WEATHER:  Dodge tide, low tide at Port Wakefield at 12.40. Winds forecast SSE 12-15 kn in morning and building to 20kn in the afternoon.

Groupmembers:  Rebecca and Steve Hampton (Mirage 600), Abelardo Pardo (Delta 17) , Mark Loram (Prijon) and Hugh Stewart (Mirage 580).

Preparing

Abelardo and I did the car shuffle and arrived back at the Port Wakefield boat ramp at 8.45.  We were packed and sitting on the water in the channel by 0930. Te bottom of the boat ramp was very slippery but it is quite a protected area to launch boats.  Good public toilets nearby.

Windy but manageable

We set off out the channel and followed the channel markers out into the gulf.  We set off on a heading of 250M from the last channel marker and could see Port Clinton quite plainly.  The wind was blowing at 15 kn pushing choppy wind waves under our Port side beam but it was quite manageable.  The sea was the colour of an old flat white coffee with sea weed drifting by and the occasional large clumps giving a little distraction in the water.  There were numerous white caps out on our port side with the occasional half a metre wave coming through causing the boats to yaw and buck a bit but nothing serious.

Abelardo lead the first hour and when we stopped for a break the houses of Port Clinton were quite visible.  Interesting Port Wakefield was much less so from 7.5 km out.  We could make out the channel markers and some of the antennas but the houses were hidden by mangroves and the murky conditions. Steve and Rebecca took the lead to practice their navigation skills. We reached the clearer, shallower and calmer water near Port Clinton within a half hour.  The approach was camouflaged with mangroves. We could see clearer water to the south of the town so we headed that way and found some channel markers leading in to the beach in front of the Caravan Park where we had left Abelardo’s car.

The Walk

It was nearly Low tide and the water was very low as we came up to the ramp.  The give away sign was the yellow tractor 500 m from the High Tide mark standing out in the bay in 200mm of water.  It was a long carry up the track to the beach.  (Note to self – try to arrange for a High Tide if we do it again, Or bring a trolley.)

Interestingly the wind did not reach the forecast high and proceeded to drop for the rest of the afternoon.  Given better forecasts it would have been a simple return paddle.

Overall statistics (Link point to GPX track file)

Port Wakefield — Port Clinton: 13.35Km