L'Eau Commotion Westabout

An (other) attempt to sail non stop Westabout around the world

Vessel Name: L'Eau Commotion
Vessel Make/Model: Northshore 38
Hailing Port: Brisbane Australia
Crew: Bill Hatfield
25 February 2020 | Scarborough Marina, Brisbane
21 February 2020
21 February 2020 | 59 Miles To Go
20 February 2020 | 114 Miles East Of Australia
19 February 2020 | 220 Miles East Of Gold Coast Seaway
19 February 2020 | 262 Miles To Gold Coast Seaway
18 February 2020 | 304 Miles East Of Gold Coast Seaway
18 February 2020 | 328 Miles To Go
17 February 2020 | 423 Miles To Go
17 February 2020 | 423 Miles To Go
16 February 2020 | 505 Miles East Of The Gold Coast
15 February 2020 | 617 Miles To Go
14 February 2020 | 755 Miles To Go
13 February 2020 | 888 Miles To The Gold Coast
12 February 2020 | 1032 Miles To The Gold Coast
11 February 2020 | 580 Miles North Of The Waikato
11 February 2020 | 1167 Miles To Home
10 February 2020 | 1300 Miles To Home
10 February 2020 | 1309 Miles To The Gold Coast
09 February 2020 | 1460 Miles To The Gold Coast Seaway
Recent Blog Posts
25 February 2020 | Scarborough Marina, Brisbane

Thank You

D Day Plus 4 7am Wednesday 26th February 2020

21 February 2020

A Definite Maybe ETA

Day 259 6am Saturday 22nd February 2020 (UTC +10 )

21 February 2020 | 59 Miles To Go

All Good

Day 258 6pm Friday 21st February 2020 ( UTC +10 )

20 February 2020 | 114 Miles East Of Australia

ETA Looking Likely

Day 258 6am Friday 21st February 2020

19 February 2020 | 220 Miles East Of Gold Coast Seaway

Amended ETA

Day 257 6am Thursday 20th February 2020

19 February 2020 | 262 Miles To Gold Coast Seaway

Amended ETA

Day 256 10:30pm Wednesday 19th February 2020 ( UTC+10 )

Surfs Up

05 December 2016 | Kettering Tasmania
Its still Monday night Brisbane time so after my much missed afternoon nap here in Kettering Marina I'll relate my latest goings on. On Sunday morning got the yacht to sort of self steer into a veering light North Easter whilst consulting the weather oracles for my run into Tasmania. All sources said to expect gale force winds from the North West backing to West arriving about Midnight Sunday. Perhaps a little complacent over the accuracy and timing through PredictWind my gentle sail with full main and staysail suddenly got rattled around 10 pm but I did do a reasonable job of first reef, then second reef in the main and then straight away what I then thought was an over cautious full stowing and lashing of the sail to the boom. Anyhow with the quite fresh North Wester was soon humming along East at around 5 knots but still thinking I was being a Nervous Nelly ( Alt PC Nervous Neddy ) With the many island groups to be accounted for on the plotter I settled in for what I knew would be a long caffeine free night at the helm. The wind increased and the light showers became heavy violent cold beating rain in the pitch black moonless night as I mostly coordinated the violently swinging and tilting compass with the brightly lit course header on the chart plotter. And blew it truly did. I didn't have access to time but I know I passed Maatsuyker automatically recording weather station at around 3am and made a note to check the figures on the net from BOM Australia. I did this this evening and though the station is situated on a high island and thus indicated winds are higher than at sea level the figures are still pretty impressive - 52 knots average gusting 61 knots! Peering intently at the pitch black eventually yielded the hoped for differentiation line between sea and the sky - dawn was finally coming and eventually saw the seething mass which was the sea. A perilous but necessary heave to plus a caffeine and sugar hit had me on a new high. With the new found horizon I was able to stand behind the wheel and let the fun begin. The seas were very short and high and as is usually the case you get quite a surge forward and I concentrated on getting the seas dead astern and the boat stable with neutral helm. With only the smallish staysail the yacht was a little under sailed for this malarkey but with gusts at around 45 knots estimated we we're off. Many good rides if a bit skew whiff until one was cracked " to the beach". Rising steadily through to 16 knots and lasting forever (i.e till the wave gave up its energy) all in complete harmony it was true bliss. Mind you there were other concerns as well with violent breaking waves indicating unknown submerged rocks? And then suddenly it ended. As I rounded South East Cape the wind and seas disappeared and there were cray boats having breakfast as their pots soaked so I thought I'd have mine too. Instead of the planned nap in one of the many protected anchorages I motor sailed up this truly beautiful D'Entrecasteau Channel with its many little settlements and cottages along the bank surrounded by achingly green lawns and thriving massive green trees. So here I am in Kettering Marina in what has to be one of the earths truly great places for weekend and vacationing yachties. How was your Sunday night?
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L'Eau Commotion's Photos - Main
1 Photo
Created 23 July 2017
1 Photo
Created 23 July 2017
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Created 22 July 2017
Northshore 38
1 Photo
Created 14 September 2016
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Created 14 September 2016