doing it again this year as skipper. last years forecast was atrocious and they still pressed ahead and on the day turned out great weather. not too phased at 10kt southerlies, pretty similar to last year. This year i'm doing the first wave with a solo so should be at Thompsons by 11ish before the wind get worse, I'd be more concerned for the last waves.

alot of $$$ spent by the swimmers, if they can it they'll leave it until the last possible minute to judge the conditions

Skippering also, with the swell now rising to 3m and the winds picking up late in the day it should be an interesting trip home. They make the call at 4:30am on Saturday.

Reefmonkey how did you go fuel wise last year? Did you go through plenty dawdling the whole way?

yep going to be very bumpy, even going over.

now a 2.4m swell at 6am rising to 2.9 by lunch. Winds 10-15 knot SSW winds all day. For rotto, add 5 knots, so 15-20.

15-20knot winds in a 3m swell will be very rough, the paddlers will struggle.

im skippering for a solo on the 2nd wave at 6am. What ramps do you guys launch at? i am thinking of trying the Leuwin this year, since we are in the 2nd wave, should be able to get a park?

Fuel wise usually i run over on one engine, but given the conditions could be 2 this year. usually 60-80 ltrs.

Have they finished working on the Leeuwin boat ramp? I got caught out heading there last year. Make sure pack every gold coin you have for their parking meters!

I'll be departing from Hillarys, we're for a duo with their wave starting at 6:30am.

how long is your trip down from Hillary's?

Yeah apparently the ramp has been completed, 3 lanes now.

I normally Launch at Matilda bay and put down the river, but it add's another 30 min or so.

I'm guessing it will take me somewhere between 30-45min to reach Cott.

 I'm doing it as support for a solo swimmer that goes at 545. Seriously worried about the forecast at this stage. Only got a 5 metre Ali CC, could be very interesting. Surely they won't go ahead if the forecast stays as it is??

Yep, leaving in the first wave 5 45.

Will go ahead for sure.

will just take a little longer than usual.

 I'm hoping not pretty shit conditions will be serious white caps with that swell and wind. And gotta try get back Saturday arvo.

 Can't see it being called off. It won't bother me as I'm wearing the budgie smugglers this year. I just feel bad for my paddler who gets sea sick In The river

 Yeh neither. Bom is forecasting 15-20 SW easing slightly mid arvo. With 3m swell surely there comes a point where safety of swimmers, paddlers and support crews has to come into consideration. If I was wanting to go fishing wouldn't even consider it in those conditions so what's the difference

 And if I did and something went wrong u could guarantee sea rescue/police would be saying u must check conditions etc. before u go.not to mention other fishos would be saying wat an idiot for going out

Yeah i agree with you Baker, i think all the focus is on just getting there and no real thought goes into the support boats getting back safely. I met with our swimmers last night and they were all 'are you excited..we are..etc etc" and im like no im fuggin not, have you seen the forecast..it aint good for small boats.

 Like reefmonkey said before, the forecasted conditions were similar last year and it turned out pretty good. I just hope my beers don't get too shaken up on the trip over

i agree on the conditions and safety with the boats. It will be difficult for Teams changing over siwmmers, getting back on the boat. Also leaving cott and entering Rotto, where the boats all converge on the same location, it will be chaotic, as well as the holding zone for boats at cott.

Lat year was different swell was down, this year its right up.

Am going to the briefing tomorrow morning so will see what they have to say.

 Bodie, I can't make the briefing if u could would u be able to update this thread just in terms I what they say about weather etc. I'm meeting with swimmers tomoro arvo so they will fill me in also.

Good luck to all and safe travels!! 

You just have to wait and see. they wont make a call until the morning, I'm sure common sense will prevail on the day, they've canned it before. With the amount of interstate and international competitors they aren't going to call it off a few days out based on the forecast and on the day turn out that the weather man got it wrong. only gripe is getting out of bed at 3.30 launching the boat, burning fuel getting there only to be told to go home and go back to bed but better to be safe than sorry.

Last year I launched the evenig before, slept (well) on the boat ((first tier soloswimmer)) and was @ cott well before the start.

I did do a run the day before and kept the trail on my GPS, which I followed exactly as it was pitch dark going over.

Have a big flag on a big pole that the swimmer/yakker easily can spot YOU.

Sadly we were ballotted out this year as a team, so no Rotto trip this year.

start of the first wave last year.

http://youtu.be/3MZLedc5h_I

What puts a lot of people of being a support boat is the difficulty and extra landing fee to see the finnish and presentation @ rottnest.

So many moorings are empty and unused but you are not allowed that afternoon to use them.

Inmy book a disgrace to exempt the participating boats from entering into rotnest island

So 1500mtr from the finnish,abort, pick up the Yakker and motor back to the marina, it is all over.

I slept on my boat on my FW Bay mooring last year and was hoping for the early morning cancellation text because the forecast was woeful in the days leading up to the event, and a sleep in would have been nice :P
(I think 4m swell was forecast 3 days before).

But it went ahead and was a pearler of a day, still a bit of swell but nothing to worry about.
25-30 knot trip back, all good.

Was definitely a good decision to put the boat in the night before and sleep on it.
We cruised off down the river at 4.30am and could see the chaos on the ramps.

Then soon after the start the radio started going crazy about swimmers being held because their boats hadn't turned up.

Luckily we got clear very quickly and our swimmer did very well in the women's event, despite violent sea-sickness from the swell. (as if swimming wasn't hard enough for her).

Hope you guys have a good, safe day.

any advice in where to Anchor after the swim?

Can you anchor west of the rottnest ferry jetty?

Want to paddle in on a kayak after dropping everyone off at the jetty, dont / cant anchor on the beach with a 8m boat.

Any ideas?

And on that note, whats the go with the admission fee's to rotto when dong the swim? We have 1 swimmer, 2 paddlers, skipper and deckie. Is it 1 private boat admission?

Rottnest island website really doesnt say much.

Im also a skipper of a support boat on the way over lads. swell looks like it will be around 3m which wont be all that comfortable! Thinking of launching at the ramp near the Red Herring in East Freo (Leuwin?). I hear its pretty crazy for boat parking, so hopefully we will get a spot if we go at 4:30am. Any ideas of how big the swell would need to be for them to cancel the event? i would imagine 3m swell and 10-15 winds would be pretty crazy but not enough for a cancellation.

Im also a skipper of a support boat on the way over lads. swell looks like it will be around 3m which wont be all that comfortable! Thinking of launching at the ramp near the Red Herring in East Freo (Leuwin?). I hear its pretty crazy for boat parking, so hopefully we will get a spot if we go at 4:30am. Any ideas of how big the swell would need to be for them to cancel the event? i would imagine 3m swell and 10-15 winds would be pretty crazy but not enough for a cancellation.

Nothing new Fellas

99% its going ahead as normal. They said seabreeze was "Totally" wrong, winds wont be that strong, and swell much less......i call bullshit but anyway. He was just talking it up to the interstate competitors because they dont know Perth weather anyway.

 I hope there right bodie, I'm not so sure either though but really not looking forward to it at all. Who's coming back tomoro afternoon?

hey guys I wonder if anyone knows how busy Woodies will be tomorrow morning.

this is my last chance to confirm with the team our departure from woodies to head up and meet our swimmer and paddler.

i am planning on meeting at 0530 for a 0600- 0630 launch.

am i allowing enough time?

 Trip from woodies to Cott I'd allow 45 min

 Definitely not an event to be late to