Off topic but had to share as my wife was very much less than impressed.

Not enough wind for a sail today so threw the Outrigger on my shoulder and walked down to the beach. A quick 4k as im due for a workout :)

1k along and only 100m from the beach *seaford>frankston* and I see a 1foot fin surface 50m to my right O.o I keep looking and dont see a vertical tail fin so hey, its all good must be a dolphin. Then I see another.. and another and some on my left even *around 20m and same distance to the beach* and it dawns on me im paddling in the middle of a pod of dolphin who are chasing a fish school *I try not to think about the fishy food chain*

And after a few mins 2 dolphins got curious and cruised on over and got to within 30cm of my canoe!!!! Such grace & beauty in design, you can sense there power as they move through the water with such little effort. I swear to god im not a hippy but when I got back I had an urge to go buy a dolphin sticker and put it on the back of my car! Actually on the weekend Im off to pick up a VW Kombie so I can fit all my gear in it, but I swear to god im not turning into a hippy.

PS* why wasnt the wife happy for me you ask? Recently for her works annual sales confrence they had to go Dolphin watching in Jervis Bay. 1/2 of them got bus sick on the trip there and the other 1/2 got sea sick as the bay was unkind to them that day :) Oh and she didnt see a single dolphin.

Anyway enuff waffle. Just wanted to share :)

Hi KA43, I'll be up at Winda Woppa chasing dolphins as well. Looks like a NE forecast, 15-20knts. Good chance to give the Falcons a run!

Des

You just have to love nature... well at least the bits that dont try to eat you :)

We get quite a few dolphins at Manly and wello from time to time, they sometimes come over for a look- the first day I tried sailboarding we got to swim in the middle of a pod of dolphins. This was definately one of the things that hooked me onto windsurfing. It annoys my wife too, you go to somewhere like seaworld and she is like yeah yeah you get to see em all the time

Occasionally you get people screaming from the beach SHARK SHARK while out sailing... dolphins noobs.

Guy was waterstarting at manly one day when something bumped into him, hey naturally crapped himself and thought shark, up on the board and it was a over friendly dolphin

We often see dolphins where I sail... it is a good thing as a grey shape surfacing or passing underneath me no longer evokes total and utter terror... just a quickstep in the heartbeat briefly.... as I usually assume it is a dolphin not a shark.
I have seen a shark pass under me though when I was JUST on the plave on my wave gear but on flat water.... beared off downwind and came in for the day. Was about 2m and probably a bronzie so no big deal (compared to the prevalence of whities where I sail) but still a 'change the undies' moment!


Best I've ever seen though was when I was sailing down the line, nto quite enough to plane out but jsut right on the wave and glassy as it gets, can see your shadow on the bottom in 5m deep water, perfect. As I started going down the line I saw a dolphin on the wave, surfing it but maybe 1ft uderwater at the most. As I start my bottom turn, the dolphin does too (to avoid me I guess) but after my first bottom trun and cutback at the top, he/she mimics me. Got 4 turns with the dolphin 10m downwind of me, and leaping off the lip on the top turn (betetr than my aerials, bummer).
Then I see the dolphin do it when my mate takes a wave: fast learner!
All afternoon it played on and off with us and it was great.