We’re a crew of 5 regular blokes (average age 45 years) from Newcastle and the Central Coast of NSW that are crossing Bass Strait during March 2009 in 4 sea kayaks…basically lumps of plastic the width of a wheelbarrow and the length of a family car.

Why?

We keep asking ourselves that question too…and it’s something to do with proving to ourselves that life after 40 is not so bad, and raising awareness and funds for bipolar disorder research by the Black Dog Institute. 

None of the Paddledogs suffer from Bipolar Disorder but we’re concerned that it is the third leading cause of death among 15 – 24 year olds, with a worldwide prevalence of 3 – 5% of the global population…and yet so little is known about it.

On board one of our Kayaks (‘Big Dog’) we have a little laptop (‘e-Dog’!) through which we’ll try to connect to wireless broadband each night. Technology permitting, we’ll update our daily progress, including pictures and video. 

We hope to see you back here regularly to watch our progress…and please encourage your friends to support the Black Dog Institute and our crazy adventure!

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – FINAL LEG

Leg 10:  Date: Wednesday 25th March 2009 Route: Rebecca Bay, Clarke Island to Little Musselroe Bay, Tasmania via Banks Strait.Banks Strait is notorious for ferocious tidal currents.  We had planned our whole trip to arrive at Banks Strait at Neaps Tide (i.e. halfway between full moon and new moon when tides are at their weakest).  We estimated that the Banks Strait crossing would take around 4 hours, and so we planned to depart 2 hours before high tide so that the tidal currents would be at their weakest mid-passage.  Our plan was to maintain a magnetic compass bearing of 190 degrees for the whole trip which would mean that we would be dragged west of our planned track for the first 2 hours of the leg (i.e. the last 2 hours of the flooding tide), and then dragged back east (to our planned track) during the first 2 hours of the ebbing tide, allowing us to arrive at Little Musselroe Bay…our final destination. Wind: Tail wind of from the NW of between 5 – 10 kts (i.e. very favourable) Sea: Following seas of up to 1 metre; no significant swell. Cloud cover & temp: Gray and overcast.  Cool.  Light rain patches of rain.  Glad for our Sharkskins again! Wellbeing: We rose at 5 AM to pack camp and load our boats for the last time, leaving plenty of time for our planned 7AM departure.  Having camped on the beach, everything was full of sand, and was wet from the heavy coastal dew.  We all felt excited about the final leg of our journey, and a little anxious about the reputation of Banks Strait.  We’d read many accounts of sea kayakers really having to battle this passage.We were on the water by 6:50 AM, and paddling in the dark. We made excellent speed, and all felt in good form.  Troy managed to get more sailing in (just ’cause he could!). Highlights: Wind and seas were as predicted, and provided for an ‘assisted passage’.  We made the crossing faster than expected, which meant we had to correct our heading once our arrival point was visual.  This meant paddling east with the outgoing tide at up to 15 kph.  Whoo hooo!We could make out tiny dots on the point beyond Little Musselroe Bay that proved to be Troy’s family.  Great to have a friendly welcoming party.  Cathy (Troy’s wife), Viv (Greg’s wife) and Michelle with Paul’s kids showed up later which was fantastic.  Lyndon and Leanne Voigt arrived with the vehicles from Melbourne having come across Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania the night before (the easy way to cross Bass Strait!).It was fantastic to touch Tasmanian soil, and to carry the boats up the beach for the last time.  We were relieved that the whole trip, and Banks Strait in particular, had gone so well.  We were pleased that we had managed to compensate for our inexperience with careful planning, and prudent decision-making.  We felt fitter and stronger than when we started.Several phone interviews with radio stations.Learned that our fundraising had exceeded $11,000. Lowlights: We felt a tiny bit of let-down that the awesome adventure was over.  We were immediately busy with unpacking boats and loading cars, and so kind of missed ‘the moment’.  Customary sore bums and lower backs.Now back to our day jobs!

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 9

Date: Tuesday 24 March 2009 Route: Preservation Island to Clark Island: Departed approx. 9.40am and  arrived 11.40am. Average speed 7km/h. Max speed 13.4km/h. Approx 2h. Distance 14.9km Wind: 10 knot head wind from south east  Sea:  Traveling with the tide. Very messy seas with rip tides – washing machine effect – made for challenging conditions. Cloud cover & temp: Grey overcast cool day. Wellbeing:  A short leg but a pretty taxing paddle – all the bones are over forty and we gave into the tendency to paddle a little harder in the tough conditions than we needed to considering we had the tide with us. Highlights:  The beach at Spike cove on Clark Island is beautiful. We had to camp on sand because it’s a very barren island but beautiful and dramatic with  grey granite rocks covered in contrasting bright orange lichen, green shrubs and blue water. The boys had a very refreshing swim in the cold sea to try and wash some of the grime off. Its nearly all over. Lowlights: Its nearly all over.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 8

Date: Monday 23 March 2009 Route: Long Island to Preservation Island: Left Long Island approx. 9.40am and western side of Preservation Island 12.20pm. (approx 2.5hrs). About 16km. 5.9km average speed – 12.9km/h max speed. Wind: South easterly head wind 10 knots picking up to 15 knots towards the end. Sea: First part along Cape Barren Island – very messy choppy seas. As we crossed the passage and as the wind picked up in the last hour, with us travelling with the tide, it formed short steep faced waves with confused seas up to 1m. A small swell of 0.5m to 1m coming from 4 different directions – quite challenging. Cloud cover & temp: Cool all day. Grey and overcast, A few drops of rain. Wellbeing: All feeling a bit creaky and groany after five days straight paddling. Lower backs and bums of everyone a bit sore. We intended to go on to Clark island in the one day but after stopping at Preservation for lunch we piked out and stopped for the day.  Highlights: Not a real good camp site with a long thin flat but island with tundra or thornbush and rocks, but we found a nice little low patch of green grass we called “the village green” – the first level campsite for a while. Another big highlight was eating the four big Wrasse that Troy caught. Baked and fried – we stuffed ourselves on fresh fish. We’re thinking Troy should submit an article in “Fishing Australia” on how to catch big yummy fish in Bass Strait – he’s become an expert. Two more radio interviews – Troy with ABC Central Coast and Paul with ABC Newcastle.  We saw a massive seal lying asleep in the water with a huge fin sticking out of the water about ½ km off Preservation , also the reefs and shoals along the coast were very interesting.Last but not least, the rest of the guys found a little fluffy ball of grass with a tuft on it that looked rather “Wilson” like (aka Tom Hank’s friend in the movie Castaway) – with a few little improvements to make it more life like it was given to Robin for company. Everyone thinks he’s secretly very fond of it.  Lowlights: Just the usual soreness – but nothing really

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 7

Date: Sunday 22 March 2009 Route: Trouser Point to Long Island: Left Trouser Point approx. 2.00pm and  arrived Long Island 5.0pm. (approx 3hrs). About 18km. 5.9km average speed. Wind: 25 knot cross winds Sea: 0.5m to 1m wind chop. Cloud cover & temp: Overcast, Rain squalls Wellbeing: After a short but tough technical paddle we all pulled up ok. Highlights: Leaving Trouser Point and its seeing its beautiful headland. Making it successfully across the tricky conditions has to go in the highlights section. Robin went for a wonder before we left Trouser Point and discovered a little Cafe/B&B. He scored himself a brewed coffee and a jam croissant.  Lowlights: Most difficult and scariest conditions so far. Waves were hitting us from the left hand side but with a steady effort we made it ok. Campsite is the roughest so far – no level ground and all rocks. We made the best of it by laying down bracken ferns first for that little touch of homely comfort. Robin had a lowlight when he lost a tooth filling while munching on a bar on the water – but that was ok because he’d had the coffee and croissant without the rest of us before leaving Trouser Point so that seemed only fair.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 6

Date: Saturday 21 March 2009 Route: Whitemark to Trouser Point: Left Whitemark approx. 3.45pm and  arrived Trouser Point 6.0pm. (approx 2hrs). About 13km Wind: Slight tailwind.  Sea: Flat – very clear. Cloud cover & temp: Skies clear all the way and quite warm Wellbeing: It was great to get some R&R in Whitemark – hot showers, full stomachs, relaxing beers, friendly locals that all say g’day (and for Robin a proper bed). Just as well we only stayed the one day – we would have got soft. Highlights: Nice straight forward paddle in pleasant conditions and very clear water. It was cool to see our shadows moving across the bottom of the sea floor in the more shallow sections. The scenery was fantastic with the magnificent Strzelecki ranges on our left. They rise 750m out of the water. Very spectacular.  We arrived at the camping spot in Trouser point in late afternoon light with massive granite and marble boulders around us. Can see Cape Barren Island across the way. Back in Whitemark we booked a room at the local hotel in Whitemark so we could all have showers – Robin did well when in order of seniority (read age), Greg decided he was going to continue to rough it on the beach so it fell next to Robin. If any of the 40 year old whipper snappers had ideas about getting the room, Robin soon put a stop to that by exercising his rights.  Lowlights: The tide was out when we left Whitemark so we had to carry the kayaks a long way out to launch. Big Dog all loaded up must come something close to 250kg so it was pretty tough.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 5

Date: Friday 20 March 2009 Route: Roydon Island to Whitemark:  Departed Roydon late morning and arrived Whitemark 3.07pm. Approx. 35km Wind: Strong headwind for most of the way.  Sea: 0.5 to 1m swell on calm sea. Cloud cover & temp: Skies clear. Wellbeing: Ok but it was a difficult paddle with a strong head wind most of the way, so we’re all pretty tired. Highlights: Considering how hard work the paddle was, it was good that it wasn’t too long. Fantastic to get to Whitemark and a shower, enough tucker to actually fill us up and a chance to wash some of our pretty smelly clothes. Lowlights: Probably approached the leg with less preparation than usual because we’d just completed the longest leg and a bit of an assumption had crept in to our thinking that it would be a piece of cake from now on. A good wakeup call that we always need to be on our game and mentally prepared when we’re out on the water because the head wind was pretty tough. It got pretty warm during the paddle so Paul decided to do an eskimo role to cool off – he also found out at the same time that a) his navigation charts weren’t secured on the deck quite as well as they should be and 2) his navigation charts don’t float.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 4

Date: Thursday 19 March 2009 Route: Deal Island to Roydon Island: Left Deal Island approx. 6.45am  and  arrived Roydon Island 4.53pm. (approx 10hrs). A little over 60km Wind: 10 knots westerly – died down later in day.  Sea: 0.5 to 1m swell on glassy sea. Tide east to west. Cloud cover & temp: Skies clear all the way. Wellbeing: All still in good shape after the longest single paddle any of us have ever done. It’s good that the leg tomorow (to Whitemark) is short though. Highlights: The trip was most significant in that it was a challenge to cover that distance in a single paddle. All Greg’s planning on the navigation and weather analysis front has really stood us in good stead in terms of making all the right decisions and changing plans appropriately. Lowlights: Robin’s back is a bit sore. It was pretty sad to leave our little camp on Deal in the middle of nowhere. After several days there we’d really settled in and its such a beautiful part of the world. Mixed emotions about completing the last big leg. Good in that we’ve accomplished it but we sense that a big part of the adventure is over – we can see houses across the water on Flinders. Although it will be good to get back and see loved ones and friends we can see this awesome experience coming to an end.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – DEAL ISLAND STOPOVER

Dates: Sat 14 to Wed 18 March 2009 Weather: We’ve had some pretty wild weather here. About 90km winds and rain was the worst of it. Conditions began to improve on Tues afternoon. Winter Cove was well protected from the wind but as soon as we moved anywhere we got the brunt of it. There has not been enough sunlight to charge the laptop so getting photos and videos out so Lyndon can put them on the web has been difficult. We did manage to get some out though. Wellbeing: All feeling great. It’s about 4 kms to the caretakers cottage/museum/lighthouse on the western side fo the island so we’ve been getting exercise by making the trek regularly. Had fantastic hospitality from the caretakers – Wes and Ethel – yes we’re talking a lovely feed of hot stew. Looking forward to the next leg. Its a big one – a little over 60km so its good we’re all rested up and raring to go early on Thursday morning. We don’t mean morning in a civilised way, we mean it as in 4.00am. We’re doing as much packing as we can today (Wednesday 18th) to make it easier. Highlights: Here is some of the standouts: Fantastic natural environment – feel privileged to be here. Great hospitality from Wes and Ethel. Ethel’s hot stew hitting the spot. Troy’s prowess at fishing and enjoying tucking into the results (rig a sail, throw a line in – this man can do anything!). Live interviews with ABC radio in Newcastle and the Central Coast.Checking out the Museum. Lowlights: Rain, wind and cold is the obvious one but we felt for our mates on the other side of the island who had a much harder time of it (the 3 Qld guys on a similar journey – check out thier blog here). A couple of the nights we went to bed early just to get out of the weather. Being here for so much longer than anticipated we were getting a little low on food but restocking from an emergency store with arrangements to replace goods once we get to Whitemark has fixed that. The fact is its pretty hard to come up with lowlights because we really are having a fantastic time.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 3

Date: Friday 13 March 2009 Route: Hogan Island to Deal Island: Left Hogan Island. 10.30am  and  arrived Deal Island 5.41pm. (7hrs,  11 min)  47 km tide east to west Wind: No wind Sea: 0.5 to 1m swell on glassy sea. Tide east to west. Cloud cover & temp: Skies clear all the way. Wellbeing: All in really good shape. Pulled up really well after over 100km is two days. If we had to we could do the next leg straight away but will be glad for a couple of days break while the weather clears. Planning to head off on the next leg on Tuesday. Highlights:Heaps of them: Leaving Hogan is good spirits. Surface of water so calm “like a smooth silky rollercoaster” – not enough suppuratives. Seeing Albatrosses gliding inches above a perfectly calm sea and seeing their perfect reflections in the water when they circled above. Stopping half way, feet up on the deck eating lunch in perfect glassy seas. Seeing Fairy penguins dive in clear water so you could see their pressure waves. Seal following behind Troy’s boat for a while trying to work out what he was. Very magnificent approach to Deal Island – towering 200m granite cliffs like castles. We’ve beached at Winter Cove. Just beautiful “Robinson Crusoe” style cove – very beautiful egg white soft sandy beach and clear blue water – all perfect really·         Looking forward to exploring the island – lots to see.(pics and possibly video coming soon depending on bandwidth etc.) Lowlights: Rain looks like its coming in but shouldn’t be too bad because the cove is well sheltered from the westerly bring the rain. Bit of chaffing under Paul’s left arm but with some days off it should heal ok. Had a bit of a navigation issue when the group broke up because of the way the tide affected us and the way we responded to it with navigation technique. Brendan and Paul got separated by about 1km from Troy and the guys in Big Dog at one point after lunch. A valuable lesson to learn in calm seas and helped us identify a common approach for next time.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 2

Leg 2: Beached 18.30 – left 9.30am – 52.8 Date: Thursday 12 March 2009 Route:Refuge Cove to Hogan (52.8km) Wind: Easterly: not more than 15 knots at peak. Less as day went on. Sea: Top of 2m swell – easy accommodating conditions. Cloud cover & temp: Grey pretty much the whole way but perfect timing to clear as we arrived at Hogan Island. Wellbeing: Doing really well physically – having the hard workout on leg 1 then a couple of days recuperating left us keen and raring to go and get out amongst it. Felt fantastic at the half way mark with nothing but ocean in every direction. Made us realise we’re really doing this thing. Highlights: We left Refuge Cove about 9.30am. Spectacular scenery leaving Wilson’s Promontory. Lots of interesting wildlife on the way such as Seals (one with a big fish in its mouth), Yellow fin tuna, Fairy Penguins and Cape Barren Geese. We had a muesli bar bet for the first to spot Hogan island. Brendan won. He first spotted it a couple of hours out. Seeing the granite come out of the ocean as we got closer was great. Coming in through zig zag approach to a small cove was a bit of a challenge but it was as if nature was there to welcome us with beautiful light from the sunset, amazing wildlife all around and our little sheltered cove. Lowlights:  Troy got sea sick. The smells from bird and seal droppings hit us about 5km out. Sore bums after 9 hours straight – but all little stuff compared to the highlights.

BASS STRAIT EXPEDITION LOG – LEG 1

Day 1:  Date:  09 March 2009 Route: Port Welshpool to Refuge Cove (42km) Wind: Easterly: 15 to 20 knots Sea: 2 m swell, wind waves up to 1 m. Tide assisted for first few hours. Choppier swell built until according to Brendan it was like “paddling in a washing machine”. Cloud cover & temp: Cloudy at departure but clear at sea. Temp was warm but they were all glad for thier Sharkskins. Wellbeing: A bit tense when started – happy to get out through waves – mood lifted once underway. Made good time but the last hour was really hard work. Will be good to rest up for a couple of days before the next leg. Highlights: It was great to finally start. Scenery got better as we went along. Close to Rabbit Island we met some paddlers coming the other way (Tassie to Victoria). They’d even heard of the PaddleDogs. Making Refuge Cove after 42 kms in increasing rough seas was good. Highlight for Troy was being able to use his little sail for the whole way except for about 5km. Everyone is very impressed with how organised Greg is. We’ve already christened one of his boxes “Bunnings” and his medicine box “Soul Pattersons”. Lowlights: For all except Troy, it was Troy being able to use his little sail for the whole way except for about 5km – and his cheesy grin thrown in for good measure.