Riverton to Omaui
We met at the north side of the Riverton harbour at 10.30am on an overcast, warm, windless day. There were only 3 of us, Noel Carson, Sier Vermunt and Stanley. Sier had joined us at the last moment and had his new Tasman Express with him. The sea was flat with a gentle swell yet despite this Noel and I got a dunking on launching. I spent a few minutes pumping out my cockpit and then we turned our bows eastwards.
There was a sea mist and Stewart Island was obscured to the south. Further out we caught the swell and pulled away from the coast aiming in the supposed direction of Halfway Rocks. These lie about 16km's to the south east and 6km's off the main entrance to Oreti Beach. Bluff was hidden to the east and visibility was only several kilometres.
After about 12 kilometres the wind started to pick up and with it the swell. Ahead I could see the low outline of Halfway Rocks so I knew roughly where we were. Soon after this I began to feel a bit uneasy as the wind was continuing to build and now the waves were growing taller and steepening. I pulled over to Noel and discussed heading to the beach. We decided not to, but to pull in closer to the beach as we were several kilometres out and keep a course for Omaui Island. We could see the headland east of the island, partly shrouded in mist but still a long way off.
Once past Halfway Rocks the conditions seemed to deteriorate quite quickly and by now we were alarmed as the waves were now metres high. I thought of making in to the beach, but this seemed a terrifying prospect. We elected to push on as the conditions grew more grim. There was now a strong onshore wind and this combined with a strong ebb tide out of New Estuary created confused seas. Noel was quietly determined and pushed on in front. Sier whipped across one monster wave and I thought he must have flipped and prepared for an assisted rescue but to my amazement he was still upright when I raced over the crest a second later.
Slowly Omaui Island grew close and then we were released into safer waters close to the east side of the estuary. From here it was a bit of a push against the ebb tide to Omaui Beach.
We were just over 5 hours on the water and we covered 31 kilometres. We all felt pretty tired but really pleased to have completed the trip.
Stanley
There was a sea mist and Stewart Island was obscured to the south. Further out we caught the swell and pulled away from the coast aiming in the supposed direction of Halfway Rocks. These lie about 16km's to the south east and 6km's off the main entrance to Oreti Beach. Bluff was hidden to the east and visibility was only several kilometres.
After about 12 kilometres the wind started to pick up and with it the swell. Ahead I could see the low outline of Halfway Rocks so I knew roughly where we were. Soon after this I began to feel a bit uneasy as the wind was continuing to build and now the waves were growing taller and steepening. I pulled over to Noel and discussed heading to the beach. We decided not to, but to pull in closer to the beach as we were several kilometres out and keep a course for Omaui Island. We could see the headland east of the island, partly shrouded in mist but still a long way off.
Once past Halfway Rocks the conditions seemed to deteriorate quite quickly and by now we were alarmed as the waves were now metres high. I thought of making in to the beach, but this seemed a terrifying prospect. We elected to push on as the conditions grew more grim. There was now a strong onshore wind and this combined with a strong ebb tide out of New Estuary created confused seas. Noel was quietly determined and pushed on in front. Sier whipped across one monster wave and I thought he must have flipped and prepared for an assisted rescue but to my amazement he was still upright when I raced over the crest a second later.
Slowly Omaui Island grew close and then we were released into safer waters close to the east side of the estuary. From here it was a bit of a push against the ebb tide to Omaui Beach.
We were just over 5 hours on the water and we covered 31 kilometres. We all felt pretty tired but really pleased to have completed the trip.
Stanley