and you thought it was cold in Adelaide

The last of the fine autumn weather has left us and the temperature plummets in Adelaide. Yes I can see you rugged up, gathered around outdoor gas heaters,sipping lattes at the beach side cafes after taking the dog for a walk or simply tucked up on the lounge with a nice glass of red. Well, while you were enjoying yourselves, Robyn and I were feeling the full brunt of the Antarctic winds sweeping across Althorpe Island, after landing there with a group doing a penguin survey plus some other odd jobs.

Just getting there was cold enough with a beach launch, bound for our charter boat moored in Pondalowie Bay.  It takes only a minute or two standing in the water to transform feet into 2 blocks of ice.

A mild day with occasional sunshine made the trip to the island just great and the walk up the zig zag path, carrying  your weeks food and gear to the 91 metre high plateau was certainly warming. The first couple of days were beautiful weather although chilly enough to require a beanie at times. Many jobs were undertaken during our numerous trip up and down the zig zag path and along the island coastline. Walls painted, cottage cleaned, most mice removed, penguins counted, solar light system checked. However one thing Nick couldn’t fix was the solar hot water system. I know that you will envisage a typical solar hot water system backed by gas or electricity but this is Althorpe. The term Hot Water is used rather loosely as it really means water let to run through a few metres of black polypipe, encased behind a bit a glass. Not quite freezing during the middle of the day, but possibly frozen solid at night.

The rest of our stay was even more interesting as southerly gales blew across the plateau. The group sought out African Boxthorn and Tree Mallow regrowth as well as undertaking various other tasks, all being well rugged up with warm gear. The mercury dropped as we endured wind and rain, but with a non leaking roof over us thanks to Nick re-roofing the rear veranda area of the cottage. Now this is an old cottage, 1879 to be exact, with beautiful thick walls designed to keep in the heat from the wood burning stove. Only problem we had was that the stove stopped working years ago and of course there is actually no wood, or in fact trees on the island. Everyone wanted to volunteer to be cook just to get near the gas stove and the rest of us simply reverted to beanies, scarves and thick sox.

It was to a weeks trip but with the bad weather the boat was unable to leave its moorings to pick us up until day 11.The emergency food supply was called upon and the coffee lasted until the last morning. Another great trip and we have the photos to prove it.

Ian and Robyn

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Not Paddling – Pedalling

Robyn, Michael and I decided to ride the Murray to the Mountains Bike Rail Trail, continue up Mt Hotham and then tour across the Dargo High Plains Road and then return home via the King Valley.

We had great trip, although the ride up to Mt Hotham defeated us. We enjoyed the MTM Rail Trail ride of over 200km as well as the spectacular scenery on the Dargo High Plains and King Valley. Luckily the snow kept away with the worst being some rain and fog on the higher roads.

I took a few photos and hope you like them.They can also be found on Flickr via the link in our Photos page.
Cheers….Ian

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Kayak Sail for Passat G3 Seaward kayak

I’ve been mucking about sea kayak sails for many years and had a variety of shapes and types fitted on lots of my kayaks, starting in the early 1980′s. I’ve been using the common fold down mast on my single kayaks with a 1sq metre sail for many years and thought this was the simplest model.

With the arrival of our Passat G3 double from Seaward Kayaks, Robyn and I have had to rethink the sailing idea. We looked at a couple of normal style mast fittings, but decided that we needed a” through the deck” mast socket. I wanted it to be able to paddle effectively whilst the sail was up so I decided on a central sail mount, between the 2 paddlers, and close to the front paddler, meaning that I couldn’t actually reach the mount to insert the mast.

I enlisted the help of Mal B, our Mr Gadget on this one. His design was  a stainless steel tube with exterior flange, matching underdeck reinforcing plate with a bracing bracket to the bulkhead. It incorporated a “lead in” section in the tube so that the mast could be inserted at an angle, and then pushed upright by the rear paddler. Luckily Mal had a few ideas and some expert engineering skills to install it and make it work. After buying some tube and plate it was off to the workshop to cut and weld it together. The fairlead cleat for the boom rope is not attached by bolts through the deck as is common practice, but threaded onto a spectre cord that is attached to the deckline mounts meaning fewer holes drilled in the kayak.

Then the problem of deck storage. Because the sail mast was not attached to the foredeck as in my previous fit-out with single kayaks, I had to get a more streamlined full length bag made for the furled sail and store it on the deck.

As my sewing skills are well known to be zero, I contacted an old friend who makes kayak sails as well as doing windsurfer sail modifications and repairs.

Di knocked up a perfect storage bag suitable for storage on the deck. Di had previously built lots of sails for me and all are still in excellent condition, so if you’re in Adelaide, or infact anywhere in Australia, and  need a sail repair or bag made give Di a call on (08) 82965464 or her mobile 0404040593.
I’m sure she will be able to help you out.

I took a couple of photos and filmed a little of the Passat under sail during our recent trip along the coast of Yorke Peninsula. Hope it gives you an idea of the mounting system and sailing fun.

This is only a basic overview of the system so if you want more information please contact me. The next project is to design a sail fitout for my Nimbus Njak kayak, that doesn’t involve extra holes drilled in the kayak and can be easily fitted as one unit. I’ll get onto that one when I get back from our next holiday.

Happy paddling
Ian and Robyn

Mal Blewett joins the Bass Strait club

Mal landed today at Little Musselroe Bay Tasmania after crossing Bass Strait in a single Nimbus Telkwa kayak and he did it solo. He had fun with the changing weather, fought with pesky animals (rattus rattus – aka black rat ) trying to steal his food, got dumped in large seas smashing his compass and damaging the kayak, saw lots of aquatic and bird life and camped at places few people will ever visit. All that in just 13 days.
Congratulations from everyone at Paddling South.

It took 13 days to paddle there, but longer to get back. Mal cant get back on the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry until early April.

His report on landing today.
 Hi All, well that’s it; the big crossing is done. Arrived on Tasmania’s shore today around 4.30pm(EST), to be greeted by my wife Annie, Mal Hamilton & his daughter Donna. The crossing of Banks Strait from Rebecca Cove on Clarke Island to Little Mussleroe Bay on Tassie, went well with the strong currents and 4mtr swell muddled in with a 2mtr constant wind wave and 20knots of wind, just to keep me on my toes. My little make shift compass spent most of the day pointing in the wrong direction as it has done since having my good Silva compass smashed at the beginning of the expedition. I shall be writing a very stern letter of complaint to Garmin since my good GPS the Garmin 78sc decided to die completely as I was about a mile out to sea on the start of the long ocean crossings many days ago. No compass and a stuffed GPS makes for a lot of guess work. I did carry my spare Garmin 78s which constantly shuts down. Oh what fun!!! Many thanks to all that have given me help and assistance along the way. I will create a list and add it to this web posting when I get settled back to civilization. Today Bass Strait tomorrow the world!!!!

Ashore on Tasmania

Tasmania by kayak – reports from Mal and Ben and Lach

Mal B has arrived at Flinders Island having made it over half way to Tasmania.
See his page with this link

He reports……………
Hi All,
Landed at Killiecrankie at 6pm last night (Wed 14th March) which is a small settlement on the Northern tip of Flinders Island. The days paddle was around 70kms and around 11.5 hrs paddling and it just dragged on. The famous words of Bart & Lisa Simpson “Are we there yet” kept coming into mind. The sea state was quite good for the first 10kms with the usual 3 Mtr swells looming at you as a big powerful wall of water. The rest of the trip was made up of coping with the strong currents and constant head winds which just added to the drag. Saw many Penguins swimming as I paddled up and down the swells. I was met on the beach by my Wife Annie and good friend Mal Hamilton and his daughter Donna who flew out to Flinders Island.

Forgot to mention that during the paddle from Refuge Cove to Hogan Island, I had many sea birds circling around me during the day, including many Albatross with their 2mtr wing tips just missing the water, a beautiful site. The funniest thing so far on the expedition was one of these Albatross (which I think was a Southern Royal)
came directly at me from about 10mts away I watched as its wings start to flutter then these two big webbed feet dropped down from the undercarriage as air breaks as it was ready to land, the words “bugger off” were screamed out. The thought of a big bird sitting as a hood ornament on the front of my kayak as I went up and down the swells just didn’t seem right. The things you see when the camera is not out. Paddled the next k or two laughing my head off.

The weather is looking like it might be turning bad so not sure what will pan out over the next few days
Mal

Meanwhile Ben and Lach paddle on in their journey to circumnavigate Tasmania. Is there anything these young guys can’t do ?.They are currently off the coast of southern Tasmania and we look forward to another report on their latest adventure. Follow the link to their page and then follow on Facebook.

See their progress  with this link.

Mal’s had an exciting day

Follow Mal B on his page by following this  link

I told you paddling a kayak across Bass strait may not be easy !!!
Latest report from Mal B

9/3/12 3.50pm  Things not so good. Things are not good. Slammed by 4m-5m waves. Dumped by a 4m + wave around lighthouse point. Rolled back up again to be slammed by a few more. Compass smashed, rudder bent, shoulder hurt and I’m not so good, but made it to shore.  Trying to fix damage and work out navigation with compass missing-completely torn off !!!.  Apart from that every thing is just dandy. Thanks for all the best wishes from everyone, am  remaining positive . Wish you were all here !!!!

P.S. 11/3/12   Repairs all done, body all ok, paddling into Bass Strait this morning.

11/3/12   Landed on Hogan Island.

Mal B – Bass Strait Crossing Solo Update

He’s off and paddling, leaving this morning from Pt Welshpool Victoria. Mal  had strong head winds this morning with gusts up to 35kn (about 65km/hr). He decided to move out of the Port Welshpool area and he is now camped on the beach at Biddie Cove ready to make a run down the coast when the weather gets better.
If you paste this location into Google Earth you can just make him out on the beach waving.
-38.78162 , 146.46037

Follow him as he makes his run for Tasmania by following this link  to his page on the website and check back daily to see his updates.

Join the Friends of Althorpe Island

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Have you ever paddled to or stayed on Althorpe Island ?  Even if you’ve never been there or heard of the place, now is the time to put up your $10 and join the Friends of Althorpe Island.

I first heard about the island 40 years ago when a friend, a diesel mechanic was sent there to work on the diesel generators that powered the light. Due to bad weather he was unable to get off the island for a couple of weeks, and had a great time exploring.
It took me many years to get there myself and I have returned many times, however, now it is a prohibited area with access only available through the Friends group, due to the decay of the access track.

Email me  for a membership form. Your $10 membership will help the Friends of Althorpe group carry out important restoration work and stop this historic site from falling into disrepair.

I have listed a bit of the history below and hope you enjoy the photos
See you on the water
Ian and Robyn
Althorpe Island  –  Where and What
(taken from www.lighthouses.net.au)

History
The island’s cultural history most likely began with the Lower Yorke Peninsula inhabitants, the Narungga people, 8000 years before present sea levels rose 120 metres.
It was the English, (Matthew Flinders) and French (Baudin & Freycinet) explorers, who sighted the island in 1802 and named their respective discoveries, ‘Althorpe Isles’ and ‘Isles Vauban’.

The next known contact on Althorpe Island came in 1838, with the burial of ‘T. Peterson’, a 42-year-old sealer, who is believed to have lost his life during one the sealing expeditions, working along on Althorpe Island’s 5 km shoreline.

Althorpe Island, is 91.5 hectares, in area, nearly 1.6 km from North to South and 1.2 km wide at the centre and a plateau 91 metres, above sea level.

Reaching the summit is not only an achievement but breathtaking views of Lower Yorke Peninsula with Cape Spencer being the most southerly, 4.5 nautical miles (8 km) from Althorpe Island. The view south is Kangaroo Island and looking west, visitors would note Wedge Island, with Port Lincoln 32 nautical miles further west. To the east, the vast sea horizon of Investigator Strait, where today, Adelaide’s loom can be seen.

Althorpe Island Lighthouse Station was one of a group of lighthouses that represented the inter-colonial agreement by the States in 1873, which sought the necessity of provisions for lighthouses.
Construction began in early 1877 and after a party of dignitaries from the Marine Board arrived on Althorpe Island during the morning on Friday, 14 February 1879, during which time they had inspected the jetty, the bridge to the ‘cutting’ the steep inclined tramway, three cottages and finally, the lighthouse itself.

The President of the Marine Board “emphatically declared it to be a model station”, with a £11,000 price tag, of which £1,500 was for water supply (the total cost was equivalent to one labourers wage for 91 years).

Construction was not without incident, including the loss of the attendant cutter, ‘Young St George’, industrial disputation and the strange death of the foreman, killed by a falling rock while sleeping. The lighthouse was designed by R P Hickson, Engineer-in-Chief for South Australian harbours and jetties.

The lighthouse was constructed with a combination of limestone and hard sandstone, for hard wearing areas, quarried and cut on the island. The spiral staircase is made of solid blocks of sandstone, treads faced with Mintaro slate.

The three Keepers’ Cottages were constructed with rendered limestone rubble and hard sandstone for hard wearing areas.

Water supply was from rain water held in tanks in the foundations of the tower.

From 14 February 1879, or for the next 112 years, lightkeepers and families maintained the 15 metre tower warning mariners from a height of 91 metres above sea level, casting a beam 24 nautical miles into Investigator Strait.

Operation

LOCATION:	Latitude 35° 22.2′S, Longitude 136° 51.7′ E
OPERATOR:	Australian Maritime Safety Authority
EXHIBITED:	1879
CONSTRUCTION:	Stone
CHARACTER:	0.1 sec flash every 7 sec
LIGHT SOURCE:	120v 1000w Tungsten Halogen Lamp
POWER SOURCE:	Twin Diesel Generator sets
INTENSITY:	710,000 cd
ELEVATION:	107 metres
RANGE:	24 nautical miles
HEIGHT:	20 metres
AUTOMATED:	1991
DEMANNED:	1991
DEACTIVATED:	-
CUSTODIAN:	Parks SA

Banned from Woolworths – no it wasn’t me – honest

Banned from Woolworths

– I didn’t like shopping there anyway
Yesterday I was at my local Woolworths buying a large bag of Purina dog food for my loyal pet and was in the checkout queue when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant?
So, since I’m retired and have little to do…………. on impulse I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog,
I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn’t, because I ended up in hospital last time, but that I’d lost 12 Kilos before I woke up in intensive care with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV’s in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry.

The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in queue was now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified, she asked me if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her “No, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter’s arse and a car hit us both.” I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.

I’m now banned from Woolworths. Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of daft things to say.

Photos from “Wilson Prom” paddle- Victoria, Southern Australia

Donna Hamilton sent me a few photos from the paddle she did with Mal H, Mal B, Margaret and Anna. They paddled from Port Welshpool to Refuge Cove and return. This is a beautiful coastline and the campsites along the way are worth the paddle.
Donna took 580 shots on the trip and here are just a few.

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