Coming home...
24 November 2013 | Camden Haven - Pittwater
Stormy
We had two full day journeys ahead of us to get back home, 10 days to do it in and weather patterns around us that demanded respect and consideration...
We woke early on Thursday to a glorious light, calm and sunny morning at Camden Haven. It was low tide, we had about 0.3 of a metre of water below our keel and needed to wait for a rising tide to cross the bar and continue south for a 10 hour journey to Port Stephens. So it was an easy slow morning - pleasant but painful - we wanted to get going as winds were forecast to pick up in the afternoon and set in tomorrow. About 8am we untied and slowly made our way down across the shallow spots in the Camden Haven river to the bar – while there were rollers, they thankfully weren’t breaking in the channel and it was relatively OK heading out to sea.
‘James’ the autopilot did the work and we settled in reading, fishing line out, enjoying the sunshine (we haven’t had it for over a week!) and watching the various dolphins that came by to say hi. Before long the wind picked up from the North, we unfurled the sails, shut down the motor and had one of the best sails of the trip. It was late afternoon down past Broughton Island when the wind started to strengthen and white caps started to fill the ocean – mmm maybe the stronger forecast winds are coming now- I furled the jib – a good call as it started to push 25 knots plus. We also learnt a strong wind warning had now been issued! The positive thing was that we were now approaching Port Stephens fast, under 2 hours away. The downside –we were close but not yet there, it was getting very dark early with black clouds filling the sky, the seas were rising with the wind. It really hit us in the final few miles of ocean near Port Stephens. At one point I saw 35 knot winds (and more...) on the dial and I still had the full mainsail up – I couldn’t look at the dials - I had to totally focus on keeping the boat in a straight line and on course as we battled the seas and the gusts. I knew we could get shelter around the corner of the harbour entry which was close – we just needed to get there in one piece and altogether. As soon as we hit the shelter patch Leanne dropped the mainsail and we motored across Nelson Bay to The Anchorage Marina at Corlette Point. It was now pitch black dark, the wind howling as we manoeuvred through the narrow marina entry, found our pen and tied up around 8.30 pm – phew –what a finish to the day.
The next day was miserable as forecast – cold, very windy and wet – good to be safe in a marina pen, and we spent a quiet day on the boat and finished with a nice meal at Merretts Restaurant at the marina Resort.
With only one last leg to go, a 11-12 hour trip to Broken Bay to get home, we saw another weather window the next day (Saturday) - or we would have to wait until Thursday at the earliest. Another option was to leave the boat at Port Stephens, get a bus back to Sydney and make arrangements another time to bring ‘Echo Beach’ home. The reality hit - time was running out and our 8 month adventure was almost over! We made the call to go in the morning if the weather forecast was still OK.
So awake early again around 4.30am - checked the weather – good northerlies risk of the occasional thunderstorm along the NSW East Coast – let’s go – and by 6.00am we were steaming out of Port Stephens into the open ocean with a light northerly breeze blowing. We had quite a pleasant sail – the only problem was that ‘James’ our autopilot decided to go AWOL – he simply refused to steer the boat to the course or in a straight line. After nearly 4,000 nautical miles and now 70 miles from home he had ‘auto pilot alzheimers’! Leaving me with no choice but to get prepared to stand at the wheel for the full day trip to Sydney – I suppose good exercise!
Well all was OK until the first lightening appeared in the distance and a thunderstorm blackened the skies. If there is a time when you need the autopilot it is in a thunderstorm! You simply don’t want to be the ‘nut at the wheel’ in lightning and here I was, abandoned by ‘James’ as the heavens opened, the lightning crackled, thunder boomed and our visibility reduced to a few dozen metres. We were now also entering the Newcastle Harbour shipping area so it was doubly important to be at the Nav Screen and watch the AIS for any ships moving about or heading our way. I just hung on and watched in my wet weather gear.
The storm passed – and we set about drying out and I kept trying to restore ‘James’. After many random turns and twists I finally got him to hold us on a straight course – good because another storm was approaching. This time I would let ’James’ steer us through the storm and I would use the Raymarine Remote App on my Ipad to remotely monitor the Nav Screen and AIS from downstairs out of the line of lightning strikes and rain. This worked for about 5 minutes - then astonishingly it simply disconnected as the second storm hit and refused to reconnect!
This storm was more ferocious and there was no choice but to go back out to the helm again every now and then – at least the auto pilot was working enough to get us through as the wind and seas increased dramatically and we dumped the sails until the storm passed. I had now decided Murphy was always present and had lost faith in ‘electronics’ – the flipside is I was very happy not to be a cinder welded by lighting to the steering wheel!! With tenderness and a degree of restored patience (...), I coaxed James into a little more operating power - he is almost there but still not quite himself - and despite many attempts, still cannot get the remote raymarine app to connect!
There was now another massive thunderstorm building behind us however it looked like we may be South enough to miss its wrath – and we were. We started to hit patches of sunshine, and then experienced a full on, sunny afternoon emerging as we got about 2 hours from home. The breeze was perfect, the sun was out and I relieved ‘James’ of his duties and proudly sailed ‘Echo Beach’ into Broken Bay and down Pittwater as Leanne started preparing for that one last tie up of the trip – back in our home berth at RPAYC.
‘Echo Beach’ was in the pen by 5.30pm on Saturday and it was the sunniest, warmest and calmest sunset that we had seen since Queensland! We popped the cork on a chilled bottle of Bollinger and toasted to ourselves, to a job well done and to a great adventure– two people and one boat back safely after a trip of a lifetime.
We have visited some great places, explored wonderful beaches and bays, met lovely people and experienced a bit of land time over the 8 months – so we will share a ‘best of’ these shortly. For now we will rest up and get used to adapting to another life!