Winter Storms

Winter storms are sweeping in, and there has been a massive shifting of sand. You can see (below) how the Full Moon tides and big waves are eroding the dunes on the western side: sand is dragged seawards, and the edge of the reef retreats accordingly.

For the moment we have a much wider beach.

The old Rapid Bay jetty to the south continues to disintegrate. I am out and about, salvaging what I can.  My companions – the Pacific Gulls – drift overhead, intent on their own version of salvaging. It is their livelihood.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost: that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.
Thoreau

I keep Dad’s dream in mind as I do my beach-combing. He built his own castle in the air – his ‘envisioning’ of the Tancook Whaler. Indeed,  he went further, by copying the relevant offsets – the heights, breadths and diagonals – onto a large piece of cardboard.  The original Tancook Whaler is 41 feet long:  too long for the Lady Bay budget, which is very short. But his sons have maintained the dream – and that is why we collect these great lengths of timber. They are gifts from the ocean.

It seems fitting that the old jetty, tethered so long to dry land, will sooner of later enjoy  a hard-earned freedom….sailing  across Yankalilla Bay by way of the Tancook Whaler: if you like, our deep-water inheritance….

More of that later.