Survivor Weekend 25th & 26th of August 2007

Participants:

Stuart Trueman (Leader)

Paul Loker (2 IC)

Mark Schroeder

Mark Anderson

Roger Boardman

David Page

Terry Walsh

Stephan Meyn

Matt Bezzina

“A weekend of tests to challenge individuals” was how Stuart Trueman described and conducted this years Survivor Weekend.

Saturday morning saw us unloading boats and gear early as our brief included the line: “At 0859 you will be standing by your kayaks, cars locked, keys packed with nothing to do before getting on the water. Those running the weekend are not expecting to have to motivate participants”.

Not surprisingly everyone was ready early. We were soon heading out of Shoal Bay towards Cabbage Tree Island. On arrival we zigzagged over to Boondelbah Island and from there turned towards our days destination, Broughton Island. Stuart quizzed the group as to our ETA and as it was about 12 KM the estimates ranged from one

and a half to two and a half hours. The conservatives got it because half way there Stuart had us tie bungee cords around the hulls of the boats to simulate a heavier load. This on top of the sea water ballast we were carrying really did make a difference. It wasn’t long before a couple of litres of sea water were poured into everyone’s front hatch as a test to make sure that everything was properly waterproofed.

Once we arrived at the island we all went through the obligatory Cons Cleft – and all got through without incident. It was the breakers over the reef across from Esmeralda Cove which gave one member a swim. Following this we had to
demonstrate our off side roll which resulted in a couple more swimmers. As we approached the beach around the other side we were ordered to bail out and swim the boats into the beach. This resulted in mass swimmers! On landing we were given ten minutes to be changed into dry clothes and have a hot cup of tea in hand. After a written test we were free to find somewhere to set up our tents – easier said then done seeing we were on a beach that gets submerged at high tide and the top of the
banks were infested with prickly pear.

Sunday we were to be ready to go by 6! This had us up in the dark packing away tents and trying to fuel up on breakfast. Stuart and Paul paddled around from their civilized camp spot on the other side and came up to the weary eyed group. As he looked out at the dead calm and peaceful lee side of the island towards Myall Beach Stuart said “Look at those huge dumpers – theres no way we can launch from here. We’ll have to do a portage over the island”. And that was our morning, lugging all our gear and seven boats up the rough track over the top of the island and down to Esmeralda Cove on the other side where Stuart and Paul sat having breakfast and coffee. Once over there we made a call to the coast guard via the radio on the island and then headed off. The swell was up a bit from the previous day and Cons Cleft was looking quite hilly.

Mark Schroeder was first through with me following. A year ago when I first went through it was a scary experience as I copped a big wave whilst in there and got smashed into the side. I managed to stay upright but my boat took a bit of a beating and lost a lot of gel coat. This time it was probably just as rough but a year worth of experience made all the difference and I took time to look around and take in a bit of this spectacular feature. I came out and turned quickly to get a few photos of the others as they came out – all grinning from ear to ear.

Mark Anderson

David Page

As Terry Walsh came through so did a big wave. It reared up behind him and knocked him over. As I was thinking how best to conduct a rescue, as I’m sure were Paul and Stuart who were holding position inside the cleft waiting for the wave to pass, Terry rolled up beautifully and powered past – the happiest face imaginable!

After that we did a navigation exercise before landing just next to Dark Point on Myall Beach where we had lunch. After a surf launch we headed back. Once out past the breakers progress was good, a slight head wind but way short of the predicted 20 knots, a bit of rain and a nice swell. I was just getting into the zone and really cruising well when Stuarts dreaded whistle blew. We gathered round as he suggested we follow him in to the surf. Mark Schroeder, myself and Mark Anderson blindly followed. As he approached the surf zone Stuart did a roll which I think he does as some kind of preparation for battle.

The swell suddenly got much steeper and as Stuart and Mark Schroeder turned to seaward to avoid a big wave Mark Anderson and I found ourselves side on to a big breaker. At this point I decided to roll under it so as to avoid being pummelled into the beach but as I leaned hard into it I found myself in a perfect broach position, the lean became an edge into a high brace and I enjoyed the best broach ride I’ve ever had, all the way to the beach where I landed quite nicely. Mark didn’t have quite as nice a landing and ended up being pounded, eventually landing about thirty metres down the beach from where I was. We both turned our boats around and stood there on the beach staring at the quite solid surf in front of us. The feeling of jubilation I had from making it in unscathed was quickly replaced by feelings of anxiety as I wondered how the hell we were going to get back out!

Mark and I met for a discussion but there wasn’t much to say. We were in the best spot with a light rip going out in front of us but still there were breaking waves right across and they didn’t seem to be getting any smaller.

I went back to my boat and sensed a lull. I quickly got in and knuckled into the surf. As soon as I was afloat I paddled like hell – through the first small breaker and then through the next more sizable wall of white water. I saw a clear run and paddled with all I had. I thought I’d made it and tried to catch my breath as another wave appeared before me – a bloody big one. I paddled with all I was worth and just managed to get my blade over the crest to make it over. Next thing I experienced the biggest free fall I’d ever had as I dropped over the back of a now crashing wave, the laden boat adding to the impact. I paddled over to the group who were waiting patiently out the back. Mark hadn’t been so lucky on that last wave and had been collected and washed back to shore. As the group had now been waiting for some time Paul Loker went in to give Mark a hand. He was in and out in no time and made my whole experience a little anti climatic!

A short time later Roger Boardman had his boat lifted out of the water by something big enough to lift his boat out of the water. He had teeth marks on his now bent metal rudder and Paul noted a large swirl. I had seen a shark the day before but it was too far away to make a positive identification. That sighting helped with motivation during the swim landing and after Rogers experience no more rolling was done – except by Mark Anderson who’s obviously not afraid of sharks.

That was to be our last adrenalin dose for the weekend as we paddled back to Shoal Bay. Not so for Stuart who snuck between a rock and a lot of whitewater. On rounding North Head we were greeted by some dolphins.

This was a trip with a difference and one of the best things I’ve done with The NSWSKC club. I think the objectives of the weekend were well and truly met – that is to test yourself (and your buddies) in an expedition environment. It was a good bunch of blokes who worked well together and made it a truly enjoyable weekend despite (or because of) the Trueman induced hardships.

If your thinking of doing a serious trip I would recommend you take this challenge on with anyone your planning to go away with – as someone once said you can learn more about a man by paddling with him for an hour then you can from a year of conversation.

Norah Head to Sydney

Mark Anderson and I put in at Norah Head on the North Coast and paddled south with aim of going to Sydney. We did the trip in a somewhat leisurely time of three days.

Launch Spot-Norah Head boat ramp

With a nice North East swell running, and the wind also from the NE, we made excellent time paddling up to 3KM off shore. On arriving at Terrigal for lunch after 23KM we negotiated a break across the bay and landed for lunch amongst the hordes of tourists and day trippers.

After lunch we paddled a further 8KM to Little Bay. Having never been in this area before neither of us new what we were looking for but after carefully looking at our map I was convinced that what appeared to be the bottom of an unbroken cliff line was in fact our destination. The wind had been consistent all day and the sea was up to about 1.5 Metres on top of a NE Swell. From where we sat it looked pretty threatening but being sure we were in the right place, now with the added certainty of a GPS reading we decided to head in. We paddled into the zone and were immediately surfed in. On racing down a wave I noticed we were surfing over a nasty reef. Luckily we both handled our surf ride well and landed between a couple of rocks on the beach where we set up camp.

Ideal Camp spot on Little Beach

Day 2 Mark took off with such enthusiasm that it took me quite a while to find him in the swell outside.

We then paddled around the corner to discover another camping possibility:

Caves Bay - enough room for one small tent

We then paddled into the beautiful and well protected Maitland Bay for a brew and a sunbake.
The rest of the day had us paddle into Broken Bay and finish up at the very end of Patonga Creek where we set up camp in sweltering heat to the deafening sound of ciccadas. Paddling up this still mangrove lined backwater was a real contrast to being on the ocean.

Patonga Creek

The next day we were to paddled non stop for 44KM back to Little Manly Beach in Sydney Harbour BUT we got to Palm Beach where we agreed we'd wimp out. Mark called his lovely wife Catherine to come pick us up and so ended our little trip - I would have liked to have been able to say we did the whole trip but then again we kayak for fun not bragging rights and besides we'd done the stretch from Sydney to Palm Beach in a day trip a few weeks previously (excuse).

All in all a great trip which I'm sure I'll do again, maybe in reverse.

Beecroft Peninsular Jervis Bay

This was to be a NSWSKC two day trip to circumnavigate Beecroft Peninsular, at Jervis Bay. The group was large with at least ten novices, four advanced sea skilled paddlers and two instructors but even with this generous ratio of experienced to novices it was decided in pouring rain on Saturday morning not to do the circumnavigation as the sea state and wind were up - wind was NW up to 30 Knots and the swell was more than three meters. Although we were not going to go all the way round it was decided that we should go to sea for a feel of the conditions, so we launched our boats and headed out.

It wasn't long before we had our first swimmer

Lucky for Katherine Mark Anderson was straight on to the rescue

and reassured the victim

Of course if it was any of the lads who had gone in Mark would have enjoyed a sandwich instead.

The next day conditions had improved. The wind had died down to between 10 & 15 Knots but the swell was still running at up to 3 metres. The circumnavigation was on!

Currarong Beach

We split into two groups and set off for Honeymoon Bay which would be about 10KM and a portage shy of a complete circumnavigation. The conditions were bouncy and a few in the first group swam, some more than once. Everyone in the 2nd group was fine.

Bouncy conditions near Gumgetters

The 2nd group caught up to the 1st group and we all paddled into Boat Harbour for lunch.
After that we went around the corner where some of us explored a through tunnel that goes for about 30 metres. Soon after we landed at the beautiful Honeymoon Bay where we ended our trip.

Here are some more pics of Beecroft Peninsular taken on subsequent trips.

Magnificent Arches that can be paddled through

Gumgetters on a calm day

Full Circumnavigation done on the 24th June 07

Solar powered battery charger for bilge pump & devices

The system described here has been in my boat for nearly two years and the batteries are still in good condition, nothing has corroded and it hasn't failed. Apart from that I'm not an electrician and don't claim to know that much about electronics but it works and my kayak hasn't exploded.

The idea of having a solar charger is that the system is completely self sufficient - it will keep your batteries in good condition and your pump ready to go even if you never touch your batteries. With a cigarette lighter adapter wired into your battery case you can also charge pretty much anything that you can charge from a car - and that means DC chargers are available for practically any battery or device. I have found cheap devices on EBAY to charge my Pentax Optio WP battery (which doesn't have this option at all according to Pentax), Sony Handy Cam batteries, USB charger for an MP3 player, Nikon chargers, mobile phone and with this system you always have a bank of charged AA NiMH batteries for your GPS, torch, radio or whatever else you can think of.

The solar panel I use is a UniSolar 5 watt flexible panel. It is fully waterproof and very robust. Mine has had many full submersions in seawater and continues to work fine.
I can put the panel on to the boat if I'm going on an expedition or simply plug it in with an extension lead from the panel mounted on my garage door so that either way batteries are

always charged and in good nick.Thats the gel acid battery under the EBAY DC battery charger.
There are two sets of batteries in the Pelican 1060 box - one 12 Volt lead acid and the other a 10 pack of AA NiMH 1.2 Volt (10 x 1.2 = 12) and they are wired in parallel to provide a robust 12 Volts (usually measures in at 14.5). Also in the box is a solar charge controller which regulates the current coming in from the panel so that the batteries won't get over charged.
If the panel is not connected to the system regularly then the AA's will slowly drain the Lead Acid Battery so if you are going to have your panel off for a length of time I would suggest you isolate the two battery packs or use just one type - either NiMH AA's or Gel Acid. The Gel Acid will hold charge on its own for a lot longer than the NiMH's.

It goes without saying that seawater and electronics don't mix so its worth going through the effort to thoroughly waterproof the whole system. The Pelican Box is waterproof and by putting grommetts through small holes and being willing to spend a few minutes swearing you can push the wires through to make a watertight seal. By doing this everything will still work fine even if your day hatch gets flooded.
These wires lead to another Bulgin Plug set which is wired to the pump and another set wired to the panel. I used plugs here so that I can take the whole thing out if I want to have a portable power pack which I use for spotlighting for nocturnal wildlife around campsites at night.

Another adaptation is to run a wire from your connection to an LED light drilled up under your deck mounted compass. I have a switch glued under the day hatch inside rim to turn it on and off and the very thin wires are held in place with a film of sikaflex. The LED draws so little power that it could probably run off the battery pack for months without the solar panel attached. After the wires were soldered to the LED it was encapsulated with a blob of sika to waterproof the whole thing. This idea was originally described HERE using a red LED but I prefer green as it reminds me of photoluminescence!