I've got Sunday off and it's looking windless so I thought I may take my SUP down to lake Illawarra and seek out some of the snags and potential dangers that lurk in the shallows. If anyone's interested in helping out please come along, I'll provide beer for afternoon refreshments if that helps.

...I'll post this in NSW forum as well just to get the word out.

Good idea Jase but there's a lot of area that might get sailed on. A huge job to cover fully. What some clever programmer needs to do is create a "virtual speed trench" to put in the GPS. An audible tone for "port a bit" and another for "starboard a bit" would keep speed sailors in the trench. A couple of trenches would be needed to cover a few wind directions. Only the trenches would then need checking for obstacles. There could also be a no go zone at the end of each trench when water depth became less than 500mm. Wouldn't that level the playing field!

( Reminds me of an excursion I did to lake George, Canberra way, years ago. The lake was dry, had been for several years, so any obstacles were visible. There were very few obstacles actually, but a pile of rocks imported for an old campfire was visible on the horizon. I drove over to check it out, and there lying amongst the rocks, you guessed it, an old sun-perished fin.)

Phil and I paddled for about 3 hours today looking for all possible dangers along the speed run. I can't say we got everything but we pulled quite a few sizable snags out of the water. Logs and Sticks to fence posts and witches hats we found scattered from the boat ramp to Windang....No sign of the Great White though

Paddling along on a SUP you get to see how shallow the water really is in some spots...Crazy, But I think we both picked up valuable knowledge of the are today.

See ya next westerly

Well done Jase and Phil. Did you have a weed fin on the SUP? You didn't see the Great White but I bet he would've watched every move you made.

^^

I have a 12cm fin on my SUP so weed wasn't a problem, Most of it appears to be dead anyway. There's vast stretches of just sand covered bottom with very little weed, what there is was decaying away. I think the speed strip needs to be called "The 18th" or "The fair way" Phil picked up at least 50 golf balls with hundreds more left behind...It was bizzar. We also came across a real odd fish, Red in colour and swimming very slowly. It's turns out, after a quick google that it a Red Indian fish which is found in our waters but rarely seen.

Anyways here a vid from my Gopro from the day.....shows how shallow it is in one of the fastest spot in the lake.

great vid jase very nice indeed Great track too by the great busker see ya at the wknd hopefully its nothing like that ;-))

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jh2703 said..
I think the speed strip needs to be called "The 18th" or "The fair way" Phil picked up at least 50 golf balls with hundreds more left behind...

When I was a youngun we would sneak into golf courses at night, feel around in the water hazards with our feet, up to neck deep. We usually left with about 50-100 balls each. We even ran across another bunch doing the same thing one night. My mate had one of the old style round garbage bins full. We used to bleach them, give them a polish, and sell the best in the car park on a saturday morning. Easy money for a teenager.

The worst we would take to the river. We had one good club each and we would just hit a shopping bag full of them them out into the river, taking turns trying to get the best/furthest.

Any money same thing happening there

Nice video Jase few kilometers of golf balls in places where you could never drive a golf ball too many trees bit of a puzzle possibly birds dropping them? long way from golfing driving range lot stained by being in water so long. Nice find with the red Indian fish Jase Hopefully this weekend there will some good speeds set if the weather prediction works out, pity about the lack of weed this year.

Thanks guys, The vids been picked up by SUP Boarder Magazine and posted in their lifestyle feature. They gave it the tag "It's Simple...A lake, A GoPro and a SUP" It was nice to get a mention for something that was a little rushed to do and not so polished. I really enjoyed the day and probably don't give the SUP the credit it deserves, Originally bought for light wind wave sailing it's been sitting in the garage unused but now I've found a great use for it ...It was a great day.

forgot to mention now with the gustbusters intimate knowledge of the whereabouts of all the hundreds of submerged dangerous obstacles we should have some sort of advantage

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pwatts22 said..

forgot to mention now with the gustbusters intimate knowledge of the whereabouts of all the hundreds of submerged dangerous obstacles we should have some sort of advantage

hey phil you can tell me on sat

No worries Keef all gustbusters will get a detailed map

Alex and I will come and check it out on Saturday now its clean.Good onya Jase your a legend.Tell which button to push on the camera and I'll be your tripod so we all can enjoy more footage of you sailing.
Looking forward to a new location and new faces..... and Keef.

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KA360 said..

Alex and I will come and check it out on Saturday now its clean.Good onya Jase your a legend.Tell which button to push on the camera and I'll be your tripod so we all can enjoy more footage of you sailing.
Looking forward to a new location and new faces..... and Keef.

arky sat doesn't look to good , sun the go, theres a few brown arrows around you mite have to tie alex to his gear, I would hate to loose him, I've grown attatched to the little guy over the years

It'll be great to see you and Alex down here, it'll bring some PBs for you guys for sure. Sadly I've done too many deals with the devil already this season so I'm forced to work this weekend.

As for the camera man I've got a new secret weapon we can all sail and not have to wiry who's catching the action

Doh! Yesterday the forecast said 25knots from the west and 20 oC for saturday.


Did the cut your pension again Keef? Now your have to ride JP,feel sorry for you mate
I'll still stick up for you when the others make fun of your JP/Pryde setup.

arky I couldn't wait for that slow boat from china so got an air freight from QLD, seabreeze is all over the place but if its on ill give you a go on some good gear

Ill come up on the weekend Keef if the wind is up. Need to try out the rebuilt boom and maybe the speed board if I can get the tuttle box conversion done this week

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jh2703 said..


As for the camera man I've got a new secret weapon we can all sail and not have to wiry who's catching the action

Soloshot? Is that where someone wears a censor and everyone follows him around.That could be dangerous. For safety ,take a few fins out of the quad to reduce the chance of you being rear ended .

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MudSkipper80 said..
Need to try out the rebuilt boom and maybe the speed board if I can get the tuttle box conversion done this week

I'll bring a spare boom then.
Actually I'll bring a complete spare setup and a first aid kit

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KA360 said..



I'll bring a spare boom then.
Actually I'll bring a complete spare setup and a first aid kit

Wheres the faith? Im sure my carbon fibre construction skills will hold up, completely new front end from scratch and a lot of carbon should mean that this boom is stronger than new. Just wish I could repair my beautiful 6.7m sail that died

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MudSkipper80 said..

KA360 said..



I'll bring a spare boom then.
Actually I'll bring a complete spare setup and a first aid kit

Wheres the faith? Im sure my carbon fibre construction skills will hold up, completely new front end from scratch and a lot of carbon should mean that this boom is stronger than new. Just wish I could repair my beautiful 6.7m sail that died

hey paul the boat ramps looking good for sunday , arky and alex what you ya recon

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jh2703 said..

Anyways here a vid from my Gopro from the day.....shows how shallow it is in one of the fastest spot in the lake.

Very nice video, looks pro

Nice vid Jase Sorry I wasn't there to help out...only just read the post
Did you manage to locate the "tree" near the green pole out from the rigging area - the one that Terry has put a few buoys on (but is now unmarked)? I've tried to locate it the last few times out on my SUP but have failed. The lake was a bit cloudy on the weekend, after the rain, but I suppose in the shallows it would have been OK.

Anyway, good work Jase & Phil. Might catch up with you on Sunday

Yeah, that southerly looks the goods keef. Ill be there for sure

Bushy, We could'nt find that tree...Even with Terry's help. But we did get heaps of others including the one that concerned me most....2 inches in diameter and sicking out at you, would have speared someone for sure. I saw it in the first westerly but lost sight of it, it was in probably the most use bit of water in the lake.

See ya soon