Dont get DJ to help

Ill Paddle out from Byron with some Morning Tea and biscuits..
Watch the back of Broken Head,, We have seen some Extra Large Dolphins out there!!

Simondo said...

Not very fair Doggie !!

DJ was giving it a crack at least, and was unlucky. Besides, I'd bet DJ would want to join the paddle crew, not the support crew !!

Your kidding Simondo, DJ and crew were very foolish in their plans. Oh they forgot the support boat FMD.

I am sure doggie was taking the p-ss as doggie does

doggie said...

62mac said...

Simondo said...

Not very fair Doggie !!

DJ was giving it a crack at least, and was unlucky. Besides, I'd bet DJ would want to join the paddle crew, not the support crew !!

Your kidding Simondo, DJ and crew were very foolish in their plans. Oh they forgot the support boat FMD.

I am sure doggie was taking the p-ss as doggie does

Just jokin kids

Oh well it seems that its not just SUP's that need a few ground rules for the Downwinders........good to see that Mike is trying his best to get it sorted first. Best of luck with it.

I picked this up off a blog for some surfski's trying to cross Bass Straight.


Next down-winder on the agenda the following weekend was a ‘leisurely’ 25km’er from Port Melbourne to Mordialloc. The conditions were fabulous, with a nice 1m swell pushing us along, although there some lessons learned that day. With the 60km P2P under my belt, complacency had evidently set in and I failed to use a boat leash or paddle leash. Then when I capsized at the half way point trying to attend to my PFD that had unzipped itself, it took me quite some time to get sorted. By the time I was going again, the other paddlers were dots on the horizon and had taken a line toward shore. Determined to catch them, I set a line much further out, counting on the swell being stronger further out and therefore pushing me toward Mordialloc quicker. I had however failed to consider that the other paddlers had no idea where I was and might therefore be concerned for my safety. Suffice to say that Jarad wasn’t pleased and read the riot act to me when he arrived at Mordialloc a few minutes after me.

maybe Dale could trade a board for help

Mike/Dale, this is only a suggestion based on what others have done and also my past experience. Obviously the choice and final risk is all yours.

An on-water accompanying Support boat is probably not necessary as you will be 1km from land most of the time. Freya Hoffmeister paddled around Australia without a support craft covering somewhere between 50 and 90k a day. What she did have was fail proof and backed up communications.

Here's my suggestion based on how i would do it.

1. Have a jetski on trailer follow on land and visually rendezvous at predetermined points.
2. Have continuous vhf radio contact with each other and the land based jetski support (back this up with cell phones) You will also be able to contact SLSA and Coast Guard.
3. Leg Leash to the board (not the paddle) If you loose a paddle you can paddleboard
4. Type 1 PFD, flares, high power whistle and strobe light (they are cheap, waterproof and attach to the PFD.
5. A Spot Location device (Google - you can rent them) We used one on the VIC to Tassie paddle. If the Land based jetski has a laptop with 3g modem they can follow your exact location on screen and you can press the OK button on the Spot each hour to signal all is ok.
6. Carry everything ON you (backpack or large bum bag - split the comms equip see below)
7. All the obvious stuff like weather protection and Hi- Energy food and sufficient hydration.
8. Pick the window of opportunity carefully, you don't want 50kt surprises halfway.
9. Absolutely stay in visual contact with each other, it's not a race.
10. Call it a day as soon as it gets dark regardless of where you are.

Support boats are great if you can afford it, BUT, they can and do break down. With a support boat, the tendency is to rely too much on it and you can be caught out not being self sufficient. Even if you use a Support boat, gear up as if you haven't.

Your single biggest safety aid is CONTACT, have 2 or better 3, different modes and don't store them all in the same bum bag in case you loose it. Have one in the pocket of the PFD and the other bumbag or deckbag with tether.

All of the above gear you will be able to reuse again so it is a good investment, $2000 fuel is a waste.

Hope this is of some help and again, this not a complete plan and the risk is all yours.

Cheers Rambo

Trying to work out the Spot Location thing, has anyone got one? Seems like you can get the basic service in the US for US$115 a year but from what I can see subscription to the service locally is AU$24 per month or $288/year. More than double the US rate!!

Maybe you can just subscribe internationally.

Any experience/feedback would be great.