Non Hobie Kayaks

Yes, they exist unfortunately and I accompanied 6 of them on an adventure in South Australia over the weekend.
In the Lower Murray Lakes there is a large inlet which finishes in a River the width of a small road, with high
reeds either side. A great place to sail or peddle a Hobie Island or one of those other kayaks if you must.
Reminds me a bit of the African Queen movie adventure.
Anyway, it is 7.5 Nm to get to the end and the ability of the 6 kayakers was widely varied so we gave a few a
tow with our TI under sail. Started out with them holding onto the akas but they were bouncing around a bit
as the 10 knot winds were making a few waves in the sheltered waters, we ended up towing them some 10 or
20 feet behind.

After 4 hours odd came the best part. At the end of the River is a landing with a phone on the post to the
Currency Creek Winery who are happy to pick us up and take us a few miles to their winery for tasting and
lunch. They even have boutique beer for the die hards like me.

We had early in the morning dropped off a car and trailer so fortunately four of the kayakers decided to drive
back to our starting point. And that's when the fun began. Well not really until we negotiated the river and
came out into the bay where a 20 knot wind was blowing straight up the bay giving a reach of a few miles
and chop of nearly a yard. Of course the two kayakers expected a tow from our TI Mother Ship so outboard
motor it was. There was one section that I was able to sail across the bay on a close reach but most of it was
motoring.

My next project must be spray skirts as my wife and I were suffering from the cold even though the forecast
was for 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I don't think the kayak riders were much worse off. One started out bailing
her kayak as the cockpit filled from the waves. She was worried about it nose diving but when it appeared
it wouldn't, she let it fill up as the water wasn't as cold as the spray and wind. Probably didn't help our
progress speed but we made it back, cold and wet in about 3.5 hours.

This is us sailing and towing a couple of the kayaks on the way up, when I was still smiling.


So when we were back I thought great, this will be the end of those silly kayaks without sails or mirage drives but over a meal and drinks back at the camp, they all wanted to know when the next trip was planned. My wife inadvertently said how nice it was to kayak at the top of Spencer Gulf so the trip is planned for March.

This is where we will kayak so I don't blame them for wanting to go.



Hopefully it will be warmer by then and I will have spray skirts on the TI.

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Cheers, Brian in South Australia
Tandem Island -

Looks like a great trip Brian

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

TI mothership saves the day again. That Winery sounds great. Where's that photo of the Spencers Gulf, doesnt look like Port Augusta and what horse power is your outboard and is it a 2 stroke?

Brian:
It sounds like a great time. We have spray skirts on our TI and they do help when it gets choppy.
Our TI also gets used as a mothership all the time so your not alone (lol). We found that if the towed kayaks are mirage kayaks, it doesn't work too badly with one kayak on each side holding onto the rear handles of the TI as long as everyone is pedaling, we make good headway (usually with all my sails up and motor assist). However with the kayaks close to the TI we usually have steering problems.
We also have an inflatable 4 person raft that we load all the gear and coolers into and tow that raft directly behind the center of the TI on about a 15ft line. It's actually hard to notice the raft back there, and it doesn't seem to effect the steering at all. When we have extra kayaks we ask them to hang onto the raft, or to tie to the back of the raft and go in single file. The drag from the extra boats is minimal.
We have also towed other TI's with pretty good success. What seems to work best is to tie a 20 ft anchor line to my rear aka brace on the hull, then to the front aka brace of the towed TI (with a slip knot). I then have them sail at about a 45 deg angle behind my TI. At that angle they are in clean air. By doing this they are able to sail much closer to the wind (no reason to tack), and both boats together can maintain 7-8 mph easily in low winds (around 4-7 mph winds) (obviously all these speeds are using the motor). We have done this several times now trying to catch stragglers up with the rest of the sailing group. The sail on the second TI sail takes advantage of the apparent wind created by the forward motion of the lead boat, so drag from the second boat is minimal.
Bob
Ps we call our group a party barge, we usually go out to a remote island or sand bar, then everyone separates to go explore and snorkel.

Thanks for that trip report Brian. Always good to see other parts of the world and it's good to know that this one is within reach

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

Thanks for the replies guys, yes it was a great adventure with good company.

Skipper, North of the road bridge at Port Augusta is a lookout. When looking to the North
from the lookout a k or so N of the bridge, towards the train bridge, this is the view.

My motor is a cheapie 3 Hp 2 stroke New Concept I bought off the net. I didn't expect to get
as much use out of it and had trouble getting the purchase past the Mrs but should have
bought the Honda 2.5 like Bob and others have. The Honda is four stroke so no messing
mixing oil, may be quieter (outboard is 12 inches from my ear) and is air cooled, no flushing
just rinsing. I can't get my outboard to run water from those ear muffs. I have to remove
the prop and stick it in a bucket of water to flush the salt water. So I treat the outboard
very rough, don't flush brackish water and hope it breaks down so I can get a Honda. I
actually capsized once (my error) and had to rebuild the motor. Should have got rid of
it then. By the way, I have no affiliation to Honda and there are probably Yamaha and
Johnson etc which may be as good.

Just shows again Bob, how versatile the TI really is. Maybe with your wing sail I could have
sailed rather than motor although after a long lunch at the winery probably would have
stuffed the sailing bit. One of the group has just told me that contrary to what I thought,
polyethylene doesn't survive a nuclear blast. At least those dam cockroaches won't be
sailing my TI without me.

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Cheers, Brian in South Australia
Tandem Island -