Murray River - "Summit to Sea"

[Buzzook]

G'day all

Just a short note to advise that planning for the Oct/Nov 2013 "Summit to Sea" marathon in Australia has begun in earnest, with the first UPDATE sent out to those who have evinced an interest in participating.

So if you thought you had evinced an interest to us, and didn't recieve the UPDATE, then you'd better PM me and let me know!

For those of you who have not heard of the event, we are proposing to take a goup of Seagull-powered dinghies down the length of the Murray River, all 2500km of it, from "the summit to the sea" - from as close to the source as we can navigate, near the foot of Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko in New South Wales, to the Mouth of the Murray at Goolwa in South Australia.

The trip has been designed in three sections of 10days to 2 weeks each, so that those with unavoidable work and family commitments can still participate. Sections are Khancoban to Echuca, Echuca to Mildura, Mildura to Goolwa.

We will be co-purchasing a minibus as support vehicle and will take turns driving it.

If you're coming from O/S, we can accomodate you in the major cities (Sydney or Melbourne) that are close-ish to the start point, and can assist with collecting and storing a boat for you. eBay Oz is a good place to start looking. We recommend a tinny of 14ft or more in legth as a minimum, but if you want to come over and build a purpose-built, lightweight ply boat quickly, we can accommodate that as well. [NB: Inflatable boats are not advised due to the large number of hardwood 'snags' in the river, any of which could sink you..]

There is loads more info available for those who are coming along, so if you didn't receive the UPDATE today, and would like to come along - even if your not sure at this stage and are interested at the "if the planets all align perfectly" level, please let me know.

Cheers
Mark Walker
Oz Seagull Owners group
ozseagullgroup@gmail.com

[Buzzook]

Well, despite the best of intentions, it now appears that there is not enough interest in the event to sustain it, so I have reluctantly decided that it's time to pull the pin and move on to other things.

Although more than 20 people evinced an interest in participating in the event, when push came to shove, and money on the capstan was called for, not enough people stepped up to make it possible to run the event economically.

Therefore I have decided to cancel the event.

Apologies to all those who evinced an interest but it seems that the event, as I had planned it, is not required.

Having said that, three guys from South Oz are still planning to do the trip, though only commencing at Yarrawonga, not Hume Weir, and they are planning to do the whole trip without a back-up vehicle and carrying all the food, fuel, oil, cooking equipment, tents, clothing, spares and so on, in their boats.

Frankly, I don't think they'll enjoy the trip doing it that way - I know I wouldn't - but I wish them well.

If they do achieve it, it will have been a herculean effort....

...which is more effort than I was willing to commit to.

I prefer a more relaxed, easy-going life.....

What can I say...I tried.

[Horsley-Anarak]

That is bad luck.

It would have been a great event, and I would have done it if I could have afforded to.

Keep going at organising, even smaller events can be fun. Saying that we have enough trouble getting people to show up for those in the UK.

H-A

[Rex NZ]

Mark

Is the 'Annual National Gathering' at Lake Hume, still on?

The plan was for Ozzy Labour Day Long Weekend 5th-7th October 2013?

Rex

[Buzzook]

Don't know, Rex. Have had zero interest in the idea, so probably not.

It appears to me that there is little to no interest in "events" per se in Oz - much the same as the UK.

Am wondering why I bother....

[Rex NZ]

Mark

This is all a real shame. If we had enthusiastic people like yourself here, we could easily double the number of seagull adventures.

Even tho it was a few years ago, people here still talk of 'Mark the Ozzy' & the your part in the Waikato run.

Ideas;
* Maybe focus on smaller day runs like the 'Sea Gull Flocking- Regatta, Brisbane River CBD, Qld, 2012'
* Being Ozzy maybe more of a focus on a BBQ as the highlight of the day, keep the seagulling a side issue
* maybe promo as an outing for grandkids & wives, a scenic adventure trip to somewhere nice might be the go, an overnight camp, return the next day.

Rex

[Buzzook]

Rex that's all very well, but when was the last time you attended a Seagull event in the South Island???? It's a 15 hour drive for me to get to Melbourne, which is a long way to go for a one day event. Brisbane is 7 hrs and Sydney 5 hrs. That's a minimum of $100 in fuel alone, plus accomm, plus expenses, plus 2-stroke....call it $300 - $600 for a weekend. Then multiply that by four or five events a year.

I could do the Waikato every year with that money...!!

The problem is that if "someone like me" doesn't *push* people into doing something, it simply doesn't happen.

OK, so Kean has organised a couple of runs in Brisbane, but has only had two or three people turn up. The one I organised up there only had four people turn up. The max I've achieved was 6 boats on the Sydney run.

The bottom line for the Murray trip was that not enough people wanted to do it. Even without the three guys from South Oz I'd probably still have had to cancel it.

Sure, if I wanted to do it the way they are planning to - without a back-up vehicle - it would have a been a bit cheaper for each entrant, me included, but humping 20L fuel drums 500m or more is not my idea of a picnic, ditto bags of groceries etc, hence why I determined a back-up vehicle was essential.

As this also meant that all the gear could be carried in the vehicle, rather than in the boats, it enabled the boats to maximise their speed, being lightly laden, which meant more boats could achieve the minimum speed requirement. So no need for 'special' boats and people could 'run-what-they-brung'.

Without the back-up vehicle, the trip is not attractive enough for me to want to commit to six weeks of hard labour, setting up and knocking down a campsite every day, and so on. The South Oz guys are only doing the 'continuously navigable' section from Yarrawonga to Goolwa, which cuts 700km off the overall trip. They plan to achieve a minimum of 6kts (11.2km/h), which requires specially built long-waterline-length boats to maximise boat speed, but will still need to be on the water for six hours per day for 27 days, as they intend to complete it in less than a month, which leaves bugger all margin for rain days, breakdowns and any other problems. Or they'll have to travel for 8hrs each day to put some 'fat' into the time budget. So, basically, a non-stop *marathon*. Not my idea of a good time, I'm afraid, but if that's what they want to do, good luck to them.

Frankly, I don't think they will enjoy it - it certainly won't be an easy trip, which mine would have been. Well, easier, at least..! But time and dollars were apparently more of an issue for them than for me. Although when you consider that the trip cost was about $900 for back up vehicle and all the gear (of which they would have got back at least $600 after the vehicle was sold) and the boats they are having to build specially for the trip they want to do will be costing them around $1000.....I don't see that the cost is relevant, so it must really be about the time.

Which was the issue the Kiwis had about the trip, hence why Ross and a few others are apparently planning the run using tinnies with 10HP 'moderns' on the back and planning to complete it in only 2 weeks.

Which is also fine - but it is not a "Seagull trip" - it's just another 'Murray River marathon' which anyone can organise.

In fact, there is a commercial mob called Murray Meander who do just that, and they do it in two, two-week stages, over two years, so working people can afford the time/holidays. But they charge $2500 per boat just for *leading* the trip...oh, and providing the back-up vehicle, which they told me was, in their opinion, based on their long experience of doing the trip, essential.....

So considering I wasn't going to make a brass razzoo out of leading the trip - unlike so-called *professional* trip leaders - it had to be easy, comfortable and *cost-effective* for me to want to do it. And that meant a back-up vehicle and enough people to share the costs.

So, the bottom line is, not enough demand, not enough people willing to 'share costs', so no trip. End of story.

[1650bullet]

Maybe post up a date for the trip, But have a cut off date to which anyone who wants to go Once the cut off date is reached, Count how many poeple there are and see if its viable or not. If theres not enough numbers then can the trip.

I will have a look at the rivers around Northern NSW and see if we could meet half way for a trip over a weekend or something. Just thinking about the historic port of Ulmara or something