# QLD: When skies are grey



## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

I woke at 3.30 am with keen anticipation. My heart rate was up instantly. The marine forecast last night had been 10 - 15 knots. Was this going to be _the_ day?

Quick, turn the computer on to check the BOM observations. Click Brisbane observations. Click Redcliffe....UHOH!

16/03:30am ...SSE.............17..... 20

That's knots, not km/hr (= 32 - 37 km/h). Bother. Balderdash and blast it. I was specifically told "don't go out in over 10 knots, least not while you're learning."

I waited all yesterday as it gusted up to 22 knots. My excitement was fever pitch, busting to try my new piece of plastic. I decided I couldn't wait any more, but excitement was now accompanied by anxiety. Fueled up I eventually got going, all the while feeling like a very naughty boy. Mal's words kept coming back to me "10 knots is fine. You'll have your hands full." He won't find out. I'm off.

The palm fronds at Newport waterways were telling me this is a mistake. It's all good, I kept re-affirming to myself, then was certain when a flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos flew across the road low. A beautiful sight on a beautiful day. My special day's going to be fine.

But, arrival at Scarborough saw me very anxious and no longer excited. I steeped out of the car into a blast.

16/06:30am .........S..........33...41 km/h .........18 .....22 knots

Whitecaps	as far as the eye could see. I started the unpacking and assembly, which took a long time with all the extra visits to the toilet.
Beekeeper arrived and offered all sorts of encouraging comment, like "You want me to take a picture (so the coroner will know what happened)." By 8 am it had settled to 15 - 18 knots, and I was off on a new adventure. This one..

Jim (Beekeeper) and an interested bystander watched with interest. Cautious about the very expensive mirage drive, I dragged this super sized kayak out to 0.8 metre depth and then carefully inserted the drive (flippers). Then to get in....hmmmm. I'm on the outside of the ama (Polynesian/Hobie for pontoon) and trying to hold the yak, which is over a metre away, straight into wind. Now this bit _definitely_ wasn't in the manual. I managed a graceful ballerina like high step over the ama (I was wearing my usual full body tights), and was confronted with another dilemma. How to get in? The yak is pitching widly up and down, and already I'm in too deep. More ways than one....I can't get onboard.

I finally did it with all the nimble grace you would expect from a ballerina, deftly swinging my supple body around and connecting with the paddles to start it moving.  What the onlookers actually saw was an overweight geriatric land in the seating area like a bag of fresh cowshit. :shock: I thought I was away, but no, was getting blown sideways towards the rocks. Uhoh! :shock: Forgot the rudder down control. That's better.

Once out a hundred metres I cautiously unfurled about a third of the sail...wimp that I am. Once I pulled the sheet rope, the acceleration was instantaneous. Spray flying on a reach past the end of the rocks, and the GPS says 7 km/h already. Eventually after a couple of tacks I cautiously let a bit more sail out. Speed intoxication.....10 km/h. I was going slightly into wind, when Jim asked me on the VHF how it was going. "Fast", I replied," but I can't get very high (into wind)." Jim put the other onlooker on, who happened to have sailed and raced yachts for years. "Let out full sail and head high".

That worked a treat and in no time I was screaming upwind and way offshore, the bow slicing under the now 1 metre high seas. 7 - 8 km/h and upwind. Magic! All went fine till I 'went about' (turning through the wind). I let the sheet off too much, and peddled through the eye of the wind, sheet flapping, to the reciprocal tack. Something was wrong! There was a helluva noise. I looked up and was dismayed to see the whole sheet flapping furiously, no longer attached to the hook on the end of the sheet rope. For some reason the sail wouldn't furl. Where was the hook? I looked towards the stern, and it was gone, with the sheet rope, out the back. I was being blown downwind fast. I probably shouted when I called Jim on the VHF, "I'm in trouble, the sheets loose." He attempted to reply, but was inaudible above the deafening flapping of an out-of-control sheet. "Can't talk to you! I'll try to sort it!"

My mind was racing, heart beat elevated. 
Plan A - try to reconnect the sheet. Plan B - run/peddle downwind to the N side of Reef Pt and beach it on the Spit. Plan A....I crawled to the rear to retrieve the rope and hook. Success! (the stability of the yak in the Island mode is amazing - I probably could have walked back). I tried to grab the sheet end but failed repeatedly to get it to the hook with the wind pressure on the sail. Let more rope out.... Finally connected, sheet hauled and rudder adjusted to recover the lost 500 metres, and a quick call to the beach to confirm regaining control. Whey! "I'm coming in." And in it was, in almost a straight run, reaching 13.5 km/h with half a sail, bow way under at times.

On the beach the sailor chap helped work out what went wrong. I needed a rest and went to the car for a refuel and a quick call to Mal for advice, but instead got a bit of a roasting for being out in over 10 knots. Mistake # 1 was letting off the sheet dramatically, instead of tightening it to 'go about', and the resultant wild flapping threw the hook. Lesson learnt, with Jim's 5mm carabiner fitted instead, some food, and a second try after the lads went home.

I was now an experienced sailor   , and played fast and loose, getting the windward ama alarmingly high at times. What a thrill to set a full sail and blast upwind at speed with the tell tales streaming perfectly. On this screaming tack I covered 3 kms in 11 minutes, almost to the Redcliffe jetty. Happy, I turned downwind for home and reduced sail for the run back, only to discover that both lines were in a hopeless tangle (mistake # 2). Even with the sail fully furled the Adventure was reaching 5 km/h.

Once beached, I met Jim again, and gobsmacked we saw this kid come along the bike track....

*ADVENTURE Island.*. So that's why they called it that. Now what am I going to call mine?

Trevor


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)




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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)




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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

Sorry guys, to much Mitchelton in here.

Break it up.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)




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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

koich said:


> Sorry guys, to much Mitchelton in here.
> 
> Break it up.


Cop that!


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## badmotorfinger (Mar 15, 2010)

You serious Trev? I thought you were paddling purist


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## YakFishnLegend (Mar 13, 2010)

Wears the pictures Travis....i keep seeing jpeg jpeg,,,last time i used a jpeg was when me and the missus had a good ole tme campung with a couple old fellas and there keys in a bowl


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## Kahuna (Aug 9, 2010)

Now you've got the sailing down pat you will have to get some scales on board next trip Trev!


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## 4weightfanatic (May 19, 2011)

"The Elite" get your hand off it that title is reserved for the Noosarites that live in "Excloosa"  . Sounds like everything happens very fast in those things with it hitting the fan rapidly when trouble strikes but would sure beat paddling against a wind. A rivetting account there Trevor. Cheers Pat


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

cjbfisher said:


> I hope that you pushed that [email protected] kid over flat on his face. :twisted: :twisted:


No way Chris! A kid at that age who could master that (and he was proud of it too, but not arrogant)! 

Jim had come back to see if I had survived, and we were chatting as I began dismantling the AI. Then this kid about age 10/11 comes up and starts asking questions about the AI. He wanted to know what every component was for, and then proudly told us that he had a kayak, and loved going out in it.

He told us he was going to a special school, cause he didn't learn anything in the state school, and he always got into trouble for wanting to do outdoor things. Then, with a casual air of indifference, he announced he'd been expelled from every school since prep. We were gobsmacked! Jim and I were still chuckling long after he left, and wondering how life would treat him.


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## Bretto (May 23, 2010)

Sweet ride Trev. You taking the AI to Double Island Point in Feb?


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Those AIs are just sweet. Perfect for SEQ. enjoy.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Nice saily boat Trev.
Bramble Bay's a good place to launch when its windy.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

BrettoQLD said:


> Sweet ride Trev. You taking the AI to Double Island Point in Feb?


What do you reckon Brett? One guess.



salticrak said:


> They make for an interesting day when the spanish come out to play too.


Do spanish take lures at 10 knots? 

Trevor


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## john316 (Jan 15, 2009)

glad you enjoyed the new toy Trev... mines just about wearing out and I still love it to bits. That kick in the back when you get the sail correct and the wind in the right quarter is a real rush is it not?

cheers

John


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

cjbfisher said:


> kayakone said:
> 
> 
> > Jim and I were still chuckling long after he left, and wondering how life would treat him.
> ...


Wrong accent.....


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Any suggestions on names for her?

Trevor


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Thanks Alex. Thanks a lot. :twisted:

Any more suggestions?


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

so you can sail -------------what about the fish :lol:


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

In the absence of any decent suggestions (i.e. nothing to do with stingrays), I have named her myself.

What do you do when you want to get out for a fish/paddle and the wind is too strong? You look for something to brighten your grey skies....






You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

'SUNSHINE' it is. (No reference to the famous 'Sunshiner' of Nossa Yakkers.) Now to blood her.

Cheers

Trevor


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

I see your Sunshine and raise you a Windmill:


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