Its great to see yet another Sea Strike 16 being launched this week. This time its from Adam down at Sydney !
The Sea Strike has been salted! I can now say its officially splashed and named 😀
After a crazy late Sunday afternoon of getting the boat ready and rigging up the fishing gear we headed off Monday morning at 4:30 ( I only got 2hrs of sleep)...Never again..Im still feeling it 😕 It only took 50min with a clean run to the Rose Bay Ramp. (https://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&i ... CCcQ-A8wAA)
One thing I keep noticing about towing the SS is how light it is. I did a 130km return trip and didnt even use a 1/4 of a tank! On board I was carrying 110L of fuel, Bag of ice, all the required safety gear, water, food and fishing gear. Its very easy to forget that your even towing a boat.
Arriving at the Boat ramp I was very happy to see no boats lining up... Well that changed in about 30 seconds..perfect timing 😎
On returning after parking the trailer (5mins) there were boats and chaos everywhere! Ahh.. the smell and noise of two strokes in the morning...We were off! Allie, Toffee the dog and my self. Wanting just to get my bearings and how to work around the boat I took it easy. We headed out to Shark Island and towards Camp Cove. The conditions were pretty lumpy and the SS took it all in her stride and lived up to the BMD reputation. At this point I was felling pretty average..even after coffee!
We had a flick around the markers and headed for South Head. I didn't feel like I had my gear together and was struggling mainly due to the lack of sleep and Allie started to feel a little squeeze so to avoid an early departure I headed to Bantry Bay in Middle Harbour for a bit of flat water, sun and easy fishing 😀 Allie and Toff were very happy about that. We anchored just on the drop off of the sand bar and chilled out for an hour or so. Flicked out a few baits and landed the first fish on the SS. A solid Snapper weighing in at 100g (LOL), wasn't quite what I hoped for but a fish nonetheless.
Feeling recovered and gear sorted we pulled the pick and headed back out to north head to do a bit of easy trolling.
Heading into a light breeze and a 1-1.5m swell at 7 knots the SS took it on with not a problem. Easy comfortable ride. If it wasn't I would have heard about it! Hitting North Head I turned beam on and headed south to The Gap. Didn't really notice the swell, she tracks well with a soft roll. Turing north and just passing the Gap I hooked up to a nice medium rat kingy! Second fish on board. Kingy tick!
Heading east back to the ramp we were faced with 20 knots of wind, chop and boat wash. I pushed “Blue Arrow” to a comfortable 26knots at 5100 rpm. Easy smooth ride..what wind and chop ❓ I dont have hand rails yet and didnt feel at any time. There was plenty of grunt left but the other half is not a speed freak so I played it safe 😉
As I flew past a few boats I was getting a very confused look 😆 Pulling into the ramp I was greeted with more chaos and a flotilla of boats. Yes it just occurred to me that it was a public holiday 🙄 Trailering the SS is a breeze and as its a light boat. Allie can winch it in with out struggling or whinging. While at the ramp, the comments started flowing. Nice rig, what sort of boat is that? Plate or fibre glass? What brand is it? When I said I built it, I just got a confused look and the “yea its a nice rig” lol Something else I noticed when passing other boats they were all looking for a brand name. The Sea Strike is a head turner that for sure.
So lots of fun to be had and the Blue Arrow smashed it. Need to take her off shore but a can say with confidence that she will handle it. Look forward to filling my kill tank. Which reminds me. The bag of ice melted as I left the sea cock open and drain plug out and it flooded the kill tank 😳 .. I drained it and put the frozen bait in it. Was still frozen at the end of the day 😀
Big shout out and thank you to BMD for designing an amazing boat.
The outstanding service, design knowledge, attention to detail, and the hour long phone conversations 😆 is what makes BMD one of a kind world wide. You'd be hard pressed to find this any where else..and why would you bother looking 😀
It was a great 2 years building and I look forward to seeing some new designs!
A fella called Andy from the "Downrigger shop" took this photo of Adam and Davo outside Sydney heads fishing.
He writes on facebook:
Dave Potts fished from this sweet CC at Longie last week. It was one of those days when the slop was way worse than it shows in the pictures, but this beaut little boat looked rock solid and fishable.
To see more of this design, please click HERE
