Bews and team prepare to paddle Bass Strait

STICKING to his life motto of ‘Keeping the Adventure Alive’, Anglesea resident and keen adventurer Steve Bews will attempt to cross Bass Strait by kayak this February, paddling from Tidal River in Wilsons Promontory to Musselroe Bay in Tasmania.

The team of Mr Bews, fellow Anglesea resident Ross Peasnell and Jan Juc youngsters Tom Cazalet and Gus McClosky-Matthews have been in training for the estimated 355km marathon since October, and are hopeful of completing the crossing which will take them to Hogan Island, Deal Island, Flinders Island, Cape Barron and then onto Clarke Island before descending on Tasmania in a seven-to-10-day period.

Bews said he couldn’t wait for the adventure and felt it would be a great tribute to his late father Ray who himself was an adventure extraordinaire.

“My dad Ray sailed Sydney to Hobarts and a lot of Bass Strait races back in the day and was a navigator,” Bews said.

“He used to always talk about going via these islands on the way home and I guess that was always burning away in me to tackle something like that.

“When I heard a mate of mine up the road Chris Porter had done it eight times, we told him we were keen to do it and he said he’d love to help us out and be our logisitics man for the adventure.

“We are a mix of young and old and are really looking forward to the challenge.”

In the lead-up to the big paddle, Bews and his team have been doing around 20km in three hours and notching around 100km a week either in the ocean or on the machines indoors.

When out on the ocean, the team have been doing practice paddles from Point Roadknight to Fishermans Beach or out to Jarosite Reef and down to the Split Point Lighthouse in Aireys Inlet.

 

“For the race we will be essentially island-hopping, it’ll be about 65km from Tidal River at the Promontory to the first stop, which will be Hogan Island,” Bews said.

“From Hogan we will go to Deal and Erith and then head to Flinders Island which is about 70km from Deal and will be our longest paddle.

“We will be coming in at Little Musselroe Bay in Tasmania when we finish, there isn’t much there; just a little river inlet.

“At the end, Chris [Porter] is going to pick us up and bring us back to the ferry to head back to Victoria.”

Bews said the Surf Coast team will be looking for a pleasant weather forecast and aim to attack the course between February 10 and March 1.

When they see a good week of weather on the horizon, the team will race down to Wilsons Promontory to get the mission under way.

“It’s a patience game and we are prepared to bunker down on some of the islands if the weather is bad,” he said.

“Without a boat and that sort of support, it’s going to be a pure experience, but we definitely will make sure we’ve got EPIRBs, PLBs and our satellite communication devices.

“We hope to stop and smell the roses along the way and also head up Mount Strzlecki, which is the highest peak on Flinders Island.

“It should be fun; it’s doing something different and exciting.

“For all of us, to get across our first big successful crossing would be a great achievement.”

Along the journey, the Anglesea adventurer hopes to drop some of his father’s ashes to pay tribute to Ray’s legacy and his zest for life, particularly in the waters that he sailed and navigated so many times.