September 23, 2011, , Port Weld, WA
1.30am Thursday morning and the alarm pierces through our sleep. Groggily we rise and go through the by-now almost automatic preparations to set sail. The anchor comes up with surprisingly little red mud on it, and then we set about inching our way out of the crowded anchorage in the dark, yours truly on the bow with the torch trying to spot mooring buoys and unlit boats. It helps that we can follow our inbound track on the GPS, and after an anxious 20 minutes or so we're clear and head south for Serrurier Island, on the way to Exmouth.
The promised SE wind never eventuated, instead we were stuck with SW wind on the nose (again), so lots of tacking backwards and forwards. As the afternoon wore on the wind built and the seas built, (again, not forecast) so we reefed the main and furled up some of the genoa. By night-time the seas were short and steep and we crashed and banged our way through them, trying to keep some momentum up and yet not go too fast, using the motor to assist. It was nigh impossible to sleep off-watch because of the uncomfortable motion. Every so often poor Illusion would fall off the back of a wave with a sickening thud as we reached the trough. By now we were getting 30+ kts of wind. As I came up on deck for my watch at 12.30pm we both heard a strange creaking sound from the back deck. "Quick, get the torch!"...."SHIT!!! ...the starboard side davit arm that holds our dinghy up had buckled and the front of the dinghy was trailing in the water, while Winston the wind generator was now almost horizontal, still madly whirring away. I tried to get the boat to heave-to while Bruce lashed the dinghy up out of the water as best he could. Unfortunately my heaving-to efforts weren't very successful (note to self: must practice heaving-to in heavy weather) and we ended up going round in circles for a while until I got the boat to run downwind. There was no way we could continue to bash to windward now, fearing that we would lose the other davit arm, so there was nothing for it but to run back on the course we'd come. We desperately needed to get the dinghy off the davits and on the deck but the nearest anchorage at Port Weld was some 30 NM back down our track. The remainder of the night seemed to last forever, as we anxiously watched the mangled mess at the back of the boat, fearing that each bounce and sway would send it all crashing down into the water. Needless to say, neither of us slept that night and we've never been so glad to see the sunrise. It still took us until midday to creep our way into Port Weld (which isn't a port at all, just a remote but relatively calm anchorage off Weld Island). The relief to get the anchor down was enormous and then we set about the task of getting the dinghy onto the foredeck and tidying up the mess. We attached a spare halyard to the bent davit and winched it up to something approximating its' previous height, using other lines to tension it and the wind generator. And then...... we fell into bed and slept.
| Round Australia 2011 |
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September 21, 2011, , Dampier, WA
They build things big in Dampier. Big ships, big trucks, big blokes in their distinctive yellow Rio Tinto workshirts. And red dust everywhere....
We left Depuch Island at 4.30am (I'm SERIOUSLY over these early starts, but is the only way to cover the miles) and within 10 minutes our engine alarm went off - the engine was over-heating. We both groaned in unison, wondering how many chinamen's graves we'd stepped on. Then Bruce went to investigate while we drifted in the dark. Seems the alternator belt had broken. Luckily we came well equipped with spares (Bella refer to us as their floating Boating Bias store!) and within ½ hour the new belt was on and we were off again with all fingers crossed.
The wind gods finally smiled on us, and for once we had the wind at our back. So we gull-winged our way to Flying Foam passage, which was the shortest way into Dampier harbour. On the way we had a close encounter with a family of 3 whales, who were resting in the water fin-slapping just ahead of us. They obviously weren't in a hurry to move, so we changed course to slide by them and were then treated to a wonderful display of fin-waving and spy-hopping (where they rise vertically out of the water to have a look at you) just metres from the boat. They really do take your breath away, and I had no idea that they bellowed, a bit like a bull. What magnificent creatures they are. Bruce managed to get some good photos at last, which we'll post in our photo gallery.
I tried to take a photo of our chart plotter overlaid with the AIS information on the shipping in Dampier harbour, but unfortunately there was too much reflection. It certainly looked impressive and rather scary - something like 50 targets. So we carefully tiptoed past the sleeping giants, and avoided the moving ones and found ourselves in the small boat anchorage near to Dampier Yacht Club, which contained many not-so-small commercial boats. It was so crowded that we had trouble finding swinging room to anchor, but eventually squeezed in beside another yacht and a rescue boat. There's not a lot in Dampier, but we did manage to do our laundry and re-stock at the small supermarket. The hub of the town is the Mermaid Hotel, which we frequented on more than one occasion (did that have anything to do with the 'skimpy' barmaid fellas???!!). We also re-fuelled the boats - we used more fuel doing the Broome to Dampier leg than we had in 3 weeks from Darwin to Broome! We also met up with the crew of "Sue Sea", a Martin 49' from Fremantle also heading south and had the inevitable weather and routing briefings over a cold beer or two at the yacht club. So the verdict is we're off to tomorrow at 2am to take advantage of a possible SE wind to get us to Exmouth via Serrurier Island. I must be very wicked for there's certainly no rest to be had!
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September 19, 2011, , Depuch Island
Ever mindful of the need to take advantage of any weather window that avoids the strong southerlies, we decided to head off on Friday morning for Port Headland, approximately 270 NM away. There are no suitable anchorages on the way, so we estimated it would take us about 2 ½ days of non-stop sailing. The forecast was for SE wind initially, gradually turning SW and then W, but nothing over 20 kts. Instead, what we got was bugger all wind to start with, and then nothing but SW, which was exactly the direction we were headed. Illusion is a great boat, but she doesn't go well to windward when the wind is light and there's a choppy swell. It's a bit like trying to push a 10-tonne truck through wet cement. Even with the motor on, we were struggling to maintain 4 kts over the ground and the hours dragged on interminably as we tacked backwards and forward, probably covering twice the distance of the rhumb line. I can assure you that eighty mile beach is every bit of eighty miles, and we got to know it intimately as we tacked in and out. "Oh look, there's 80 mile beach".... "and there it is again", and so on, and so on......
Whales are now our constant travelling companions and we watch with awe as they breach, the sound of their body mass hitting the water like a thunder-clap. Thankfully none have breached too close to the boat, but they often swim alongside and then disappear, leaving us to wonder where they are. I've been quite anxious about travelling at night with so many whales around, but as it turned out we had the motor going all the time so I presume that gave them some warning of our presence.
By 2pm on Sunday we were still struggling to round Bedout Island prior to heading down to Port Headland, still some 40 NM away. In addition, the fridge pump had burnt out, so we had to turn the engine off while Bruce tried to fit a new pump (located of course, in the Swedish sauna room aka the engine bay). By now, both Bella and Scarlett had arrived in Port Headland and radioed to say the anchorage was extremely rolly and uncomfortable. The plan had been to spend the night at Port Headland and set off again in the early hours of the morning, bound for Depuch Island. We reckoned by the time we got into Port Headland we'd have about 2 hours sleep before the other boats set off again, so we decided to keep going and have another night at sea, hopefully getting to Depuch Island in the early hours of the morning. For once we might beat Bella into an anchorage! And so we pushed on into the dark, weaving our way through the shipping channels at Port Headland and the multitude of anchored leviathans, working hard to gain every mile against a wind that continued to shift onto our nose no matter what direction we headed. The frustration mounted as daybreak arrived and we were still 20 miles from Depuch Island. And then the radio crackled to life. "Illusion, Illusion, this is Bella" - they were only half an hour behind us!! AARRGG!! We finally made it to Depuch Island at midday today, 10 minutes before Bella and Scarlett, and after 77 hours of our most frustrating passage ever!
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September 15, 2011, , Broome, WA
Most of my days include a little work on watch in the cockpit, that is to say I watch everybody else working, a little relaxation, mostly sleeping and a little exercise which normally occurs on a beach somewhere. If a beach is not available then it's a few laps around the deck checking to see if everything is ship-shape. Sometimes, however, there is a little extra excitement and that was the case just the other day. I had my working day on watch and noticed that everybody else was lolly-gagging around instead of working. It hadn't dawned on me yet that we weren't sailing and were anchored off Cable Beach at Broome after a hard bash down from Cape Leveque. I guess they were entitled to lay around.
As I'm casually collapsed on the cockpit cushions catching up on some long lost sleep I hear dad talking to mum about a new boat, Scarlett, a catamaran that will be coming into the anchorage later, and that there would be 'meet and greet' drinks on the beach and that they also had a dog. Hhhmmmph, another buoyant run around mad dog that poor old grandmother here has to contend with. Don't get me wrong - I don't mind the odd social occasion, a little butt-sniffing, a gentle walk along the beach and total submission by those young whipper-snappers. Oh yes, and all food found is mine, by right of age! One of the highlights of the walk on the beach is the dinghy ride and today was no different. As we motor towards the beach I spot Max and Tinka from Bella and my day brightens. Max and Tinka are Cavoodles which I gather is some form of new test tube breeding and are good fun and I enjoy those first few moments of greeting. Tinka bounds up all smiles then suddenly drops to the ground & rolls over in total acceptance of her lower status. Max, on the other hand has learned it's simpler to avoid me most of the time but occasionally gathers courage to come and pay homage. Oh, the power! In the middle of all this another dinghy approaches and there right on the bow is some cute looking fluffy wuffy. Hang on... I've met this fluffy wuffy before but where? Aaaahhhh, the boardwalk in Cairns - I remember now! Now I know my hearing isn't the best, but I could have sworn he muttered some cheeky remark or two about my general condition. Well, I'll give him general condition - I may not have been able to deal with him in Cairns, but let him get off that dinghy and I'll have him, the fur will fly!
If I'd known the kerfuffle it would have caused I might have rethought the strategy but no, I went in with teeth bared, the best snarl I could muster and aggression beyond my wildest dreams. One minute if was all luvvy duvvy and the next fur and sand were flying, people were shouting and Rhett (the fluffy wuffy) was hightailing it through assorted drinks, nibbles, children and adults with yours truly hot in pursuit. I'm sure it was a wayward sand crab that got in my way otherwise I would have had him, general condition indeed! Suddenly I became aware of lots of yelling and it might have been at me. Being partially deaf has some advantages and I can generally avoid most things for a time but suddenly hands were grabbing me. Mum was trying to explain that this was not my normal mode of operation and that I was not an aggressive dog and dad was dragging me off down the beach to our dinghy where I had to spend the rest of the meet and greet time. Bugger! Never mind - I'm sure there'll be another beach and another opportunity. I'll have him, I will!!
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September 15, 2011, , Broome, WA
We anchored at the northern end of the moorings off Gantheaume Point on Cable Beach, as we'd been advised there was less swell there. It was true, and our stay has been comfortable with minimal swell. However, it makes for a long dinghy ride into the beach. Broome is a very attractive place, and Cable Beach is sensational, but it's a bit of a nightmare for yachties trying to re-provision. For starters, the tidal range is in the order of 8-9 metres, and comes in and out very fast. So this means dragging the dinghy up the beach at least 250 metres at low tide! Even if you come in at high tide, by the time you've completed all your chores, it's another long drag down the beach. And then there's the surge and surf, which at high tide can be quite large. We definitely need more practice in the finer points of landing a dinghy in the surf - on one occasion we got swamped by a breaking wave, and another time I lost my footing getting out of Bella's dinghy and promptly fell on my backside in the surf. So dignified! We were extremely lucky that Heidi's sister Tina and her family were holidaying in Broome, as they generously helped us with transport and laundry, and all the provisioning trips. Without that we would have either had to hire a car or use the local taxis to get into Broome itself, which is about 20 minutes from Cable Beach. The list of boat jobs continues - Bella needed a new outboard motor, and our freezer was gradually defrosting itself. We'd replaced the thermostat in Darwin, but this seemed to be a more complex problem. When I rang the local agent and repairer for Waeco fridges, he said he would look at it if I could get it out of the boat and take it in to him. Yeah, right!!! As he was obviously not keen to come out on site, he eventually talked Bruce through some possibilities to check. It seems the problem lay in the 12v system, and the freezer wasn't getting enough charge to keep working. So Bruce figures out how to re-wire it and we were in business again. I tell you, the man is worth his weight in gold! Unfortunately it now means the freezer is running continuously which is a big drain on our power, but we'll have to cope until we can get someone to have a look at it in Fremantle.
In amongst all the tedious provisioning, re-fuelling, repairing and washing, we did manage to do some fun stuff. We had a sunset camel ride on Cable Beach which was quite an experience, dinner at Zanders overlooking the beach, pearl shopping (just a little one, really!) and sampled the most scrumptious mango beer at Matso's brewery. In fact, it was so good we all bought a case! During our stay at Broome we've been joined by another boat, "Scarlett", a catamaran, who are also circumnavigating Australia. I had briefly met one of their sons, Stephen, when we were in Cairns and walking our respective dogs, but they left before us and have been ahead of us all the way. We must have leap-frogged them somewhere in the Kimberleys! Anyway, it was very nice to meet up with them finally, and we enjoyed drinks on the beach. Unfortunately Widget disgraced herself by taking an instant dislike to their dog, Rhett, and having a serious go at him. I don't think we've ever seen her that aggressive towards another dog, so I have no idea what got into her - maybe senility is setting in?! She was frog-marched down the beach to be tied up in our dinghy, naughty girl., so that peace could be restored. So our rally for one has now grown to a rally for three, as Scarlett will be travelling with us down the WA coast too. I think all three boats are feeling the pressure of having to keep moving, and we're all a bit tired and exhausted so it will be good to be travelling in company for these next challenging windward legs.
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September 11, 2011, , Broome
The change in temperature at Cape Levique was quite remarkable - the sea felt at least 10 degrees colder, and there was a distinct chill in the air. Welcome to the west coast of WA! Yesterday we had our usual early start in order to get to Beagle Bay, 45NM down the coast and a convenient stopping point on the way to Broome. We battled against the current around Cape Levique, but then had a beautiful sail most of the day, doing 7.5 kts. To cap it off, we caught another mackerel on our 'Nicole Kidman' lure (white skinny body with a red head!), and so we enjoyed fresh satay mackerel and rice for lunch, and the remainder went into the freezer, giving us another 4 meals. Beagle Bay is marked on our charts as a pearl lease area and is very large. It took almost an hour to get to the anchorage, so we kept our eyes peeled the whole way for those pesky black buoys, but only saw two at the entrance to the bay.
Today was an even earlier start at 3.30am in order to make Broome before dark. I don't know about you, but in my book it's never a good day when you have to get up at that godforsaken hour. Even more so when it's blowing 20 kts, it's cold, pitch black and you're trying to up anchor and get the mainsail up. In a previous blog I mentioned Bruce's occasional 'Donald Duck' moments. Well, today was my Daisy Duck day. I had trouble keeping the boat into the wind so Bruce could get the sail up. Then there was a vigorous discussion about putting a reef in (to shorten the sail) - I lost that one, so we headed out with a full main up, Bruce reassuring me the wind would ease during the morning. Over the next few hours the wind built, and built. OK, now it really IS time to put the reef in. By this time it was a very uncomfortable ride and we were getting slammed sideways by big waves. During the reefing process the reefing line got an over-ride on the winch (meaning it locked solid). Great. Another wave knocked us sideways and the big bucket that holds all our fishing gear and handlines up-ended itself on the deck. That was the final straw. As I'm clawing my way across the deck retrieving various bits of fishing gear I'm yelling above the wind "That's it! I've had enough of this f@#!! weather and f%##!!ing boat. Who's stupid idea was it to sail around Australia?!!" Ooops...that would be mine. Bruce gently suggested I go below for a nap, which was all well and good until the books started to fly off the bookshelf onto my head. "Sigh". And then of course, as always happens, the wind died off to nothing and we ended up motoring the last 15 miles into Broome, finally dropping anchor off Cable Beach at 7pm. Worse still, we'd run out of alcohol (shock, horror!!!) so I couldn't even console myself with a medicinal red. The day was saved by Heidi & Chris on "Bella", and Heidi's sister Tina who happened to be holidaying in Broome. Tina had organized a BBQ chook, salad and dessert for us, and Chris & Heidi ferried it over in their dinghy, complete with a very fine drop of Cab Merlot. What angels they are!
| Round Australia 2011 |
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