12 October 2009

British kayaks, British weather?

The forecast was calling for possible thundery showers but I have to say that most times the weather bureau can't get it right; there are just too many variables to be able to predict the precipitation with pin point accuracy.
The wind however was going to be light and admittedly forecasting wind seems to be more accurate than rain.
Sunday paddle (c)
Morning started nice and sunny with only patchy clouds but by the time we reached our destination island 14 Km away the clouds have rolled in and prevented us to have a pic nic on the grassy shores.
The rain made us scurry for a tinned roof shelter and we quickly changed into our spare clothing trying to get warm.
The rain started to bucket and, while waiting to ease off for a quick dash to the "fish'n chips" shop just up the road, the water pouring from the field formed a stream big enough to wash one of our beached kayaks back into the sea!
We looked at our fleet of kayaks on the beach and then it dawned on us: we were all (bar one) using skegged boats, most of British origin, a couple of British style.
Steve in Nordlow (c)
Was it that such a concentration of "British boats" could cause the proverbial British weather?
I don't believe in superstition but it was an odd coincidence :-)

Funny enough though we all seemed to enjoy the weather.
On the return leg (now raining steadily) we were all smiles.
Being warmly dressed made us enjoy the situation.
heading into the squall_2 (c)
Living in Queensland we opt way too often to chuck in the sponge if the weather is not picture perfect since we can just avoid those rare rainy days and pick most other times to head outside.
What some might have viewed as "terrible conditions" became on opportunity to observe the large water droplets that created the peculiar divots into the water surface.
It looked like somebody had spilled a bag of pearls and now they were bouncing on the sea.
Needless to say we were the only "fools" to be out in such "miserable" conditions.

PS: to my cold weather climate readers: it was a still balmy 20C and not that gnarly anyway. Reed Aquatherm or a light spray jacket was all that we needed...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Because of spam received from unwanted manufacturers/retailers all comments are now moderated. Allow a few days for your comment to appear when the operators of GnarlyDog News are on safari.