Hobie Island Big Day Out, NSW Feb 2012

Author: josh

Category: News

Created on Monday, 13 February 2012 20:42

Written by Josh

_{47 Islands launch into beautiful Jervis Bay}

10 hours was a long drive for me to undertake but knowing how well Hobie put on kayak fishing tournaments as well as sailing tournaments, I figured that their collective experience in these events would guarantee that the Hobie Island Big Day Out would be one worth attending. Although the weather could have been a little more accomodating - not to mention the fish - the Big Day Out was indeed a fantastic event. Big Weekend Out is probably a more apt description, however, because for most participants that exactly what it was. For Paulo and I it was an even bigger weekend out because we snuck out for an early fishing session around the headlands of Jervis Bay before meeting up with the many other Islanders at Paradise Point for an afternoon's cruise on the placid waters of St Georges Basin. The following day everyone gathered at Vincentia where after enjoying a continental breakfast, a fleet of just under 50 islands launched from the beach and sailed all the way out to Point Perpandicular and back.

_{Acrobatic aussie salmon are one of many things I miss about Jervis Bay}

Originally Paulo and I were planning to head out wide in search of billfish but eventually had to concede our over-ambition. It's not that we couldn't reach our destination safely, more so that we didn't want to miss the festivities at Paradise Point, set to kick off at around midday. So instead we decided to fish for kingies around part of Bowen Island and then sail over to the northern side before fishing our way back. Although signs grew more positive the longer we stayed, we were unable to raise our target species. I did catch a couple of reasonable Aussie salmon (one on a trolled Rapala Maxrap, another on a cast Williamson Gyro jig) and Paul caught the largest slimey I've ever seen. Unfortunately, by the time we found ourselves among the baitfish we were looking for, it was getting too late to do anything about it. Oh well... there's always tomorrow we told ourselves as we head in, packed up our yaks and head for Paradise Point.

_{Rob Paxervanous & daughter Caitland rocking the TI}

Upon arriving we joined an army of islanders in unloading and prepping our boats and then after a meet, greet and briefing an awe-inspiring fleet of Islands launched out into the Basin, dotting it's landscape in a parade of square-top sails. Hobie had 2 support boats on the water, acting also as tour guides as they coaxed the fleet up towards the Sussex Inlet and back. Along the way I trolled and cast a couple of lures, catching a couple of small tailor on a Rapala Rippin Rap. Rob Pax was also out there slinging lures alongside Paulo and I, also catching himself a few of the same on similar lures. To be honest I was surprised how few of the participants had fishing rods (or any fishing accessories mounted) but I shouldn't have been really, because a lot of people buy these craft simply for the sheer pleasure of using them and I understand why.

_{Shane & Sandy from Team Binks chilling out on St Georges Basin}

Winds were uncooperatively light this day so there was a bit of pedaling involved for most, though with waters as calm as we found at St Georges Basin, none of us were ever going to raise a sweat. It really was very pleasant being out there and served as a pretty good group warm up for the following day, which was certain to be more challenging for most. For sure, Sunday was always going to be the 'Big Day Out' of the two. Saturday ended with many of the mob meeting for drinks at the new Huskisson hotel and the evening progressed from there. Perhaps because of plans set for Sunday it was fairly low-key for most, with only moderate amounts of medicinal purposes consumed.

The line up of Hobie Islands laid out on the beach of Vincentia sure was impressive, as was the continental breaky spread put on by David O'toole and the team from Outdoors & Beyond, enjoyed by all as Steve Fields ran through a brief and then handed off to Mal Grey from Sunstate Hobie, who gave a quick tutorial on some basics on sailing, as well as use and maintenece of the Island sails. After that it was down to business as one after the other some 47 Islands of both Adventure and Tandem flavours launched out into the bay. Once again Hobie had 2 support boats taking care of business, guiding the fleet over to longnose point and then up towards Point Perpandicular. However Paulo, Paxy, his daughter Caitland and I had other plans, deviating from course slightly to put ourselfs on a heading to get us back to the middle ground reef, which we'd found so fishy the day before. In hindsight we probably should have stuck with the fleet, as it turns out we were all outfished by a couple of novices, who found some bonito along their tour.

_{Pax pointing out fishing spots to Paulo}

Winds were pretty light as we sailed out, so although there was just enough wind to fill the sails, most of us pedaled to maintain momentum. It was much easier going on the way back with much firmer winds giving us a great reach all the way back. By the time we'd returned, everyone had clocked up around 25km, many of them never before having ventured that far on their boats. Upon landing there was a real buzz of excitement in the air, with smiles stretched from ear to ear as everyone swapped stories of the dolphins and seals they encountered, how exhilarating it was to reach the point, and how much fun everyone had sailing back. We were all greeted with a lunch spread that was even more impressive than breakfast, thanks again to the team from Outdoors & Beyond. As we chowed down on salads, prawns, sausages, kebabs and even marinara pasta, Hobie held a final presentation in which they handed out a truckload of goodies via random draw. A lot of us - most of us... maybe even all of us - drew a prize (I scored a new pair of Hobie sunnies) and everyone scored a cool Big Day Out shirt, which were highly prized and proudly worn by almost everyone.

During the presentation Hobie Australia MD Steve Fields had some interesting things to say about how he thought the event went down, one of them being how much pleasure it was for him to run such an event. Comparing it to the numerous ABT events and sailing regattas they have held, he described the Big Day Out as being the most relaxing event he's ever been a part of, and that practically he'd done absolutely nothing, which was why he found it so relaxing and enjoyable. I think that by comparison, this probably really is true to some degree, but take it from me, Hobie put in a lot of work to pull this off, and it showed in it's success. I'd tuned my radio in to the channel Hobie staff were using and listening to their communications as they organized everything and I really was very impressed with how professionally it was handled. A big thanks goes out to Steve Fields and the team at Hobie as well as Mal Grey and especially David O'Toole, for going to so much effort to help out with fine cuisine. It was really good catching up with everyone again, from all my friends at Hobie to my fellow islanders, it was great to catch up. For those of you I met for the first time it was really good to put a face to the name and look forward to seeing you all at the next one. As a pilot event, the Big Day Out was just excellent. It will be the first of many. Take that to the bank.