With Mark reckoning his choices were either a paddle around an Old Woman, or with an Old Woman he was on a collision course for a day on his pat malone. Favouring the with rather than around, his tact received the attention it deserved when he spouted his options to Dave and Peter who were already at Weinam Creek. A freshening E – NE breeze was no hassle – the easy consensus that comes with a group of six or less, was suck it and see, so long as Peter had access to a bought lunch. Anyway we had Dave, so no matter what we did we could make it look like we had been to Dunwich and back. With a relaxed outcome we wondered what might become of the Old Woman group
Setting out on a chattering course with an ebb tide that had us within six inches of a muddy indignity, the UHF radio on my deck played silly buggers and switched itself off. When turned back on it was back to Channel 1. It takes a totally obscure set ofbuttons sequences to restore it to the usual Channel 21. My ire was peaked as Mark and Pete paddled off into the distance and my frustrated expletives mere elevator music for Dave’s ears. We pulled into Potts to assess our options and found ourselvestreated to some beautiful double chocolate chip muffins courtesyof Dave. Yes, you read it, courtesy of Dave and they were fantastic. No burnt offerings this time around – Carol you would have been impressed.
Chocolate powered we made directly for Goat Island whilst keeping a watch for ferries. Peter’s hybrid kayak showed itself as a twitchy little blighter while flying a Flat Earth sail. It had a tendency to monster the Raider at the slightest increment of breeze. Wow, you have to be keen to paddle that kayak – it madethe Artic Raider look well mannered, dull and unresponsive. But then again I am an unambitious paddler, the Artic Raider is incredibly stable and all is well so long as my boat is sunny side up.
By now the tide had made an unattractive rubble skirt around Goat, but revealed the beauty of well formed coral which was worth paying attention too. Bommies were looming up within a blade’s depth. I certainly paid good heed given I had loan of a fancy pants Werner paddle. At 215cm this Cypress model was light and rigid. Was it $600 worth of rigid ? Not sure. I had another, a Kaliste to try out on the return leg.
Close to the bottom of the tide we cruised into the deep hole dredged next to the sand loading terminal at the northern end of the beach at Dunwich. A small solitary dolphin with a mangled dorsal fin surfaced a couple of times. Lunch was shared on the grass in the shade of a casuarina while the local community gathering provided the sound stage. A melon from the markets was ripe, too ripe and auto-opened with the touch of a knife. Red slabs were shared before we headed back under the persistent Ebreeze. By the time we were getting close to Coochie the group kindly agreed to a convenience stop.
After a leg stretch it was an easy 9Kph return on a slight breeze and incoming tide which had Brian onshore 34Km later within 15 minutes of his preferred time. The Kaliste was weightless, hardly noticeable in the water and in this regards a bit spooky. Maybe this what you pay a hefty price tag for – nothing. There is a weariness that comes with a 30+ Km day and today’s paddle was no exception. With the fresh E breeze we doubted whether the Old Woman received any visitors, and it turned out she had been left on her pat malone.
