Day 5 - Roydon Island

Today was the third 4:30am morning in a row for the guys. After a late night decision and last minute packing, not much sleep was had by the team. It was rough waking up and some of the guys had a chilly start when they got dumped by the incoming waves when heading out from the beach.

They paddled 65km today from Winter Cove (Deal Island) to Roydon Island, just off the west coast of Flinders Island.  It was a pretty hard day doing their 3rd big crossing in a row and the paddle took the guys 10 hours. The conditions were pretty good however with 10-15 knot side winds and they managed to use the tide to their advantage, drifting 10km off course to north east, before catching the incoming tides all the way back to Roydon Island. The tides were pretty strong, reaching up to 4km an hour.

The team enjoyed meeting up with the two other groups crossing the Strait and being able to swap stories. The other groups were amazed that the team were able to do 3 big crossings in a row. Thank you to people praying for safety and good weather, God has truly answered and I can speak for myself and two of the other wives (Rachel and Hannah) that we are very thankful the guys are still in one piece! (Our own Perth to Melbourne crossing has also been successful with 2 toddlers, 2 prams, 2 suitcases and 5 bags....someone asked if we were staying for a month)

Tomorrow they are hoping to paddle down the coast of Flinders Island to Whitemark and maybe enjoy the luxury of a hamburger at the pub.

The guys at East Cove. They met a great group there that spend 6 weeks
 each year in the hut on the island.