TransParentSea

Sea shepherd and transparentsea crew

Day One: 60 km Cape Byron : Evans Head
NE winds 20 knots
Four whale pods
One daggerboard lost

A new perception of a familiar coast immediately sets in as we sail past Lennox Head with a clapping humpback alongside our group. Funny how something so familiar can appear foreign when your physical and mental position shifts. Quantum physicists are currently proving how our universe can be perceived as a movement of cells or a movement of waves all depending on the observer’s point of view. I feel like our little fleet is an embodiment of that discovery as we glide down this coast as five little cells sailing amongst waves, but also mimicking the seascapes wave like motions.
The first progression has begun within this voyage and we all fall into our tents at days end still feeling like we are surfing down wind. Chris has a shower and says that instead of feeling seasick in the confined space he feels like he is being lifted up and forward, propelled by imaginary wind and wave. As I go unconscious I watch my mind settle into a slower rhythm of thought and feel the months of preparation and busyness dissolve.

Day Two: 45km Evans Head : Yamba
NE winds 20 knots
One whale pod
One tiger shark
Fishing Trawler
One pedal fin lost

A gentle north wind carried us around Evans Head and past a military bombing range that looks like Heaven until the practising fighter jets unleash their violent disregard for flora and fauna. We each sail quietly in the lazy boy position – laying flat on your back, feet up on the forward cross bars, steering lightly with the left hand. No words for an hour or so until the wind lifts and we each begin surfing again amidst swells two kilometres offshore.
My assumed distance of 20 km to Woody Head turns out to be more like 35, though thankfully the wind really lifts and we all light up from surfing in the open ocean swell.
Upon arrival into Iluka area we encountered a fishing boat dragging nets in no more than 60 feet of water. A close look at the boat and a remembrance of how much by-catch is caught using these methods reminds us why we DO NOT support current methods employed by the commercial fishing industry. United Nations backed studies of global fisheries industry states “complete collapse of global fisheries by 2040 if we continue using current practices”. Visit www.seashepherd.org for more on fishing issues.

Day Three: No travel
W winds turned 30 knot SE front
Dolphin Pod
Sea Shepherd Ship Arrives

A slow day as we recover from a lot of travel and preparation. Surfing some little offshore waves until the Steve Irwin SSCS mother ship comes over the horizon and drops their pick two miles out to sea. Morat and I jump in our boats and leave the shore straight into a howling southerly change that sees me snap a rudder pin and perform an at-sea repair job. Seated out on the wings of our boats, we fly out to the ship and meet the crew, some of whom I hadn’t seen since being on a short campaign with them in the Galapagos Islands three years earlier chasing pirate shark-fin poachers. Skipper Alex Corneliuson welcomed us onboard with a warm cup of tea and we met the crew. They are all on their way south as the only defenders of the whales in Antarctica this coming season. After giving them some goggles and sunglasses donated by our surf-industry friends, we jumped over board and began the wild sail back to shore amidst a beautifully chaotic sea. I rat was wide-eyed and sailing with a smile and I felt like Lieutenant Dan from the movie Forest Gump who yells to the sea from atop their prawn fishing boat when caught in a storm “Is this all you got? Come on, give me more!”
I felt like we were really being tested and schooled on how to sail the little crafts in a sea that could swallow us within a second. Feeling wild and alive, we made it to shore with some moments of travel speed registering over 30 kms per hour!
Back through the entrance to the mighty Clarence River we regrouped with our crew and reflected on how much has already happened within just three days of a 36-day journey. Sandy, salty, sunburnt, cuts and rope burns everywhere we blissfully collapse onto our hiking mats thankful for another day of oceanic adventure.

Rasta.