Whale and Dolphin encounters

Alan Heydorn has written these wonderful articles about whale and dolphin encounters in our Cape waters.
Article one - Article two

Full Moon Paddle - Saturday 16th August 6pm

Not the most convenient day of the week but my pleas to the Moon for a date change fell on deaf ears and it is still happening on Saturday. So come on anyway, the forecast as of Wednesday looks okay.

As of Friday afternoon the forecast is still reasonable. Looking good!

And as of Saturday morning it will probably be a fresh south easter so a calm paddle is unlikely.

And now as at 12.45 the wind has dropped and it's really nice out there.

It's 2pm and the wind has picked up slightly, around 30kph and forming small whitecaps.

Because of the rugby it's probably a good idea to start at 6pm rather than 5.30

By the way, it's a partial eclipse tonight but it only begins around 9.30 so we will be well off the water but step outside later to have a look.

Kommetjie Paddle Report

Although the forecast was for light winds and clear skies the group at the launch sight stared out to sea at a fog bank reducing visibility to less than 100 meters but we knew from experience it would lift soon. And it did - by the time we were ready to go the fog been reduced to cloud and the wind had picked up to around 25kph. We headed through the gap in the surf where the fishing boats launch and paddled directly out to sea for nearly a kilometer before turning right so as to avoid the large breaks at the reef off The Kom. We then paddled a direct line toward Hout Bay, into the wind but with the swell behind, aiming for Chapman's Peak and its famous drive.

This route is more than a kilometre off shore and around an hour and a half later we stopped just below the imposing cliffs below the Hout Bay Lookout Point, opened our snacks and rocked in the choppy clapotis bouncing off the cliffs.

Turning with the wind at our backs we caught some reasonably good surfing on the wind waves back to Kommetjie to search for that thin channel that can take you back to the launch site and avoid the surf break.

Group dynamics:
14 paddlers -
9 men, 5 women.
1 surfski, 2 plastics and 11 composite kayaks made up of:
7 Epics 16 or 18 footers, 2 skuas, 2 greenland style

Click on a picture to see the larger version.

Wed 18th and Sunday 22nd

Wednesday evening paddle looks to be rainy but almost no wind so should be very nice paddling if you wear something rainproof.

This Sunday looks to be fabulous weather so we're doing something different and paddling from Kommetjie to Chapmans Peak and back. Meet Sunday to be on the water at 9am at The Kom at Kommetjie.

As of Saturday morning the forecast is still good so we will almost certainly be going ahead. Remember this is an open water paddle of at least 20 kms so you must be fit, experienced and able to paddle at a decent pace.

Full Moon Paddle - Tuesday 20 May 5.30pm

15.30 - Wind has picked up a bit to 10m per sec, NE oddly enough, and it's still cloudy. Almost certain to be better than tomorrow so paddle is still on unless it gets worse.
14.15 - Thunderstorm seems to have passed and it's not currently looking like rain but it is overcast. Not much wind so it's paddleable.
10.30 - Windfinder forecasts rain by this afternoon. Will update again at 2pm ish
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Full moon is actually on Tuesday and at this stage the weather forecast for Wednesday is lousy. Therefore we are having the paddle on Tuesday evening (and if the clouds are absent) we should see the moon rise over the mountains and light up our return. If the evening looks like a washout we can try again on Friday evening which looks clearer, less windy and warmer - but moonless. We will update the blog several times on Tuesday with current conditions but if you are not online just call the office for the go ahead. Note the 5.30 start just for the moonlight paddle!!!!