Cray boats are commercial vessels that catch crayfish (rock lobsters), in the northern hemisphere you might call them Lobster Boats. The owners of these boats are very experienced seamen with a wealth of knowledge about local waters. They have been extremely helpful to us in our adventures and generous with their advice. We find their stories very exciting and sometimes downright terrifying. Having said that, we have also found that their profession can place them in conflict with the pleasure of our sailing. This is because for a living, they place cray pots(traps) in the ocean, often where yachts like to sail. It is not the cray pots themselves that are the pleasure killers, rather it is the line that is attached to the float/buoy connecting the pot to the surface. Handy if you want to retrieve the pot and its valuable contents; a nightmare if the floats and lines gets tangled around your under-water bits!
When we are sailing in crayfish fishing regions we pay extra attention to the location of these fishermen. At night we plot the location of their lights as they retrieve their pots and during the day we avoid locations where they can be seen fishing. If we can, that is. Sailing towards the Abrohlos Islands some years ago was particularly challenging and required a continuous lookout with line after line of pots presenting like strings of pearls across the ocean necessitating slalom manoeuvres to avoid them.
On arriving in Robe we discovered the best place to encounter cray boats. In fact, an entire fleet. Normally this would evoke fear and trepidation, but on this occasion only JOY.
Yes, the best place to see a cray boat is ON THE HARD STAND,
being prepared for the next fishing season.
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