Sat Phone

A few people have been enquiring about dropping us a line to our sat phone. Yes you can, if you wish too, it's free for you to send and for us to receive. 

This is the number +881622459708 and this is where you go to type your message http://messaging.iridium.com/

Each message is restricted to 160 characters so anyone used to Twitter can be really verbose.

We will switch the phone on every day to receive the weather though now we are not paddling The Lost Coast this is probably not so necessary as we are likely to be within marine VHF range most of the time. 

It costs us AU$1.20 to send a text so don't expect too many replies! Sorry. 

Plan B

This trip to Alaska has been in the planning stage, on and off, for about three years. The original attraction was to paddle The Lost Coast, a 900 km section of open coast between Cape Spencer and Cordova in Prince William Sound. As we are west coast junkies such a stretch of wilderness coastline proved irrestible but it was extremely hard to find any information, particularly info from people who had paddled it before. We eventually discovered two people who had, a US paddler who didn't respond to the email address I found and Paul Caffyn. 

I emailed Paul and he was extremely helpful, sending us his detailed diary of his trip along The Lost Coast in 1990. 

The fact that we could only find two previous trips along the coast and one of those was Paul's made realise how serious it was. In 900km there are only two bays, Yakutat Bay and Icy Bay the rest is 100's and 100's of kms of beach, steep beach too so dumping surf. 

Loaded double, big dumping surf - gulp.

 

Planning continued though, based on our ability to cover much greater distances than in a single kayak, particularly with a sailing wind so reducing the number of times we would have to land. Also in recent years the coast has seen many fat bike and pack raft trips, the videos on You Tube are worth watching, importantly for us they also showed the surf. And it didn't look too bad. So planning continued but not without a lurking shadow in the back of my mind that it would be touch and go whether we would reach Cordova with us or the kayak in one piece. 

Then only a couple of months ago totally by chance I came across an article in a local newspaper of two paddlers from Montana who had paddled part of The Lost Coast last summer. 

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/voyaging_the_lost_coast/35051

It took a while but I eventually got in contact with them and a flurry of emails full of questions and responding answers ensued. The lurking shadow got darker particularly on reading they had spent 24hrs in their kayaks as the surf prevented them from landing. 

So we hatched Plan B. 

We'd continue with our plans to paddle the west coasts of Baranof and Chichagof Islands to get a feel of the west coast conditions and if we didn't like it we could head east through Cross Sound and Icy Straight to Juneau and catch the ferry north to Prince William Sound.

We then discovered, literally only a few weeks ago, that one of this team was 29yrs old, a Grade 5 whitewater paddler who loved paddling big waterfalls. 

I knew then, why, as our planning had progressed and we learnt more about The Lost Coast the lurking shadow had become bigger and darker. 

If a team with that sort of ability had the troubles they did, The Lost Coast would make mincemeat of us. 

And they only paddled half of it. 

Finally Here And On The Water.

The moment of truth. The moment when the Virgin Australia says "Oh no we don't fly yellow kayaks on a Saturday" or some such stricture that has slipped through my repeated reading of the oversize baggage small print on their website. Despite being at the check in over two and half hours before departure the queue was horrendous but a lovely Virgin lady took us aside when she realised how much luggage we had and escorted us straight past the queue and we were checked in no time. She did mention in a concerned voice that we would have to pay $100 excess baggage and was that all right? 

$100 to take a 6m kayak all the way to Seattle - I think we'll manage, thanks.

Hey look, there's someone with almost as much luggage as us!

 

Wayne, schooner and tall ship captain was at Seatle airport to meet us and we soon settled in at his and partner Nicolle's cosy property on Marrowstone Is near Port Townsend, the wooden boat capital of western sea board. 

Dinner with friends of theirs who know Alaskan waters like the back of their hand included a feast of clams dug from the tidal flats that afternoon. 

The next few days were a mix of simply catching up with old friends and slowly getting ready. We bolted the kayak together and went for a short paddle just up the road at Mystery Bay to ensure we were reasonably watertight. This as a matter of course included a BBQ and beer looking out over the array if lovely wooden boats gently bobbing on their moorings. All to quickly food was bought and all our gear was being packed in waterproof bags for the paddle from Marrowstone to Bellingham to catch the ferry to Alaska. 

Coincidentally Australian friends of Lynne's and Wayne's from the tall ship Eye of the Wind arrived the day before we had to leave so we had quite a farewell party as finally on the water we set off across Admiralty Inlet about midday Thursday. 

We had planned to be at the ferry at about lunchtime on Saturday for departure at 6pm but fair weather, calm seas and some sailing breezes had us pulling up to the public slipway literally 100m from the ferry terminal at 10.30 Saturday morning.

Friday we had stormed along arriving at our campsite on Saddlebag Is State Park for lunch after 35km. The day was not without it's concerns though in these busy waterways, everything from fast runabouts to car ferries jostling for space in Guemes Channel, it's the first time I have wished we had a rear view mirror on the kayak. 

There was though a moment of dread in the slipway at Bellingham when I discovered I had left a couple of pieces of our trolley at home, luckily, very luckily they were not absolutely essential so we could after all get the kayak onto the ferry!

Concept Packing

Just testing that we can get everything in,  we are not overweight and each piece of kayak is the right weight. 

 

Pedra Branca

To paddle out to Pedra Branca, just because it's there and because as far as we know no one else has, is an idea that has been kicking around for many years. Way back in the late 90's sometime Grant Dixon, Ollie Henschel and Lynne and I discussed paddling out there in a couple of doubles but the idea ground to a halt when we realised that given our disparate working schedules the hardest part would be getting all four paddlers on the beach at Cockle Creek at the same time, all be fit enough and of course have suitable weather.

The idea has been lurking in the back of my mind as something to do 'one day' especially at the end of a few SW trips when having been paddling for a couple of weeks or more we would be well and truly fit enough. 

The first time we were in the area and fit enough was on our circumnavigation in 2010 but at that stage after the best part of two months paddling when only a couple of days from home it was not even contemplated. 

In 2011 we paddled from Cockle Creek to Port Davey and back and it was definitely on my mind but the weather was unsurprisingly not very cooperative. 

The same again when in 2012 we spent three weeks paddling from Strahan to Cockle Creek, in fact we had such consistent and strong Easterlies along the South Coast that we had almost run out of food by the time we battled the NE headwinds around SE Cape and arrived a Cockle Creek.

Somehow the idea grew to the extent that this summer we were keeping a very close eye on the weather and were serious about making an attempt if life's busy schedule didn't clash with a perfect weather day.

We have been using WindGuru for some years for our long term forecasts and we have found it pretty accurate. By opening a free account WindGuru enables email alerts for designated spots and wind conditions.

So when the forecast average wind speed during daylight hours was less than 10kn at Pedra Branca I would receive an email like this.

Australia - Pedra Branca:

----------------------------------------------

Day 1 (Fri 4.4.2014):

7.3 knots (Average wind speed during daylight)

Day 2 (Sat 5.4.2014):

7.5 knots (Average wind speed during daylight)

Day 5 (Tue 8.4.2014):

5.9 knots (Average wind speed during daylight)

Day 6 (Wed 9.4.2014):

9.2 knots (Average wind speed during daylight)

http://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=486584

We'd then refer to the BOM Met Eye for a much more detailed outlook for the days that were looking possible. 

About a month ago we missed a perfect day as can be seen from the screenshots of the Met Eye page.

A perfect day as tail winds all day particularly on the way home!

As the summer crept on and the daylight hours shortened it was beginning to look as though we would miss our chance this season. That is until Saturday April 5th appeared as a possible. As usual we got into the habit of checking Met Eye at least once a day to see how things were looking as the day got closer and the forecasts more accurate. 

We weren't paddling fit but we sort knew that we could do the distance even though Saturday's forecast didn't offer much, if any, sailing breezes. 

So it was on. We stocked up with tins of ricecream, baked beans, fruit and muesli bars for an anticipated 10-11hours in the kayak and drove down to Cockle Creek. 

I really didn't hold out any hope that this would be any more than an attempt, we weren't super paddling fit and nothing like this happens first time but I didn't say anything to Lynne. One last check of Met Eye just before bed on Friday night and the alarm was set for 5.30am to be on the water by 7am. 

As we rounded Fisher Point the sun showed briefly on the horizon before disappearing behind the cloud but the day looked just perfect. From Second Lookout Point we headed out to sea on what turned out to be the wrong bearing, after all that planing too hah! We should have bothered to switch the GPS on to check but also we could see Pedra long before we expected to so once we were heading in right direction navigation was very simple. 

He we go I thought, the long boring plod for a few hours until we get there, surprisingly though it went very quickly as we settled into the long established paddling rhythm that enables the mind to wander and dream far away from the task in hand. A couple of stops for something to eat and just enough SSW breeze to have the sails up but we weren't getting much help from the wind apart from when taking a break. At least then we were moving in the direction we wanted to go at a knot or so. Whenever I was conscious of my paddling it was to keep a relaxed and effortless stroke, the ever increasing distance from a safe landing looming in the back of my mind warning of any wasted effort and early fatigue that could spell serious trouble. 

Slowly it dawned on us that Pedra Branca was actually quite big on the horizon in front of us and well this wasn't just an attempt we were nearly there, but bloody hell it's a long way back. 

As we approached I counted three recreational fishing boats and groaned as inevitably we would be spotted and become the centre of attention. Attention that is usually negative with derisory comments such as "have you got rocks in your head?" Sure enough one of the tinnys was headed our way and surprisingly the four blokes on board were encouraging and supportive though we were asked if we had an EPIRB and then they checked we had a VHF but that was an invitation to call them if we needed help rather them checking we were properly equipped. One of them did shout "Are you still drunk?"but they were friendly and even proudly showed us some of the fish they had caught.

I was hungry but the pressure to keep moving was so much I thought I'll paddle for an hour before eating. An hour less from the three necessary to get us within cooee of the coast. When we did stop it was a quick guzzle of easily digestible energy rich rice cream, baked beans and tinned fruit though Lynne did have a slice of quiche which didn't settle well in her stomach and she felt slightly sick for a couple of hours.

By now into our second of hour on the return weariness had well and truly settled in so we started having short rest and a bite to eat every hour. This was sort of good but I felt it took me ages to get back into an effortless paddling rhythm but I couldn't wait to stop at the next hourly break. The third hour was nearly up, I was watching South Cape slowly being hidden by South East Cape not only was it going to disappear from view at just about the same time as our next hourly stop but that was three hours from Pedra Branca. We'd cracked it, not home, but within a distance we knew that little if anything could stop us. 

By now both of us were suffering back ache from sitting in the boat for so long, my mind wandered to thoughts of Andrew MaCauley, a mere 9 hours in a kayak pah, what wimps we are! I found that if I forced myself to sit very very upright the ache went away but it couldn't stop me dreaming, as I had been for a couple hours of lying out flat on a lovely piece of grass near were we had launched that morning.

Crossing to our launching spot from Fischer Point had the potential to seem like it would take forever if you looked ahead at the beach so I looked to one side or the other, watching the trees and rocks on coast wizz by, it seemed like we were flying. A quick look ahead, out landing point looked even further away. Avert your eyes, watch those trees and rocks disappear behind us, we're flying. Suddenly I'm watching the rocks and trees just metres to our right. Both of us stop paddling without a word about 30m from the sand with just enough way on to get us to the beach without another paddle stroke. I surprised myself by actually remembering to pull the rudder up and the bow scrunched into the sand. 

There finished the longest distance we ever paddled in a day ~74km and the longest time ever 9hrs45mins we've sat in our double. Surprisingly, there was only about five minutes difference between the outward leg and the return leg.

Postscript - We were by no means the first to paddle out to Pedra Branca.

Aboriginal leader Worrady recounted in 1831 that they would embark on long and dangerous voyages to islands as far as Eddystone Rock and Pedra Blanca, up to 25km off shore, stating that "their catamarans was large, the size of a whaleboat, carrying seven or eight people, their dogs and spears. The men sit in front and the women behind" (Worrady, as told to GA Robinson, 1831).

http://www.aboriginalheritage.tas.gov.au/canoes

Cape Barren Island

We always try and get away for an extended trip somewhere in Tasmania every summer, the location usually determined by the weather. This year we were so undecided between the Furneaux Group and the Hunter Group that we set off up the Midland Hwy with maps of both areas in the van.

As the weather looked a bit more settled in the East and looked perfect for crossing Banks Straight we turned right at Conara and headed NE.

I had not seen these GPS markers before, very handy just to check the settings and accuracy of your GPS unit. Thanks MAST.




I had never been out to Eddystone Lighthouse so we decided to start the trip nearby at Deep Creek, launching the kayak on the high tide just metres from the tent, very handy.

 Looking from Deep Creek towards George Rocks 5km away. The huge pall of smoke is from the bushfire on Clarke Island which started near the airstrip on the NW shore of the island a day or so before.

Approaching George Rocks.

Looking back towards Deep Creek and Eddystone Point.

We had a fantastic southerly sailing wind from George Rocks so the 27km to Swan Island went very quickly. Swan Is is privately owned and years ago we had heard access was discouraged as there was an exclusive retreat based at the old light keepers houses. The island though was not only deserted but looked as if it had been that way for a long time, though according to the signs we were under surveillance.  

After a night on Swan Island we crossed Banks Straight the next morning to arrive on the now totally blackened Clarke Island. There was no sign of ongoing fire apart from two small wisps of smoke in the distance. The fire had burnt everything right to the edge of the beach and from what we saw seems to have burnt virtually the whole island. 

 We've never had much luck trolling lures behind the kayak but between Clarke Is and Forsyth Is Lynne caught this lovely couta.




We continued on around Moriarty Point and along the east coast of Clarke Is then across to Forsyth and Passage Islands. There are a couple of grazers' huts and an airstrip on Passage Island and most importantly, as it is hard to find in this part of the world,  tanks full of fresh rainwater collected from the hut roofs.
I have heard that Sea Lion Narrows between Passage Is and Cape Barren Is has the strongest tidal flows of anywhere in Tasmania. The channel is only about 1km long and 500m wide but has currents of 6 knots or more at peak flow. We had the flooding tidal current against us but worked our way along close to the shore of Passage Is then did a ferry glide across to the opposite shore.
Camp that night was at Petticoat Bay on a flat level grassy ledge looking out over the Tasman Sea.

 

Fresh water can be very hard to find in the Furneaux Islands so it is important to always carry at least a couple of days' worth. The next day, with this in mind we stopped off at Thirsty Point on the east coast of Cape Barren Is. The point has large areas of granite slabs with depressions that collect rainwater. Most of them were brackish but two had mozzie wrigglers in them, ensuring that although full of wildlife, the water was fresh. There was also a well dessicated dead seal that enabled us to practice our Leatherman dentistry skills when removing the large canine teeth.


 

There was not a breath of wind that day and it was stiflingly hot so it was a bit of a plod up the east coast of Cape Barren Is to the wreck of the barque Farsund. As we had not paddled the east coast of Vansittart Is we continued north knowing by this time the flooding tide would be pouring around Ross Point, the northern tip of Vansittart Is, into Franklin Sound. 

We were still a few kms from Ross Point and the tide started drawing us towards the entrance to Franklin Sound at an ever increasing rate. We shot past Briggs Islet and headed for Great Dog Island, encountering a very strong rip off the SE point which can be seen in the picture.

We camped in the little bay on the SE coast of Great Dog Is 13 years ago on a family trip with our daughters Louisa and Megan as well as Craig, Desley and their children Amy and Rowan. We couldn't find our tent sites from that trip but soon found a cosy alternative in amongst the boobyala. In 2001 we had watched the most spectacular sunset from the rock headland while at exactly the same time the full moon rose from the eastern horizon. We didn't get the full moon this time but did get a great sunset.

The next morning we set off west through Franklin Sound in dead calm conditions with the flooding tide pushing us along. As we had plenty of time and the weather was still very settled we headed out to Mt Chappell Island then on to Badger Is and hopefully Goose Island.

We stopped for a quick break on Sarah Blanche Point on the SW tip of Flinders Is.  A SE breeze had picked up, just enough to get the sails up for the 13km crossing to the unmistakeable shape of Mt Chappell Is, but by this time the tide had started to ebb so it was a slow crossing despite the wind. 




Just off the beach on the eastern shore of Mt Chappel Is and well and truly ready for some lunch. When we were here in 2010 the abandoned huts near this beach were still, just, collecting rainwater, but now the guttering had fallen off and what water was in the tank was definitely not drinkable.




Our campsite at Lucy Point on Badger Island looking back towards Mt Chappell Is. It was so hot we looked for quite a while for a spot with some shade.
Nearby was an unused hut with good guttering and a full water tank outside and just about all that was inside were some pornographic magazines, a nutty religious book decrying the decadence of modern life and about 50kg of fencing staples. I suppose the magazines were there just so those reading the book could check first hand on the decadence referred to in the book.

 Love the bar code!

The next day the forecast was for NE to SE winds to 15 knots and we planned to head over to Goose Is then around the north coast of Badger Is, across to Cape Barren Is and maybe on to Preservation Is if we had time. The weather though had other plans, we shot along the south coast of Badger Is under sail with a south easterly behind us but as soon as we reached Unicorn Point and headed into Toms Bay the wind backed to the NE and strengthened so with the crossing to Cape Barren Is in mind we beat a retreat back to our campsite at Lucy Point to wait for the forecast afternoon lull. Well before midday the wind dropped away and we set off south easterly towards Long Island with the wind just a bit too forward of the beam to use the sails. A few kms from Long Island the east/south easterly wind slowly picked up so once we were close enough to bear away and head towards Cape Sir John the sails went up and our speed picked up considerably. Around the other side of Cape Sir John and along to Looking Glass Point it was a bit of plod against what was now quite a strong headwind. We camped that night, and because of forecast 20/25kn westerlies, the following night too on Preservation Is.

For a couple of days the forecast for Tuesday had been NW 10-15kts, just perfect for a fast sail assisted crossing of Banks Strait. With this in mind we had a short day on the Monday from Preservation Is to Spike Bay on Clarke Is, our jumping off point for the crossing. 

Spike Bay is just spectacular, one of our top spots of anywhere around the coast of Tasmania. Some small areas seemed to have escaped the fire, too.

The morning forecast for Tuesday and our crossing dashed any hopes of an easy sail assisted trip. Variable 10knots, meant little wind if any so a few hours plodding along to get from Lookout Head to Swan Is.
We had never been into the adjacent Rebecca Bay so we had a quick look before turning around and heading pretty much due south across Banks St.




We left Lookout Head about an hour or so before high water slack so in theory we should have slack water in the middle of the Strait but the current flowed NW most of the way across slowing us considerably but gradually Swan Is lighthouse grew in size as we got closer. You can see Swan Is lighthouse in the picture and just see some of 54 wind turbines that now stretch along the Musselroe coast line. We thought it was very inconsiderate of them though not to put one of turbines in line with Lookout Head and Swan Is lighthouse making perfect leading marks for crossing Banks Strait.

At last Swan Is and lunch.

The last landing was at one of the Stumpys Bay campsites through horrible 1.5m dumping waves.  We got in all right but we just couldn't work out a way of leaving the beach in the morning, as there was no respite from a big and powerful explosion of surf every 10/15 seconds. We could have tried but it would have been messy and we would have only got off with a lot of luck - without that luck the thought of being in such explosively powerful surf in company with a fully laden double was not attractive. There was nothing else for it but to walk the 15km south to Deep Creek to pick up the van.

And drive home. 

Yay! It works!

Blog posts limited to 160 characters from sat phone here we come, though at $1.20 at time there won't be that many.

SMS from 881622459708@msg.iridium.com

2nd test msg.

SMS from 881622459708@msg.iridium.com

Test message from sat phone.

Plan A or The Scumbags Go Alaska

The approximate route. We arrive in Ketchikan on May 26 and leave Whittier July 28.

Some idea of what the area looks like from a couple of paddlers last summer.

And some idea of how it might become very interesting. 

Equipment Woes - Completely Resolved

Well good on Exped for replacing our tent.

Our problems our Exped Orion started long before our trip to Ireland and Scotland but did get progressively worse during that trip with rips in the flysheet and corroding poles.

The patch on the flysheet can be seen below, we ended up with another before the end of the trip. Its obvious the old flysheet had faded considerably compared to the new one so I suspect the material had been weakened by UV despite being covered with an old tarp when pitched all day in the Tasmanian sun. Even that wasn't without problems, the old tarp wore holes in the tent flysheet underneath.

I have had no reasons from Exped as to why we had a multitude of problems with the tent in only two years. My theory is that most outdoor gear is getting lighter and lighter and so durability despite new 'wonder' materials is nothing like it used to be. Couple this with an estimated 16 weeks use of the tent in the last two years, which I would imagine would be much greater than the average use of a backpacking tent.

It will be interesting to see how long the new one will last.

Equipment Woes - Resolved. Mostly.

In what seems another lifetime ago way back in July, I had a good whinge about the gear problems we were having in Equipment Woes.

I don't mind giving the people who make gear a hard time if the equipment does not live up to expectations but am also very happy to praise them when they resolve the problems.

So good on Typhoon International for excellent customer service in sending me a replacement drysuit to wear for more than half of our trip so I could return mine for testing. As it turned out I don't think there was anything wrong with it but they were concerned enough to want it back to check it was ok. They also responded very quickly when due to various courier and address mix ups my drysuit got lost and then when found it followed a very circuitous route back to me, arriving the day before we left to return to Australia.

Credit due to Thermarest in Ireland who once I made contact immediately arranged to post me a replacement, by that time though the major surgery I had inflicted on the existing mattress had worked so I only had two nights sleeping on the ground. It was nice to have a new one but as it so light and feels as though it is made of tissue paper it will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Solarfilm too offered to replace the faulty solar panel but due to the difficulties of having a replacement sent from the US to us in Ireland I asked them to send the replacement to Tasmania. It was a bit of a gamble as the faulty one could have stopped working at any time leaving us unable to charge our phones and VHF radio - our most reliable sources of weather information. Luckily it kept working and the new one has just arrived here at home. 

We had more major problems with our Exped tent, the poles started corroding badly which made them virtually impossible to put together and/or pull apart and right at the end of the trip the flysheet ripped again. These problems coupled with others from earlier in the trip and before has made the tent pretty much worn out and unreliable in just over two years. We have two Macpac tents, one 24yrs old the other over 15yrs old that are still very much in working order and have caused less problems in all that time than the Exped tent in just two years.  I have been in contact with Exped and they seemed concerned about all the issues we've had but nothing resolved yet.