Schedules and Cruising Don’t Mix
16 January 2019 | Rivergate Marina, Brisbane River, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
It started when we made the decision to ship SV FullCircle back to the west coast (Ensenada, Mexico) on the DYT float-on and float-off yacht transport (a story for another time). At that point we were committed to a schedule - we had to be in Brisbane to meet the loading window. We also had another schedule constraint - we had to spend the Holidays with the family. And so our schedule began defining our situation (the tail wagging the dog so to speak) - we left the boat in Bundaberg, returned to Austin for the Holidays, and then flew back to Australia where we started looking for a weather window to sail down to Brisbane to meet the yacht transport.
We arrived in Bundaberg Sunday afternoon, where the weather was being influence by a tropical cyclone to the north and a ridge coming up from the Tasman Sea to the south. Winds were reported at 40kts offshore with 3-5m seas. But there was some hope. A 2-3 day window looked promising as the winds and sea-state subsided prior to a southerly coming through with no end in sight, that could make our trip south a mess. We began preparing the boat and were prepared to leave Tuesday evening for our overnight sail to Fraser Island, with the plan to arrive at the Great Sandy Straits at daybreak and low tide. We would then ride the incoming tide to the mid-point and high tide, where we would ride the out-going tide to Pelican Bay to anchor for the night. The next morning we would cross the Wide Bay Bar (assuming the swell had subsided enough to allow boats to cross the bar!) and have a slow overnight sail to Brisbane, arriving at the Brisbane Bar at daybreak. The southerly was forecast to come through later that afternoon. It wouldn’t take much to derail this plan and leave us high and dry. But it was all we had.
To make this work, we needed to leave Bundaberg Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, the winds were still blowing 15-20kts and the sea-state in the shallow Herve Bay was a washing machine. Our first two hours were going to be motoring out the Burnett River and the sea-channel into the bay straight into the wind. It wouldn’t have been fun in the daylight and it certainly wasn’t fun at night! After about 30-45 minutes of motoring the genset overheated and shut down. We turned around and sailed down wind (very quickly I might add) back to the Marina. After getting the boat back onto the dock, I found that the culprit was kelp that had been sucked into the raw water strainer and was restricting water flow. As a precaution, I changed out the impeller and we got underway (Cindy almost left without me, but I managed to talk her back and got on the boat - it was still blowing 15-20kts!). We were now down two hours on our magic schedule!
Once we got into the Great Sandy Strait the sea-state totally changed and things were wonderful. While we missed the optimum timing (schedule) of the tidal currents, we didn’t do too bad and arrived at Pelican Bay around 5PM. The motor-sail through the Great Sandy Straits was fabulous and I only wish we had the time to anchor and explore Fraser Island. Pelican Bay was a great anchorage as well. We shared the anchorage with two other boats that were also waiting to cross Wide Bay Bar. I contacted the Tin Can Bay Coast Guard to check on the Bar conditions and was told that one charter fishing boat had gone out that morning and reported that it was passable, but not at all comfortable. The Coast Guard had gone out on a training mission the day before and turned around half-way out the first (of two) legs because every one on-board was sea-sick! However, they said the forecast was for improved conditions the next morning.
The next morning several fishing charters went through the Bar early and reported that it was not bad. We set out after logging in with the Coast Guard and making sure that all loose items were stowed, not knowing how rough it might actually be. The optimum time to cross the Bar is two hours prior to high tide. We timed our departure to make this “schedule”. About 5 minutes prior to arriving at the first of three reference points (provided by the Coast Guard) to transit the Bar, the genset once again shut down due to overheating. I turned the boat around and we notified the Coast Guard that we were heading back to Pelican Bay to assess the problem. The Coast Guard informed us that it wasn’t uncommon for raw water pumps to fail due to the high sand content in the disturbed water around the bar - now they tell me these things! While it wasn’t sand, once again, we found that the raw water strainer was partially plugged by a kelp bulb. After taking care of this and making sure that everything else was ok, we turned around again and notified the Coast Guard that we were ok and would be taking another run at it. We lost about an hour against the optimum “schedule”, but I felt that it was still worth trying after listening to the other boats report that conditions were not bad after you got past “the Mad Mile” to reference point two. This time we managed to avoid any kelp and made it across the Bar with no issues. I did manage to take away several burns on my hands and arms from servicing a hot genset as a reminder of our Wide Bay Bar crossing!
Once we cleared the Bar, it became evident that the Southerly was approaching. The easterly winds we had hoped to be able to sail in were shifting more to the ESE and SE. We took an initial tack out to sea to clear Double Island Point, before assuming our long port tack to Brisbane. Unfortunately we quickly found ourselves going too fast, so we started slowing down by reefing - initial to the first reef, and then to the second reef and finally partially furling the jib, to time our arrival into Moreton Bay and the Brisbane Bar. The good news was that we had clear skies and a beautiful Southern Hemisphere of stars to look at all night long. As we approached Moreton Bay the commercial shipping traffic increased significantly. I was glad we hadn’t tried to do this at night, as we altered course multiple times to avoid areas of breaking seas, and found ourselves on the edge of the channel to give way to the commercial traffic (aka the Big Boat right-of-way Rule).
We passed Fisherman’s Island (commercial wharfs) where we will be loading onto the yacht transport and proceeded up the Brisbane River to the Rivergate Marina. While the incoming tide made for a quick trip up the river, it also made for tough docking getting into our assigned birth. We managed to get in with no drama and both the Dockhand and Marina Dockmaster commented on how good of a job we did bringing the boat to the dock in those challenging conditions.
Yes, we managed to make the schedule, and we now only have a 6nm sail back down the river to load onto the Transport, which is currently scheduled to take place about a week from our arrival into Brisbane. Yes, the southerly did come through as forecast later that afternoon, so we managed to make the one magic weather window we had available to us (at the time) - even with a few obstacles that we had to overcome. With a little luck I’ll be able to relax now!