We had a great day at Kingston SE today started out around 16knotts then gradually dropped all day. The juniors went out on the Arrow cat's and a 420 in around 12kts, only one capsize which I helped right. By the time seniors got out it was 10kts at most then proceeded to drop out. My wife Liz crewed with me on the 5.8 and thanks to the assistance with setting up the boat from my earlier thread we made a good show of it, even in light winds. After about 2hrs and drifting at 2kts I looked behind us at a funny shape and then when it was about 20metres behind us I said to Liz look theres a dolphin behind us and before she could say much this dirty great white pointer stuck its whole fin out of the water directly behind us like a scene out of jaws then just behind the boat it peeled of down the port side and went past on its side looking up at me. It went then came back again then disapeared. Liz stood on the main beam and held onto the mast, I pulled a board up and leant against it for a really slow trip back to the beach. We hailed a motor boat and got them to get our rescue boat to take the only juniors still out off their cat and tow it in.
I know we sound like woosses but it was the biggest thing I've seen up close and really shocked me the way it rose out of the water when it checked us out. Now that I've drunk a stack of beer and I'm 100metres in land I can see that to the sharks credit it never actually did anything threatening it just scared the living excrement out of us by showing itself.
regards
Was it longer than your boat?
I couldnt really make out too well where its tail ended but it was about 4 ft away from the port side and went from stern to bridal tang roughly 15ft. It wasn't the length that shocked me it was the width
at 15ft that's a damn lot of Noah's Ark!!
you have to report back when you get some more breeze to play with... could have loaned you some extra's we had today....
G'day Dazz it put the wind right up us,
Jaws
has a lot to answer for we both thought it was coming onto the back of the boat when it rose up but it was just having a look I guess. I'll let this thread die now, I meant to thank you for your advice and will let you know how it goes in a blow in the thread where I asked for the advice. I was faster than a MK4 A, just behind a 5.7. I still don't understand why so much rake makes it go faster in light wind. We sat on each side in front of the main beam to get the sterns out and kept going even when the 5.7 virtually stopped.
regards
well that SA for you
the real SA, south australia, where the real sharks hang out
try to remember not to go snorkling or scuba diving around any rocks that are often frequented by seals
hear they are the great white equivalent of fast food outlets
Not here normally thats why its a shock, we were in 12ft of water, we have no rocks, just sandy beach, no surf, no seals, cant catch salmon from the beach have never even seen a tidly one here.
Well you can keep him Jeff. Definately don't send him our way, we don't want him. We did have plenty of wind on saturday though, probably 18-20 knots out the back and 10 knots by the shore. All northerly which equals flat water and very fast. I was doing 11-13 knots upwind and 13-16 knots down, without the kite. I know i'm a pansy but the gybes were scary enough without the kite, didn't plan on swimming on every turn.