The Boatshed At Woronora

What a Weekend!

Well, I started this post on Monday, usually a quiet day after the weekend, and what a weekend it was! An absolutely beautiful Spring Saturday – warm, sunny, windless and with a stunning high tide in the creek – had people flocking to the balcony cafe. We also welcomed nearly 100 walkers from the NSW Native Plants Society who interrupted their tour of local reserves and gardens for a buffet lunch. The chance to sit down with a cup of tea and watch the water flow by was embraced so much by some that they had to be reminded there was an afternoon program, and a few even ventured up the creek (with a paddle!) to search for more remote wild flowers! Thanks to the many helpers from the society with the preparation, management and clearing up which made it so enjoyable for everyone.

Sunday was a similarly beautiful day and the cafe was buzzing again – thanks to the girls upstairs who worked their socks off all weekend. A bit of an easier time on the jetty, but as more people come out of hibernation this will no doubt all change.

Candidate for Clean Up day

Council Clean Up Day thiis week, so Monday was spent finding stuff for them to take away – an amazingly difficult task as everything in the garage is so potentially useful!! Well, maybe not this old iron, but, on the other hand …

And now it’s Tuesday. Wet, wet and wetter.

The motor boat booked for the morning was cancelled; the school sports group cancelled; even the usual morning coffee drinkers decided to stay home. At least I got some paper-work done! And spent some time with a wet smelly dog who needs a haircut, so there’s always a bright side.

New Arrival in the Second Hand Shed

Tarpon 140 2008

We are pleased to be able to offer this 2008 model Tarpon 140 from Wilderness Systems. Factory-fitted rudder and in excellent condition. Come on over and give it a try – $10 per half hour or free if you buy.

More details in our second hand boat listings.

Barge Discharge

I forgot to mention that our friendly neighbourhood barge (see Barge Charge, earlier) made a return visit a short while back. Now, maybe it’s too heavy for normal anchors, or they’re too sloppy for accurate parking, I don’t know (but I should find out – intriging question) but the barge uses a complicated arrangement whereby an on-board crane lifts a large steel cylinder from where it lies on the barge, and upends it down a hole in the deck. The cylinder end sits on the river bed and locks the barge in position no matter what the tide is doing. Works well, most of the time, unless you’re trying to reach the creek bank before the tide drops and it’s night time and there’s a power line right above you when you lift the big metal cylinder ….

Fortunately, I’d been reading my NSW Waterways boating handbook and had discovered that a floating waterproof torch (flashlight, for the benefit of any Americans who might be having visions of a Viking funeral and wondering what this has to do with safer boating) is now a mandatory safety item on all powered vessels regardless of the time of day. Since we only hire out boats during daylight hours this had not previously been an issue, but now we needed at least one torch per boat. So I just happened to have bought enough torches and fresh batteries to ensure everyone on the premises was able to finish whatever he or she was doing that evening and retire in relative comfort (shame about the electric blankets though).

The power guys came and sorted out a work-around so the ice-cream didn’t melt and in the morning strung a new cable across the creek, so it was all pretty painless (and I believe no-one on the barge was injured, fortunately, as it could have been quite nasty) and it did give our breakfast guests something to watch, but it  does go to show that paying attention to the small print of beaurocracy can have its benefits

Peter

With great sadness and some shock we heard about the passing of Peter Tuziak, president of the Sutherland Shire Canoe Club. Since taking over the Boatshed we have been building a working relationship with the club and have benefitted directly from Peter’s enthusiasm and knowledge. Our hearts go out to his family and the many people he infused with the joy of paddling. Thanks also to Bill Graham, vice-president of the club, for taking time to come over personally to let us know.

World Canoeing Day

This Sunday, June 13th, is International World Canoeing Day. See what Australian Canoeing says about it here, or go straight to the source here.

The local club, Sutherland Shire Canoe Club is celebrating the event with an Open Day, as well as launching their fund-raising raffle. This includes, amongst other wonderful prizes, a night in the Boatshed Frangipani or Beach Rooms.

A summary of their day is extracted from their website; please click on the link above or on the left sidebar for more details.

The base for the day’s activities is the SSCC’s Clubhouse at Burnum Burnum Reserve, Bonnet Bay and activities will run from 8:00AM to 2:00Pm on Sunday, starting with a group paddle towards the Needles at 8:00AM.

We particularly welcome people who live on the Wonnie and haven’t used their canoe or kayak for some time to take part in this paddle.  You don’t need to paddle all the way to enjoy the scenery and wildlife.

In the interests of safety and to allow maximum use of craft, Test Paddlers will not be able to participate in paddles outside the Club’s 500 metre course and paddling time will obviously depend on demand.  Test Paddlers are required to pay a boat maintenance fee of $5 which is deducted from Membership fees if  they join the Club.

At 10:00AM there will be a 2km Sprint Race open to all paddlers in all types of canoe or kayak.  The course is from the Clubhouse to the low road bridge and back.

The aim of the day is to raise awareness of the recreational and sporting benefits of kayaking and canoeing amongst non-participants, and to rekindle the enthusiasm which made non-active paddlers buy their kayak in the first place. If you are in either of these categories, why not turn up and meet some enthusiastic and friendly members? If you are a current paddler, why not turn up and meet them anyway, join in the paddle to the Needles or even lend a hand encouraging the hesitant? If you don’t currently have a kayak or canoe, why not hire one from us for the day?

What was that strange light in the sky?

Oh yes, I remember. It’s the sun!

The joke used to be “what do you get after two days of rain in Sydney?” Answer – Monday! Today, Saturday, as I started this post the situation was reversed and after what seemd like three weeks of rain the sun finally burnt a hole in the cloud cover and patches of blue showed up. Big patches, some of them. This can’t be true, I thought;  someone has booked a tinny for the morning, it is not raining, and it is not low tide! This last point reflects the apparent habit of the general public to wait until the lowest possible tide before venturing out in one of our tinnies. Whilst this is not an insurmountable problem, it does usually mean I have to get my feet wet to drag the boat over the last half metre of river sand and mud between the slip and the deeper water. It also means there is less water between the propellor and that abrasive stuff on the riverbed. Regular readers will remember that I have commented on the effects of this elsewhere on this site.

As is usually the case, I didn’t finish the blog in one sitting (fortunately, some customers interrupted me ) and by the time I got back to it the sun had lost its battle with the lower atmosphere. Yes, it was raining again. At least we have plenty of boats on hand in case it continues, and I’m taking booking applications from all creatures great and small (in twos, please).

Hosting Second-hand Canoe and Kayak Sales

Although we are hitting the winter period and people are generally thinking about curling up for an extra hour in bed rather than leaping out to go paddling, the astute buyers are already thinking about next spring and are looking to pick up winter bargains.

If you are thinking about selling a canoe or kayak, but can’t face the endless weekends of arranging to meet prospective purchasers at the water, or staying home and then finding they don’t turn up, why not investigate our second hand canoe and kayak market option? We will look after your boat throughout the winter for you, in our undercover storage facility, and enable prospective purchasers to compare your boat to similar others.

Buyers – why chase all over Sydney looking at individual boats, after ringing to make sure each one is still available, when you can come down to the Boatshed (35 mins south of Sydney airport) and check out a whole range of boats? We can arrange on-water demonstrations and warm you up with a cup of freshly-brewed coffee or hot chocolate afterwards.

If you need to travel from afar we can even offer accommodation and meals (evening meal by arrangement).

A Sad Period

The community is subdued following the tragic loss of a local teenager in a boating accident late on Saturday night. We have not been here long enough to really know him, but we cannot not recognise his passing, nor be unaware of the sense of grief evident by the dozens of teenagers in Prince Edward Park, just “being there”. All of us at The Boatshed offer our condolences to his family and friends.

Barge Charge

Time and Tide wait for no man

Many of the houses up-river from us do not have road access, and rely on the river for everything. This is also true for new houses, some of which require some sizeable machinery for excavation and lifting. Forbes Creek is a useful place to load such equipment, as well as materials, as it has road-side access. However, it also suffers from shallow water for a goodly part of the tide and there is a sandbank at the junction of Forbes Creek and the Woronora River.

A few days ago, a barge was coming in to pick up an excavator but misjudged the tide/sandbank and got stuck. It was a long wait for high water so they all decided to come back later. Unfortunately they got that wrong too, and the barge lifted itself and floated down the creek towards the Boatshed jetty and the Prince Edward Park road bridge. By this time it was quite dark and although I saw the lights moving I assumed it was being managed until some guys fishing knocked on the door to say it was adrift.
Not being short of a canoe or two, and with my wife slowing it down as it brushed against our jetty, it was easy enough to get a couple of ropes on it and with the help of a 4×4 in the car park we made it secure against the far bank just as the owners turned up.

It would be nice to say we got a couple of beers out of it for our trouble, but good karma was probably a better profit. Plenty of people help out with my boats when hirers have trouble, or call me to say the people look stuck or are abusing the boats (yes, some do that!), so what comes around goes around.

It’s nice living on the river here at Woronora.

What a difference a day makes

Monday was the ANZAC Day public holiday; the Boatshed was reasonably busy, the cafe was full, the sun was shining and kids were swimming in the river and creek – ok, they were wading ‘cos the tide was low

Tuesday morning and brrrr! People walking dogs had coats and scarves on, the mist was broiling 0ff the water and I went looking for clothes not seen since we moved in. It was a dreary day. The cloud barely lifted and although I had to shuck the new-found sweater fairly quickly there was a definite temptation to don it again late afternoon.

It reminded me of the opposite scenario when I was working in Montreal for a while. After several months of sub-zero temperatures and snow-packed pavements, the winter disappeared almost overnight and the female population expecially  emerged like a butterfly from the crysallis, with dazzling colour and bare skin as though they couldn’t wait to soak up every bit of sunshine. Faced with the same temerature at the end of summer, no doubt they would be reaching just as quickly for the hats and scarves since the temperature range is so wide up there.

However, here we are blessed with a relatively small temperature range and for a large part of the day the paddling conditions are almost perfect. Not cold, not too hot, no hoons in tinnies or on wakeboards, just ease back in your seat and watch nature go by.

The Boatshed At Woronora is still open 7 days a week, 8:30 to 6 for canoe, kayak  and motor boat hire. Why not enjoy a hot coffee on the balcony afterwards or better still, take one with you early in the morning and watch the river wake up with the sun.