Esperance Trip Update

Movie and comprehensive strory coming. This photo is a teaser.

One of the locals - late teens. Seems to have the local spots wired pretty well. This was actually a frame off the video camera, not a still shot. Taken from around 500m away. One of the better days obviously!

Esperance is fantastic during the right time of year. We go a bit early. The swell always seems a bit too big in late December early Jan and we seem to average about 60% sailing days accross the trips. The day of this shot was the smallest swell day we sailed (this was one of the larger waves for the day though).

The sweet spot seems to be mid Jan through to mid March. Apparently it is not a good place to be through winter. We have been there during Westerly's and the place just does not have anywhere good to sail in that direction. Chop bay sailing on the other tack seems the only option. No good on NW or Northerlies either...

Had too much on last weekend, and with a few Robe days coming up I thought I would see if I get some footage from them as well!

Here is the final update on the journey:

The last few days were forecast to be quite good. At last some smaller swell with decent wind! It was only the last day that came through. Got to the spot early but still not early enough! Seems like peak time is just after midday. We arrived at 1pm in time for the shot at the start of this topic and waves like it. Was a bit off-shore.

There is a very small area up wind that all the sailors congreate in with the beach on one side and a reef on the other. This is the starting point. Pick a set and sail down wind towards it. There were two breaks, one in front and one down wind. Was tricky to read as many of the larger sets closed out on the upper break, but when you got one - awsome!

Smooth (although not glassy) waves with a great shoulder that went for many turns. The locals really milked the spot. This seemed to be 'Pauls day'. He was ripping. We had good rides but not as good as the locals. At about 2:30pm it went off-shore. Time for another massive downwind run. We ended up piling into the 4wd and driving down there after about 5km of sailing it.

It looked small down wind but more side shore. I was out first. Got to the break and it was easy half mast and very fat. Fluked getting out the back and got an ok run in. Tried getting out a second time with Bondy just up wind. He made it and I got nailed, and again, and again. Went out a third time and shared a wave with Bondy. Was quite a good ride, although I was lucky, there was a lot of mush about.

We gave up and headed back for the big run back to Adelaide. The trip back was all going well until the border. We lost Paul (he got past us at the cliff stop after Eucla). Then something bad happenned. 10km out of Nullarbor I noticed the Troop Carrier battery light was on. Then the temp went through the roof. Lost power. Rolled to a stop, engine still running. It was 5pm. Managed to cool it down and roll into Nullarbor.

Went in to the servo and asked for help. We just managed to catch the RAA retrieval / repair guy before he was about to head out to tow in a some other 'jobs'. Out here the 'jobs' can take many hours and even days. The Troopie was dead. It was the bearing for the drive sprocket for the fan belt. He gave us the details of the tow guy to Ceduna. Luckily we got to him just prior to some other break downs, or we could have been waiting until the next week! He was picking us up in the morning to get us to Ceduna. Money in advance thanks - and we are talking in the thousands! Many phone calls between public phone boxes and roadhouse phones later we arranged for Paul to try and organise transport from Ceduna to Adelaide.

We decided to drink so we went to the Nullarbor bar. There were some truckies present, and the 'local' staff. We drank with the locals. Bondy stepped out to get some money and cam rushing back in with a panicked look on his face. He asked whos trucks were 'out there' and pointed south. A group of truckies responded with concern. Bondy talked about 'fireballs'. The bar emptied, except for three - the barman, one of the truckies and Bondy. I noticed as I was running to the door and paused. There were smiles on all faces. One drink later everyone came back in. Bondy was worried he was going to get squashed by a group of truckies and explained he was put up to it by the 'guy in the corner'. There were no denials.

Then it came to closing time. By this stage the truckies had left. Bondy was in full song with the guitar going. A late 'session' was had with the locals. It reduced the stress of the next day. So we left Nullarbor with car and trailer in tow at 8am the next morning. Got a text from Paul, guy coming 1:30pm to pick us and gear up from hire 4wd place. Meet at Toyota dealer. Not so bad...
They were amazed a 2010 Troopie died. Like the 'tow guy' they said these things 'never break down'. We must be 'lucky'.

He arrives late. Apart from introductions, his words all seem focussed on the 'locals' of greater than a few hundred years. There are many, many words. The words last from Ceduna to Port Augusta. Even Bondy couldn't get a word in! His other conversations covered all these movie people. He provided the cars from them. Some interesting stories on Lear jets and stupid money, mixed in the many for letter words and expletives about the 'locals' described above. I suppose it made the time go a bit quicker...

Got back to Adelaide really late. Next day the hire 4wd people were good to us and provided some compensation for this nightmare. The discounts took some pain out of the experience... Can't believe that Paul and Bondy went to Robe the next day. I suppose I should have gone, but I was exhausted!