on the same bearing all the way to West Point and make the most of the wind direction.
      As we got further offshore the wind waves started picking up and were soon travelling faster than we were and breaking over the back of the boat.  This slowed our speed and was a bit frustrating but we had made the decision not to chase the runs as the time saved by increasing our speed wouldnt make up for the tiredness we would feel on the return journey.  We learnt this from a 4 hr paddle we did in Mandurah the week before.  We had chased runs for an hour and even though we averaged 12km/hr for the hour we were nacked for the remaining paddle.  We have to remember we are paddling 50kg double sea kayaks not 12kg ocean racing ski's.
      There were quite a few medium sized reef breaks along the south side of rotto so we stayed a fair way out.  As we neared West End the shark patrol helicopter flew over and probably wondered what two crazy people were doing in a kayak.  With all the recent shark sitings recently I was relieved that they didnt have their warning siren going.  The ocean flattened out as soon as we rounded the point and even with a headwind we made good time and enjoyed a nice smooth ride along the north side of the island back to Thomsons bay.  At 11am we were already leaving Rotto and heading for home.  The first few km's back were rough not because of the wind or waves but because everybody in Perth who owns a boat seemed to have decided that a trip to Rotto would be a good idea.  There were waves and waves of boats arriving.
     The trip back was pretty smooth with a weakening Easterly headwind turning into a Southerly over the last few km's.  We arrived back onto Leighton beach at 1.30pm after 7hrs20min.  We were really happy with the day, we averaged 8.25km/hr which was held consistently throughout the paddle.  It was a beautiful day and a bit of a shame not to land on the island but definitely worth it as a confidence booster before the real thing to do a non stop 60km trip.  We were strict about our breaks and kept them at no longer than 1-2min every hour.  A friendly guy on the beach gave us a hand to carry the boat back to the trailer which was awesome news to our tired bodies.

Hillaries - Rottnest Return - 24th Dec - 54km

Benny and Timbo on their way to Rotto

Ben and Rosco enjoying a tail wind back to Hillaries

An account of Tim, Ben and Ross' trip from Hillary's boat harbour to Rottnest Island - a roundtrip of 54kms with a 15knot south easterly there that swung to a 20kn south westerly for the trip home. The swell was maybe a bit over two metres. After a bit of setting up of the newly borrowed Mirage single kayak we paddled out of the boat harbour at 6.15 am into pretty nice paddling conditions. We picked our way through the outer reef with only one nervous moment as a wave rose and broke out of seemingly nowhere just behind us. The swell continued to rise in front of us and there was a lot of calls to turn and paddle into it but fortunately the wave stopped breaking and we paddled harmlessly over it. The rest of the trip to Rotto was incident free. The south easterly created a bit of side chop and wind but as we approached the island we were able to get quite a few runs. This is where Ben in the single Mirage really had a great time. He could easily catch the runs and power off in front of Tim and I in the stable and slow double. Matt will not be happy that we enjoyed luxurious 5 minute breaks on the hour rather than the one minute breaks we plan for the Bass. On the return trip I swapped with Ben into the single. This was my first time in the single for our training trips. Heading out from Rotto was great as the wind had swung to be a very gentle south wester and with the medium swell I was able to enjoy fantastic runs most of the way back. 9 km/h was kept with very little effort. About an hour out of Hillarys the southerly had really started to pick up creating bigger waves and white capes. The Mirage started to get knocked around a bit more and waves would occasionally break over the deck. The speed of the runs certainly picked up but the power of the sea was also intimidating. I don't think that Tim and Ben were feeling any of this though in the big yellow taxi. They were loving that they could now speed along on the waves. At one point they hammered along with a wave skimming passed me a great rate of knots, so close I had to lift my paddle high out of the water so they could go under it. It's funny now but at the time it didn't help my nervousness. A few kms off Hillarys everybody sobered up a bit as we had to make our way back through the outer reef with bigger swell, lots of white caps and no clear path (breakers are not easy to pick from behind). After some quick deliberations we paddled north of the harbour a bit and slowly made our way in, trying to pick the deepest channels. Waves would loom up but again none broke near us and it turned out to be a pretty simple trip back into the relatively sheltered waters. A few runs later and we were back in the harbour. Looking back over my shoulder the sea was covered in white caps and the breeze was strong in my face. It was a very enjoyable trip with the right amount of fun and challenge and enabled us to add to our knowledge of the conditions that we can competently handle. - Ross

Rotto circumnavigation from Warnbro - 10-11Dec - 100km

Getting set to go for a big day

Timmy pushing hard

Benny going solo

Ross and Jas enjoying the lumpy conditions

Cooking up a storm on Rotto

For our last big trip altogether we wanted to cover 100km over two days.  The course was set for Warnbro, around rottnest to Thomsons bay (day1-58km) then Thomsons to Warnbro (day2 - 42km).  We new we needed to treat the weekend fairly seriously and complete the trip in a way that would give us confidence that we were ready for the Bass.  We definitely achieved this with all the boys stepping up, we worked really well as a team.  Day 1 was pretty calm apart from a medium sized swell rolling in from our left.  I tried out some sea sick bands for the first time.  I knew they worked when I had to spend 10min with my head inside Benny's urine filled cockpit trying to fix his rudder without feeling sick.  The only excitement for the day was having to dodge some pretty big surf breaks around West End. We pulled onto the beach near the pub after just under 8hrs, average speed 7.5km/hr.  Apart from being pretty tired everyone was feeling good.  Sleeping on the beach again we cooked up one of Benny's dehydrated meals, yum yum.  We had a good debrief of the day and realised we need to communicate more when were out on the water, not easy for blokes at the best of times especially when your tired, your but is numb and your a bit sea sick.  We had a really good prayer time though and went to bed feeling pretty encouraged.

 Day 2 was fairly rough for the first few hours with an 18knt wind blowing against a 1.5m swell.  Everyone put their heads down until we reached the protected waters of Garden Island.  It was a good feeling to pull up on the beach in Warnbro after completing the 100km.  Some good lessons learnt again but overall a smooth trip.  Thanks mum and dad for the ferry service, accommodation and food.

Bay to Beach - 27th Nov - 36km

Canoeing Downunder shirts on and ready to race

We thought we'd take our elite racing craft and tackle the Bay to Beach race.  Paddling to the start from the finish as a warmup to double the distance also seemed like a good idea.  Everything went pretty well, with good conditions we averaged almost 10km/hr over the 18km.  It was pretty funny to watch the five of us competitive blokes racing as hard as we could in our big bath tubs.  Jas and Timmy broke away at the half way mark and were pretty happy with their 20m lead (a lot when your paddling these boats) but then Ros and Benny made a strong comeback.  In the end we all crossed the line together.  During presentations Jesse was great and allowed us a bit of time to share about our trip.

Night crossing to Rotto - 11th Nov - 40km



Jas and myself getting ready to go

Someone had the bright idea that we should challenge ourselves and paddle to rotto at night.  We didn't get off to a very good start.  Meeting at the Cotesloe carpark after work we had aimed to get on the water with an hour of daylight remaining, however after one of our paddles was driven over and crushed and some time spent driving to the nearest surf club to borrow another we didnt get on the water until after dark.  The weather wasnt too flash with a 20knt Southerly which made for a bumpy ride.  Jas found paddling at night made his sea sickness significantly worse, its safe to say he didnt enjoy the crossing too much.  A dolphin came out of nowhere and gave us a bit of a surprise.  A black fin suddenly coming out of the water is bad enough at day time, but in the moonlight it certainly gives you a wake up.  After 3hrs we were thankful to finally arrive on the beach even if it was 11pm.  Jas spoke for the first time in 2 hours, he had been in a world of pain.  After a bit of a rough night sleeping on the beach (dont tell the rangers) we had a pretty uneventful paddle back in the morning in much calmer conditions.  Some good learning points came out of the trip.  We definitely need to bring spare paddles, everyone needs a sea sickness strategy even if they think they'll be ok and we need to get faster a getting ready.

1st Rottnest and Return trip - 22nd Oct (40km)

Jas and Benny enjoying the calm waters

For our first big ocean trial of the boats we paddled to Rottnest and back.  The weather was very kind to us with an easterly blowing us over and only a slight southerly for the return.  We averaged 9km/hr on the way over.  On the way back we played around with the pairings and discovered whoever went with Rosco was fastest.  From then on he was considered the secret weapon. 

Overall a lot more successful than our first paddle in the boats when Jas and Tim sunk while paddling out of the heads at Fremantle after not thinking to put the neoprene covers on the bulkheads.  Definitely a reality check and a low point in our preparations so far, although Terry from CDU found it pretty amusing that the 5 of us were hoping to paddle to Tassie but couldn't even manage Freo without getting in trouble.  The paddle ended in the boys swimming their boats to shore with Benny and I making feeble attempts at a rescue (definatly some serious training in that area needed).