Day 222, Thursday, 27.08.2009

my landing spot south of this reef

 

 

The forecast for today was 20-25 kn southerlies, and it was like that! If not more…big whitecaps allover the sea, and my landing spot didn’t really looked inviting to get going again!

 

I went for a longer morning walk to the “real” Lucky Bay, to check if I could spot the “clean gap” in the offshore reef.

 

From my campsite it was already clear where I was, my landing was in kind of a lee of the solid onshore reef forming for about one km, until it went offshore to form the bay with calm water.

 

Walking in deep sand is a good exercise after so much paddling (and being sick…), and I was happy to find eventually the “local highway” with plenty of wheel tracks from campers and fishermen. But no one was around on this windy day…I just found plenty of campsites with quite some rubbish around! Even wrecks of camping trailers and other household stuff. Not very clean and nice…

 

But the reef gap was quite evident, even in the big seas today!

 

At around 5pm, after a second bored walk into the other direction with even more rubbish dumps and some mulling over the launching technique next morning, I got the idea why not dragging the boat and some gear this “short” one km towards where the calm lagoon water starts, just in case my old launching site looks as messy tomorrow as it looks today, and I still would like to give it a go to make some progress?

 

Thought and almost done, it took me about one hour with two walks and some sore calf muscles the next day, but I left my campsite for that night where it was, as it got dark soon.

If I decided *not* to paddle tomorrow, I could still move my campsite towards the boat to keep me busy…

 

Text message from Freya via satellite phone:

No paddling today as that rotten headwind didn’t show any sign of abating during the night or today. Fat black clouds on the sky all day 🙁

8 comments on “Day 222, Thursday, 27.08.2009

Shorty

glicker, Perth to Cape Natraliist (spelling?)she will be paddling straight into the winds going by current patterns,but can easily change to milder conditions pretty safe going though,,sandy safe beaches all the way as a whole,,Cape Nat to Cape Leeuwin will be an adventure,,big swells,rocky coatline a lot of it,,Southern Ocean is mans country,,i believe the best man for the job will be a wo -man,,,,,,,,,cheers,,

Kalbarri-PHIL

Glad to hear Freyas in Horrocks,weather has been CRAP today windy and rain and forecast S/SE 20 to 25 knots in the morning,but Sunday looking a bit better ,Coronation Beach is an option for you too Freya if the wind limits your distance and the swell doesnt pick up TOO much !!!Hope to catch you again in Gero Freya ,cheers PHIL Hearps KALBARRI

glicker

shorty…if Freya reaches Perth in a week or so, what’s the prevailing wind/weather like from Perth en route to the Southern Ocean…real deal paddling no doubt….

Shorty

Cheers for the info glicker, its still winter down here in Perth and a bit chilly, i often wondered why Freya started the adventure when she did as the weathers not the best, occured to me that she started at the same time as the last fellow but saved so much time travelling across theTop End , that she gets down here faster to less than ideal conditions,,Springs nearly here though so it should work out fine in the end, i wish the winds would ease a bit for her,,20 km days must be very frustrating,,cheers all.

glicker

Freya made it to Horrocks today which is a fishing village with a population between 300-500. It’s roughly 500 km north of Perth.

Horrocks was named after Joseph Lucas Horrocks, a convict who was sentenced to 14 years transportation for forgery and arrived in Fremantle in 1852. In Fremantle he worked in the medical section of the convict settlement and, due to a chronic shortage of medical officers in the colony, was appointed medical attendant for the new settlement of Port Gregory in 1853. He was given an unconditional pardon in 1856 and spent the rest of his life (he died in 1865) working in the Northampton-Champion Bay area running a store, agitating for improved conditions for convicts, and building a non-denominational church in Northampton.

John Luk

Dear Freya,
You are an amazing girl!!! My wife and I would have loved to see your safe arrival in Geraldton. All afternoon we kept looking out for you. I tried various organisations to see if they could tell me what time you were arriving but no one could help me. Good luck and take care. We will follow you all the way to Melbourne.

Anne and John luk
Geraldton

Christian Fuglsang

Hey Freya, read your article today in your local Husum newspaper, which we also read in Denmark called Nordschleswiger. I follow you every day and can imagin your impatience. Good to see you sound again, I am sure you’ll make it. Good luck. Moin!

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