Hi Wendy, many thanks for the lesson. I am aware of what you say but for the sake of simplicity I used Port Albert as the most likely place to be known to most readers although I realize it (P A) is in fact some way further up the channel. A hard landing would have been a wonderful thing – we paddled home after a hard days paddle to a low tide and had to traverse a hundred metres of thick sticky mud to reach the beach – poor Jean was almost home when she lost her balance and fell 😳 .

Your comments about the tidal flow are so right but you don't mention the bloody little sand fly thingies that swarmed in dense clouds around our heads to the extent that one of our group was getting seriously agitated as there is no escpape when you are in a kayak some distance from the shore. However as soon as a breeze came up they shot through.

Thanks for your comments

Malcolm