An interlude on a monohull

 Whilst I may have spent my youth sailing dinghies, and Dad did have a 22 foot yacht when we were kids, I have never actually sailed on a monohull offshore, other than the  South Passage (a 30m  twin masted gaff rigged schooner of 198 gross tons  ) which I occasionally was skipper on, in years past. Comparing the South Passage to my next “gig”  a Catalina 32, is like comparing chalk and cheese.

 Would I actually succumb to seasickness? I honestly didn’t have a clue.

 The window of opportunity to relocate from Urangan Marina to Gladstone would help with future passages that the skipper had  planned.

 The weather forecast  post the low, was looking a bit more ‘usual’ for July, West to SW 15 offshore.

 Well we weren’t really “offshore” so of course it would probably only be about 15 kts wouldn’t it, plus of course that old ‘could be up to 40% stronger in gusts’ rider placed on all predictions these days ? Great  wind angle for the run.

 We left Urangan just after sunrise and I was quite pleased I had had the foresight to pick up my beanie and wet/cold weather jacket just in case the mornings were cool.

 We hadn’t actually progressed more than about 5miles when slightly more than early morning 10-15kts was evident .

So time to reef the main, which conveniently as we were in hand steering, meant not me , as not being at all familiar with the ‘how to ‘ and being on the wheel precluded me.

 Reef in place to the satisfaction of the skipper and steering much easier , we then noticed an issue with the jib. A small parting of the sailcloth between the sun protective leech strip and the sail. So that was furled and we continued quite nicely with just the mainsail. A spare smaller jib was located on board and we decided to wait until the wind eased off before removing the old one and bending on the new.

Suffice to say, it never got changed until we made the marina in Bundaberg.

 Have I mentioned that it was cool. Nope ,well maybe, but  that is because it wasn’t actually cool, it was downright cold.

All day the beanie , long pants , long johns as well, which I recall were “pffted” when I mentioned I had them with me, layers of tops as well and it was still cold.

The only angle I usually refer to is wind angle 
not  boat angle 

The wind was  coming from over the port side and when steering the only escape was to ‘sit down low and go, go, go” .One handed steering , so the other one could stay firmly in pocket, except when required for balance or devouring the particularly yummy and sustaining chocolate biscuits and fruit cake, which had been prepared by the previous crew who had had to disembark before they had planned too. My luck was in as they had left the goodies on board. 

Note skipper's blue uggies! 

Now here it became evident an advantage of sailing on an angle - which as a cat sailor I have relegated to the far recesses of my mind, was that a modicum of protection from the icy wind could be achieved by hunkering down on starboard side of the wheel.

 As the day progressed and it was a lovely day , apart from the excessive wind , the skipper decided ,possibly influenced by my moaning that I doubted I could keep up tricks on the wheel overnight, as we were hand steering and there were only two of us, to duck into Bundaberg overnight.

 Great idea from where I was sitting, freezing ! The river is a nice enough place to stop overnight , we have on several occasions stopped there on K’Gari.

Then a message came from friends of the skipper already in the marina, that due to the recent deluge ( from that low pressure system) that the river was full of debris , logs etc, so even better than spending the night at anchor, a berth at the marina was found to be available!

 Goodness me , the fresh outflow ,completely negated the so called flood which should have assisted us into the port. It reduced us to about 1.8kts as we motored up the channel. Departing would be a breeze in the morning !  

 So berthed for the night, we changed the jib, during that almost daily 5-10 minute period at dusk, when the wind is most likely to die away. Then  I could actually reflect that I hadn’t felt even a whiff of mal-de -mer and that the boat sails beautifully, although it would be a handful as a solo sailor boat, but that could be rectified in the future if necessary.

 Next morning we departed making a lovely 7 knots out of the channel- no wonder we had been reduced to 1.8 knots on arrival!

The wind had in fact decreased but was still at an excellent angle for a course to Gladstone.

The miles ticked away . No whales, not a single sighting, and its supposed to be whale season! Still jacket and beanie conditions though.

The only place to ’comfortably’ stop enroute to Gladstone from Bundy is Pancake Creek . In all honesty I prefer not to, as it’s always crowded with multiple boats all trying to avoid the same weather conditions.

In the current circumstances  it was going to be much more difficult than on K’Gari .I don’t have   major draft or engine speed  considerations, whereas  on the yacht I was currently aboard , we had both. A draft of 1.9m and the passage in/out could not be made on suitably assisting tides. Simple solution was to just sail on to Gladstone. The tide would turn at 0200 in the morning and we would be able to carry the flood in to the marina.

Positive heat wave -not!
Wind decreased so time to shed a few layers

So that’s what we did - just continued past the parking lot that was Pancake Creek. Twenty six  mast anchor lights evident, plus the smaller half cabin cruisers without masts that are often in there I imagine .

 As always, when the eta is looking good, the night got longer when the wind died and the slop set in. Sails stowed and engine started . Again, typically having finally given into the iron sail and stowed everything , eventually the wind reappeared from a useful angle , so we unfurled the jib , but didn’t bother with hoisting the mainsail again.  

 We entered the marina just before first light and I realised I was tired when a place I was so very familiar with looked ‘wrong’ . I couldn’t work out what the ‘building’ in Spinnaker Park was.There is no building ,but the trees are illuminated these days upwards from ground level with coloured lights  and the top of the tree line looked to me like a roof on a building .Luckily the skipper was slightly more alert and pointed out they were in fact illuminated  trees! Tired minds play tricks!

 Having come safely thus far it seemed a shame to potentially get it wrong in the last 10meters so we decided to hold off the actually berthing until daylight so we could better assess the designated berth and best approach.

Somehow I was in the hot seat, first attempt I pulled out of  and the second attempt was fine.

Repositioning voyage satisfactorily concluded.

 It hasn’t changed my mind about why I opted for  a catamaran, but it was a fun interlude, made in good company ,living life on a angle for a couple of days and wondering where the other half of the boat had gone!