The
paddlers at Lancelin: Steve, Ewen, Paul, Rado, Ken, Dave and
Rob.
Photo
Pel Turner.
Dave Oakley, 2
hours into the paddle on Day 1. Photo John Radovich.
Ewen coming in
to land at Camp 1.
Photo
John Radovich.
Pel and Rob
relax and share a few stories at Camp 1. Notice all mod cons: BBQ and
ironing board. Photo
John Radovich.
Short break on
Day 2 - Rado. Photo
John Radovich.
Ewen and Ken
sample Ewen's culinary delights.
Photo
John Radovich.
In formation
at Cervantes.
Photo
John Radovich.
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The aim of this trip was to kayak from Lancelin
to Cervantes over the CHOGM weekend, a distance of 66km.
Six
paddlers decided to complete the trip - John Radovich, Dave Oakley,
Paul Cooper, Rob MacCracken, Ewen MacGregor and Ken Burton. The
paddlers were provided with land-based support by Pel Turner up until
Saturday morning and Steve Foreman from start to finish. The 4 Wheel
drive support was awesome and thanks are extended to Pel and Steve.
Paul,
Ewen and Ken arrived at the Lancelin Caravan Park on Thursday night and
after setting up camp on the road verge retired to the local hotel – a
mere 10 minute walk according to the caravan park owner – this guy had
no idea of distance or time and after a 40 minute walk our thirsts were
raging! Coopers on tap was the order of the night! After a few pints
and a reasonable meal we walked back to the camp at around 2200 hours
and hit the sack.
Up at 0530 the next morning (Friday) the 3 of
us showered and waited for the others to arrive. The initial idea from
John was to complete the car shuffle and be on the water at 1000 but
this stretched out to 1120 and by then a serious wind was up and
blowing hard from the southwest. John delivered his briefing in a clear
and succinct manner, issued each paddler with a map and safety kit and
then Dave outlined the Club’s “Shark Sighting Policy”. A few comments
such as ‘slowest paddler gets eaten’ and ‘if you see a shark every man
for himself’ rang out across the group!
We set off at a
leisurely pace heading to Wedge Island, a distance of 26km. The
following sea was impressive and most of us spent the hours ‘broaching’
and trying to keep in a straight line. The wind really picked up after
the first break on a nice beach adjacent to Narrow Neck Reef. KB
decided to use his sail and after breaking through a small surf break
we were off towards Wedge Island. The seas were very rough and with the
wind made paddling as a ‘group’ quite difficult. We persevered and
pulled into a very nice campsite selected by Pel and Steve. The
campsite was 3km short of Wedge but as it looked so inviting and was
well protected the choice was a good one! We made camp at 1600 hours
and shortly after getting the tents up and the boats stowed Steve and
Pel had a great BBQ going and we had cheese and bickies and a quiet
drink. Most paddlers went to their tents around 2100 with the
call to be on the water at 0800 the next day.
Paul and Rado
ready to launch at Wedge.
Photo
Pel Turner.
We woke to a
nice offshore breeze and paddled the 3km to Wedge Island and surfed
some nice little waves over the bank at Wedge and into a beautiful bay.
We had a few stops while the offshore breeze was blowing and enjoyed
the calm water and the inshore reefs until about 1000 when the wind
started to change and by 1100 had picked up to a 20-25 knot
southwester.
The paddlers were amazed at the “Mad Max” type
efforts by 4 wheel drivers, motorbikes and even a 2WD Commodore and
Falcon (both most likely were stolen) doing over 100kph along the beach
with the Ranger chasing them with his yellow light flashing with no
hope of catching them. It was like another world watching these idiots
using the beach in this way!
As we got closer to Hangover Reef
Steve decided to find a landing spot for lunch. The group, who at this
stage were tending to go outside the breaking waves made a decision to
go through a small section of lumpy but non-breaking swells to get
access to the beach. Ewen and Ken were not keen on going inside and
suggested the group go outside and around the reef and then into the
site. John decided that the group would go inside and so the first 4
paddlers set off in single file watching the incoming waves and after a
bit of manoeuvring they all made ‘safe ground’.
Ewen and Ken
started coming in on the same line when suddenly the gap in the
non-breaking wave section closed out and Ken had to surf off the first
wave and then Ewen and he had to paddle like maniacs to get over
another monster that was foaming at the top – they got over that one
and realized they were in the middle of the ‘kill zone’ because another
monster was starting to peak and threaten to break on their heads. Ken
was screaming and Ewen was just saying ‘paddle harder’. They got over
the 4th and final monster and into manageable water and then skirted
around the outside of the reef whilst keeping an eye on the inside
paddlers. After a few kilometres we met up and exchanged our horror
stories with embellishments. The learning point here is that conditions
can change in an instant and all paddlers have to be prepared to make
life saving changes very quickly.
After this epic we continued
paddling towards the Grey Shacks. Putting the tents up just north of
Grey was very hard and most people needed assistance – the wind was so
strong that we and the boats were covered in sand. We settled around
Steve’s 4 Wheel Drive but even the car offered little protection from
the sand and the wind. We eventually
found a ‘wind-free’ zone where we started cooking the evening meal.
We
awoke on the Sunday morning to a wind that was still quite strong but
coming from the south so at 0810 we headed to Cervantes and stayed
inside the reef system for the first hour and a half. A few seals, a
school of mulloway and a small reef shark were the highlights of the
morning. We landed for morning tea and caught up with Steve once again.
The wind had died off a little but was still 12-15 knots with a
following sea. Ken was spinning a lure and managed to catch a nice bull
herring but missed two big hook ups on serious fish. The group paddled
in an arrow head formation and kept together well on this day as we
headed towards Cervantes. We arrived at Cervantes and Steve was waiting
on the beach with a brew going – nothing is too much trouble for
Steve!
Highlights
- Great camaraderie amongst the group
- Rado locking his keys in the Saab at the
start of the trip
- Rado calling the RAC and arriving late
for lunch at the Cervantes pub
- Steve and Pel's unselfish support work –
thanks guys you did a magnificent job and made the paddle an enjoyable
and easy one
- Ewen’s cooking and in particular the
Fresh Rice Noodles and Vegetable and Sausage Curry
- Dave’s initiation of his new Greenlander
“T” complete with a couple of nice rolls
- Paul’s fast paddling in his Arctic Raider
which is impossibly fast both downwind and on the waves
- Ken and Ewen riding out some serious
‘monster waves’ in the ‘Killing Zone’
- Rob telling some memorable stories that
cannot be repeated in print but were enjoyed by all!
After
packing up the gear and getting organised we all retired to the Tavern
for a well earned lunch and some great story telling about this
memorable trip.
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