13/06/08, Pearl Bay
Howard and Andamon enjoy the solitude of a Yeppon sunset. Note amazing Geology in background.
Howie, a sailing friend from Cronulla Sailing Club, arrives from Sydney with tales of cold miserable weather down there. He has 2 huge bags full of clothes and stuff and we figure that, as being a ladies man, he must make sure he always looks good.
The five of us (incl. Valhalla crew) pile into a marina courtesy car (free - other marinas take note) we drive into Yeppoon town and buy food and drink. We have to restock on Bundy rum, as since we visited the factory Lyn has taken a liking and supplies are critically low. Yeppoon seems a great town, it has a decent sailing club, and it seems most houses have views of the ocean and islands. The marina , like all that we visit in Qld is new with great facilities, e.g. restaurants and bars and chandlery, we have nothing like this in NSW.
Next morning we leave at 6:00am with Valhalla, set sails and head north to Pearl Bay about 40nm away. This time Andamon took an early lead and after a few hours Valhalla was a speck on the horizon behind us, revenge at last.
Trolled all day - no fish.
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12/06/08, Yeppoon
Some friendly locals
We left Cape Capricorn for a champagne ride to Yepoon. We are now sailing in warmer waters, with islands all over the horizon. We sailed around Great Keppel Island and would have like to have anchored there but we had to be in Yeppoon to clean the boat for our next guest , Howie, who arrives tomorrow.
Finally found some friendly dolphins who played games around the bows.
Trolled all day, but managed to keep my perfect fishing record.
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Let me know how you go.
A little hint, speed as well as distance make for an interesting race. Maybe you just wanted to see the back of her on each zig or zag OR were you comsuming your Rum supplies to reduce ballast.
I look forward to your next post, cheers PJ.
11/06/08, Cape Capricorn
'Valhalla' pulling out all stops to beat 'Andamon'
Luckily Port Bundaberg has a fantastic marina with nice facilities, as we stayed an extra 2 nights due to the weather (again), i.e. strong winds and rain. However we used the time productively by visiting the Bundaberg rum plant as well as visiting some surrounding towns. We did this Peter and Paula from 'Valhalla', and had a great time.
When we finally left Bundaberg, we were accompanied with strong sou-easterlies taking us to our next stop, Pancake Creek, near Bustard Head, so named because Captain Cook shot a bustard (large bird) here in May 1770. (Yes I didn't know we had bustards either - maybe they are extinct now)
Though this leg was a little depresssing with grey gloomy skies and grey seas, at least we had the wind directly behind. We left at the same time as Valhalla and were always close by. Being a monohull, Valhalla sailed straight to Pancake creek, but being a cat we tacked downwind (i.e. zig zagged) on a series of broad reaches because cats sail very fast on this angle. So we were very surprised when at each zig or zag we kept passing behind Valhalla, as everyone knows cats are much faster than monohulls. Clearly this was upsetting Lyn who suggested that they probably had their engine on as this was the only explanation for their brilliant speed, though I quickly responded that Peter would never think of such a thing. In the end we got to Pancake creek first only by sneaking between some offshore rocks and the mainland, wheras Valhalla decided to take the safe route and go outside the rocks. Later he admitted to having the engine on for 2 hours - only to recharge the batteries - and he ran it in neutral without the prop spinning - oh yeh for sure.
Next day we kept going but this time Valhalla left earlier than us and we really didn't see them all day. Not much to report for the day, more grey skies and quite a bit of rain as well, very choppy seas - not very pleasant. We are both staying overnight at Cape Capricorn, so named because it lies directly on the Tropic of Capricorn, a tiny little indentation on the coast but with strangely calm seas (no swells), so sleeping wasn't too bad. These last 2 destinations have meant we had no mobile or internet coverage - first time this has happened. strangely though we had excellent television coverage and were able to watch the State of Origin game, which as it turned out wasn't worth watching.
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06/06/08, Bundaberg
Yours truly pretends to go fishing.
The recent spate of light winds appears to end tomorrow as a new low front moves in. Today we made the most of this wonderful weather as we sailed to Bundaberg, a distance of 42 nm. We might be holed up again for a few days as the forecast predicts 30 knots .
In the meantime... after a number of queries regarding the absence of fishing tackle in photos, and even though I've never caught a fish in my life, with my fishing advisor (Peter from 'Valhalla'), and we went shopping for fishing gear back in Mooloolaba. We purchased only the best gear - Penn, for those who know this stuff - to give me every chance to on being one-up on a fish.
We got back to Andamon and Peter rigged everything up and taught me how to troll (using lures) setting the right tensions and other stuff like that. For the last 2 days we've been doing exactly as instructed, but my perfect record of 0 fish caught still stands. I'm beginning to think this whole fishing thing is a conspiracy set up by people that sell fishing gear. In an earlier part of the journey from Coffs Harbour to the Gold Coast, Rob bought his own hand lines and he caught nothing, even though we trolled through marine parks where one would expect to find lots of fish. I've also noted that Peter's boat Valhalla isn't actually overflowing with excess fish!.
Fishing increases tension on board , because we go into a panic everytime we see dolphins, trying to bring the lure in quickly, in case we catch one (BTW are dolphins edible ?). So about the only benefit I can see in fishing is that it gives you something to do to fill in the day. Talking about Dolphins, Lyn and I have noticed that in NSW the dolphins always swim towards Andamon and play around the bows, sometimes up to 20 at a time, but in Qld the dolphins keep their distance. We've seen numerous pods, but always 100 metres away, never closer. Strange we think, maybe they know we are from south of the border.
So back to fishing, not being a quitter, I will again attempt to catch a fish, or give the whole thing over to Lyn who will probably catch a marlin within seconds of the lure hitting the water.
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suggest u look at youtube and search under 'fillet fish fast'
ahhh, another thing= beware of trolling through a marine park where it is not permitted. the fines r exorbitant! to know where u r allowed look for marine oark charts, they r freely available at some chandleries.
happy angling john
05/06/08, Hervey Bay
The look of happiness and serenity as we apporach Hervey Bay marina - who'd of thought that 24 hrs earlier Lyn was a nervous wreck as we rode the Wide Bay Bar.
After 7 days we finally left Mooloolaba yesterday morning along with our friends Peter and Paula sailing 'Valhalla'. After endless discussions with the Mooloolaba boat people, we decided the best way to cross the bar was to head out early and aim to cross at 4:00 in the afternoon, 3 hours after low tide, and not cross at high tide which we originally thought was mandatory. This way we avoided sailing at night or crossing the bar at night, both difficult on a new moon (i.e. no moon at all - sailing in pitch black).
The Wide Bay Bar itself stood up to exectations, a bumpy ride with mainly following waves about the height of Andamon's roof. At the bar these become more vertical and break, but somehow we only had one breaking wave hit us. This time we decided to go slowly to avoid actually catching the waves, we let them pass underneath, and this worked well. Andamon seems to handle following waves without fuss. Catamarans have no lead in the keel and therefore rise easily when waves approach. However, Lyn was still terrified because the route that is followed is a channel between shallower waters where breaking waves are everywhere, an awesome sight. I was a bit dissappointed given all the hype we'd been hearing for the past week, I thought that we could have been pooped at least once (pooped = wave breaks and fills cockpit).
Last night we stayed behind Fraser Island, anchoring along the shore, and the weather which had been cyclonic the week before was so calm the stars were reflecting off the mirror-like water, a wonderful scene.
Today we motored up the Sandy Straits , the water seperating Fraser and Qld coast. This is the third day we've had to use the engines with no wind, we are really pining for some normal wind for a change. We've had to come in to re-fuel. The photo was taken at the end of the day just after I phoned a friend in Sydney who described the miserable weather down there, sounded awful. Tomorrow we head to Bundaberg, and then to Lady Musgrave Island which we are really looking forward to.
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31/05/08, Mooloolabah
This photo taken at Inskip Point looking towards the Wide Bay Bar - beyond the spume there are 5 metre waves breaking which unfortunately the camera didn't pick up.
We have been in Mooloolaba for 5 days, battling the symptoms of cabin fever, with no let up in the wind/rain/howling noise. Lyn is desperate to find more interesting people to talk to as I enthusiastically suggest 'but-this-forced-relaxation-is-good-for-you' idea. At least we both enjoy reading, and we have plenty of books on board.
Last Thursday we awoke at 5:00 am ready to sail north through the Wide Bay Bar, about 9 hours away. Peter and I immediately surfed all the usual Internet weather channels -bom.com.au, seabreeze.com.au, buoyweather.com - and made the executive decision to stay put - an eastern coast low was developing (i.e. bad).
For readers unfamiliar with the Wide Bay Bar, it is the shallow water between southern tip of Fraser Island and the Qld coast. It has legendary status amongst yachties and fisherman, many boats overturn by rogue waves and lives have been lost. The problem it seems (it consumes the conversations of all storm-waiting yachties in Mooloolabah), is that there are always breaking waves, but worse, to cross the bar you must make two turns, one 90 degrees, in the middle of the bar crossing because this follows the deepest part of the channel, and of course a 90 degree turn means the waves you were previously travelling with, now come at you on a broadside - resulting in unpleasantness. The crossing itself is much longer than other bars, and has the nickname 'the mad mile'.
Had we made the decision to go last thursday, we would have experienced winds up to 100km/h as the wind became severe during the day (and still is), and having reached the bar and not been able to enter, would have had to continue sailing on the outside of Fraser Island through the night and into even higher seas, as the waves grew because of the winds. One website estimated wave heights to hit 21 feet! This wind is still with us today (Sunday) so I am sure that such a passage might have dented Lyn's enthusiasm for offshore sailing.
So being holed up in Mooloolaba isn't so bad. Peter and Jane have gone back to the Southern Highlands. We have met plenty of people in the boats around us who like us are waiting for the weather to turn, including Dutch John, owner of a new Lagoon 42, Austrian John (its easy here as most people are called John), Peter and Paula who sail 'Valhalla' out of our home club, Cronulla, Mike, another Seawind owner. We hired a car for 2 days and travelled to Inskip Point, where we took photos of the Bar - see above, and to Hervey Bay, then to Eumundie markets, then to Noosa where we drank capuccinos conspicuously at Aroma's - waiting to be seen, but no one saw us.
The latest on the weather is that the wind is going to ease tomorrow, but the waves will be up for a few days on - we might get away mid week.
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with you . keep safe , us !
