After waiting for over a month for Bob my fabulous wind forecaster and Stu the fabulous boat captain to agree on day I could successfully kite board across Bass Strait, we finally got a flight to Tassie on Saturday 20th March. We had a three day window to do the crossing. Day one in Stanley was the 1st option. I woke on Sunday to a raging storm shaking the windows of Hanlon House.
Can't very well start in a storm. Hope we don't have this the next day too.
Later down at the wharf the boats that radioed in gave terrible reports for the next few days. Waves over 4 meters. Strong winds for Monday and gale force for Tuesday.
We had to pick Monday.
I have never kited in 4 m waves, or 2 meter for that matter.
Reports were they got bigger in the middle too, but no-one really knows.
Crap.
Dean and I set up the kite make sure it was all working well and set the camera up on it. The wind on Stanley beach was offshore and super gusty. Blocked by the Nut on one side and the cliffs on the other it went from 5 knots to 25. I was scared it would pick up and throw me against the nut. As it was I was getting pulled all over the place. You can see me swearing on Pauls video account. Dean was keen for me to practise more so I could be prepared for the next day. He was worried I wouldn't be able to get out in that wind. I was too scared to get hurt the day before and abandoned the practise session.
The night before our Captain didn't want to commit til final weather report in the morning.
I hate the unknown.
So I prepared as if it was a certaintly.
All gear ready and laid out the night before.
I had prepared so much food for the morning and the crossing, but was so nervous I couldnt eat at all. Couldn't even drink the coffee I made. I was worried I wouldn't have the strength to complete the crossing with no food in me.
As Dean predicted I did have trouble getting off the beach. It took several tries which would have been embarrasing in front of the Channel 9 camera man, if I hadn't been too worried to care.
Once I got clear of the land the wind kicked in to what I now know was 27 knots. I fully depowered the kite and was terrified that if it was this strong at 6.30am right near land what was I in store for out in the middle and would I be able to hold on.
Next scary part was being knocked over by waves, but I got the hang of that.
Then watching the boat was scary. I saw views of Calypso 11 that Im sure no one else has. I saw nearly all of the bottom of it going down a wave. And I saw it tip several times well on its side. For a while I wondered what the right thing to do would be if it capsized. This was one of those things we hadn't discussed. If I stopped I would be just one more person needing to be rescued, but then I couldn't leave all those who had come to help me? Lucky the situation didnt eventuate!
It was probably more funny than scary that I started to imagine that I saw islands. I thought big waves in the distance with white caps on top where islands. For quite a while I was sad when the wave broke and my imaginary island disappeared. In my defence it is an awfully long time not to see any land.
The next scary thing and my worst fear going in to this was the wind running out. About 2 hours before finishing with land well in site the wind dropped to I think about 10 knots. I swang the kite like crazy to make sure it didn't drop out of the sky.
Then I prayed for more wind. Not being religious I was amazingly delighted to get a gust. I estimate I had around 15 knots for the rest of the trip which was enough.
I did leave the boat to go to land against their direction as I feared it would drop and I had looked at land for so long now and it would have been devestating not to make it after getting so far....
That's it for scary during, but there was a little scary after.
After landing, I had to get back to the boat and struggled against the big break of Venus Bay with my partially strapless board. I got knocked off, the board went through the lines tangling the leg rope in the lines. The kite rolled in the waves and was dumped on the beach under a tonne of sand. I had to pull the lines so hard to get the sand off the once the kite launched I was dragged through the sand and lifted toward the cliff.
I had time to think it would be just like me to cross the dangerous Bass Strait successfully and then kill myself hitting the cliff.
Luckily stopped before hitting the cliff and made it back out to the support boat.
All Safe :)
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