By
Graham Davis
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CPO
John Lipscombe at the beginning of his long journey, paddling
in front of HMAS Cerberus in Port Phillip Bay.
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Thirty-nine-year-old
John Lipscombe, a Chief Petty Officer at the Mine Warfare Faculty
at HMAS Watson, has had for the last six years a “dream” to paddle
across Bass Strait in his seagoing kayak.
He likened it to the kayakers’ equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.
His dream came true on April 4 when with three companions he landed
at Little Musselroe Bay, northeastern Tasmania.
The 500 kilometre journey had taken a total of 16 days, half of
which was taken up when adverse weather kept them ashore on the
islands to which they leapfrogged.
John, a member of the RAN for 23 years has long enjoyed kayaking.
He has completed a couple of kayak marathons, including recently
the Hawkesbury Classic and Murray marathon.
Huw Kingston, a 42 year old adventurer who is attempting to link
up Australian towns and cities by travelling to them by purely
human effort (he either walks, rides a bike or paddles a kayak)
also knew of John’s desire to cross Bass Strait.
He was also aware of his kayaking ability and invited him to join
him when he set out from Victoria.
The pair were joined by two other paddlers, Greg Murray, 53 a
former South African Army Engineer and an Australian research
assistant, Rohan Last, 26.
The group’s first task was to cross Port Phillip Bay, travel overland
to Western Port Bay, paddle to Wilson’s Promontory, resupply and
then cross Bass Strait. Knowing the perils of crossing the vastly
erratic Bass Strait in craft just five metres long, the foursome
went well equipped.
“We had EPIRBs and flares attached to our bodies and carried VHF
radios in our kayaks,” John told Navy News. “We wore the proper
protective clothing and always kept each other in view.
“At no time were we more than 200 metres apart,” he said. The
four struck out travelling up to 67 kilometres per day.
At times they had to battle tides of up to three knots. “Had we
been taken by one of these tidal currents we might well have ended
up in Dunedin or Chile,” John said.
The group’s island hopping saw them land as such places as Deal
Island, Flinders Island and Preservation Island.
Winds of 45 knots sweeping across the 4 km long Preservation Island
kept them ashore for four days. The paddlers shared the island
with ever noisy penguins, lots of rats and Cape Barren geese.
“In 1797 the Sydney Cove was wrecked on the island,” John said.
“The ship was said to be carrying 7,000 gallons of rum from India.
It was all gone when we arrived,” he joked. The group arrived
at Little Musselroe Bay, on the northeast tip of Tasmania on Sunday,
April 4. For John it was a return to work.
For Huw it was to mount a bicycle and head off to Cradle Valley
from where he planned to walk to the west coast of Tasmania.
From here he plans to raft the Franklin River, hike the wilderness
of South Western Tasmania, sweep across the bottom of the island,
collect his kayak and finally paddle up the Derwent to Constitution
Dock later this year.
