A Bolt from the Blue
06 October 2012 | 20 mils North West of Mackay
Susie
When a few days of 30knot winds were predicted, Jim wanted to head for Mackay Marina but I was enjoying myself and the company, and convinced him to stay in the Newrys to weather the blow. It was an interesting although somewhat disconcerting experience. The strong tides and wind gusts competed with each other and the boat was moved erratically, sometimes doing complete circles around the anchor based on which force was dominating. We found ourselves coming uncomfortably close to other boats because we were all affected differently, but nobody touched and we were able to laugh about it in the morning.
By the time the wind abated, 3 weeks had elapsed since we’d provisioned and we were completely out of fresh food. We planned to wait one more day before going into port but others left and when a friend radioed back that conditions were good, we took off. Bad decision, half an hour after leaving the anchorage we discovered the true state of the sea; wind on our nose and big waves coming in different directions. (Lesson #1: Never trust a yachtie who thinks sailing to Lord Howe Island during the cyclone season is fun.)
Then to make matters worse, there was a metallic thud as something hit the deck. We immediately dropped the sails because we had no idea what had happened and headed for Mackay in pounding waves using the motor and a small staysail. Sometime later I found the bolt hiding under a track on the deck (amazing that it hadn’t been washed overboard) but we had no idea what it was or what it did and were not confident about raising the sails. In port, we were able to do a complete inspection of the rigging and found nothing wrong, so where the bolt came from, remains a mystery.