The great escape

It took us a couple of days before venturing ashore. Everyone was more or less in shell shock after completing our Bight crossing but we were itching to defrag and be together. It was time for the 6 of us to go ashore and perhaps compare notes but above all celebrate with a LOT of hugs.

In view of the still inclement weather we had decided on an 11:00 am rendezvous at the Streaky Bay Hotel which overlooks the town jetty and the anchorage area. We could observe our boats from there and by having a lunch rather than dinner we could be back on board before the anticipated sea breeze kicked in at 14:00 or so.  We had already dragged anchor the day before after having sat OK for nearly 24 hrs. At least we had the whole bay behind us and for a change, no Easy Tiger since they had been escorted to a mooring after having dragged anchor the day after being escorted in by the local VMR.

We gobbled the pub food we'd so frequently chatted about in our radio exchanges. B1 spoke only about the steak and chips, the Bloke was propelled ever onwards towards his next sausage roll. It would barely matter if it was bird droppings rolled in puff pastry, it would taste mighty fine!

For all the joy in our hearts lunch was a bit subdued. Six sailor-folk still tired. I looked out across the bay vacantly observing a couple of teenaged boys skylarking about on the edge of the shark proof caged ocean pool along the edge of the jetty. 'Boys will be boys' I was thinking. So overcast and cold. Do they not have nerve endings to sense the temperature? How did a dinghy get to be part of their game I wondered?

We decamped for the promise of coffee and cake at the coffee shop that overlooks the beach, jetty and anchorage. This gave us a glimpse of the beach where our dinghies were..... once! Yikes..... No dinghies. Synapses suddenly connected. The boys. The dinghy. They had rescued Urchin's dinghy and tied it off on the shark proof fence. Easy Tiger's dinghy was not to be seen. Ours was tantalisingly only 10m off the shore. A bit far for the Bloke to wade or god forbid, swim with the natives (white pointers). Every moment of hesitation was a metre added.

You can point all that you want....

...but this little dinghy 'ain't coming back!

We had dragged our dinghy further up the beach than the others but still not enough... The tides are around 2m here (we NOW know) and the wind was blowing briskly off shore. Maree and B1 sprinted 200m along the jetty in an unusual gate (they still had sea legs) retrieved their dinghy, hastily thanking the bemused boys.

Next job; rescue the others. Maree and B1 fanged it towards our dinghy and brought it back to the Bloke who then accompanied by Steve, joined Maree and B1 in pursuit of Easy Tiger's recidivist craft. Is this the 3rd escape?  Being the first into shore, their dinghy was closest to the waters edge and had a good head start on its great escape.

Mission accomplished and all dinghies reunited with an owner, the Bloke headed back towards shore but detoured to visit Zofia. Leanne and I had been left on the shore while all this was going on and watched helplessly. I observed the Bloke in the distance with his head in the anchor locker. Ah ha! I thought. Good idea.  Put out another 5-10m of chain. I hadn't seen Zofia making a move. The Bloke began waiving in that criss cross 'look at me' pattern. Oops. Something going on here. Luckily Steve had just arrived back to collect Leanne.

Steve, would you mind taking me out to Zofia? she's adrift too!