I've been getting a lot of questions about the recently acquired Shark Shield Freedom 7 unit, so I thought I'd cobble together a quick update on my thoughts so far. To be completely honest about it, so far I don't have a hell of a lot to say about it, which is to say I haven't had any encounters that can truly demonstrate the confidence I have in it, other than to say I'm already back out there kayak fishing without a care in the world, in the very same waters that this happened. No doubt some might have missed it, but on my very next trip out I did see a shark (possibly 2) although nothing that came within obvious range of the shield. Regardless, I was pretty relaxed having it there. So far I've had it turned on constantly while fishing off shore (not in the river though), but have since decided that I'm only going to turn it on if I see a shark. My experience tells me that I'm likely to get a warning if trouble does appear.

I can say that I'm pretty fond of it's quality and ease of use. There's not much to it and I reckon the rear Island crossbar does make for the ideal spot to install it (thanks H). It's important to make sure the antennas are poked straight down into the scupper though, and not wrapped once around the cross bar like I had it on the weekend. It took me a while to figure out where those mild shocks were coming from (we're talking very mild) but when I did it was easily sorted. In an upcoming clip (and photos) I'll demonstrate how I install it. I'm not yet sure when I'll be able to demonstrate it actually doing it's shark-zapping thing, but it only be a hook up or two away.

Close call on the Island

Saturday's kayak fishing trip was one of my shortest ever. I didn't get much fishing in, so lets just call it a trip. When I pulled up at Woody Head every fibre of my being knew it probably wasn't a good idea to be heading out. Sth easterlies were gusting in at around 15 knots, and that was with the protection of Woody Head at my back. Looking out the sea didn't look too bad at first, but it's always deceiving until you're out there. Peering through the binoculars brought me down to earth a litte. The swell look to be rolling at about 5 - 6 foot, scattered white caps and occasional breakers at sea. Hrmm... just as well I brought both amas and sail I told myself. There was a fair bit of bird activity, so I told myself this was one of those days that very few would dare to go fishing and yet, for sure, there was fish every where. So I unloaded the Island, rigged it up, dragged it in and set sail on a north-east heading.

It wasn't long before I'd sailed clear of the headlands and now the wind had an unimpeded path directly into the sail, hammering in at around 20 knots, at times gusting up to around 30. I'd neglected to rig up the sounder/GPS today so I'm not sure on my own speeds, but for the most part I was moving at around 12km an hour, at times over 15. With waves crashing in and wind driving the Island hard it was action packed stuff. Right when I decided that I should be filming some of the action that things very nearly turned bad. Instead of furling up the sail, turning on the camera and then sailing off again, I decided to turn the camera on while sailing. My timing to lean out onto the ama to turn on the camera was poor - right as the yak was rising over the crest of a wave. So as it rises over and then down, my weight is on the leeward ama and the windward side ama is lifted high into the air, catching wind and acting like an extra sail. That, combined with a gust of wind hitting the mainsheet made for the perfect scenario to capsize the Island, which it started to do there and then.

It is a massive shame that I failed to actually get the camera turned on at that point, because it would have made for great footage had I captured the next moment. As the leeward ama dug in and started diving towards a 180 position, I instinctively scrambled back to the deck and then stood up (with my feet on the left gunwale) and tried to push the windward ama back into the water. At this point it felt like I was riding a stunt-car, driving sideways on two wheels. The mainsheet bent over to a 90 degree angle, ultimately taking a lot of the windward pressure off. The leeward ama was almost at a 180 degree angle, as was the windward ama, though the former was underwater, the latter high in the air. Precarious moments passed and slowly but surely I was able to push the Island back upright. As soon as the yak fell back into position I furled the sail, checked to make sure everything was still aboard (it was) and then set sail again, this time with a lot less sail out.

I learned a valuable lesson today. With the combination of high winds and seas, it's important to watch for wind gusts picking up the windward tramp and to avoid that happening, use them properly. By that, I mean leaning out and placing weight on the windward side. Whatever you do, don't place weight on the leeward side while sailing in rough conditions. Although the yak didn't capsize, believe me, it was well on it's way towards doing so. Had I not reacted as I did, it would have tipped for certain. So from now on when sailing with tramps, I'll be observing the laws of physics instead of trying to inadvertently defy them.

After this occurred I took a good look around, realised that the weather only looked like getting worse so decided to sail back. I trolled almost the entire way - over some prime snapper territory - but didn't catch a thing. There were birds out in force and baitfish in numbers, though in my short time on the water (no more than an hour) I couldn't raise a bite.

Now that winter is over I thought it prudent to wrap up some of the more memorable highlights from this winters fishing season into a montage style highlight clip (not terribly unlike my last highlight clip ). This is a relatively long clip (7 minutes) so fire it up, go make a cuppa and then sit back and enjoy. If you're only going to watch one of my clips this winter, make it this one.  

3 months of AI kayak fishing highlights; snippets of some of the best & worst moments I had while kayak fishing the Clarence coast throughout the Aussie winter of 09. Hooks up with snapper, tuna, sharks and even a humpback whale (don't ask).