Henty river trip
Left Thursday morning for a windsurfing trip on the Henty River, West Coast Tas. Locked hubs in off the bitumen about 10am to be greeted by a relatively dry track all the way in. A few mud holes with sand but with tyres deflated the mighty pajero powered on. We scouted the area and found a camp site around 400m from the river Henty. Not great wind direction for windsurfing so we set ourselves up to settle in for the night. Fire started, hot soup to keep us warm,Canadian club cans on the go, all set for what was supposed to be a great windsurfing session Friday morning. Close eyes, alseep at 9pm Wind coming in strong gusting to 40 knots.. perfect... blissfully unaware of the nightmare about to unfold.
Happy days on Thu morning after arriving
Glad to be home Ben after all that. For anyone venturing in that area be very careful. If there has been a lot of rain about maybe check with the Hydro the Dam level and potential flooding of the area. Aparently it can go a lot higher than we experienced.
Great story and glad you made it out alive. What does all that water do for cleaning out the run or has it f@#ked it up?
Run has a good S in the middle now, which is pretty shallow. But top of run has already had a good flush by the look of it. Had a walk along there yesterday and there is a good edge. Sand looks higher than last time too so on the right day the Henty would still produce for sure.
OHHHHHH
Glad you are safe.
The little red train that could Pajero needs a polish for that effort.
you boys were so lucky
The run is still there. On Thurs we went out for a short sail in the wrong wind direction (NW) mainly to find the shallow parts of the run...that was before it flooded). The seaward edge of the run drops off quite sharply making a nice speed edge but there are a few sand fingers coming out and also a few shallow banks in the middle of the river further down to watch out for. We only went about halfway down the run and where it widened it also became more shallow (about thigh deep). The run is not as straight as it used to be and snakes its way down towards the mouth. The flood waters will only make it better flushing the sand out and creating a better edge...we hope. Not my favorite place right this moment but that may change.
The only thing I can think to say is "bloody hell". Glad your all safe and the Pajero is still living.
Great near miss Ben and Paul ,
so unexpected but great resolve in a crisis and Cool under pressure !! .
good stuff .....
I could tell where that story was heading ...
Lucky you made it out guys. That must have been a hell-night and worrying as to how it would all end up.
Perhaps not as bad as you had it, but Steve and I got stuck in at the rigging area with track flooded and the river visibly rising as we watched. We gunned it across the 'lake' and went down into the track, which was even deeper than the surrouding land and the water came up over the bonnet and the car started drifting sideways - I thought F#$K!! Then the wheels gripped a little and we slowly straigtened up and got some traction and made it out.
Copied below is a photo from another trip where we didn't even get to the 'lake' and I got stuck.
One thing we've found is you can sail the Henty on the first day the wind blows, but after that the swells pick up and washes over the beach into the river and floods the tracks.
That might have been useful information - sorry!! We should add it to Johhny's Spot Guide!!
Glad you made it out OK!!
Sounds like a few of us have had close calls...Will talk to johnny and give him some more info for the spot guide...its hard to tell the depth with the dark colour of the water sometimes. We walked through most sections before driving ...bloody hell the water was cold
WOWeeeeeeeeeeee Glad i took that raincheck ben
Veeeeeeery lucky guyz, really good ending really
It's funny how easily you can forget about an experience like that and be keen to go back to a spot
I remember that photo very well dave
I could tell where that story was heading ...
Lucky you made it out guys. That must have been a hell-night and worrying as to how it would all end up.
Perhaps not as bad as you had it, but Steve and I got stuck in at the rigging area with track flooded and the river visibly rising as we watched. We gunned it across the 'lake' and went down into the track, which was even deeper than the surrouding land and the water came up over the bonnet and the car started drifting sideways - I thought F#$K!! Then the wheels gripped a little and we slowly straigtened up and got some traction and made it out.
Copied below is a photo from another trip where we didn't even get to the 'lake' and I got stuck.
One thing we've found is you can sail the Henty on the first day the wind blows, but after that the swells pick up and washes over the beach into the river and floods the tracks.
That might have been useful information - sorry!! We should add it to Johhny's Spot Guide!!
Glad you made it out OK!!
That was really scary Dave. I thought for sure we were going to be bogged and your car written off. Last ones to leave that day and no phone reception. Also the weather conditions were very similar, rain, snow and the water surging over the bank. Don't forget the 15 hour return drive for 2 hours of sailing.