Month: March 2026

After two days camped on the beach in very windy weather, including breaking a pole on my tent, it was time to decide whether to proceed. I needed to get around Cape Spencer and West Point. The Cape Spencer section was 14km with no landing, very exposed. I felt the weather had to be perfect. The forecast for that section was a moderate northerly wind, which I would be paddling against. The northerly wind would continue for a least three days while I paddled north up the coast.

So I decided to abandon my trip again. I just didn’t feel it was safe enough. Hopefully to be continued at a later date. I loaded up and paddled sailed the 5km to the Marion Bay boat ramp.

Continue reading “Marion Bay to Marion Bay boat ramp”

A very windy day. I spent most of the day in my tent, occasionally going out to secure guy lines and pegs being pulled out. I am a bit sheltered in the dunes, but I probably should have found a spot deeper in the scrub. The weather tomorrow looks bad as well. The next section around Cape Spencer is the most exposed and needs the best weather, which is currently not looking good.

 

I wasn’t very fast getting going, mostly because the forecast was as the day progressed the swell was going to decrease, and I needed it to decrease to launch off the beach. At 10am I left, I still managed to catch a wave and take on water, but I pumped it out, raised my sail and I was in my way

I knew the weather was going to deteriorate around lunchtime, and I was looking for a place away from Marion Bay township that I could camp at. So I landed about 4km to the east, and found a spot sheltered in the sand dunes. I then put lots of stuff out to dry on the bushes, and headed off to walk the 5km along the beach into Marion Bay. I went to the general store and got some supplies. I want to stay in this spot for two days while bad weather goes past. I only bought 8 days of food so I need to supplement it to stretch my supplies

It was nice and calm this morning, it was an easy launch. I got going in good time at 9am.I headed south to round the point. I had about an 8km stretch of exposed cliffs and rocks to pass with no were to land, which made me nervous. The wind was non existent, but there was swell sometimes more than a metre high. I kept out from the rocky headlands that I needed to pass. After a couple of hours I got close to Butler’s beach, and the western end looked pretty sheltered. I landed but just after I got out an unexpected swell came in and swamped the kayak, filling the cockpit with water. I managed to drag the kayak up the beach, pull a lot of the stuff out, and pump it dry.

After half an hour I headed out. The wind had picked up and so had the swell. I couldn’t get the sail up and all I could see were pounding waves hitting beaches, I was worried. I really felt I needed to get off the water. I spotted Salmon Beach and there seemed to be a spot where the swell was not breaking as badly. I got closer, watched the swell and thought it might be possible. I let multiple swell go past, and then went for it. I was wrong, there was more swell behind me. I got out of the kayak thinking I would have more control pushing it in, but immediately I found I couldn’t touch the bottom. The next swell hit, I lost the kayak, and I got pushed underwater. The kayak rolled multiple times. I struggled out of the water realising why the waves were not breaking the same, the beach was really steep, definitely a bad spot to land. I hung on to the kayak, but it was so heavy I couldn’t move it, and every time another wave came in it tried to drag the kayak back into the surf. So started ten minutes of me hanging on to the kayak and trying with each wave to inch it up the beach. Eventually I got it high enough that I could get stuff out, and pump out some of the water in the kayak. After another ten minutes or so I could drag the kayak up away from the waves.

Nothing broken. A few things got wet like my sleeping bag, even though it was in a dry bag. I lost a water bottle, but mostly it was OK. I did about 12km today.

Tomorrow I need the swell to drop to have any chance of getting off the beach

 

 

It was a great campsite at Davenport Point. I woke up to calm water but an easternly wind that might be good for my kayak sail. I was slow to get moving, partly because the sun gets up so late now. I got going at 10am, and put the sail up straight away. I was getting about 3kph, so with paddling on top of that, I was making a good pace. I basically paddled straight across Foul Bay, landing on the far side north of the settlement at around noon for a break.

The wind then changed to the north allowing me to then sail south past the Foul Bay township. The wind was stronger from the north, pushing me along at maybe 6kph. So fast that I couldn’t paddle, I needed my paddle to act as a rudder to stay the right direction. I stopped again south of Foul Bay township to see what camping options I had. It looked like there was a beach a little way south. It was getting windier, and it was 3pm, I didn’t want to attempt the exposed part of Point Mole and west late in the afternoon. I got around a point and there were several beaches to choose from. I did about 17km today.

After returning back to Adelaide for 3 weeks, I returned to Edithburgh on Yorke Peninsula to continue my trip from Sturt Bay. Michael kindly allowed me to stay the night, and after a long morning of me sorting out my gear , we headed out to Sturt Bay. After driving on the beach, getting bogged, and having to drop tyre pressure to get off. As well as spending a long time trying to pack the kayak, I finally got going at 1:18pm.

There was a small amount of chop which moderated as the day went on. It was about 10km to Davenport point. When

I rounded the point I finally had a chance to try my new sail. However the wind had moderated so much I only got about 2kph out of it. I paddled/sailed another 1km and at 5pm stopped at a great campsite.