Winter - head North is the theory.

This winter ,which I personally found one of the coldest and dreariest I could remember since 2005, there was a vague plan , with no actual departure date or destination, to do that which should be done in a Queensland winter, head north.

 With the haulout done and finished it was simply a matter of deciding when .

Watching the stream of traffic heading north it was fairly clear that others either had a plan or perhaps a timetable to keep.

 With a few things to do at home, whilst still keeping an eye on the weather patterns, I just needed to decide upon a departure date.

 The weather to my mind just wasn’t playing nicely and lets face it, a fire at home is a nicer prospect than wet’n’windy. We just kept putting it back and back.

 Almost settled on a departure date in mid July, the tide was right, the wind was right but the synoptic chart wasn’t looking as settled as it should and that fire was making things at home very comfortable.

 We didn’t go. A friend did and within the 24 hours of their departure, a rather uncharacteristic for Queensland winter waters, low pressure had formed to our north.

 That fire was lovely !

 For five days there would have been no progress north had we gone , just days of hiding from the low pressure.

 Good call, and it was looking good for the end of the month, so the plan was firming up.

 For reasons beyond my friend’s control, she found her self  ‘home alone’ and not at her planned destination.

 A look at the weather patterns and tides and I concluded I could assist if required and it would only delay our own departure by a couple of days at most.

 What was I thinking……..it’s a mono!

Click click, sunset pic

 Everything went according to plan for the haul out , including that small additional job of replacing the halyard , which I’m still mind boggled about, when I think of  the way the eye had been made originally. It may well be a spectra halyard as specified but a tuck and whipping, really ?

 The high light of the return run was a rather stunning sun set shot taken by my trusty crew, Peter ,just after we anchored having cleared the Coomera River after our 1500 splash back into the water.

We anchored for the evening to catch the tide to our advantage for the rest of the run northwards.

He took the shot and I jokingly said you should send that to the ABC weather to see if they use it. I  dug around on line to find the address to send it to and off it went.  

                                                    https://youtu.be/ZgVDgQhaVyI

 Post broadcast - it occurred to me  that there had obviously been a mutiny ( of which only the ABC was aware ) as 'ownership' of the vessel had apparently transferred!

We once again anchored overnight  in the bay inside Double Island Point awaiting the correct tidal conditions over the Wide Bay Bar and before we crossed the bar we did poke our way into the lagoon to have a look and see what depth there was in there. As there were only 12 vessels there at the time it seemed like an ideal opportunity as we had time to kill. It certainly seems quite pleasant in there although it always looks too crowded for my liking. 

Haul out time again

 So to Boat Works

 The usual suspects head the list of works to be done , antifoul , prop speed , cut n polish ,saildrive oil change , anode change. Then on the additional list a few items ,changing out the pipework on the port toilet discharge line after the teeny issue last year, getting a hull and rigging survey for insurance purposes. Investigating how difficult or easy it might be to change the tv which has developed an ever widening band of vertical lines, rather annoying as naturally its dead centre . New start battery to be purchased and installed as I keep seeing a message at start up about low voltage so after 7 years I think its done its time. Of course I’ve also added the investigation of the extinguished l.e.d. on the water maker. So that was what I had in mind before setting off.

 Tidal considerations had us crossing the Wide Bay Bar about 1400 so we planned to anchor inside Double Island Point for the night . The lagoon which has formed up over the last couple of years had 22 masts ( and obviously the attached yachts)visible and as it was flat calm we didn’t bother going in and just anchored in the bay.

 Set off the next day with two reefs in the main for the predicted weather. Rounded the point and headed south. Quickly decided to shake out the reefs as wind was way less than predicted , but one can’t be sure when in the protection of the bay. I was just stowing the halyard after we raised the main to full set, Peter had ducked inside to grab his camera as he had never seen the new swish mainsail, when an odd noise , a sort of shoosh, which actually made me look for a whale first,  drew my attention to the fact that the main was once again in the boom bag - self stowed!

The standing end of the halyard , the eye through which the pin passes, had failed. Hence the mainsail was no longer hoisted.

Inspection of the point of failure revealed the spectra core is completely in tact there was just no longer any semblance of an eye,  no evidence of  having ever had a  locking splice applied to it.   It appears that the end had been tucked in and whipped.

Hmmmmm! Really!  

 

The original halyard -with two whippings
but what exactly had they whipped -a tucked in end?

Outer ruptured cover revealing a perfectly in tact spectra core 
that appears to have been tucked into itself .No sign of a locking splice.

                                                                 

Spectra core looks fine , other than it should have an eye in it
but I'm not sure where the splice was/is. 

Apart from surprise ,the next  thought passing through both our minds is that could have been me up there not the mainsail. Casting my mind back to my basic grasp of physics I remember  formulas about mass ,gravity, time and distance. Would I have hit the deck faster than the sail???

 I knew I had suffered through  physics for a reason- however I still can't really see the point of it, as I would have hit the deck long before I had figured out the answer!

 So we continued south, sans mainsail, it wasn’t going to be worth the effort with the now updated forecast to muck around with the topping lift to substitute for the halyard.

 They say things come in threes, turns out that could be true.

 Later in the evening just as we were thinking about  stopping  we managed to in the dark to pick up a bloody crab pot around the port saildrive leg /prop. So that made the decision about when to stop quite easy! Next morning we waited until the change of tide so there would be no run and into the water I went . It took longer to wait for slack water, don my wetsuit,(hey it’s the middle of winter) set up the hooka etc than it did to clear the bloody entanglement. The clearance  side of it took less than 3 minutes ! Why on earth would anyone set a crab pot adjacent to (but outside ) the main shipping channel into Brisbane in 13m of water WITHOUT A LIGHT on it .Oddly enough an unlit buoy really isn’t very easy to see in the dark. Obviously my consumption of carrots needs to increase. If only FVCM (the only identifying mark) had put a phone number on the buoy I would have been able to phone the owner but alas it was actually illegally marked-no name or phone number -ah well the pot is where it was set  in 13m of water - minus the buoy, the stainless steel quick release pin -which in no way quickly released from my prop blade and as much mooring line as I could remove to ensure it didn’t foul anybody else's prop as it floated around. I certainly had no desire to heave the whole stinking pot aboard.

The offending debris 

All dressed up for what turns out
to be a  3 minute job. Mid winter dip in Moreton Bay 

 

What else could surprise us this voyage ……

 Didn’t have to wait too long to find out.

 The following morning as we prepared to set off , I started the engine as usual , in a disengaged state, checked the water from the exhaust and ducked inside to make sure I had noted down the engine hours when at the same instant we both realised we were moving ahead. Peter had been finishing up the washing up, which on here has a very scenic view, when he realised we were moving despite still being anchored. He called out, I looked up and we both  reacted. Shut the engine down and went to see why. It seemed the morse cable attachment - the cable that connects the deck control to the saildrive leg  had become loose ( a bolt had actually fallen out altogether and was located beneath the engine). In its slightly askew state it was clearly not disengaged. Replaced the bolt, tightened all four of them , and similarly checked the starboard engine and tweaked all the bolts there as well.  Could have been worse ,it might have happened in a confined space like berthing or departing in a  marina instead of just looking like twits careering around whilst still at anchor!

 So that was number three -done and dusted, so hopefully that was it for the voyage. 

Our borders re open ,so planned haul out delayed

 A quick bolt to Platypus Bay for some lovely clear water to inspect the condition of the anodes , as I’m delaying the annual haul out for a month or two as we are now allowed to leave Oz and return without quarantine restrictions.  I’m pretty sure that the government largess is not going to extend to a  rebate on the cost of my passport which has sat idle for two years.

 The anode that always chews through the fastest is the wee triangular one on the gori prop. It’s all tikety boo and will certainly last until the haul out .

 However …..it appears the cockpit fridge fan  decided it was time for long service leave. That’s the second one, the first lasting less than 6 months ! So 6 years is good I guess. The cockpit fridge is actually excellent after it was finally made good in Senibong by the very skilful James . I had been on the point of turning into a dry storage locker until James appeared.

 When we returned to the vessel I had noticed whilst running through all the pre departure checks that the green l.e.d on the Z Brane water maker was not glowing eerily green as it should have been. Suspect some dollar signs may be involved in that one! Not an issue for this trip as I wont be needing to make fresh water, but another item for the haul out .

 As we started the engines to head home I again noticed a sluggishness in the port engine spitting water through the exhaust  . Checked the previous issue with strainer basket but all good there. As water was then being expelled from the exhaust as it should be we heaved up and set off. Before we had finished heaving the anchor a squeal was heard from port engine so immediately shut it down. I guessed the problem might be with the impeller- the extent of my skill set! Checked the impeller but it all seemed fine. Didn’t re start the port engine again and asked for some assistance  berthing in the marina until the reason for the issue could be determined.

 Both issues resolved incredibly expediently by my friendly, handy  and knowledgeable marina neighbour . New fan installed in cockpit fridge within an hour or two , with fan being reversed to blow cold air into cabinet -works a treat ! The squeal was in fact just a slipping drive belt, easily tightened  when you know how .

It's been a bit quiet on the K’Gari front

 Due to an unfortunate occurrence whilst  whipper snippering  at home, when I put my foot down on apparently nothing and then decided to sit upon my ankle with my ‘sylph like’ body mass.

 Here be it now recorded just how much I loathe gardening!

 However - today moon boot and subsequent ankle brace being confined to the cupboard after 12 weeks, is the first glimpse of my beautiful new mainsail.

 

 

looking fantastic ,beautifully constructed

Rigged and fitted and test sailed! Yeah. Product plug : Smith Sails, you ripper . It’s great , looks beautiful, looks strong and superbly constructed and with reef points that make more sense to me than the original mainsail.

and lurking on the other side .......

For the life of the original main the only times we ever used the first reef point were, homeward bound through Indonesia when the clew ring webbing failed and from when the main shredded itself last year. The first reef appeared to take out so little that we always just skipped straight through to the second reef , for comfort and ease.  If it was time to take a reef -take two and halve the effort! 

Always learning, every voyage presents new opportunities

 Off to Lady Musgrave again. This time the whole trip will be with first reef in to allow use of the still shredded mainsail. New one ordered and construction will start soon!

 Unremarkable passage through the Sandy Straits ,other than it dawned that the freezer was not in fact freezing. We had arrived at marina , turned on freezer and loaded it. Usually I allow it to freeze down prior to loading but as this was a last minute decision based on weather pattern, time did no allow for that on this occasion.  Hmmm, oh well ,luckily we are carnivores, certainly no need to waste our time trolling for those fish we never catch ,although of course sods law reigning as it does , we would probably actually catch one this time , but we have meat to consume instead.

 Once in the lagoon we spent the next few days snorkelling as per usual. Now for a product plug….the shark guard works on sharks as well as Manta rays.

We were snorkelling around one of the bommies where unbeknown to us a small reef shark was resting/lurking under a plate coral.

 We drifted along  and the tail of the shark guard therefore hung fairly vertically .As Jo drifted over the plate coral the shark which had stayed quietly in place, unnoticed by me  as I passed over it, obviously got a sensation and shot out from under the plate coral and disappeared pronto! Still not sure who was more surprised us or the reefy !

 Every time I start an engine we check that water is being discharged appropriately. I had been thinking that the port engine was taking a little longer than normal this trip, so checked the raw water pump impeller was as it should be -ie in tact ,no vanes missing etc .All seemed ok with the impeller so I started checking the strainer basket was always primed and discovered it wasn’t ,so the hunt began for the reason. Found it! Hairline fracture in the plastic lid, thus no vacuum ,thus not always primed. Obviously I had screwed it down too tightly last time I replaced the strainer basket- don’t know my own strength apparently !

 So learnt a couple more things this trip, always more to learn.

Of Manta Rays and mainsails.........

 Another jaunt, with the predicted weather looking good, turned out to be an excellent idea as we finally found and swam with the elusive Manta Rays.

My list of favourite marine life is expanding all the time. There are now only two species I haven’t swum with.Whales, but I’m happy watching their majesty from above and the other being  whale sharks.

One day I will swim with a whale shark, either in the west at Ningaloo or perhaps Raja Ampat beckons when eventually borders reopen. Perhaps the west is a better option as it saves the interaction with Border Force and AQIS on re-entry, but as we skipped Raja Ampat on the way home in 2017, it’s still lurking in my mind as a potential adventure for the future. St Helena is just out of the question!

 We chose, for tidal /daylight arrival reasons to do it in a couple of hops. The southern end on Platypus Bay the first evening, then across to the northern stop off for a couple of hours, en-route  we encountered a pod of whales with a grunter in it. It could be clearly heard for some distance- not sure if it was a display of Alpha whale-ism or  a sore throat from too much singing, certainly haven’t encountered it before.

 Relaxing for a couple of hours at anchor, we left just after 1900 to sail to “our” lagoon and for the first time ever we sailed in company with our marina neighbours, coincidentally headed the same way. A pleasant 10-12kts NE’ly was forecast for the night , perfect strength and direction. After that the forecast showed next to nothing wind wise for a couple of days, so off we set, reefed down as always at night. We cruised peacefully and trouble free during the night averaging a comfortable 5kts. Once daylight came I shook out the reefs and the then 7-8kts had us anchored up by 0900.

Perfect (for being at anchor) glassy weather in a surprisingly busy lagoon. In our visits to date I’m guessing the maximum number of other vessels has been about 20.This time (school holidays and perfect weather) there were at least 40. For the first time the motor boats out numbering the yachts. 34:6! Also now in position in the lagoon was the live aboard reef pontoon.

 Our marina neighbour, a keen spear fisherman invited us to accompany him the next day outside the lagoon as he intended using the perfect conditions to snorkel outside the lagoon for a change.

En-route to wherever he was heading we happened upon  the manta rays. We stopped, he kept going- I guess he noticed we weren’t behind him when he eventually stopped!

https://youtu.be/MWqqyqpk_iA

https://youtu.be/Zo_EQSt4lbM

Beautiful, graceful, elegant underwater gliders. Massive and entirely harmless and very inquisitive. To date my only other encounter had been in not particularly clear water off Keswick Island back in 2017, when one had scared me half to death when it glided past just on the periphery of my vision- or at least I keep telling myself it was a manta! Either way it didn’t count, as I’m still not really sure it was, that is how quick the ‘encounter’ had been.

 These were an entirely different experience , seven totally unconcerned mantas, in beautiful clear water, with brilliant sunshine to cap off it off.

We stayed, they stayed, they played, we watched. The next day we repeated the experience again.

Just the Jo and myself in the water watching them coming and going, feeding I guess, but I don’t know, my knowledge is limited indeed. Perhaps as it was spring it’s a courting ritual. There was  nobody else there, we had them entirely to ourselves.

https://youtu.be/RGIgLV5VjWI

https://youtu.be/FRbghI1hRIM

After a couple of perfect days the weather report indicated that a change was coming, a 30kt SE’ly was due. As we intended continuing north ,we decided to stay as it passed through and set off on the tail of it.

The lagoon began to empty- as if by magic! As the power boats departed we picked up a now free mooring. Yes, one of those Marine Park moorings that clearly states 24 hr occupancy- Guess you only need money to buy a boat these days, being literate isn’t a necessity, clearly, as we had been in the lagoon for 72hours before some of them moved!

 I had heard but had no experience of the lagoon being a safe enough  place in a blow, getting a little lumpy at high water, as the protection of the reef decreases. So as there was now a  vacant mooring we picked it up and rigged our three point bridle- just in case. Similarly an hour or so later so did our neighbour as another mooring became vacant.

 There were about a dozen  vessels left , 4 sailing cats, half a dozen monos of various lengths and towards sunset a couple of trawlers came in and anchored. All well spread out in the lagoon.

 We registered 41kts at 2238hrs and yes it was a tad bumpy at high water, but after that it settled it down again. I suspect one of the smaller monos found themselves dragging anchor at the height of it, as suddenly their nav lights came on and I watched as one minute I was seeing their red nav light ,followed some minutes later by their green and that continued for the best part of 30minutes. In daylight everybody seemed pretty much where they had been the previous evening so I guess they just steamed to maintain position for a bit. The wind maintained 25kts all the next day, so we stayed put and cleaned off the salt that had settled on every external surface. The bbq  and every bit of stainless steel was coated. It looked for all the world as though fine table salt had been sprinkled on everywhere.

Setting off north the following morning, my birthday as it happened, in very much less wind, we cleared the lagoon, set the sails, and headed off. The current  was taking us south and I had  to gybe to clear the near by island. We gybed in benign conditions and having cleared the island gybed back again.

I called out to Jo before the gybe just to warn her as always. She was down in the galley- preparing pancakes for brekky as a treat. I gybed, the mainsail flicked over with the usual shuddering sensation, which apparently wasn’t normal. Jo came flying up saying “what was that”. I said “just the gybe” but she said “no I heard something different”. I was still in hand steering as she stuck her head up to have a squizz.  “You probably don’t want to see this, but you need to” was what I heard next.  

Whoopsie- my 6.25y.o, 20000nm mainsail had somewhat shredded itself. The lower panels below the first reef point horizontally in a direction from the clew to half way along the boom had a gaping tear in it.

 Happy birthday to me! Bugga! So we didn’t go north , we returned from whence we came to await the forecast N’ly in a day or two.

 Our neighbour had set off towards Bundy an hour or so before we had departed as his wife needed to return home. Obviously watching us on AIS, and realising we were  returning to the lagoon for some reason, he called up to enquire if we had an issue. My initial thought  of quipping ‘no issue, just a mainsail resembling a soggy  tissue’ - I knew wouldn’t be understood over the VHF . Instead I replied  that a change of circumstances  would have us  heading south back to the marina in a day or two when wind changed and would be happy to take his wife with us if she would like to , thus alleviating the need for  trip back to Bundy for him. They too returned to the lagoon.

 We left once the wind changed with our extra crew on board - her first experience of sailing on a cat, or as we refer to it, coming over from the dark side!

 On the way home, which took a few days, -best breach to date! 

https://youtu.be/UbzJznInb0c

Belated birthday brekky after we returned to the lagoon.
note the icecream-I needed consoling!

meet the neighbours