A new year resolution was to commence our cruising season in April...Marina Fever is a well known afflication that can keep cruisers tied to the dock but we finally liberated ourselves from Scarborough Marina after a mostly enjoyable layover on the last day of the month !!
30 April 2008
Underway Again at Last - Yacht Surfing and Tide Riding
Sailing north from Brisbane you have the option of passing Fraser Island to seaward or sailing inside the island north up the maze of tidal channels they call the 'Great Sandy Straits' and view some great esturian seascapes and wildlife. Needless to say we opted for the latter... To enter this marine wonderland the catch is you have to cross the notorious Wide Bay Bar which separates the south end of Fraser Island from the mainland coast.
Approaching from sea you are heading West with the morning sun behind to show the gap in the shallows which defines the bar. All one sees is this line of seemingly harmless blind surf breakers over the bow with a flatter section defining the actual bar crossing - so we got our eyes focused as we lined up on the leading markers and went for it - we gave Henry full throttle to get onto the top of our first roller then throttled off as we caught it square and squirted down its face at who knows what speed catching another few broken waves before we were safely over the shallow white sand bar without touching the bottom - phew !! lets just say surfing your floating 22 ton home is a bit of a nerve wracking experience!!.
Once inside we motored up the main tidal channel which separates Fraser Island from the mainland to Moonboom Island near the halfway point in the channel where we stopped for the night in a lovely anchorage to await the rising tide for the next days exit from the northern end of the channel. This part of the channel is very interesting in that there is a tide turning point 5 miles north of Moonboom at Turkey Island which also happens to be the shallowest part of the transit. There is a slack water spot at this point and it is important to get the tides right. With a 2.70m draught we are right on the limit for getting through so we had time to our passage with precision riding the rising tide to get across the shallows at peak high water to then ride the falling tide north to Hervey Bay.
We got our tides pretty right but were a smidgeon to early so we bounced along the bottom and then came to a soft landing halt in the shifting sands for about 10-15 mins near channel marker S22 before the tide rose and we shuffled off. The ride north got faster and faster as we rode the outgoing tide scooting by attractive scenery and lots of birdlife before we popped out into Hervey Bay near Urungan. At this point the winds were from the north - the direction we were headed so decided to anchor at Urangan for the night to await the forecast S/Easter.
02 May 2008
Motoring and Musing
Next day no northerly but also no SE so we started motoring and with no wind forthcoming we ended up motoring through the night all the way to Gt Keppel Island. A good call as still the winds did not come.
Musing at Capes....
Looking at our charts of the Queensland coast from here on sailing north we will be sailing inside the Great Barrier Reef all the way to Cape York passing an endless number of Capes. Most were named by Captain Cook and those explorers that followed. Looking at the charts most are no more than headlands undeserving of the title Cape as we know them. Sort of get the impression Cook must have been trying to endear himself to everyone he had met.
... have to go now as our Captain is wanting to raise the anchor as the long awaited SE wind has now arrived in the form of a solid 20 - 25 knots, whoopee !! Next stop Lindeman Island ?
04 May 2008
Turtles and Sea Eagles
We are at 20deg 53.913S 149deg 24.584E - anchored in a small bay on the north side of Keswick Island. We have just seen the biggest turtle within 20 metres of the boat, just magnificent !! P has now switched his favourites from bats to turtles (plus sea eagles which are also stunning).
12 May 2008
Cae Bowling Green
Anchor in the lee of the Cape which is no more than a low line of sandhills shaped by the wind. We have come in at 2045hrs in the dark because the 25knot SE is kicking up a nasty little chop in the shallow waters we were sailing in so decided why not take a break abd attack again in the daylight. Trouble is the anchor dragged a couple times in the sand before bedding and we did then we did get horizontal in the bunk the bang slap and slosh kept us awake. All in all a damned appalling anchorage.
13 May 2008
Locals Call it Maggie
At anchor Horsehoe Bay, Magnetic Island. This place is very pleasant and we have just had a big steak meal at the pub as a treat to ourselves after an appalling night anchored at Cape Bowling Green.
Heading to the Palm Isles next. But toying with putting back our haulout date at Cairns so we can take more time to get there. May be go through the Hinchinbrook Channel but with caution because our excellent Queensland aerial/map fishing book says 'caution crocodiles' so we are hoping to see one or two close up (but not that up close).
16 May 2008
Magnetic Island becomes a Magnet
Departed Magnetic Island yesterday 15 May at 1015 for a supposed simple 36 mile sail to Orphesus Island, part of the Palm Group. Initally some wind but soon dropped off. As we motored out of the anchorage to put up the sails and had the engine on for 10 minutes we noticed a slight knocking sound in the engine (more of a clicking really which B had first noticed a few days earlier but P could not hear). Anyway for a diesel clunker it did not seem serious although Peter was reading up on potential problems using our trusty 880 page nautical tome 'The Boatowners Mechanical & Electrical Owners Manual' by Nigel Calder.
We sailed until around 1500 hours then the wind died completely so we went to start the engine - big bad expensive sounding noise so stopped it immediately before it got fired up. We were about 6 miles from Steamer Passage at the south end of Palm Isle so decided to turn back for Townsville thinking we might get there under sail about 0100 morning of the 16th, anchor and check out repair options.
Well it is now 1500 on the 16th and we are still 8 miles from the Magnetic Island anchorage. We gave up on getting to Townsville. Since 1500 yesterday when we tried to start the engine we have had no wind. Thats 24 hours of drifting !! The only thing moving us is the tide and thats in circles not the direction we want to go.
Now at last at 1530 the breeze has come in at 9-10knots and we have the main and genoa up and heading back to Horseshoe Bay Magnetic Island again because its a big bay so no problems deploying anchor without engine !! Will try to find a diesel engineer but realistically will probably be Monday as QLDers seem to knock off at 3.30 - 4.00 on Fridays and certainly don't work weekends. Have had to cancel Cairns haulout and will see what Townsville can provide.
17 May 2008
Murhpys Law
0600 this morning all hell let loose with 30-35 knots of wind gusting to 40 knots (unforecast) and we dragged anchor nearly onto reef. Got sail up and got away fine but then when we came back in (again) to anchor the anchor jammed in the hawsepipe with just 15 metres out which in 10 metres depth is not enough to hold a 16 metre yacht in 5 knots of breeze let alone these conditions and after drifting earlier we are wanting to put out 70/80 metres minimum. So as it was still blowing we sailed off again, towing 15 metres of anchor - we say sailed although we had by now dropped the sails there was so much wind the boat just sailed on its own windage fortunately exactly in the right direction, nicely out to sea. That gave P and I time to manually haul up the 15 metres of chain and our 40kg Delta anchor.
P then went below and got into the anchor locker and untangled the chain which had knotted itself. We then put up the sails and sailed around for a while, just off the island. The winds started to moderate so we prepared for another attempt to anchor. Luckily a young Norwegian we were berthed next to at Scarborough Marina, Jorn from the yacht Silene motored over in his dink to help and we anchored without further problems and kept our fingers crossed that we had a good hold this time.
The reason the anchor had dragged in the first place was because when anchoring without an engine you cannot let the anchor settle then bed it in by reversing with the engine. Spend a few hours discussing our engine problem with Jorn who is a former Norwegian Navy submariner and Peit Hein from the yacht Double Dutch an engineer in the pre-cruising life. Between us we reckon we worked out the problem assisted by a few ales.
19 May 2008
To Repair Haven
We had an excellent sail across to Townsville yesterday when the wind finally came in. Anchored to the starboard side of the marina channel in about 3.4 metres waiting for high tide tomorrow morning. Good night with no wind and no significant tide disturbances although B got up heaps of times to check "just in case" - which really was a waste of good sleeping time.
Nice calm water for tow in this morning, so now the hard work starts locating diesel mechanic and specialist workshop to do a complete overhaul of the "head" (which P assures me is on this occasion not the toilet). Also need to take the genoa sail off cos we ripped the sun protection strip on it in the anchoring scramble off Magnetic when we were in the 40 knot stuff.
20 May 2008
Good News
Other than engine issue, all well. The engineer we found in Townsville removed the head and discovered a sticky exhaust valve that has bent a valve pushrod which was the cause of the clacking noise. Luckily for us by stopping the engine in time no major damage. The head will be machined, two new valves, the resy rebedde, a new pushrod installed along with a new head gasket and we should be back in business in by the end of the week.
We were going to haulout at Townsville but changed mind this morning and will stay in water at marina - this is because the haulout facility although large does not have cradles and just uses props (mainly does fishing and navy boats) so we have decided with our height it is not worth the risk of falling off the props.
We will not quite be out of Townsville by the end of May but it will be pretty close....May will go down as a testing month!!!
