N/bay Part 2

[fastone]

Well it went like this, departed green point at 4am arrived fingal bay 6.20am. launched & tracked via the Islands outside after obtaining 40 or so livies. The swell was 2.5 to 3m on a lumpy sea, not ideal conditions. tracked 9 nm off Little Gibbler beach, the reefs start 2nm from shore & run out 25nm, The 2 blokes that joined me duly informed me that they required no travel calm. After approx 7min of motoring I was all alone at the helm, & thats how it stayed until ramp return. the reefs are busting up with snapper, mowies & trags. Im not big on traglin & hence they were returned without requiring a bandaid. I lost count of the number of seargent bakers we caught ( crap i here you say ) we didnt boat one under 70cm, Ive never seen them that big before. You guess it we returned them for the locals. we also trolled for kings around the 2 Islands just off sure for 3 kings just under. returned via the gap where the pressure waves were rolling in at 2.5m with rooster tails, we buried the bow into the swell in front & remained in the trough between both swells alternating power & trim, we had to close the deck scuppers as the swell behind was above the rear step. Unfortunately the boat behind us tried to follow us in & broached in the swell, although the boat didnt capsize one of the occupants was flung out , whilst there boat was 3/4 full of water it managed to proceed back into the bay. once out of the pressure waves we turn & proceeded back for fluro yellow man o/b it was a simple slow troll & boat hook retreive as you never stop in a bar , out 500m & back in . home by 5pm knacked snapper for dinner & I received a scratchie in the mail today from the kids dad.

[Guest MarkD]

Gret Report Fastone and hats off to you for lending a hand.

[Guest Big-Banana]

Geez. Good on you for helping him out. Just shows the power a bar has. Had a few scary moment on the Batemans Bay Bar and Iam quite hesitiant on going on one again

[Guest Jocool]

Good stuff Ed, for lending a hand! Too bad you didnt boat anything significant.

[Guest madsmc]

Read in the paper that a guy drowned while trying to cross the Swansea bar on the weekend. Swell was big, and the guy was trying to cross in a small tinny! He ended up getting swamped and it was all over. I've heard from one of the guys here at work that there were much bigger boats that turned back from the bar and stayed in the lake. I guess it goes to show that it's not a bad thing to know your (and your boats) limits.

madsmc (Shane Carroll)

[fastone]

Hey thats life Joe, the sea is angry at present & Imnot sure why. I was at watsons bay this morning & its still looks Maybe the NZ ers are to blame, something upset it. Maybe there standing on bondi beach & there've tilted the world. No Ive got many good KIWI friends, there tops the harka crew

[mark_s]

Crikey a report with everything. Congrats on the fish, oh to be in the position to throw back trag.

Also well done on the pick up of the man overboard. I would hate to be tossed out while trying to go through a bar

Edited January 31, 2005 by mark_s

[fastone]

Theres one thing I didnt tell ya ,where we launched the ramp was beaut but the 37 stand cleaning tables of stainless steel was a corker. those N/BAY lot know how to turn it on. Its almost worth the trip just to see the tables . the wifes on a mission to purchase a cheap digi just for the boat, Im sick of not having one when you need one. IF YOU START TO CROSS A BAR OR ARE IMBETWEEN SETS NEVER TRY TO TURN THE BOAT IT WILL BROACH EVEN WITH FULL OPPOSITE RUDDER IF YOU KEEP IT STRAIGHT IN EITHER DIRECTION THE VERY WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN IS THE BOAT WILL FILL TO ITS BUOYANCEY LINE THEN ITS UP TO THE BEST BILGE PUMP IN THE WORLD . A FRIGHTENED MAN WITH A BUCKET. THIS BLOKE TRIED TO TURN THE BOAT & GO BACK OUT AS THE SWELL GETS COMPRESSED BETWEEN THE TO HEADLANDS THE SWELL GETS STEEPER & CLOSER TOGETHER. Its very sad for the families of the 5 people that drowned on the weekend.

[tyrone07]

throwing bacg trag theyre are awesome fresh the dive boat up at wooli got swammped last yr and a kid got caught in the cabin and drowned cos he thought his boat was right but over commited and panicked and the boat rolled. or wen we were up there over christmas we seen some guy in a little 4.75 try get out in a massive swell and his girlfriend wasnt holding on when he tryed to flaw it over a flat section but then a set quickly stood up and she got thrown against the boat and broke both arms and dislocated both shoulders. Im lucky dads had experince with the bar at wooli for 35yrs. definately dangerous bars specially the 1 at sth west rocks when its stirred up a bit.

Edited January 31, 2005 by tyrone07

[fastone]

Yeah your probably right JD, all my best mates are kiwis. You wouldnt be a NZ by chance would you JD. Id love to fish the bay of Islands before i die. In fact I will very soon i hope.