all i can say is these things happen and people can get seriously hurt or die but we love that about life and adventures and keep pushing ourselves to new heights.
I myself was in an extremely bad mountain biking accident in feb 09 where i was alone in the bush and i had to phone my good friend Goatman to ring the ambos and come find me i ended up getting airlifted out of there to a weeks hospital and major opperation on my left elbow and the result being that i cant straighten my left arm and cant paddle a shortboard and miss out on some other stuff in life but SH!t happens we dont plan for it. And can prepare as much as you want but with nature as an element anything can go wrong, yet thats life we all take risks and some pay off and some dont if you dont take risks your life isnt fun. God you could cross the road tomorrow and get run over more easily than drowning on a down winder gone wrong. DJ was just out there doing what he wanted to do and some mistakes were made but hey hes fine and great to see that well done mate i personaly no the feelings a person can get in those life or death situations its heavy.
p.s Always where a helmet on a push bike mine saved my life
Dan

First up,what an amazing effort and story of survival. DJ is safe and well which is the main thing. He maybe licking his wounds miner in the scheme of things, as Casso said dam shame the mag is not printing.
Its a shame that there is a bet of a **** fight going on,but I guess that's a forum for you.

I would love to hear what the other paddlers have to say. What was their experience and did they stay close or lose sight of one another and at what stage were they concerned about DJ,and how freaky was it that DJ's board washed up and was it damaged

mac

62mac said...

I would love to hear what the other paddlers have to say. What was their experience and did they stay close or lose sight of one another and at what stage were they concerned about DJ,and how freaky was it that DJ's board washed up and was it damaged

mac

Hey Mac, If you read the two posts you will see that the other paddlers have commented and shared their experiences of the day in some detail - look for posts by Camo & Rosco. I guess no one expected things to go pear shaped. I'm sure they will do things a little differently next time they do a crossing. As for DJ's board washing up - it would have been amazing had it not washed up.

camo hosk said...

laceys lane said...

sugar and spice and all things nice,nothing makes me sick- till now. this isn't a bloody tv show. a guy just made it and the other 2 dragged themselfs up the beach counting their lucky stars- a great tale of a growing legend, my a##. take it for the warning and awareness that dj has intended it to be

Hey Lacey,
mate I'm not sure where your getting your info from here but its just not right,

Pete paddled across the 18kays in under 2hrs and after speaking with him afterwards he was happy about the challenging run,

I for sure didn't drag myself up the beach at the end counting my lucky stars,for most of the run we had great 25 to 30 knot conditions but the occasional 50knot gusts sure stirred things up at times and made for some demanding sections,at know time did I doubt making it to Sandringham and actually felt good walking up to the carpark to meet Pete who had already changed clothes and sitting around relaxed waiting for us guys.Was no way near as shagged as after completing a flat water race on a 35 degree day,

Happy to answer any other questions directly,

cheers mate,
Camo.

ok camo, i've got it wrong. glad to hear you did it well and all turned out ok. i'm out of line
cheers

Some people want to know what the other's perspectives were...so here goes.

Camo and I were "together" the whole way across - but in the conditions that really means that you "leapfrog" each other on the crossing. At times he was 300 metres or so in front, but then I'd catch runners and go past him and the postions would be reversed. We actually finished 50 metres apart.

The hardest part of the whole trip was the last 1 km - the backwash coming off the break wall at Sandy yacht club was awesome and those waves were coming back out at you from up to 1 km out. Real washing machine stuff. I didn't recognise him at the time, but I remember waving to the kiter (Gorgo) who came across to us on his kite just as I paddled into the harbour. We paddled inside the breakwater together and back to the cars, where Pete was. Sure, we knew we'd done a paddle, but I feel more tired after a solid 4 hour surf than how I felt at the end of the paddle on Sunday.

I know when it was that I probably separated from DJ. Remember, he was behind me and it's not so easy to be swivelling around and looking behind you in those conditions. Every now and then I would think that I hadn't seen him, would look around and not see him - then two minutes later he would surf up next to me on a runner [wooohooo'ing of course!]. So, you get into a rhythm and you don't constantly look out for when someone is near you. You have to focus on the water and reading the waves and runners - if I hadn't have done that I would have been in the water the whole time and I would have been a liability to the trip, which would have taken 12 hours, not 2 1/2.

But I remember, and it was out near the Faulkner, that I thought I hadn't seen him for a while, so when I had a fall I got back on the board and sat for a bit and looked around. It wasn't very easy to see much sitting because the waves were over head high. But then I saw a yellow figure about 400 metres south of me and thought, there he is. At that point I suddenly realised that the runners were pushing me too far north, so I stayed down on my knees for about 10 minutes and paddled at 45 degrees to the wind, in order to head south and back on the right line. So I ended up in a direct line behind "DJ" and then got back up and back onto some really good runners and focussed on catching up. Which I did in about 15 minutes. By this time we were approaching the channel.

It was only when I caught up that I realised that the yellow was the arms of Cam's jacket, not DJ's pfd. At that point, there was no going back or waiting. I don't think there is anything you can do for someone who might be a long way upwind. Anyway, what I thought at that stage was that DJ had also been pushed north by the runners.

I agree with what Downwinder said, even though you go as a group, you have to approach it as if you are on your own. Of course I know that many of you will disagree and I don't want to rev up the arguments more than they have been already, but I don't believe that any of us who went on this trip were not physically or mentally prepared for it and the conditions we faced. Sure, let's sit back and think about how it could be done better and safer and make sure we heed the lessons learned, and have the right equipment - remember not one, but two pieces of equipment failed DJ.

I don't want to add fuel to the s***fight on here, but I reckon that I would face similar risks windsurfing off my local beach at Beaumaris in a strong south easter. You come down to that beach on dusk in those conditions and there will be 15 - 20 windsurfers still out and half a dozen kites. Break a mast 500 metres from the beach in those conditions and the next stop potentially is Faulkner Beacon (in a few hours drifting) - and you could visit the DJ channel marker for yourself!

^^^ If you were to do another crossing in similar conditions what do you think you'd do differently? I'm curious as I'd like to see something positive come out of this. Lot's of people have speculated about support boats, pdfs, epirbs, buddy systems, re-grouping more often, never again, etc etc - but they weren't there.

DJ, is Melbourne's version of Bear Grylls.

Be careful when you cross that road skeeto those cars could hit you, better wait till the green man shows or better still just stay at home

Ah yes, small minds, blah, blah, blah...

And it's skeeta wit an "A" d!ckhead

Thanks for your post Skeeta.

The guys at Port Security also said that I did the right thing heading for that buoy and staying there and not trying to swim for it.

I don't claim to be a hero or anything in fact I'm embarrassed about all this and could have kept it to myself.. I'm sure the other guys would agree.. but sharing this drama and talking about it is the best thing to do.. IMO

DJ

Agreed, you could have kept it to yourself, and I'm glad you didn't for all the reasons I expressed in my post - learn by example. No hero status was claimed as I know you're not that kind of guy.

It really was coming from a place of concern and I'm glad it had a happy ending

DJ you said you where training for Hawaii ..... when are you thinking about going? and what race are you going in?

I think your well experanced for any challenge!

Boylos

Epic story all round - glad everyone reached the destination in one piece, I guess that was the aim, and no one was seriously injured.

Well done !

DJ,

Just happy you are still here mate.

I am wondering why no one has mentioned carrying marine rescue flares, or dye.


Smoke parachute, mini....whatever....particularly in Port Philip bay enclose waters, bound to be plenty of eyes gazing out to sea?
Another easily carried item to atract attention is sea marker dye.
Flares are mandatory for boating in Australia & many other countries, because they work.
No modern techno crap that needs charging, testing, & has an extreme alergy to water
Some tests show marker dye to be more effective than flares in some rescue situations.
DJ wouldnt use sea dye......he'd be worried his board would end up looking fluro green like mine

Piros said...

Epirbs are great things but if you miss the first satellite pass you could be in the water for many hours before the alarm is raised plenty of time for hypothermia to suck the life out of you.

People intending using EPIRBS should read up on their capabilities
They operate on 2 frequences....An EPIRBS activation in local waters transmits instantly on the old frequency of 121.5 MHz (as well as the new digital 406MHz)This is aircraft distress frequency & will be picked up by planes, & its the frequency that is used to home in on you.....satelites will locate only up to 20ks (unless you have a GPS combination unit)
The satelite frequency of 406 MHz has an average detection time in Aust of 90 min....but can be up to 5 hours.
Another point to consider is why Personal locator beacons are not legal for boats. they do not float upright....you have to hold it upright.
Boat EPIRBS are a bit too bulky for sup.
All EPIRBS have a test button, so they can be tested before heading out.
I would imagine an EPIRB activation in the Bay or coastal waters would result in a very quick response.

Here's an update on my board.

When I lost it I was about 8 kilometers from Sandy and my board landed right at Sandy... That's absolutely amazing.

The guys at Sandy yacht club saw it coming and saved it from being trashed on the rocks.. It did have some rock damage to the rail on one side near the rear.

You can see the carbon fiber and it will be able to be repaired without a problem.. except fitting it in their workshop might be a worry..

DJ