With a high tide of 1.9m at 12.02pm and a wind forecast of 8-12kmph (and the bit I didn't read - with strong gusts!) Saturday looked like a good day to paddle.
We met up with S&V down at Slipway beach at 10.00am aiming to launch at 10.30.
As you will see from the video we set off in near perfect conditions, heading up river. There was enough water to explore the Bermagui Salt Marsh before rejoining the river.
As we paddled on the stronger and longer the gusts became until they were almost constant. Thankfully the incoming tide mitigated the, by then, strong head wind into which we were paddling.
Reaching the campground we paused to discuss our options. We opted to battle on to the next bend in the river to check out the conditions. As we turned the corner we could smell and then see smoke on the left hand side up near the end of the long straight. With no rain to speak of for a month and it been so windy and blowing straight toward Bermi we thought we should check it out.
So with bent heads we paddled on until we found the source of the smoke. Some idiot had lit a burn pile of logs. It was beside the river in an area mainly protected from the wind. Having first lived with the threat of the 2019/2020 bush fire which over 6 weeks burn't to within 4ks of our properties and then in 2023 having 4 hours notice of the Coologolite fire which burn't both our properties and which, rumour has it, started after a burn pile reignited; we might be oversenstive, but we all thought it an irresponsible thing to do.
Anyway, having got that far we decided to continue on to the confluence and stop for lunch.
After a very pleasant soujourn at the confluence as we had lunch and then waited for the tide to turn we took to the water happy in the thought that we would have the wind at our backs. THEN, L broke out his sail - we begged him not to, but he insisted and sure enough within a couple of hundred metres the sail blew back, completely enveloping L's head as wind shifted and did an about face. I did capture this moment on the GoPro but somehow it didn't make it into the edited video!
As we paddled passed the site of the burn pile we were relieved to see someone in attendance, tho' they were just pushing up the pile with their tractor.
Thankfully, the new headwind wasn't as forceful as earlier, even so we took a couple of breaks, exploring litte side channels, only accessible on big tides, to get some relief from the wind.
Again the tide really helped us and we found the paddle most enjoyable. After loading the boats we rewarded ourselves by stopping at the wharf and sitting in the sun enjoying delicious gelati.
14kms
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