Very Brave!!

Hey Tony, did Cam join you?

Hey lads,

Well after nearly two years out of the sport having the electrics rewired I choose for my second sail a Point to Point with the Tonster. Ya just have to live a little.

This therefore is a brief story of a pretty unsuccessful day.

The plan was pretty simple, a dash from Point Henry past Point Richards which would have given us a ATCF10NM time (As The Crow Flies 10 Nautical Miles), turn around, scream on back which should have also given us a one hour figure.

Both of us were a little toey on the beach, no rescue boat, 38kms nonstop in front of us, nearly 7 Kms off shore, and the possibility of gear failure washing us up anywere from Werribee to Williamstown.

The Tonster set off first and made it past the windshadow at the end of the pier then pointed up towards Clifton Springs. When I got through the lull I was immediately slammed down by the wind. Got going again in time to see the Tonster commencing a huge bearway heading straight for Portarlington.

I was quick to try the same but the chop was pretty nasty and the Hyper went airbourne and I hit the drink again, a lot harder this time. By the time I got my shit in a pile Tonster was no where to be seen. I had figured he was cranking it hard to the east.

Licking the wounds I spent 5 minutes in a lull on a sinking board then got hit by another gust, all of which, after about 3kms into it, made the decision to turn around pretty easy.

Got the GO off the roof and headed back out to see if I could spot Tonster. even the bigger board was misbehaving in the chop and gusts, launching and flipping once before I got the thing under control. I knew the elbow in the outer harbour channel was about the halfway mark so my plan was to sail to there and be in a good position to see him returning and keep an eye out for any disasters.

The chop was pretty gnarly further out but the wind had dialled back a little so the run was pretty nice although I was getting a little concerned I couldn't see any sight of the big fella. I dropped the sail to wait but still no Tony. After about 10 minutes I rang his mobile and getting no answer knew he hadn't returned so I left a message telling him where I was and to ring me twice quickly in succession if he had made it back okay.

After waiting another 15 minutes (with a cut from a fin screw burleying the water), and seeing how quickly I was drifting downwind I figured if he had broken something early he would now be well below me so I headed west on a downwind line stopping and looking every 5 minutes. No sign and no call. Thoughts went to who should I ring, Coast Guard? Kath? Point Henry tower?

Got to the sandbars half way to Avalon and got the phone out to start calling for help figuring I could head to the explosives pier to keep looking.

Opened the phone and found 19 missed calls from Tonster. Here is a good tip, it is really difficult to hear your phone above the wind and water, especially if it is under a wetsuit and a 20mm thick neoprene b/vest.

It turns out we would have just missed each other. He had decided that runs up to Clifton springs was safer after copping some scary airbourne moments on the bearaway to Portarlington. I didn't even look that far upwind. After I had set out he did a long run down to the sandbars but would have been on the wrong side of his sail to see me. It was a bit of a hard slog back upwind with a dying breeze and it was good to be back on dry land.

Conclusion? I may need a bit more sailing time before having another crack and I need to set my phone to a louder ringtone, the opening bars of the Killer's For Reasons Unknown just won't cut it.

Hi Cam, good to see you back out there and having a go. You still breeding sea urchins at point Henry?

Have to catch up for a sail next time I'm down there with some gear.

Hey Cam, welcome back. As you say. there is no doing things by half. How are the arms today? Cheers Geoff.