Landfall in Australia !!
26 November 2014
Nov. 25 - Another fantastic night's sail, swooshy sparkies gurgling by the hull. It's completely exciting and peaceful at the same time, and completely mesmerizing. We have picked up the East Australia Current and are flying along at a terrific rate on fairly flat seas.
One White Tree arrived in Coffs and checked in today. They report that they had a rollicking ride on their last night at sea.
Sonsie is not far behind!
Lovely swells are swooshing us toward Australia. We have an exciting sail in NNW winds 25-34 knots in sharp seas. At local 16:15 the wind dies down to a paltry 12 knots. To reduce roll and to arrive in daylight hours while Customs is open, we opt to use the iron sail.
The seas flatten over the course of the evening in the light winds.
Nov. 26 - At midnight the wind suddenly shifts to SE and increases. The main, third-reefed, has been up all along. We add the staysail but keep the engine on low to keep up speed and stay on course.
By 02:30 the wind increasez sufficiently to add half the genoa. Off goes the engine and we fly at almost 9 knots over the ground, thanks to the current!
There is poor visibility all night long, necessitating IFR operations - radar, AIS, VHF! We set our AIS alarm to ring out whenever a ship's closest point of approach (CPA) is 5NM. After a good many alarms, we adjust it to 2NM. The nearer we get to Coffs the closer we are to all the action in the shipping channel. Ships are regularly transiting both north and southbound. By 06:00 we turn it off altogether.
The quarter berth smells funny, like hot oil. Upon inspection we find the start battery swelling up and threatening to look even uglier. Jim isolates it immediately.
We hear on VHF another sailboat, Carbon Neutral, en route to Coffs but due in after us. The sailor has a Quebecois accent!
09:00 Foresails in and engine on. Heavy following seas smacked up our stern and Sonsie doesn't turn quite right. We immediately do a wheel/rudder position check and things seem ok.
10:00 Weather clearing. Land Ho! Australia!
These last few hours we must motor directly into wind. What a bore! Isabel makes yummy muffins with the last of the eggs.
12:00 Enter the beautiful harbour, with waves crashing on Muttonbird Island to starboard and the colourful tip of the breakwater to port. One White Tree is anchored in the outer harbour.
12:30 We turn to starboard, enter the inner harbour and pull up to the Customs dock for the official entry procedure. The Australian authorities leave our maple syrup alone, but confiscate our dried fruits, butter, milk powder and some other food items. They're very thorough, friendly and enjoy a few muffins with us.
By 1430 we are cleared and at a marina berth. It was a matter of a few minutes and a few turns to get to our slip. During one of those turns Jim again felt a resistance in the steering.
The instant Sonsie was tied up, Jim flung open the lazarette, pulled everything out and dove down below the wheel. What he discovered was that the steering quadrant had fallen down but fortunately was still engaged with the shaft due to the keyway. Unfortunately the thing that had prevented it from falling further was the fuel tank which was now damaged - gouged, in fact.
We had been very, very lucky. Had the steering jammed or failed at the harbour entrance Sonsie would have ended up on the rocks in breaking seas. We would have been wrecked! It was so disheartening to discover this major steering problem after having being laid up for repairs for so many months.
Upon further investigation, it turned out that the new rudder shaft was 0.004" (the thickness of a human hair) smaller in diameter than original. This happens to be the clamping force required between the two halves of the steering quadrant. In other words, the quadrant appeared attached and was tight but was not secure. We will not be going any further until we fix it!
But first, showers and a walk and meal ashore!! Australia at last!