Our first month cruising
28 May 2011 | Tin Can Bay Marina
Chris
'Isn't cruising going from one palm filled lagoon to another in beautiful sunshine and 15 knots of breeze??' said Fletch, the proprieter of the chandelry at Scarborough Marina as I purchased enough engine spares to last a lifetime. 'Yeah!!' I said, with a nervous laugh.
Well we arrived at Scarborough Marina at 1 am on 25 April 2011, after 2-3 days of frantic provisioning, we were ready to set off!! That is when the 30 knots of South Easter hit with rain and thunder storms, delaying our departure for another 3 days. 'Bugger this!!' I say to myself, 'we've got to get going!!' We choose our day to leave and after working out how to use the bow thruster (we had to get our brokers husband Pier to translate the French instructions) we left Scarborough at about 11:30 into a 25 knot South Easter, heading South East to get to the shipping channel inside of Moreton Island. On the way out the chart plotter is going off of it's nana, beeping and carrying on like an idiot. I manage to silence the alarm, but we lose the chart plotter!!! Bloody boat is too smart for us!!! After bashing to windward for an hour, having the tool drawer in the cabin get thrown from its slides onto the floor, we decide that today was a shake down sail and return to Scarborough!!
After talking to Fletch at the Chandelry, we decide to take the shorter route directly north of Scarborough, through some minor sand bars to Mooloolaba, 15 NM shorter, and no windward stretch. So we set off for Mooloolaba the next day and boy, does Bella peel of the miles!!! She sits on 8-10 knots on a 2 sail reach in 15-20 knots!! We followed the shipping channels up to Coloundra, with a lesson on the AIS system on the way as we passed some behometh freighter in the channel, bounded by reef either side!! We pulled into Mooloolaba for 2 nights, collected Term 2 of Kieran's school material and caught our first mud crab for dinner!!! What a nice spot. Mooloolaba seems to have it all - surfing, sailing, crabbing, fishing, swimming, river, ocean all meeting at the lovely foreshore recreation area that seems to stretch for miles. Only down side is you get into trouble trying to hook a coconut from the marina palms using a boathook. Apparently not advisable!
Watching the forecast we waited for the swell to die down and motor sailed the next 50 NM to Double Island Point on 2/5/11. Kieran's first school lesson and we're on the go. Alan Lucas "Cruising the Coral Coast" describes the anchorage at Double Island Point as '...the most uncomfortable on the coast.' We can agree with that, the swell wraps around the point so that you sit side on to the swell and the boat rolls side to side all night, lucky Kieran threw up all his stomach contents up on the way from Mooloolaba during the school phonics lesson!! The next day looked the best for crossing the bar, as squalls and thunderstorms were predicted for the following night, not the place to be, exposed to the north at Double Island Point.
The advice from Coast Guard Tin Can Bay was to cross the Wide Bay Bar 1 hour before high tide. High tide was at 7:45 the next morning, so we left Double Island Point early, and motored past Rainbow Beach to the Wide Bay Bar. The reports from the Coast Guard was that there was breaking waves between WP 1 and WP 2, listening to the radio traffic on the trip over, we heard about 10 boats going out or coming in over the bar, it sounded lumpy but Ok for the larger boats. Being 45.5 ft, we think we are OK. Spoke with a few as they came out, not really sure about bar crossings but were given the reassurance that we should be fine. Anyway, we are at the perfect time according to the guides & Coast Guard. Just to be sure all seacocks and hatches closed, all have harnesses & lifejackets on and we go for it, a catamaran 'Thor' is leading the charge, we waited for the big set to go through and we start off with the smaller swells coming through, I'm on the helm, Heidi is looking behind calling the waves, Kieran and Drina are in the cockpit facing aft. We are doing 8 knots under motor, up to 13 as we surf down the swells. Heidi is calling the waves like the ocean racing Guru she is, 'next wave in 10, not too steep' 'This ones steeping up a bit!' Then her next call chills me, 'This ones going to break.' She says it calmly, matter of fact, she tells the kids to hold on. I glance behind and I can see the crest rippling above my shoulder. We would be in the perfect place on a surfboard, not a 45 foot yacht. There's no way out. The wave breaks and I see water gush around the cockpit, Heidi leaps forward to comfort the kids, we surf down the white water. Our speed picks up to 15 knots and I know the trough is coming, I feel the bow hit the trough and even though Bella has a narrow bow entry, I feel it dig in and the wave push the stern to port. The boat comes upright, side on to the waves, thinking the next one is coming; I head the bow around and face into the last of the waves. Heidi looks at me and says 'Keep going, we're past the breakers!!' Thankful for her surfing past, I spin the boat and keep heading again for waypoint 2. Just short of waypoint 2, the engine failed!!!
"F....k!!!" I think to myself, without a word spoken, I deployed the staysail, Heidi deployed the main sail at the same time at calling Tin Can Bay Coast Guard. We reach WP 2 and head for WP 3, directly upwind in 5-6 knots of breeze, large swell surround us!!
Coast Guard Tin Can Bay were assisting a boat with broken steering outside the bar, they left this boat and with 15 mins they had us under tow and headed towards the barges between Fraser Isl and Inskip Point where they left is to anchor there while they brought the other boat in. They then towed us up Snapper Creek to Tin Can Bay Marina. I had not wanted to try and start the engine again.
While we waited for the Coast Guard, and during the tow to Tin Can, we completed some school work with Kieran!!
As we pulled into the pen, there were about 5-7 people ready to help us tie up. Before we had even secured the lines, David the Marina Manager had organised a loan car from a mate of his!! Jeez - hope we're not going to be here that long we think?
Clive the local Marine Diesel Mechanic confirmed our suspicions of the motor, it was not in a good shape. Nautilus Insurance were fantastic, their first question when we phoned them was 'Is everyone OK?' We were and an assessor was there the day after next and he gave Clive the go ahead to remove the motor and rebuild it!! What a pain......
We have been here for nearly 4 weeks, most of it waiting for parts from Volvo in Sweden!! Apparently they hardly keep any parts in Australia!! Damn Volvo!!
After the wave, the kids eyes were like saucers, we played down the wave by saying 'Whoa, gnarly ride dude!!, The worst thing that happened was that we got wet!! Right?, Bella had looked after us, we were all safe and sound. Hopefully brushing it off, not dwelling on it and some time in the marina will ease the memory.
We have taken a very Zen attitude to the stay here, Tin Can is the Friendliest place, we have had use of a car for 4 weeks, firstly a 14 seater minibus, now a Fairmont!! We have thought that our enforced stay is to teach us to slow down from our hectic work life to the cruising life, we have worked out how everything works onboard, we have installed the sat phone, the outboard engine has died and been rebuilt too, much safer for where we are heading, and we have a fantastic mechanic going over every part of our engine, very comforting!!!
The parts have now arrived and Clive and his staff are working over the weekend to rebuild the engine so that we can get going - yippee. We have met some extremely nice locals here and some very nice cruising folk heading north (while we wait - but we'll be catching them up soon). We are a lot more chilled out, know the boat better, have a better understanding of the distance Ed school work, but it is getting cold, time to head north. Only a few more days then we're off to the Great Sandy Straits (western shores of Fraser Is) and Lady Musgrave to start our trip into the Great Barrier Reef and beyond....
Not all our time at Tina Can has been boat bound. Thankfully with the use of a vehicle we've had the luxury of visiting surrounding areas of Hervey Bay, Rainbow Beach, passed through Maryborough, Gympie and even hired a 4WD and spent the day at glorious Fraser Island (well worth the visit!).
Kieran is loving being schooled on the boat, while in Tin Can, he has worked on the weekend and earned 5 Free Day passes from school work, one morning we finished all the work by 9:30 am and spent the rest of the day fishing!! Drina knuckles down into her homework at the same time, Heidi taking her through the alphabet one letter at a time. She reduces everyone to smiles when she tells them we are on our way to Mandurah, 'Sailing over the top!!!' The dogs have even adapted to life on board, learning that they can't chew the Harken pulleys, only the dog toys!!
Can't wait for Bella to be ready, learnt our lesson on crossing bars (follow your gut!) and now ready for the next part of our journey to continue.