Peter is sitting outside – chatting to a fellow who came past earlier admiring Argos. He has returned with his phone number so we can call him if we need a ride anywhere. He is one of the many people who have walked past the boat since we arrived here this afternoon, stopped and chatted or taken photos.
Tied up alongside the fisherman’s wharf here, in this picturesque little town, Argos looks quite at home!
Port Fairy, I am delighted to say is gorgeous!
We left Portland very early this morning, around 5am. It wasn’t going to be a long sail, but we left early as we wanted to enter the channel into Port Fairy at the highest day-time tide which would be at 1pm. We added on a few extra hours in case, as usual, the forecast winds didn’t turn up. The channel is dredged regularly we are told, but as a tidal river it is important, with a deeper-draught vessel, to approach it with a good bit of water flowing. The shallowest spot when we came in was 2.2 mts, where we stopped and turned but most of the way it was 4.5 and above so we had plenty beneath us.
As we set off from Portland a line of dark clouds became visible in the skies, but the Barometer remained steady and we trusted that the cold front heading in our general direction would not come near, or if it did, it would bring little to affect us. For this trip we had decided to trial a different weather forecasting program, suggested by some long-time sailors we met at Portland. It would be only a half day sail to Port Fairy, so a good time to test out the information on the web-site. We left knowing that a cold front was coming, but the weather program advised that despite the front we could expect good winds to help us sail in the direction we were heading.
Today has proved to be the one of the first days since we set out from Albany where the wind has behaved as expected and we got to where we were aiming for around the time we expected! Woohoo! So far we like the program!
The line of cloud that appeared as we left Portland grew and for quite a while looked ominous. The Barometer didn’t change at all and we continued on. Rain was visible all around us and once actually fell briefly on us but other than that we were not affected by the front at all.
Weather forecasting is one of the most important things for us when we sail. Usually we look at the Bureau of Meteorology information, checking the synoptic charts, the wind forecast and any local area forecast available. Then we put all the information together and make a decision about when is a good day to sail. After having our weather routing across the Bight arranged by Bob McDavitt, was excellent. Since then we have followed the information from the Bureau of Meteorology and not once had what was forecast actually happen. Sometimes there has been wind in the projected direction for a short while, but often it simply hasn’t followed the forecast at all and we have ended up punching into stronger-than-expected head winds all too often.
It was a pleasure to leave with a North Westerly wind and sail all the way to Port Fairy without the wind dropping out and without a fight!
We plan to stay here, at Port Fairy for a few days. The next potentially good day to continue is not until Saturday or Sunday at this stage. But we feel more than happy to explore and enjoy this picture-postcard town.
The facilities here include a washing machine and dryer that doesn’t have coin slots – it is provided at no additional cost! I will have the opportunity to wash towels and sheets easily! While I love my antique ringer (aka the Mangle!) it will be lovely to have a mechanical friend help with the laundry for a change!
There are a few small maintenance jobs to do on board so Peter will be kept busy with those and then there is Christmas fast approaching so hopefully I will have time to make some treats – a cake and pudding and some fruit mince pies. We had gingerbread all the way from Rivoli Bay where I made a few munchies which was very good sailing fare. It’s lovely to have the time to enjoy creating all sorts of things. That’s one of the benefits of this cruising life! Just one of the many!