This Tuesday is looking good to do our mega down-winder from Port Melbourne to Frankstone.

Who's interested?

DJ

Forecast for Tuesday
Winds: North to northeasterly 15 to 20 knots tending northerly 20 to 30 knots
around dawn then tending northwesterly 30 to 40 knots around midday then
tending westerly 25 to 35 knots during the late afternoon. Seas: 0.5 to 1
metres increasing to 1 to 1.5 metres during the morning then increasing to 2
metres during the afternoon. Isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon and
evening.

What about Jonathan and Lobes.. .. big Mike B? .. John?.. Nic? .. Pete?.. Paul or Luke? ..and any girls up to it?.. Helke or Luicy?

DJ

I'm in! The forecast for Monday night/Tuesday is brutal 150km/hour winds in some areas. My kids school camp in the Otways has just been cancelled because of the wind and fire risks.

Lucky for some not for others....I'm going to be stuck at work all day.

We have five confermed at this stage.

David P
Dave H
Jonathan C
Christian (Lobes)
Pete H

I'm thinking about 930-10am start at the latest.

DJ

JonathanC said...

Dave H, why don't we drop my Landcruiser off at Frankston - it can take the five boards and all of us back in one go.

Sounds great.. I reckon park at the car park at the base of Olivers Hill.. (South end of Frankstone) .. We should be able to see Olivers Hill from way off shore.

I'll bring some rope so if we get lost at sea we can tie the boards together and make a raft.. ... and maybe a few Mars bars..

DJ

As you will be 2 or more K's off shore. I would
suggest lifejackets. I have seen that part of the
bay at its worst.... Leg ropes should be mandatory
also. Not trying to freak you out... Just really want
you to be safe, confident and having fun. A handheld
GPS would be a good idea, The stretch out from Chelsea
can be quite confusing... and GPS would give you a GO TO!

These things need to be taken by each person

Leg rope (no leash = no paddle IMHO)
water bottle or camelbak
sun protection
lil bit of money in case we have to bail out and make arrangements on the fly

life jacket I am less convinced by. While never a bad idea it would add weight and bulk. I would be willing to chance it without one.

Also between us I think we should have at least two phones, a few whistles and maybe a flare or torch. Some duct tape and possibly a spare paddle (your travel paddle Jonathon?) are things to also consider.

Handheld GPS would be great if anyone has one.

I will bring two spare paddles... One on the end of each arm..

As long as we have the sun in the sky I don't think we'll be needing a compass.

DJ

but you never know, it could be too smoky to see the sun

Jeeez I hope not..

DJ

Tip away Mikeman. This is easily the longest paddle I've ever attempted and in possibly the highest winds too.

I'd be interested to know what sort of equipment you take with you and importantly which of this equipment is the most utilised/useful

also how do you secure it to your board or do you wear a backpak or something?

We use standard surfboard legropes (4-6mm is fine) and attach them to the leach plug at the tail. Both Dale and I used DC16 boards which all have these as standard features. On one of our trial paddles we went out in about a 25knt day and learnt the hard way that these are essential items. If you fall off and get seperated from your board it can end up cart wheeling away from you and you will be in a bit of trouble.

We also made both of our boards as brightly coloured as possible. My board is safety orange all over (dayglow orange would be better) and Dale's has safety orange patches. I would advise at least making some part of your board as bright as you can, just in case you need rescuing. We also spray painted the back of our paddle blades orange if we needed to use this to attract attention. Our clothing was also pretty bright and we will use high reflective attachements next time. It's no good if the rescue people cannot see you. So whatever you come up with make it as easy for these guys to find you. Avoid using white as you will be the same colour as the white caps. Use dayglow with high contrast.

I don't know what kind of coastguard resources you have over there but we sent our expected progress through to all of the relevant VMR agencies on the way. We phoned in every few hours so that they could update our progress. They were very helpful and appreciative of the fact that we tried to make their job of rescuing us as easy as possible.

I would also advise each paddler to carry at least 1 flare (rocket or smoke). If anyone gets seperated from the group and they run into trouble they need to be able to get spotted by the rest of the group or rescue people.

Don't be put off by all of this emphasis on being safe. You will have a blast! You will have a lot more fun knowing that you have things well covered than you will if you leave things to chance.

Have fun!

Just curious...how long is your intended paddle DJ in km's ??

aussiewahine said...

Just curious...how long is your intended paddle DJ in km's ??

I'm guessin' at least 40 kilometers.. and about 4 hours.

Add another 10 km's and another hour if we miss Frankstone at hit Mornington.

Map here.. www.google.com.au:443/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=-38.02754,145.055237&spn=0.532226,1.230469&t=h&z=10

DJ

I'll be using a 12' Naish Glide. DJ will too most likely. Jonathan has a Starboard 12'6" which i tried on a downwinder last week and was surprised how well it went.

In general the longer the better in my experience.

JohnDavid said...

In a northerly it gets very rough and nasty there. Best to finish on the beach between the boat ramp and the pier.

I agree John.. I would have done that because I know that area quite well.

The smile on my face just got bigger..

The weather forcast has gone from 'Strong wind Warning'..to 'Gale Warning'..to 'Storm Warning'.. and now has just been upgraded to 'Hurricane Warning'..

Yeeeeeeeh - Haaaaar!!!..

Better wear the heavy duty undies tomorrow..

DJ