Back to Brisbane – through the narrow and shallow – November 2019
11 November 2019 | Brisbane, Australia
Paul Dickinson
We had arrived in the Gold Coast early morning of Wednesday 30th October. Having had a good night’s (well what was left of it) sleep we were up fairly early. Paul had some work to continue with his old company. The weather was kind with a little bit of cloud to cut back the heat of the sun. Helen had a bit of a virus and so spent the day chilling out watching the goings on in the anchorage. As usual there was plenty to see with lots of craft coming and going, and people enjoying the beach. The day ended with a barbeque, cooking with a cool wine watching the world go by in a pleasant environment is, well, pleasant.
Thursday 31st October was a bit like Ground Hog day as we repeated Wednesday; Paul had a little work to finish off, and Helen still had a bit of a virus. We even completed the day with a barbeque. Well, it was very pleasant.
We knew that the inland waterway up to the south end of Moreton Bay is narrow and shallow. Coming down at the end of September we had been caught at mid tide near Jacob’s Well and had even touched the bottom. So this time we were determined to go with the tide. Fortunately, on Friday 1st November high tide at the Gold Coast was forecast as 1.56m at 1113, with Brisbane Bar 2.33m at 1224. This suited us as the narrowest, shallowest part was some 10 nm or so from the anchorage.
So, Friday, 0845 we weighed anchor and set off. It was cloudy with the many bushfires in the region further restricting visibility with a persistent smoke haze. There was a hot, gusty wind blowing from the East to North East; the wind was varying both in strength and direction. Given we would be in restricted waters we elected to motor with the Main on the first reef.
We made good progress up the Broadway. The water was wide, especially as the high tide covered all the mud flats and sand shoals; however, we still had to keep to the well-marked channel. At the top of the Broadway we reached the junction. Narrow and shallow, we wound our way around the marks. It was pretty much high tide, and had plenty of water under the keel. An interesting moment was actually at the sharp turn to port around a cardinal mark (post). We had been watching a large tourist cruise boat following us up the Broadway. She had been keeping some 200 metres or so behind us, so no problems. At the junction she decided to overtake. It was a bit of a shock to Paul, who was concentrating on the marks ahead to look to port to suddenly see the cruise boat passing, complete with tourists waving! Still we slowed down, and let him pass. Realising he probably drew about the same as us we then followed as closely as we could in his wake.
We passed the shoal area with a minimum 0.9m of clear water (to our relief) and pushed on past the small settlements of Jacobs Well and Steiglitz into the hinterlands. The high tide ensured we had plenty of water under the keel and, with a clearly marked channel, there were no problems. The only issue was that we were pushing against the tide from Jacobs Well onwards. This was at least one knot, and at times two knots, so really noticeable. However, the gusty beam wind allowed the Main to develop some drive, and the rest … well that is what the iron topsail (aka engine) is for .. more revs!
We exited the waterway via the ‘slalom’, a narrow winding channel between mud banks. Fortunately this is used by the ferries and so very obvious with marker posts almost every 50m. Out of that and we could get a sailing angle on the wind; Yankee out and tight to the wind we were motor sailing; the engine revs dropping nicely as we caught the wind.
We passed Cockiemudio Island and were able to enter the open, deeper waters of Moreton Bay. Even better, we could get the wind beam on. It was now early afternoon and the usual sea breeze had steadied the easterly wind to a nice 15 to 20 knots. So the last 15 nm or so took a couple of hours or so as a well-balanced Tai Mo Shan with (now) full sail easily made 6 ½ to 7 ½ knots. This was sailing at its best!
We had provisionally booked a berth at the East Coast Marina. Unfortunately our target long term berth was not available, but the marina did have one for us on the end of one of the piers. We dropped sails outside the marina and motored in. A tight turn between the end of the pier and the rock wall of the Moreton Bay Sailing Club section saw us nicely lined up on the end of the pier and at 1640 we were soon secure.
Pictures clockwise from top left. Gold coast (hotels by the sand), Pelicans on a sand bank, the Broadwater (wide with mangroves), shoal sign (yes, they mean it!), remote backwater (wide, shallow, with mangroves), Marine Rescue Centre at Jacobs Well.