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.