Endless Summer

Summer has certainly made its presence felt this year with water temps sitting around 26 degrees Celsius with weeks of northerlies pushing in hot and humid conditions.  To escape the heat, we have been getting on the water early, though you need to be on the beach by 4:30 am to catch the sunrise.

A southerly change had come through overnight, though lighter inshore, but with a promise of up to 20 knots.  A small car shuffle was in order to extended the downwind run from the Port of Brisbane to Redcliffe.

We spent the first hour paddling into the headwind, hugging the coast and winding our way in and out of the mangroves exploring a number of inlets up to the Port of Brisbane.  The wind was building but only got to the 10-15 knot range as we headed out to the "Coffee Pots" (a name for a set of the channel markers outside the Port of Brisbane) for a tailwind run to Redcliffe.

We saw a lot of bird life along the foreshore leading up to the Port, including a colony of Bee-Eaters which make a stand of Casuarinas home.  The inlets were protected from the wind and the incoming neap tide allowed us to wander our way through the mangroves.

A change of pace, but we were looking forward to another down wind run!  I will get around to editing some of our downwind run footage but I have been a bit pushed for time lately with the run into Christmas.  We are doing the extended family Christmas at our place this year so I might have to do some mowing and yard work that I have been putting off!