Trip Plan: Fred's to Wong Wan Chau to Tap Mun

Trip plan for May 1st 2009

Member: Solo (Cordelia)

Distance: Ad lib, but anywhere from 22km to 31km

Time: whenever I get up, and must be home before 1600 or else... (low tide!)

The plan is more or less ad lib, the idea is to see what kind of mileage I can get out of Bobby on flat water. 

Fred's: 0km

Wong Wan Chau Tung Wan: 11km

Circumnavigate WWC: 20km

Grass Island Pier: 26km

Fred's: 31km

Will bring power gel, snacks, paddle-float, cell phone, and I'll DEFINITELY wear a PFD ^_^;; 

If it gets late, I will turn around at Tung Wan.  

If I get there before 1130, I will circumnavigate WWC.  

If I have time, I will have late lunch on Grass Is.  

If not, make a beeline to Fred's for dinner.

Second Guessing [on-going updates]

What happened last Sunday still bothers me, but I've learnt long ago not to second guess my decisions -- if we came out of it alive, we must have done something right.

But I'm sure both Dennis and I are going to recreate our disastrous scenario at some point to work out what we did right, and what we could have done better.  Right now, I have a few thoughts:

1) Climb onto Prijon.

I wonder if it would work for me to tow a capsized Prijon with Dennis lying on top of it?  Or would it be too unstable?  It would reduce the drag for me, and keep the patient's core body out of the water.  But I wouldn't want my patient to try something like that for the first time in a real life rescue situation anyway, save it for a good day after a lot of pizza on DBay, I'd say...

2) Raft Tow or Cockpit-side Tow

Things really got out of hands when Dennis capsized after the 3rd successful reentry.  He did warn me his kayak was very unstable, so I should have tried a raft tow or a cockpit-side tow.  

will write more when I come up with more ideas about what we could try in similar situations.

Bobby the folding kayak

I've been working with Bobby  the folding kayak in the last two days.  Boy, it's tough.  I suppose that alone should be punishment enough for sinking Fred's Indian Summer.

With the help of a few boat swells, and by pushing so hard that I started panting and wheezing, I managed to squeeze 6km/hr out of it... but that's only for a very short distance (Wong Shek Pier to Ko Lau wan, 4km, in just under 40 minutes.)  Not sure if I could ever make it to Long Ke with it.

Another annoying thing about it is that the knee-brace side bar keep snapping out when I try to tilt or lean my kayak to one side.  It would suck if I were trying to roll when that happens!

I got very nervous when I got to Ko Lau Wan yesterday, but then I wasn't wearing a PFD, AND I didn't have a paddle float, AND the spraydeck wouldn't come off =_=;;  So I turned around and stayed in the "safe zone."  

I have a 60L dry bag with a valve -- way too big as a p-float, but if you don't get killed by hyperventilation, it works as good as a pontoon!  I like to think you can't fail to reenter or roll with that big pillow by your side.  But then again, I only tried to roll without my spraydeck on.  I can't help thinking that it would be suicidal to capsize while being so, um, inseparable from the boat.

Oh, and it sucks to come back at low tide, and I mean it literally.  I took up Fred's advice and put on a pair of runners when I paddled yesterday.  I came back at about 1830, and the water at Tai Tan had receded, so I had to walk through the muddy sand with a kayak and day-gears on my shoulder.  The mud/sand sucked on my runners, and the sole fell out!

 

Currently rereading Sea Kayak Rescue by Roger Schumann and Jan Shriner.  I remember how I thought it's all dry and boring stuff the last time I read it (in 2007), now, I keep nodding appreciatively.  They even have a short section on recovering a half-sunk kayak.  Let's just hope I have a chance to use it this Sunday.

Tai Long Tsui snafu

I sank Indian Summer on Sunday, and nearly lost my paddling buddy too.

This is my perspective of what happened.  Would be interesting to hear what Dennis has to say.

0845 - launch (Fred's)

0925 - Ko Lau Wan

?? - Mai Fun Tsui

1012- Tune Tsui

??- Cheung Tsui

103x - snack and 5 minutes break.

1056- outside Ham Tin

1105 - first capsize

1130 - resume paddling after re-entry practices, turned around

1212 - Cheung Tsui

1221 - game over.

Everything was fine in the morning.  Was going to launch without breakfast, but Fred got up to cook for us.  I think, if I hadn't eaten breakfast, we would both be dead.  Which means we owe Fred a boat, some breakfast, and two lifes.

We were preparing to launch, the breakfast made us a little later than I expected, so I was in a rush and decided to be lazy and careless.  I thought about adding the inflatable tubes into Indian Summer, because we expected sea condition to be nasty; we were also planning to go through rescue scenarios at Long Ke.   But a brief search yielded nothing, so I quickly gave up the idea.  I've never needed it before, I didn't see how I could need it that day.  How wrong was I.

I'm comfy with big waves and Dennis did really well in Lantau, so I thought we were ready.  Looking back, Dennis didn't really want to come, he expressed that he would rather paddle more long distance calm water like Double Haven.  But I was being pushy and talked him into coming with me to Long Ke right after the new moon, and on a day when we were expecting BF5 NE.

Water in Tai Tan was flat.  Even Ko Lau Wan was mild.  Things got interesting near Mai Fun Tsui, but I think we were still having fun.  By the time we passed Tune Tsui and tried to point to Cheung Tsui, we had a problem.  

At that angle, the waves hit us right on the port side beam, and we are talking about some pretty tall waves.  They came crashing like a wall. Dennis isn't used to riding waves like this, and it took me a while to notice that he wasn't enjoying it at all.

When we got to Cheung Tsui, the shit really hit the fan.  We were fully exposed to wind and currents from NE and SE, adding to it the near shore contours, the waves were powerful and irregular, worse yet, it mostly came from the beam.  

We took a break shortly after we passed Cheung Tsui, Dennis refueled with a Mars Bar, we discussed our route and decided we would still go for Long Ke.  But I think that's where our trouble begins.  After the break, Dennis got motion sick.  We tried to stay close to each other and we managed to chat a little as we paddled.  Dennis expressed that it's getting very challenging for him, assuming everybody to behave like I do, I thought he meant he was having fun ^_^;;;  But that's not the case, and it became apparent when he ... capsized.

He helped himself back in with a paddle float, I tried to turn around to get near him immediately and was surprised at how much time it took me to get to him.  We emptied his Prijon with a sponge, Dennis favors a cup for bailing but I'm pretty happy with what we had. 

As we sat there after the self-rescue, it started to sink in that Dennis was having a bad day, he finally told me that he didn't sleep well last night, he wasn't feeling well and was feeling motion sick even as he rode the green top minibus this morning.  We discussed about what to do and decided to turn around.  

Thinking back, we should have turned around a lot sooner -- which Dennis agrees.  I also offered to tow him; but I was being flippant all day and made it very difficult for him to communicate his problem.  It's an expensive lesson to me, but being flippant can be very costly.  Next time, I'll remember to be humble, and Dennis isn't going to be shy.  

So we turned around.  I suddenly decided I might as well "do it."  I told Dennis to wait for me while I have a go at jump-out and self-rescue.  That was obnoxious and stupid.  After jumping out, I realized it was a major battle to just put on a PFD in that condition.  When I finally got back onto my kayak, I started to feel cold and iffy as well.

But I took off the PFD anyway, and slipped it back in as a seat.  We paddled on, I tried to stay close to Dennis, I knew he wasn't feeling well and the waves were starting to build up into something much nastier than what we faced in the morning.  Worse yet, they were coming from behind us -- to me, that's like surfing and was fun.  To Dennis, it's something that made him nervous, so he tensed up all his muscle and ... capsized again.

To be exact, he capsized after we passed Cheung Tsui.  BTW, I remember thinking, Cheung Tsui was the crux of the trip.  It was also a bit of a struggle for me to stay upright and stay away from the sharp rocks that kept trying to suck us in like a sinkhole.   

I was still trying to be polite, I wasn't sure if he wanted me to help or if he would just do a self-assisted re-entry.  But I knew we hadn't much time to lose, the rocks were sucking us in.

I tentatively offered him my bow, he agreed to try to eskimo-roll himself back in, but couldn't.  So I moved alongside his kayak, righted it, stabilized it by placing the paddle shaft across it and leaning onto it, and told him to climb back in.  I meant for him to do a cockpit-side re-entry, but he tried the stern-deck re-entry, which he favors, which didn't work very well with me leaning on his stern-deck.  So he fell out as soon as he climbed on.

We were getting too close to the rock, so I decided to have Dennis hold onto both kayaks while I tow him away.  His body in the water plus the capsized kayak created a huge anchor, and it was very difficult to move.  Every inch was a major battle, but I thought, even if progress was slow, as long as we were moving, we would be okay.  

What I forgot was how easily you get hypothermia in rapidly moving water like that.

When I decided we were at a safe enough distance from the rocks, I had Dennis holding my bow while I turn his kayak around.  The water was so turbulent I tried to capsize a few times. (I couldn't hold onto my paddle and move his kayak at the same time!)  In the process, I also broke my paddle leash -- this is the 6th time I've broken a paddle leash.  I really need to get better quality lanyards!  Anyway, this time, it worked.  Dennis climbed back in, I was able to stabilize the kayak as he recovers, but we were getting alarmingly close to the exposed sharp rocks, and I was in a hurry to go, and I told him as much.

Dennis told me his kayak was filled with water and very difficult to balance, I told him we would have to empty it after we move away from the ever threatening rocks.  I told him I was going to tow him, he agreed with the condition that he would still hang onto my stern for support.

So I took his towline and hooked it onto his bow toggle.  As soon as I moved away, Dennis capsized again. 

That's when I realized we were in real trouble, but tried not to think about that.  I told him to just hold onto my stern again, I was going to repeat our maneuver -- if it worked once, why couldn't it work the second time?  

I can answer that question now.  Reason 1, We both wasted a lot of energy at trial-and-error rescues.  Reason 2, hypothermia was setting into Dennis at a rapid rate, and his energy was getting zapped.  Reason 3, both of our kayaks were taking in more and more water.  Reason 4, the wind and current were getting stronger by the minute.

As I struggled to move us away from the rock, Dennis shouted to me, "Lia, I'm very cold."  I turned around to look, sure enough, he was pale as a ghost, shivering visibly -- and violently.  In my head, I asked myself, "threat or challenge?" and I knew it was a lie, but told myself this was only a challenge, and we will get ourselves out, like we always did in our rescue practices.  It's a mental game I play with myself to control panic, it worked.

I weighted my options, and decided to move him onto my stern deck, so to reduce heat loss for Dennis, and to reduce drag in the water.  It would have worked if I had a CLG kayak, or at least, a kayak with some sort of reliable floatation devices inside.  As it was, all I had in there was a dry bag with my day trip gears.  With Dennis' weight on my stern, the boat trimmed backward and all the water from the bow flowed back as well.  My cockpit dipped below the water level, and water poured freely inside through my spraydeck waistband.  I soon noticed I wasn't making any forward progress at all, it was all I could do to maintain balance.  I told Dennis to get off, he did, but it was too late.  There was no way to stop the water from pouring in at that point.  I told Dennis to hang onto my bow toggle, I don't think he heard or understood me, because he just stayed back.   When he finally got the message and held my bow, I saw that even the deck top was submerged.

I tried to stay upright without my paddle while dragging prijon towards me at the same time -- I've made up my mind to switch boats.  Finally, I fell out of Indian Summer.  Such a mellow goodbye, I didn't even know that would be the last time I work with her.  Damnit, I miss her already.

I used a paddle float to climb onto prijon.  So it turns out, if you don't mind getting water in your nose, you can manage to set up a paddlefloat without wearing a PFD.  Hardly something to brag about, of course.  I fell out the first time I tried to climb in.  With Dennis holding onto the leeward combing, I tried again from the windward side, and got in this time.  Tried very briefly to pull Indian Summer out of the water, but Dennis said "forget it," which I wholeheartedly agreed.  I grabbed what's within my reach: my PFD, bottle of water, paddle float, and so we moved on.  I saw my electronic gear bottle floating sadly near my stern, I knew I would kill myself if I failed to get us out of there because I was too busy trying to grab my gears, so I gave that up too. 

Dennis held onto my stern, and told me to watch out for the rocks on the port side.  He is such an indispensable crew, too bad he isn't sailing anymore :)  Anyway, I'm not familiar with Prijon, I never liked her much, and it was a bit of a struggle to get her to obey my commands.  I tensed up, every sensation inside was a surprise to me -- the cockpit depth, the knee braces ... 

But there was no time to say hello. I tried and tried to get away from that murderous rock on the port side; waves were crashing and drawing mercilessly.  I did everything I knew how: extended my paddle all the way to my port side, tilted the kayak into the starboard side, kept paddling only on the port side, and even tried a stern-rudder on the starboard side.  I spend every last bit of energy I knew I had and then some ... I even cried out in frustration, the violent water made every stroke very heavy, I had to work every muscle to get it to move slowly through the water.   I got very angry at myself, I thought I was good at this.  How come I couldn't get a kayak to move the way I want it to, when I really need it to?

Thanks heaven, I finally managed to steer away from the exposed rocks into a somewhat sheltered area.  I meant to land on a pebbles-lined section of the shore, but got too close to the barnacles-lined rocks.  I wished and wished and wished it was within my power to move us away from that too, but knew it was time to reconcile my limitations.  I shouted to Dennis, "Do whatever you can to protect yourself, we are about to crash."

I heard Dennis said okay.  Next thing I knew, prijon hit the rock, the next crashing wave pushed her over; and I fell out.  Prijon banged violently into the rocks, while the water dragged me under into the deep, deep yonder.  I knew I was supposed to panic, but somehow I decided it was a challenge, and not a threat.  I felt confident that I could hold my breathe forever if I needed to.  I calmly pulled myself back onto the surface with the towline that was still attached to my waist and Prijon's bow toggle.  I took a deep breathe, and the next crashing wave dragged me under water again.

The process recurred a few times before I decided it wasn't fun any more.  When I broke the water surface for the last time, I treaded water to bring my upper body onto prijon, and rode the next wave onto higher grounds along with the boat.  Then I stood up, untangled myself from the towline, and fought the oncoming waves as I dragged the half-filled, heavy kayak further up the rock, as soon as it was stable enough, I looked for Dennis's gear bag and had him put on his wind breaker.  After some further struggle to stabilize the kayak, I made him climb back inside the kayak to keep his lower body sheltered as well, we were both bleeding a little from the barnacle cuts, but those were minor compared to his hypothermia.  

I found his phone, asked his opinion about calling the police for help, he just said "hmm." I doubted if he understood what he was agreeing to.  But my phone was floating in my nalgene somewhere out there; whereas his phone got wet and didn't work any more.  So it didn't matter anyway.

Knowing that we couldn't call for help, I looked through his gears and found an exposure-bag, but no matches or lighter.  I walked around to look for somewhere sheltered from the strong wind, and had Dennis move into the exposure-bag.

Once he's settled, I told him we had two choices: I stay with him to keep warm and wait for help to arrive, or I launch the remaining kayak to get help.   We decided to launch Prijon to get help, I gave him water and food and told him to eat when he is well enough to hold it down -- he was still vomiting at that point.  He said to me, "be careful, and take a paddle float."  It was an incredible relief to hear him say that.  Somehow, at that point, being told what to do felt good.

So I tried to launch, but I kept getting pushed back by the onshore crashing waves and wind, and got really beaten up, sandwiched between the kayak and the rocks as the waves crashed in.  I tried a good many times, often doubting myself, "is this the right decision?  Can I really leave him here for hours unattended?  Can I really get this done alone?"  I got mad at myself for doubting myself, for being so obnoxious all the time and chickening out when I really need to be strong.  I knew I wasn't trying hard enough, I knew I half decided I should stay with Dennis so I was dragging my feet when I tried to launch.  I kept telling myself, "don't think, just do."  

Finally, I decided to check on Dennis before I go again.  When I got there, he had his eyes closed, didn't respond to me immediately, and was very pale, but still shivering violently, I got really scared.  I seriously thought he was going to die if I didn't get help soon.  I got extra-determined to get the kayak out and get help, so I went back to try, and tried really hard, and got all banged and cut up from it, but still couldn't launch against the crashing waves.  By time time I finally decided I was wasting my remaining energy, it was already 1500. (we crashed landed at 1230)

So I climbed back to where Dennis was. There he sat, not shivering, I was scared out of my wit!  But then when I spoke to him this time, he opened his eyes, and I saw that his color returned.  I asked him some questions and he responded, I checked his pulse on the wrist and it was strong.  I was so relieved, I couldn't stop laughing.

We tried and failed a few other things, like looking for my nalgene and swimming for it.  Eventually we decided to stash our kayak and gears, then hike back to civilization.  

I was like a fish out of water on the hiking trail, totally out of my element, but couldn't help laughing the whole time -- I snatched my friend back from death, and I couldn't ask for more.   Oh, and don't ask, cos I'm certainly not going to blog about how I flopped around the trail like a stupid namazu (泥秋魚). 

We hiked from Tai Long Wan to Ham Tin, got something hot to eat and drink, Dennis called Anna and I called Fred.  The restaurant owner was really nice and called a boat for us. We  patched up our morale, and hiked from there to Chek King, took the boat to Wong Shek Pier, and walked back to Fred's place.  

I didn't feel totally absolved until Dennis was delivered back into Anna's hands.  There, I return your husband safe and sound, if somewhat cut up.  

Dennis said he wasn't afraid to go kayaking with me again but would turn around sooner if we were to do it all over again; and he wouldn't want to paddle big waves like that until he gets better at bracing etc.

As for me, well, I'm not so sure.  It's one thing if he did his best and couldn't control his kayak; but I knew the water condition was going to be nasty, invited him anyway, launched an old kayak with no floatation device, launched without a cup to bail water with, and sat on my lifejacket instead of wearing it. In other words, I put my friend in a very dangerous situation knowingly and made a series of decisions that compromised my ability to help him.  To make things worse, I've always been obnoxious about kayaking -- I bragged about saving a lifeguard who capsized (in the same area, incidentally.), and how I also towed another lifeguard who got seasick for 12 km (also in the same area.)  I used to make it sound really ridiculous that people could get seasick on kayaks.  I think, because of these stories, and the way I told them, Dennis was reluctant to accept help when I first offered it.  And I didn't want to offend him, so I wasn't forceful about towing him when he first started getting seasick.

But all in all, we survived, and despite our mistakes we communicated really well during the crisis.  I've certainly been humbled by this experience, and am committed to put safety before fun, and focus on rescue skills instead of speed.

Lessons learned:

1. Fred is always right XD
2. use floatation devices, always
3. wear a PFD (Fred and Dennis said so) except in very hot weather or on calm water (I say so)
4. Wear runners and socks. (Fred said so)
5. Call off the trip and turn around when you think you can't handle it (Dennis said so.)
6. Work on boring basic stuff like bracing/ slapping/ sculling for support (Dennis said so.)
7. be vigilant about silent killers like hypothermia. 
8. Protect yourself and your friend preemptively - invite your patient onto your deck before hypothermia claims him; empty your cockpit of water before it gets so filled that it ... sinks. (no-brainer, I know.)
9. practice all rescue position and re-entry methods -- sometimes it's not possible to use our favorite maneuver. 
10. I should have used a cockpit-side tow instead of a long tow when Dennis pointed out his boat was very unstable.  It takes 15 extra seconds to set up a short loop; I was trying to save that 15 seconds, and got a disaster handed to me in return.
11. I must work on LHS techniques.  Part of the reasons I didn't want to setup a cockpit-side tow was because I wouldn't be able to put my blade down on the right side, and I was afraid my LHS techniques (sculling, bracing, tilting and righting) weren't good enough to keep me upright.
12. Get a better spraydeck with shoulder straps.
13. Get familiar with all the boats deployed in the trip -- you never know when you have to switch boat in a rescue operation u_u
14. Communicate better.  I meant to have Dennis focus on bracing and slapping for support when I towed prijon, but I just assumed that he knew, turns out he didn't.  I meant to have Dennis speak to me as I towed him on my stern, I even asked him to do so, and he said okay, but said no more.  Next time, we should agree on a protocol -- say, keep counting from one to ten, and so on.

Fred's to Long Ke Trip Plan

Fred2LongKe:

Date: 26-4-2009 (Sunday, post New Moon)

Members: Dennis, Cordelia

Goal: to ride the crazy post new moon tide out in the exposed water south of Cheung Tsui, and to practice rescue/ re-entry in nasty sea conditions.

Estimated distance: 38km

Proxigean Spring Tide

Stayed up all night Wednesday to improvise a Kayak-Shelter, then spend all day yesterday paddling a K-1 kayak.  Now, my entire body aches.

Hope to paddle K1 more, it forces me to pay close attentions to details in body postures, blade angle, balance, and even trim.  

Anyway, I just screwed up in reading the calendar and fooled Dennis into giving me another day on his weekend :)  Good thing he is so knowledgeable, turns out new moon and full moon doesn't make much of a difference.  What REALLY makes a difference, is the Proxigean Spring Tide that only occurs once every 19 months.

(Quoting the Astronomy Cafe)

The Proxigean Tide occurs when the Moon is at its closest point in its orbit to the Earth and in its New or Full Moon phase. At this time, its tidal effect on the Earth is maximum. Tidal gravitational forces vary as the third power of the distance between Earth and Moon, so even a small difference in distance can translate into a big effect. The orbit of the moon varies from a distance of 356,500 to 406,700 kilometers with an average distance near 380,000 kilometers. The variation between the maximum and minimum distances results in tidal force changes of a factor of 1.2 times the average tidal forces.

The times when this will happen often coincide with major coastal flooding events. Between 1997 and 2020 there will be 102 times when this will happen. You can see the list by looking at Fergus J. Wood's book Tidal Dynamics published in 1978 by D. Reidel Publishing company, Dordrecht Holland. There are tables computed by van Flandern at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Here is a short list of the most extreme events based on the time between perigee and syzygy being less than 5 hours:

PST Date:

3/11/2003 (N) 

1/10/2005(N)

2/28/2006 (N)

12/12/2008 (F)

1/30/2010 (F)

3/19/2011 (F)

5/6/2012 (F)

6/23/2013 (F)

8/10/2014(F)

9/28/2015(F)

11/14/2016(F)

5/25/2017 (N)

1/2/2018 (F)

7/13/2018 (N)

8/30/2019 (N)

10/16/2020 (N)

12/4/2021 (N)

1/21/2023 (N) 

New Moon is pretty bad because both the Sun and the Moon are on the same side of the Earth, and with the Moon near its closest point to the Earth, the tide- making potential is highest. I will probably not plan to be on the beach on the above dates!

Disney-Invasion

Walked down the beach around 1100am this morning, but I forgot to bring my watch so didn't feel very brave about a longish trip.  Instead, I spend about half an hour rolling with a p-float, then invaded Disney.

Fairly calm water before noon, but the wind picked up later.  I saw the familiar fishnet-casting boat again; I was surprised at how near shore it was casting the nets.  Since it's towing a net and moves very slowly, I couldn't wait for it to pass and had to dance around a bit to avoid collision.  It seems to shadow me every time I launch from DB around noon, it's quite  annoying.

Finally found my way into Disney's river.  The entrance is very narrow and camouflaged with a large rock.  I was worried that I couldn't turn around and will have to paddle backward on my way out, but it widens up nicely once you get past the bottleneck entrance.  Water is really calm, but the noises and music from Disney was a bit unnerving.  I saw something floating and bubbling in the water and for a few seconds I thought it was a croc ^_^;;;   Oh, there were quite a few birds flying and landing in the rocking side of the river too, so it felt like I've entered some sort of sanctuary.  

There were 3 slipways, I landed Martlet and walked up the middle one into Disney.  Didn't go very far though, I didn't have a towline and didn't like to leave Martlet unattended.

The river is clean as far as littering, but there were quite a bit of slimy stuff along the slipway.  I'm not keen to put my head under that water.

I thought it would be a easy paddle for beginners, and thought about inviting Anna to see if she feels brave enough, I don't think you're very likely to capsize in there.  That said, it's quite a narrow passage, so if she can't control her boat, she might run aground.

Circumnavigating Peng Chau

Was supposed to windsurf today, but after spending all day pumping and yanking on the rig yesterday, I gave up.  Got up late, had half a bottle of red wine + ramen for brunch, then decided to take Martlet out for a paddle.

Was so drunk I forgot to put my wallet and keys into my dry bag (I mean my nalgene,) also forgot to grab my cap and sunglasses.  Memorized the arrival time of a lot of my checkpoints, but by the time I washed up and walked home, I forgot most of the numbers.  Oh, and for some reasons I decided to leave my PFD at the beach when I launch.  So, don't drink and paddle.

(That is to say, the only gear I had was: me, kayak, crappy paddle, and a cellphone in a nalgene)

The surfing along the southern shore of Peng Chau was a lot of fun, I'm surprised nobody snap a photo of me speeding :)  

* * * For next time * * *

• Bring water... =_=
  
• Bring a notepad
• set the footrest and rudder
• Bring a paddle float!!!

Boat: Martlet

Paddle: That heavy, spoon-shaped, soft bladed paddle

BF 4-5, Southeast

launched at 1353 into headwind, 

paddled 9.11km, 

landed 1525 

average speed = 9.11km/92min = 5.94 km/hr 

Kayak day trip routes (on-going updates)

For some reasons I'm procrastinating to write the Day 2 report of our Lantau trip.   I wonder if it has anything to do with our, um, disastrous communications. (must excavate walkie)

So instead I shall fantasize easy day-trips launching from DBay:

(One way) Launching from DBay:

Nim Shue Wan: 2.88 km

Stanley SSB: 25km

Stanley SMB: 30km

Po Toi eatery: 30km

TMCC: 18km

Hau Hoi Wan: 42 - 46km

Circumnavigate and Return

Peng Chau: 10km (1.5 hr, launch before 1600)

Sunny Island: 14km (3 hrs, launch before 1500)

Hei Ling Chau: 20km (4 hrs, launch before 1400)

Cheung Chau: 28km (5 - 6 hrs, launch before noon)

Shek Kwu Chau: 33km (6-7hrs, launch before 1100)

Tsing Yi: 35Km (6-7hrs, launch before 1100)

Lamma: 45km (8-9hrs, launch before 0900)

Lantau: 70km (12 - 14hrs, launch at 0400?)

Circumnavigation of Lantau, 10-Apr-2009 summary

Trip Log: Circumnavigation of Lantau

Just a quick one before I drop dead from tiredness.

Day 1:

Launch: 0748

Disney Pier: 0825

Outside Disney: 0839

The two beaches around the corner: 0854

Tso Wan: 0907

Kap Sui Mun: 0923

Kwai Shek: 0936

Cheung Sok Tsui : 1004

Siu Ho Wan Depot: 1106

Tung Chung Pier: 1219

* * * Lunch Break * * *

Launch: 1352

Sha Lo Wan: 1420

Sham Wat Wan: 1448

Tai O (enter): 1510

Tai O (exit): 1537

Kai Yet Kok: 1617

Going around Fun Lau: 1730

Kau Ling Chung (Landing): 1813

Day 2

Kau Ling Chung (Launch): 1055

Lo Kei Wan: 1131

Siu A Chau: 1232

Tai A Chau: 1256

Tong Fuk: 1440

* * * Lunch Break * * *

Launch: 1600

Pui O (landing): 1700

Day 3:

Launch (Pui O): 0854

Sui Pai: 0918

Ha So Pai: 1010

Man Kok Tsui: 1049

Trappist Pier: 1107

Enter Marina: 1119

Exit Marina: 1136

Tai Pak (DBay): 1157