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