Almanac Lost & Found: One oar, St Kilda beach
It seems I’m that eccentric old fella who sits on the tram carrying another bloke’s oar. He needs it more than I do.
He approached me on St Kilda beach. I was there for fish & chips to celebrate the evening of the summer solstice. His little boat had run aground. “Excuse me mate,” he said. “I’ve had a bit of a mishap.”
He looked up and down the windswept beach. He was a young fella with a beard and an air of cautious sparkle about him.
“I wonder if you could watch my boat while I see if those kids can help me push it back out?”
“Sure,” I said.
The sun was low in the sky- perhaps an hour of daylight left. He went to fetch some kids who were splashing about- already wet & happy to help.
“Right, kids, this is what we’re gonna do…”
He very briefly described how to launch a small boat from a beach experiencing significant onshore breeze.
It was quite rough. The wind was properly blowing as the kids pushed and unevenly shoved the small vessel through the shallowest of water. When the man and his little boat were maybe waist-deep off shore, our man found himself and his boat calamitously lined up parallel with the swell.
Our man nearly fell out. But he rode the swell like rodeo champions through the years have ridden bucking bulls. The kids whooped and ran, clapped and shouted.
Alas, in the wildest crowded moment of peak mayhem, one oar slipped overboard. None of the kids noticed.
Quickly, I shucked off my Blundstones and waded in to retrieve it. But by now our man in his little boat with its tiny outboard engine was gone and pulling away. The oar and the boat were separated.
I watched that little boat battle the irresistible current for a long time, wondering where the man and the boat were headed, thinking that I could perhaps meet them with the oar. But I lost them.
After maybe 30 minutes of watching, l looked away for a moment. When I returned my gaze to the bay, do you think I could see any trace of the man or the boat? No. None.
I hope both were able to return to safe berth somewhere before that sun set. And I hope that one day they are each reunited with this oar- this oar that right now rides with me on the #96 tram inland, on this night of the summer solstice.
More from E.Regnans can be read Here.
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About David Wilson
David Wilson is a hydrologist, climate reporter and writer of fiction & observational stories. He writes under the name “E.regnans” at The Footy Almanac and has stories in several books. One of his stories was judged as a finalist in the Tasmanian Writers’ Prize 2021. He shares the care of two daughters and likes to walk around feeling generally amazed. Favourite tree: Eucalyptus regnans.
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Lovely story and photos, David.
You will have to take it to the beach every day until it is returned.
H Jan. Thanks very much.
Hi Griff. Yes that is a good idea. The oar has been with me for 14 hours now without the merest hint of being useful. I’m hatching a loose plan to drop it off at the Albert Park Yachting & Angling Club – where it may at least see water-borne crafts again.
How does one return an oar?
Nice story, e.r. The photos are a good accompaniment.
This sort of story can be 50/50. Me, I’m either oar….
Great tale, beautifully told as always David
Thanks Smokie. Thanks Ian.
Yesterday I learned via Fbook that my friend and neighbour S Maloney has an oar mounted above the door of his studio. And I also received this message from D Jellie:
“The No 96 tram has carried much – love, hopes, eccentrics, cross-city commuters, lapdogs, cellos – but rarely does it carry a single oar. Unless the owner comes in on another swell, I think it’s a keepsake. A solstice offering. To remember this time. Don’t be in a hurry to jettison it.”
Lovely story Er, as gently lapping as the waves on a bayside beach. The photos are captivating. Is the oar a metaphoar? I think my joke was even more dad barnacled than ian_g’s.
One quibble or question. Re this bit: ” the kids pushed and unevenly shoved the small vessel through the shallowest of water. When the man and his little boat were maybe waist-deep off shore,” My understanding of bay beaches would suggest that by the time “the man and his little boat were maybe waist deep” he would have been approximately 2kms from the shore. Such is the shallowness of the … anyways, you get my rib at Melbourne’s so called beaches.
Greetings from any old beach in Perf.
Cheers
A Bob Cunis story. Neither one thing oar the other.
Good to hear your languid voice ER. Christmas greetings from the western sanctuary. How did Kane get back in?
Lovely Er. I like D Jellie’s thinking and if the owner hasn’t stepped by NYE hang it on your wall and tell everyone who spots it that in 2021 we were all up Shit Creek but at least…(sorry).
Thanks Rick – and you make an excellent bathymetric point.
A couple of summers ago I was staggered to find I could walk a half a footy ground into the bay at Dromana and not get my knees wet.
You might notice that I did not specify what sort of creature the waist belonged to, either.
Anyway – artistic licence.
Thanks Peter_B. Bob Cunis?
Maybe a C. Funky Miller in execution.
Happy Christmas to you and AE over there.
Thanks Mickey. I have a feeling that raising the topic of “2021” in polite conversation will always be Oar-kward.
(sorry back).
Love it Dave. How good is our bay! From various points the vistas are stunning. Perfect story to go with the images.
Well, we have something in common David.
I went fishing on St. Kilda pier one Sunday long ago, and returned home to Richmond by tram – with a huge flathead poking out from both sides of my tackle bag.
Thanks Kate. The enormous horizon of the bay and the absence of ocean swell I find mesmerising. Almost hypnotic.
Warren – you just caused me to laugh out loud here. I once took a dog onto a tram but was asked to leave. Probably I first should have put her inside a tackle bag. Love it.
Excellent OBP you are a good man and awesome photos
( I admit yesterday I may have ventured to Dillons bookstore and loitered in the isle around my book suggesting to each person there may be a book they be interested in of course I was just helping there Xmas shopping experience – 7 happy people well 8 inc me )
Love it ER. Keep us updated on the oar, I too liked D.Jellie’s comments that you shared.