Fraser Island Expedition '09 Post Mortem

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Fraser Island Expedition '09 Post Mortem

Author: josh

Published on Friday, 04 December 2009 09:56

Written by Josh

This being our first major multi-day kayak camping & fishing expedition, there was always going to be a mixed bag of failures and successes and throughout our trip along the Nth west coast of Fraser Island we had a bit of both. It's pleasing to report that the vast majority of our preparation did put us on the right track and this had everything to do with the collective level of experience between the group. All of us are seasoned kayak fishoes and although Carl and I had more experience sailing & fishing from a trimaran, the other two had clocked enough hours on the water and were good to go. Paul in particular had a pretty good understanding of Fraser Island itself, and this helped a lot. Although he wasn't as familiar with the west side as he was the east, the knowledge he did have was useful - especially in regard to what to expect in terms of camping conditions and locations. We've all got an even better understanding of the area now though and this will make planning a whole lot easier for next year.

Holger and I both also have a fair bit of experience in the field of ultra-light camping, both of us coming from outdoor adventuring backgrounds and well versed in hiking & mountaineering. So not only were we suitably equipped with the right sort of gear, that experience definitely helped in the group decision making process of what sort of gear to bring. Fortunately Carl and Paul were both also equipped with hiking style tents and sleeping gear as well, although I did play devils advocate at times (an exersize I put myself through also), questioning the wisdom of carrying certain items. I was right to be speculating about weight, but for sure, I was wrong about some of the items I queried. For example, I asked if it was really necessary for us to carry a table and Paul insisted it was. He was right, and that was his experience of Fraser Island talking.

One example of an item that we'd all carry next time around would be thick mesh-style sheets or tarps, which would make life a lot more comfortable on sand. We'd use small ones at the doors of each tent, as well as a larger communal sheet for cooking, relaxing, etc. Regardless of our individual levels of experience in certain areas, all of us came away from the experience a hell of a lot wiser on the topic of extended kayak camping. There were numerous things we all agreed went really very well for us, as well as 100% agreement on a few things we'd do differently. Lets make a list...

- Kayak maintenance & spares: Every member of the group was pretty vigilant about spending some quality time with their kayaks before launching, making sure that everything was working optimally and that no problems were beginning to emerge. This showed in the results of the trip. All of us sailed over 220km, a lot of the time at fairly high speeds and at times in reasonably rough waters. A lot of pedalling was also done and in that entire time there were no show-stopping breakdowns. For the vast majority of the time, each trimaran worked just as well as could be expected (which is to say superbly). Although we did experience a few breakages, absolutely nothing went wrong that we weren't fully prepared for and easily able to rectify out on the water. This includes 3 rudder pins, as well as having to field repair one of the ama retainer bungee cords that snapped.

One step that all of us took was to secure the aka brace to the aka. Our method for doing this was to remove the spare shear pin (and store it elsewhere) and use the hole there to thread a length of bungee cord through, and then tied off around the aka. This is done to insure that if a shear pin breaks and the brace gives in, that it doesn't fall into the water and down to Davey Jones. Whilst it isn't a common occurrence, it has been known to happen and having it happen to any of us was simply not an option.

We were equipped with the mandatory spares for parts that we anticipated having potential problems with, as well as a few extra bits 'just in case'. Mandatory spares includes rudder pins, aka brace shear pins, a spare chain (plus 1/4" nylock nuts to suit, a spare sprocket, drive mast and a couple of spare fins. Only rudder pins were used from the spares kit, but it gave us peace of mind knowing we had replacements for anything we might need.

- Fishing gear: Each of us were armed with at least 2 rods - one heavier rod for trolling and a lighter, yet still beefy casting rod. Adventure Islands don't really accomodate any more than 2 rods on deck, so having the right gear accessible was useful. Our two most heavily adopted fishing strategies (trolling and casting into schools) commanded the right equipment - most were big fish and fortunately thats what we were primarily prepared for. At no stage was any of us cursing our rod selection, so I think we all got that right. From memory, we all had smaller flick sticks packed inside our kayaks as well. Not because we were targeting estuary-flavoured bread & butter, but because we wanted to be able to fall back on it if need be, either for food or to stave of boredom (just in case we got landlocked for any extended periods). That decision was a double edged sword, so although yes, these rods were used for their intended purpose (adding flathead to our diets, as well as a bit of entertainment on our rest day), we also deliberated on how necessary it was to carry four of them. Paul suggested that the group really only needed 2 flicksticks and the rest of us agreed.

We all did pretty well on lure selection, as all of us caught good fish. At no stage did anyone whine about running out or not having the right lures. So we were suitably equipped for our target species, as well as our intended fishing strategies. There was no shortage of mean-looking trolling lures within the group and metal slugs were called upon over and over for casting into schools. On the last day I adopted an alternate tact by casting large heavily weighted plastics into schools and I felt this worked equally well as the slugs, if not better.

My Daiwa Sol reels all have spare spools and I decided to carry a spare for each reel and this certainly proved to be a wise decision. Each reel could be used with varying classes of line and I decided to switch over my 2 heavier reels with spools using lighter line by the end of day one. I did this after almost being spooled by the Trevally. Because it's so easy to lose a lot of line quickly when trolling under sail, I decided to take my chances with a lighter line (and have more of it on the spool) than to have a heavier line with less length. That decision paid off, because I had a few near misses later on as well, which probably would have been much nearer with heavier line.

However all of us carried more lures than we really needed to and I think we'd all trim down for next time around. I was overdone with plastics and we were probably all overdone on trolling lures. Carl went way above the call of duty when packing sinkers - he carried enough lead to arm a charter fishing boat full of bottom-bashing bait-drowners and didn't use a single piece of it. He won't make that mistake again.

- Hydration: Upon launching we all had to be prepared to carry enough water to last the duration of the trip, or at least, that was the theory. Ultimately we were all surprised at how much water we did go through at first, because re-hydrating food for breakfast & tea wasn't something we considered. Fortunately, we were highly confident that a) there was a water supply at Wathumba and that b) we'd get to Wathumba, so when we realised that our estimated water carrying requirements of about 20lts each should probably really be 30 (we figured this out pretty quickly), we weren't concerned about running out.

All of us had packed water in various containers, including plastic bottles, wine bladders and heavy duty dromedary bags and these were deliberately positioned inside the hulls so as to aid in even weight distribution. Storing water this way (as opposed to less, but larger containers) was a wise idea because it did allow us to pack it away in various parts of the hulls and avoid poor weight distribution. It also meant that if any one single water container became infected or leaked, all wouldn't be spoiled or lost.

- Storage: Holger was the 1st to suggest that everyone adopt a 'more is more' philosophy when it came to dry bags. Rather than carrying just a few larger dry bags, the wisdom goes that a greater number of smaller dry bags makes more sense, allowing fpr greater versatility when stuffing bags inside the kayak. Smaller bags are also easier to fit inside the smaller 8" hatches as well. And the ability to store bags in various places also helps tremendously when it comes to the all-important weight distribution. No one had any serious leakage problems with drybags and we were all using high-quality bags, from the durable standard Hobie dry bags to variants from Sealline. By trips end we all agreed that the best possible drybags for such a trip are the totally clear ones from Sealline (known as 'See Bags'). We all soon discovered that the ability to see right into a bag made it much much easier when it came to knowing which bag to open, and where to forage for certain items. Window-style drybags aren't good enough - for best effect, totally clear bags are definitely the go.

Holger also mentioned that he wouldn't use his large Pelican waterproof box again either, because although it is completely watertight and that it fits perfectly into the rear well, it weighs 3kg before packing anything into it.

- Cooking gear: Liquid fuel stoves was an excellent choice of stove for us to use on such an adventure, with pros that heavily outweigh the cons. The pros being that they are small, lightweight, reliable and incredibly efficient. Not all of these stoves are equal, however - Holger's Whisperlite doesn't do simmer heats, so whenever our rent-a-chef (Carl) tried to use it for various dishes things got burnt. And although he had more success cooking with my Dragonfly model, he was rather uncomfortable with the stoves controls. That was better than the 'cooking-with-gas' alternative, however, because that would have meant carting a lot more fuel, as well as carrying a lot more empty gas cartridges as waste.

We'd probably use exactly the same stoves again, although next time we'll insist that the chef take the time to learn how to operate them. Carl was hesitant to touch any of the controls and he had to rely on us every time he wanted to turn on a stove, which was pretty frustrating after 4 - 5 days of it. We'd also carry a bit less fuel as well. 1 lt of shellite per person turned out to be more than we needed, by about a litre.

- Food: We all ate very well, so it would be fair to say that we did pretty well in that department (and is also testimony to Carls' excellent camp cooking). Fish was the staple source of our diet; Spotty mackerel, flathead & longtail tuna, complimented by rice, noodles & pasta. Main meals were also backed up with fruit & vegetables, which Holger and I had dehydrated before the trip. This really saved on weight & packing space, and allowed us to pack a huge variety of ingredients, which gave our chef a lot of options when it came time to invent a meal. The way we'd gone about packing the dehydrated food was ideal - all ingredients sealed into separate serves in sandwich bags, made it easy to sort through and organise. We could do with less of it next time around though - I brought home more than I used, whereas Holger was pretty quick to get his supply diminished each night.
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Holger was also clever enough to take an organised approach to his daily snack ration supplies. Instead of lumping all of his snack items together like the rest of us, he'd pre-sorted his into daily bags. We all agreed this was a great idea, both in terms of packing precisely the right amount, as well as preventing mass spoilage if anything was contaminated with salt water. All of us would take that approach next time around, and probably also using the same strategy with other items as well - everything from measured amounts of ingredients such as rice, sugar, coffee, etc. A few large jars were packed unnecessarily - from coffee to peanut butter, way more weight & bulk was used than should have been. We discussed various solutions for getting that right for next time.

- Tents & sleeping gear: Had anyone been planning to take a cheap fibreglass pole style tent, I would have sternly told them to reconsider the choice of tent, or otherwise reconsider taking part in the expedition. Although far more popular, these are heavier, bulkier, far more prone to breakage in the field and generally much poorer quality. I'd have been even more draconian about it had anyone planned to carry a bulky swag, or some kind of base-camping tent. Fortunately the group was collectively smarter than that. We all had proper hiking class tents, using lightweight fabrics (including floor) and aluminium poles. They were well suited to the task. However, Carl did mention he'd look to upgrade, as he felt his DMH variant wasn't quite as reliable in the wind, and that the full inner mesh did little to prevent sand from being blown inside. Paul also talked about upgrading his tent as well, and my suggestion to both of them was to look out for a free-standing tent that did not require pegs to be used to erect the inner - that would be a big advantage for sand camping, much like it is for camping in soft snow.

My tent (MSR Mo Room) isn't a free-standing tent, which is the only criticism I could make of it's suitability, but it was otherwise perfectly suited to the task. A lightweight bivvy (kind of like a hikers swag) would also work well for such an adventure I think, although personally I'd prefer the comparative room to move one gets from a tent.

We all used lightweight self-inflating mats, although both Carl and I packed reasonably large versions of them. I opted to go this way because of my injured shoulder and Carl simply because he could. All of us were also using lightweight sleeping bags, both compact and warm enough for our needs. No problems to report there.

- Weather report access: Paul had enough foresight to configure his phone for fast & easy weather updates and this was a complete godsend for the group. It was very handy to receive updates on predicted wind speed and direction, allowing us to avoid any scenarios that might compromise safety and comfort. Had we not had this luxury it would have been unlikely we would have left when we did. But after completing the final (and most demanding) leg, we were all very relieved that we left when we did. Had we not known that rough conditions were predicted for Sunday, our only way of finding out would have been the hard way. That would have been a miss-fitting end to such a great trip.

- Communication: For the most part the group had a pretty good synergy going on, most of the time all of us fairly aware of what everyone else was doing. There were times, however, that we could and should have communicated better than we did. Although equipped with VHF radios, the group did seem reluctant to start using them. We hadn't really established a protocol when we embarked, and when later discussed no real solid decisions were made, other than a single rule, which was: if you get separated from the group and have lost sight of others, turn on your radio.

I think next time we may consider taking UHF radios as well - a model that makes use of standard AA batteries, so as to make sure we aren't overly cautious about usage. We'd use UHF for communications between the group and VHF if things got nasty. Communication is one of the issues that we really need to improve upon for our next big trip.

- Group numbers: Keeping our numvber to 4 was a good decision. Given the circumstances, any more could have easily become difficult to manage. This is partly due to the ease at which any one of us could be distracted (in any direction) by schools of fish, not to mention being towed away. This, combined with the fact that on some nights we didn't know where we were camping until we got there, meant that we really had to try - despite all the distractions - to be aware of where everyone was at all times. The challenges associated with this should be greatly helped with liberal use of radio comms.

- Insect control: It turned out to be a good thing that we had a variety of insect repellents on hand, because some of them seemed more effective than others at times. It was good to have fall-back options to because at times the insects were thick. We were hit by sand flies, mosquitoes and march flies and had we been ill-equipped, it would have been highly uncomfortable, if not unbearable. But towards the end of the trip we collectively agreed that cream-based treatments are a bad idea for Fraser Island.

This is because the island is made of sand and the stuff gets everywhere. To apply cream means putting it on your hands, then rubbing over skin. Not only did this seem to mean rubbing sand all over ones skin as well, but once on your hands the cream turned them into sand-magnets. I was also very hesitant to get the stuff on my hands in the morning before heading out fishing (didn't want it's scent on my lures) so I spent most mornings getting chewed out by sand flies... and I'm still paying for it now. Next time I visit Fraser I'll be like G.W Bush, pre-empting those evil-doer insects with some form of spray on deterrent... something that isn't overly toxic for humans.

Apparel: Holger and I definitely under-estimated how cold we might get, both of neglecting to pack full-length Shark-Skins, and paying for it a couple of times. Fortunately, I was wearing Shark Skin shorts and tank-top, so my core stayed warm the whole time. But a few of those sailing sessions were wet and windy and without my usual full layer of wind protection, I did get cold a few times. Fortunately I had packed just enough other clothes items to layer up underneath my new cag-style drytop to make up for it, as did H.