Flat water Paddle Ocean Grove to Geelong 22.6km

Today's paddle from Ocean Grove to Geelong 22.6 km was full of surprises. I have wanted to complete this paddle since 2008 before my 1st back operation. Lots of people have talked about doing it but to my knowledge no-one has.

Kristi paddled the 12'6 Fanatic Fly Race, I paddled the Starby K15 and Stuart paddled his Naish 17 fixed and ventral fin custom.

We left OG or should I say Sheep Wash at 10am and headed for our 1st stop which was the old landing strip about 800m short of the entry into Lake Connewarre. The tide was supposed to have stopped but it was sill flowing out at about 3km on the paddle up. With a brisk paddle we made the small sand patch survey the so called air strip ( poorly maintained dirt road IMO). After a quick stop to relax the feet and down a yoghurt bar or 2 we were off on our way to the lake.

The paddle to the lake had a few surprises, the lead in water way was very shallow we are talking having to stand so far forward in the K15 my back foot was in the cockpit and my front foot was cheater 5 style on the nose to lift the fin at one point.
All 3 of us had to work our way back and forward to try to find a deeper channel. To add to the experience the current was running a cool 5kn or so and we made very slow but steady head way.

When we finally got to the lake mouth there are several islands and many choices of channel to take. I had google earthed the lake estuary and had an idea of which channel to take but in real life if was a totally different story. As we paddled round the corner into the channel a raging current side slipped stuart about 10ft on his Naish 17 something I have never seen happen before. This board has a fixed rear fin and a ventral fin and slide sideways like it was on ice. The look on Stuart's face was a classic and fore warned Kristi and I made a slightly wider line. We then had a 400m paddle in 5kn current to fully enter the lake in extremely shallow water more standing almost on the bow required to make it through.





After conquering the current and the main channel which again was super shallow we started the 2.77km run across the lake to Point Piper. The lake was only about 6 inches deep for 2+km and with 15kn cross wind and fins scrapping the bottom the whole way it was one hell of a journey, we were all pretty happy to make a berth at the Point Piper Pier. More energy bars water and then the 2.5k paddle to the wire.









Entering the main channel on the north side of the lake your faced with head high reeds which create a funnel effect and you get blown down the water way like your in a wind tunnel, it was a really fun experience.




A while later the weir comes into view and its clear there is a a 2-3ft obstacle that we need to find a way around. More Macgyver required to get up the bank with the K15, Naish 17 and the Fanatic 12'6 in tow. Then you need to walk 30m up and launch yourself and the board jump rock style back into the water. One more obstacle down a couple more to go.



We stopped off at the Geelong Ski Boat Club which by the way has a nifty play ground for the kids.

The sole boat owner looked amused and must have wondered where the heck we came from but he just kept preparing his boat. We left them in peace and headed the last 5 or so km to the Geelong Rowing Club. The cows on the river bank seemed amused as we paddle by.





There is a concrete bridge that blocks the river as its a danger that needed negotiation as it didn't appear on any of my maps and looked like you could paddle right past but that simply wasn't possible (long story). So with some limbo dancing and Ben Owzinsky prone paddling skills we were once again on our way.



Then next obstacle we knew about a low cross over bridge that you simple cannot paddle under as there is a fallen tree on the north side that blocks all access. Once again mountain goat skills required to get the 3 boards out and in rock jump again required and we were on our way.





The final 3.5km were pretty uneventful but we were glad to finish hit the grass pretty happy to have achieved our goal.

Great day on the water nothing like and adventure.

We did have more images however the annoying No Go lens did its usual thing grrrr

Phill

Hey Pup it was just one of those magical days on the water, its amazing whats in your own back yard if you only look.

The bird life on Connewarre is all time I wish I had taken a proper camera.

Even when you think you have things figured Murphy has a few surprises to say the least.

Life is an adventure, we have a few more ideas and challenges for the future!

Phill

Yep, it was a grand day out all right, all credit to Phill for nutting out the plan and putting the call out. As I said to Phill, when Dave Kalama and Iggy cooked up the Naish 17, I doubt that they were thinking much about portaging around weirs and dodging cow pats