Trips around Sydney

Had good day out yesterday. Launched from Balmoral as planned and headed out into the drizzle. The harbour was very quiet considering for some it's a long weekend (Tuesday public holiday - many will take Monday as well). I guess the grey overcast weather kept most people away.

Decided to have a look outside the heads so passed under the cliffs of North Head into a 2-3m swell. Met up with some other kayakers practicing recovery techniques in the ocean swell prior to a west Bass Strait crossing. After crossing the official "you're at sea line" on the GPS I cut across and came back in around South Head.

By this time I was getting pretty hungry so I made my way into Watson's Bay and pulled up on the beach next to Doyle’s for a fish and chip lunch on the beach. AI was a hit here and got it's photo taken by a very interested gent who was warned of their addictive lure...

Fed and watered I headed off to Rose bay to check out WSC and Shark Island before sailing/pedalling back to Balmoral where I found the coffee shop closes at 1700

I'll post some pics soon.

Overcast and drizzle leaving Balmoral


North Head Cliffs


Lunch time at Watson's bay


Poor little camera was having a hard time in the overcast condidtions. I was a little suprised how soft some of the pics came out. Might have to check the settings. Bobbing up and down in the swell didn't help much and I know I hit the shutter before focus lock in some cases.


Track log

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David, Sounds like a Big Day Out on the harbour. I also enjoyed fish & chips at Doyles when I was "abandoned" in Sydney one weekend before Christmas.

Looking forward to your pics. Did you find anything interesting on the bottom?

Same place that I parked

Would look good with a few more AI's lined up.

And yes, I'm pretty sure I found a small boat sitting on the bottom at Balmoral. I'd just stopped recording then saw it so I started the recording again and made a few more passes.

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3 Pics added above ^

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Fantastic post CGM. Nice to see some more contributions to this thread.

Next trip - Wednesday 27 Jan - Australia Day Recovery Trip.
ETD: WSC ramp at 18:00

Who will be there?

As much as I was hoping to be there I didn't get a chance to pack the AI yesterday and bring it in to work today. No hope of going home and back again. Next week should be back to normal.

P.S. And a wheel fell off my cart thing The pin fell out in Rose Bay just south of Shark Island. If you see one wash up let me know. I've got a replacement but still have to pack the wheel with new grease and assemble.

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Sorry folks, no trip report tonight - unless the stroll to the Japanese restaurant from WSC counts. CGM turned up without a boat, so I felt pressured to be sociable The absence of wind and a bit of drizzle might have also contributed to a lack of enthusiasm

Well, there is always tomorrow. Seabreeze.com.au is predicting 15kt ENE winds at 1830 28Jan - looking good.

Well, as far as weather predictions go, seabreeze.com.au was true to form - and got it wrong. Here is how the day's wind progressed.


I got away from work in good time and managed to launch the AI by 1740. At this time, the sky was trying to release rain drops but not quite managing it. There was a good 10 kt ENE breeze and I could maintain near 5 kts tacking out of Rose Bay. After a short tack into Shark Bay the gusts ceased and the wind dropped substantially. Nevertheless, with a bit of peddle supplement, I made it to the Sow and Pigs reef in reasonable time.


Here I took a short break and rigged the nav lights, and investigated a floating chair. The wind had turned to N and although only light, I maintained a relaxing tack out to North Head. On the way, the sky over the northern suburbs provided a spectacular light show with some incredible cloud to cloud lightning. It was now only 1845 so I headed out for another 15 minutes until I was bout 1/2 NM east of North Head.

1700 was my turn around time. The swell was barely 0.5m and the wind barely 5 kts, so again it was peddle assist for the homeward track. I was frequently luffing the sail as my peddling exceeded wind speed. Now the light show moved to the south of the city, heading directly towards me. I wonder how conductive a salt water sprayed AI is? My objective was not to get close to shore where my AI was no longer the tallest item on the water.

As I approached South Head, the wind almost disappeared completely. I noticed a group of rock fishers near Lady Bay pulling in a decent size snapper, so I pulled out the rod and rigged the line with a soft plastic lure and started trolling. The sky had now worked how to release its water and the rain became serious - sufficiently to provoke donning the spray jacket. Now there was not sufficient wind to make the sail flap, let along fill it, so I furled in and gently peddled for home, trolling my lure at the end of about 80m of line at about 2 kts.

The harbour was now mirror smooth, pocked by rain drops. Not a ripple to be seen. It was now 2000 and still 4 NM to WSC. Mal locks up WSC at 2100. I cannot make much more than 4 kts peddling the AI, so looks like I might have an issue with the gate. These thoughts were going through my mind as I approached Shark Bay and I didn't notice the mass of ripples approaching me from the North. Suddenly there was a firm breeze on the back of my neck and on unfurling the sail the AI took off. I was soon making 8 kts down wind. As it became obvious that I would make the WSC ramp well before 2030 I could not help myself as I turned into a broad port reach and then a broad starbord reach across Rose Bay. I was at the WSC ramp before I knew it, and although tempted to play in the now 25 kt gusts, controlled all urges and took the AI up the ramp for a well deserved washdown.



GRS Odometer
Trip distance: 9.14 NM
Max speed: 7.5 kts
Moving average: 3.3 kts
Time moving: 2hr 47min

Sounds like an interesting evening out. Lucky you had lights.

Here's a side scan image of Sow & Pigs Reef from the other day.

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Rollicking adventures!

I love it and am very envious of these happy sailings.

Quick comments on the above:
Yep, knowing you are prepared and double-checked adds superman buzz.
Waist-deep waves make you feel like a man.
0zk00k got it right when he said, "AI Hit".
Seemingly constant Northerlies up here too.

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Fair Skies, Max.

Well yesterday was Wednesday - twilight sailing day. With miserable weather in the morning and a commitment to go sailing on the weekend, my initial thoughts were to get in another yoga practice (I've been getting so stiff with aches and pains all over so a limber up would no doubt to me good). However as the day wore on, a patch or two of blue cloud appeared and Seabreeze predicted 10-15 kt easterlies for the evening.

So an AI fix became the order of the day.


I was on the ramp and on my way by 18:00, reaching with a 5-10 kt easterly. The occasional gusts up to 15 kts provided bursts of umpf. After rounding Steel Point I held a starboard tack almost all the way to South Head, except for a short port tack to avoid the twilight racing fleet.


I was off South Head within 45 min and admired the 2m swell breaking over South Reef for a moment or two. From here I continued on a NE tack across the Heads. Heading into the occasional big sets left me apprehensive of some excellent wave riding on the way back, however, this was not to be. When it was time to go home, the wind dropped off almost completely and with the Mirage drive I could not get up sufficient speed to ride the waves, so I just bobbed up and down. Then a breath of wind and the Mirage drive resistance dissapeared and I was zooming down a wave - thanks SkyMax I credit this to your participation "in spirit".
Alas, it only happened once.




AS I was coming back through the Heads, the Vollendam was on her way our for another Pacific cruise. This time the pilot did not come over to say hello - I must have been far enough out of her way.




GPS Log:
Max speed: 11.2 kts (the only wave I caught)
Distance travelled: 8.2 NM
Moving Average: 3.7 kts
Trip duration: 2 hrs 12 min

Good stuff. Was wondering if you went out. I got lashed to work last night.
How was the swell out there?
The weather for the weekend has been up and down like a yoyo.

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AIs Unite at Shelly Beach - well not quite

Saturday's weather in Sydney was totally miserable with highly variable winds and lots of rain. I was pleased that we had selected Sunday for our expedition, however, Saturday's weather appeared to be extending well into Sunday, and at 7:20 Sunday morning I called Dave with the intention of cancelling the trip. Will had already withdrawn from the Saturday option with a previous commitment to visit friends at Lake Macquarie. If he was going to join us, he would have called me.

At that time, Dave had already assembled his AI on the roof rack of the Disco and was just ducking inside to get his camera. He had likewise been contemplating withdrawal, but had previously committed to being at the WSC ramp ready to launch at 9:00am, so he ploughed on. This left me with no option but to do likewise.

As I hopped on the K1100 to make my way to WSC, the sky opened and it bucketed down, again justifying the investment in wet weather gear for the bike. If this weather kept up I guessed we would be spending plenty of time in the club rooms enjoying indoor comforts.

I met Dave at the car park outside the WSC and we agreed to proceed to the club kiosk for breakfast. As we sat down with our coffee and sausage rolls the rain stopped and visibility opened up. The weather man had predicted light southerlies and we could see flags flapping in the distance, so agreed to rig up and see what we would find. I had my AI rigged and on the ramp ready to go at 9:30 and spent the next 30min chatting to all and sundry who stopped to admire the AIs whilst Dave continued to rig up all his electronic toys and AI accessories. We were finally ready to head off at 10:00am.


As we peddled out between the moored boats a light breeze rippled the back of my neck and on unfurling the sail we were being blown along at 3 kts. We were sailing and the day started to look a little more promising. Half an hour later the breeze came up to near 10 and at times we were making 6 kts on a broad reach. Before we knew it, we were at South Reef watching a couple of kayakers paddling around South Head.


The weather man had also predicted 2m swell and now, as we crossed between the Heads, we were in it. Dave's boat, loaded up with tons of gear and dragging a side scan sonar head, is a little slower than mine, so I took advantage and ran a loop, riding the occasional wave back in, than catching up with him again. The southerly wind outside, unencumbered by land for thousands of mile, was running at more than 15 knots, with occasional gusts up to 20. This contributed to some great sailing, as well as a sharp 50cm chop on top of the 2-3m swell. Under these conditions the entry to Cabbage Tree Bay was likely to be a bit on the difficult side, plus if these conditions continued into the afternoon the trip home might be more challenging than we would like, so at a mile or so out from North Head we decided to give Shelly Beach a miss and headed back inside Port Jackson.

Unlike the previous Wednesday, on this occasion we had plenty of wind and on the return journey I was reaching at up to 8kts and caught numerous waves, surging up to almost 11 kts - what a ride.

In lieu of Shelly Beach, the fish & chip shop at Balmoral Beach became the target for lunch,


then after checking out the Young Endeavour and another play in the swell between the Heads, and tacks around both wedding cakes,

Parsley Bay became the target for afternoon tea - Alas the shark net floats, over which conventional kayaks can paddle, proved too great a barrier for the AIs and we headed to Watsons Bay. From here it was time to explore Shark Bay beach in the rain and then several tacks, with a few fun reaches across the 15 kt southerly, down Rose Bay and back to WSC.



Another great day on Sydney Harbour.

Trip Log:
Trip distance: 17.1 NM
Max Speed: 10.2 kts
Moving Average: 3.5 kts
Time moving: 4 hrs 53 min
Time stopped: 2 hrs 9 min

He he, love that last pic with mainly water. You can just make out my fluro yello head and port arma out of the water.

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CGM, how about your side of the story?