Dead calm to a howling northerly at Harwood

Lee Mee Wun and her son Kwan Goddard Lee (age 12) live in Armidale and were visiting me for the school holidays. Both jumped at the opportunity to come on a sailing adventure on the Clarence River. I also invited along Jenny Gray and Rob Watson. Mee Wun, Jenny and I know each other from Alice Springs days.

The Big River Sailing Club is hardly used except on Saturdays but members can, by arrangement, camp during the week and have access to shower/toilet. I stern anchored Little Dragon in front of the clubhouse and slept aboard. Mee Wun and Kwan pitched their tent. Jenny and Rob had all mod cons in a converted transit van. We were well set up.

There was the usual delay in getting underway while I made a hash (yet again) of backing Little Dragon down the very narrow ramp - thanks to everyone for their patience.

The first day there was only a very light breeze and if the truth be known Kwan found the sailing a bit dull. He would have preferred me to motor. His idea of fun was a speedboat and he thought - quite correctly - that he could race us in the kayak. He claimed - again correctly - that we were only going at 2 km per hour. The difference was I didn't care and it seems that 12 year old boys do care, especially if they are Top Gear addicts.

After a couple of hours very sedate sailing Kwan, Rob and I went back to shore and found that the tide had dropped so far that it was horribly muddy getting ashore. In the late afternoon I went out with Jenny and Mee Wun. Kwan pursued us in the kayak. Then a fine sailing breeze sprang up and he found it hard to keep up. Maybe sailing isn't such a pathetic means of transport after all.

The following morning we woke up to a dead calm, not a breath of wind rippled the water. However by the time we had a leisurely breakfast there was a fine northerly sailing breeze, a bit fluky and rising all the time. Mee Wun and Kwan decided to row the zodiac and kayak so Jenny, Rob and I went out sailing until lunch time. We tacked downriver towards Iluka and then ran back to the clubhouse several times giving Jenny and Rob a good chance to hone their skills at the helm. Most of the time Kwan was in hot pursuit in the kayak. Eventually Kwan caught up with us on the far side of the river to give us the sugar cane he had cut. It looked like a tough kayak back to shore against the current for Kwan so we gave him a tow - which he reckoned was pretty cool.

Unfortunately Jenny and Rob had to leave after lunch so we sailed back to the ramp and hauled Little Dragon out. Thanks Rob for backing the trailer, but how come he makes it look so easy?

It was mid afternoon by the time Jenny and Rob drove off and Mee Wun and I settled down for an afternoon nap. By this time the wind was howling, definitely justifying the strong wind warning current for Far North Coastal Waters. Then we experienced the "40% higher gusts" that are always mentioned in the coastal waters forecast. Little Dragon was bouncing around on the trailer most uncomfortably and at that very moment the main tent pole in Mee Wun's tent snapped. So we hurriedly struck camp and prepared to drive home. A shame as we had been looking forward to a second night camping.

My plan was to leave Little Dragon and the zodiac at Harwood for the weekend and return the following Monday with Nicky and Lee as crew. Weather permitting we hoped to spend the week sailing up river to Maclean and downriver to Iluka. The last thing to do before leaving our windy camp site was to move Little Dragon to a suitable spot on the other side of the clubhouse.

Now go on to the next post for the continuing saga ....