Pos 1715, 27/1/2020. 40 57'S,148 48'E. 22nm E of Edistone light, the NE most point of the island of Tasmania. Bass Strait has a mind of her own. All predictions about the great conditions, and no more than about 7 knots of wind etc were rubbish. No one can control
Bass Strait. I've been racking my brains to think of something positive to say about Bass Strait. Here are a couple of things:- 1. The stretch of water separates Tasmania from mainland Australia. That has helped create Tasmania's uniqueness, flora and fauna and
unusual/different people. 2. At least one beautiful specimen of sperm whale has swum through Bass Strait. A good thing. 3. mmmm....there was a third thing but I can't recall what it was...The last 24 hours conditions were slightly above the forecast 7-8 knots of wind and
the sea state slightly above the forecast maximums by a factor of at least 4-5. Our legs are nearly giving way from the stress of trying to walk through the boat and we have aching thighs. Going to the loo is a major test. Putting pants back on is an even bigger test. The
stance of an angry gorilla, bent legs wide apart and small steps and using long arms to grab a firm hold of anything that might hold your weight is the adopted mode of moving around. If you miss one handhold you are in for a bruising of some part of your body somewhere.
Fortunately we are just about in the lee of land, namely the large island of Tasmania, the NE tip. Already since we've started closing the land the sea state has begun to calm down. Shonandra has handled the s**t and b****y awful conditions well. The westerly swells have
tipped her on her port side far enough over for the port side port lights to be underwater, frequently. The water looks very pretty sliding by the portlight. You could even expect a fish to peer in to take a look at us in here. A reverse people aquarium without the water inside.
Just as well it wasn't the starboard side being tipped under the water as one of those leaks. The only thing broken is the boom vang (a block and line arrangement which attaches from under the boom down to the base of the mast to stop it, the boom rising and falling in
the swells) It is an attempt at keeping the mainsail shape and control excess movement of the boom. The vang is attached by a large stainless steel bracket to the mast base and the weld of the bracket just snapped right off in one of the rolls. That was an impressive gust.
Well, amazingly since I started writing this we are now in the lee of the land and the sea state is suddenly about half the last 24 hrs size and it is regualr, not all over the place. We are still getting the occasional smaller thumper but all is well. The daily evening Tas Maritime
radio sched has just happened so we logged ourselves in as headed for Schouten Passage. We were able to log into one in the middle of the Strait. It always helps that someone knows where you are in case of an emergency.
That's it for today. One more night at sea, one more at anchor to rest somewhere and then we will sail straight to Hobart. We do not have our berth back as John told the occupants we were arriving on Feb 4th, so....where will we berth in Hobart? Probably have to anchor
off the Yacht club. Until tomorrow, the ocean going gorillas.