Day Five (Race day four)

This is technically the shortest leg of the race, but rumours abound that it is "uphill". That is, the water is "dead" or "heavy". Why is it that when you get near water the English language seems to undergo transmogrification? (Port, starboard, sheets(=ropes), etc. etc. (etc. - lazy but convenient)) Anyway, the view of at least one old-timer - you've seen his picture in the RD 3 report) - is that as you approach the weir the current decreases. He helpfully journeys over to our unofficial camp site to cheer us up with this news.

Opposed to this is the coach's non-specific "Rubbish!, they're all idiots", which, combined with the prospect of a home cooked, well, CWA cooked, dinner at the Cohuna bowls club this evening is enough to get the crew out again. A pattern is emerging:

• Pre-dinner - despair
• Post-dinner - fatalism
• Post-breakfast - cautious optimism

Based on this pattern, I'd say ditch the team psychologist for a nutritionist (actually, we have neither). And possibly, drink more coffee.

Turns out to be a fantastic day for the boat. They are ahead of schedule (well, my calculated schedule based on previous days' performance) at every checkpoint, leaving me a little bit flustered. There's a conflicting need to set up all the supplies close to the river for a rapid refuel with the fact that the eskies aren't very effective and are murdering the ice, with very limited opportunities to replace it, so I'm keeping the eskies away from the bank in the shade. Then when the boat appears it's all hands on deck, except mainly, it's just my hands and one of them is occupied hanging on to branches for balance. Still, I'd rather be falling in the river than paddling on top of it, so no complaints from me.

The RD4 checkpoints involve a lot of walking - we're typically parking outside private property & walking the supplies in. Also, the river access means people are standing away from the river rather than on the bank.

You can see the larger & more organised road crews at work here - more on those a bit later.

I managed to get lost coming out of Charlie today; it was inside a national park and I missed the track out - all bush tracks look identical to me, something the organisers probably hadn't figured on. In general the signposting was fantastic, but they clearly assumed that from cattle grid to river bank wasn't a navigational challenge. Still, I wasn't particularly worried because I was following a car which was clearly with the race -

it's not just the canoe strapped on top, because people actually do that kind of thing socially around here, but there's something about the dust inside and outside the windows that tells you this car doesn't really belong around here (local cars are mysteriously clean on the inside, I guess they don't use the A/C) - until the car pulled over to the side to let me pass, then started following me, doubtless on the same premise. So as to get oxygen mixed in with my A/C, I eschew the use of the recycle internal air option, and live - breathing - in the resulting dust cloud.

Since it was barely possible that I was on the right track I kept going, but when I passed the same jogger (no really, not only do people jog in national parks in 40+ degree heat, there are actually quite a few of them. Not everyone camping on the river is a drunken hoon. They have girlfriends.) for the second time, I knew it was time to stop and ask directions. She gave me the pitying smile reserved for city folk in the bush, and confirmed that I would get out if I continued on the path I was going. Two corners later I was lost again, but at least I was out of the forest. And I had found a kind of lost people's checkpoint because there were 5 4WD, all race people, all busy consulting each other. I was about to wander over and add my 2c worth of ignorance to the pool when I saw a forest ranger. More of the pitying smiles, but at least we're not lost anymore.

A huge part of the race is the school teams. MLC, Strahcona, Camberwell Grammar, Trinity & Yarra Valley all have between 4 and 6 teams entered in the relay. These are the super-organised groups standing under the pavilions in the photo above. They have advance crews setting up the exchange points, and they look like they have either scouted the river or keep the notes from last year. They have rope ladders for the steep banks. Many of them are staying in local hotels rather than the camping grounds, which given how full everywhere is at this time of year suggests serious planning.

In some cases they have staging posts up river (or is it down river?) of the checkpoints so they can radio back team positions to the exchange points. The exchanges are pretty polished too; each school has a banner that marks the exchange point to the incoming paddlers; a crew in the water catches the boat, the paddlers jump out while the boat is rotated 360 degrees to empty it of water and the new crew climb in and set off. It takes about 30 seconds.

You can also see in the photo two above how good some of the teams are - the unison of stroke & bow in that photo is nearly perfect, and they will keep that up for 26 kms and when they come in it will still be completely in sync.

Getting back to our boat, actually today everyone except the dragonboat has struggled, so not only was the time good, but crew morale has soared. For whatever reason, the weight of the boat today has been an advantage vs. the field. We've passed people! This evening we actually have cautious optimism before dinner.

The race leg finished at Torumbarry, but we actually sleep at Cohuna, about 40 km away. This is the first of a couple of logistic nightmare days where the campsites don't actually coincide with the start & finish points. We have to be up at 4 AM to get to the start for day 5, at Murrabit, a further 60-odd km down the road from Cohuna.

All this is compensated for by the fact that dinner at the Cohuna Bowls club is in air conditioned comfort, so for the first time in about a week we have our core temperature down to something like city normal. It's fantastic. The meal itself was served straight from 1956, but none the worse for that. Unlimited salad, two roasts & 4 vegetables, choice of 4 desserts. The paddlers in particular are using up a lot of energy every day & I didn't spot a lot of leftovers.