A pleasant day out

That looks like a great day on the water, Tony. I hear my own yearning for warm weather in Puget's post--it's time for winter to be over! I have a technical question for you--how do you get the info from your gps superimposed onto the NOAA pic and then copied?
T2

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Fish worship--is it wrong?

Actually, it is fraudulent! The only way I can capture tracks on my Elite 4 DSI plotter is to hide data overlay, and then take a photo of the screen. Unfortunately, with only one micro SD slot, there is no means of capturing the track as well as the Navionics chart information.

However, on this occasion the scale of the journey meant that the screen photo was useless. So instead I took a Google Earth picture, loaded it into Photoshop, and manually drew my track as accurately as possible, including a fair but slightly simplified representation of the tacks involved. I believe the resultant output is pretty accurate.

For comparison purposes. here is a genuine screenshot of an earlier journey circumnavigating Wallis Island, which is only the top third of the latest trip. The track shown on this one is the actual track in the plotter, with only direction arrow and (red) beaching point added.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Slaughter, I caught up with Nick Richards, a NSW Maritime Boating Safety Officer, this morning. He is very familiar with Hobie Islands, and doesn't believe we would have much chance of sailing through the open channel from Smith Lake to the ocean and back.

On the last four occasions of the opening, he estimated that none of them would have presented suitable conditions, due to high tidal flows plus surf on the outside. Given that trip to Seal Rocks would require 2-3 hours at least, there would be little possibility for conditions to be suitable for both exit and return. He added that the sand on either side of the channel would be highly aerated (like the sandbank in the middle of the Forster channel), which acts almost like quicksand (I sank in it up to my knees t the Forster sandbank), making even bailing out rather hazardous.

For all that, he has given me his mobile number, and I suspect that if we gave him sufficient warning, he could be nearby with his fancy twin Honda outboard RIB to keep a watchful eye over us...

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

HUH? A pleasant day out??

You mean to tell me, with all the toothy creatures, riptides, monster storms and flaming tornados you Aussies have to endure, you also have to put up with QUICKSAND AT YOUR BEACHES!!??

That's RIDICULOUS!!

You need a nice relaxing vacation, somewhere w/ palm trees, umbrella drinks and supermodels.

Ah but we have all them as well

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Somehow, not the same.

Like NOHUHU, I've heard about your crocs and your snakes. But I have never heard of a beach that eats sailors. How does this happen? Don't air and water always get into sand in the surf zone? Is this from springs under the beach? Do your sand grains have less friction than ours? Is this common? Please help me understand. Seriously.

I am no geologist, but the phenomenon certainly does exist. I don't know whether it is due to the shape of the sand grains, but I have even experienced it at a small beach next to the boat ramp. Sand which is quite firm 2-3 feet above the water becomes extremely "Sticky" a foot or so below the shore. I know of three people who have lost crocs after they couldn't retrieve them from the sticky stuff! And this weird situation occurs throughout the huge lake and those nearby.

At this sandbar, it was extremely difficult to walk from where my TI is (I even needed to go on hands and knees to spread my weight and stay higher) yet quite firm where I sat down to wait for the outgoing tide to slacken off.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

I wish I was there at the time with my mates randy Labrador. Now that would have been unique shot for the Photo Comp.

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

ROFL!

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

And at half Tony's body mass, slaughter could have walked circles around him, on 2 legs. Great image.

Look on the bright side mates, your pearly beach quicksand makes anchoring a snap.

The earth's a fascinating place. I'm always learning something new (to me) about it. Now I have one more reason to get down there sometime. Perhaps there is some sort of organic matter in the sand.

maybe oyster poop?

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Avoiding any of the pitfall or that sinking feeling, that would have been a ripper trip Tony. What is the tidal range down Forster way?
Cheers Ian (aka Vintagereplica)

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