Tropic of Capricorn

We left our little paradise of Pancake Creek to continue our journey towards Yeppoon.  The prediction was winds of 10 to 12 knots and as we were running low on fuel this is exactly what we needed.  We got out of the creek to find winds of 2.6 knots.  We turned off the motor and sailed at about 1.5 knots, certainly not what we were hoping for.

Not long after our departure we picked up some traveling companions.  They were so close you could just about touch them and they swam with us for about a nautical mile.  The kids loved it… who am I kidding? I loved it!

 

 

As we were approaching Gladstone, we started the motor up again.  Gladstone is a little daunting.  There are two anchorages, East and North, for huge cargo and container ships.  There were dozens of them anchored.  Between the two anchorages is a Pilot Boarding Area.  This isn’t for fly-boys.  This is where a local captain boards the ship and takes into the harbour for loading/unloading.  If you are over 10meters and enter these zones you need to notify Gladstone Harbour Control, so I get on the radio…

Me:  Gladstone Harbour Control, Gladstone Harbour Control, Gladstone Harbour Control this is Kidnapped, Kidnapped, Kidnapped. Over

(Sounds ridiculous, I know but repeating 3 times is protocol)

GHC: Kidnapped, this is Gladstone Harbour Control.  Over

Me:  Just wanting to let you  know we are approaching the east anchorage on our transit to Cape Capricorn.  Over.

GHC: Black dogs wearing tutus meow at the lake until they get their jellybeans.

(Okay, he didn’t say that but he may as well have… I don’t know what the fuck he was talking about).

Me:  Thanks Gladstone.  Over.

I went out to Michael and he asked what they said.  I told him something about dogs, tutus & jellybeans.  He said “Don’t worry, these ships let out a huge plume of smoke when they start up, we’ll know if something’s about to move.”  We made it across the anchorage and pilot area without incident.

We continued to motor for another hour or so and the wind finally picked up to 8 knots.  We still had the main sail up but hauled the foresail, cut the motor and were humming along at about 7.5 knots.  More dolphins and even a whale and her baby were not too far away.  It was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.

We sailed over the invisible line that is the Tropic of Capricorn.  I was really excited by this, I’m not sure why.  I’ve been over it in a car when I was a kid and didn’t feel any excitement but sailing over it was different.  Was it because it marked some sort of milestone on our journey?  Our first milestone?  I kind of hope it wasn’t our first milestone as we won’t be sailing over the equator or the Tropic of Cancer so it would be our only milestone.

As we approached Cape Capricorn, our stopover for the night we brought in the foresail so we could motor into our anchorage near the rocks.  As the sail was being brought in, the rope wrapped around the ignition key and ripped it out of the ignition and into the sea.  OH FUCK!!!

There was going to be a witch hunt and as I was at the helm at the time, the pointy black hat was planted firmly on my head! 

Michael managed to turn us around using just the wind and main sail and got us quite close to the bobbing ignition key.  I hung as far over the side of the boat as I could with the net but was just short of reaching it.  If only my arms were 30cm longer (okay, I’d be able to tie my shoes whilst walking and look terribly funny… but I digress).

We have no motor and therefore limited manoeuvrability  and the wind is pushing us ever closer to the rocks, I have no problem letting you I was beginning to panic and my sphincter was tightly puckered.  I ran inside to see what we could use to try to start the motor.  The key is not a precision instrument. It’s like a bayonet fitting on a light globe (albeit a lot smaller) designed to create an electrical loop.  Michael grabbed a padlock key and managed to restart the motor.  Now that we had a motor he headed back in the direction of the lost key but we couldn’t find it.  I’d taken my eye off it!  I was not getting rid of the pointy black hat at any time soon.

Michael gave up the search (but not the yelling) and we headed back into the cove where we would be anchoring.  I was steering and Michael was bringing down the main sail when we lost gears.  We had no drive… that’s one of the ones we like!  We did have reverse though.  God, please don’t tell me I have to reverse park this fucker.  Ask my dad… I can’t reverse park a car let alone a 16 tonne, 42 foot boat!  We managed to drift into shallow enough water and drop the anchor.  Thank God!

The next couple of hours were spent trying to fix the gears… again, Michael managed to fix the problem with nothing more than a screw driver and a pair of pliers then he had to get to work on the ignition.  Using some wires and connectors he created that electrical loop needed to start the boat.

Michael’s getting closer and closer to earning himself a knighthood and I’m getting closer to earning myself a broom to fly on!

Pancake Creek

On 21 August we left Bundaberg for Seventeen Seventy but upon arrival found out our keel is too deep and we couldn’t get into Round Hill Creek even on a high tide so we anchored outside the creek in Bustard Bay for the evening and on the morning of 22 August headed further north to Pancake Creek.

 

Wow.  Pancake Creek is a beautiful spot.  Pancake Creek is only accessible by sea or  small aircraft landing on Aircraft Beach.

 

We did the 7km round trip walk past Aircraft Beach, Bustard Head lighthouse and caretakers cottage which was restored by Shirley Buchanan (wife of former lighthouse keeper, Stuart Buchanan) after it was vandalised and virtually demolished in 1995, then on to Jenny Lind Creek lookout.  Besides the midges it was truly beautiful.

 

Light aircraft taking off from Aircraft Beach 

after dropping off a couple of campers

 

Bustard Head Lighthouse

 

Jenny Lind Creek

 

During low tide at Pancake Creek a huge sandbar is uncovered completely.   This morning we took the dinghy out the sandbar to go for a walk.  It was quite a treasure trove of marine life out there….

 

 

huge sandbar

 

 

A sea snail... it's hard to tell just how big it is but I could've worn the shell as a hat!

 

Starfish

Solider Crabs

Odd man out

 

lugworm mounds

 



Bundaberg

Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to explore Bundaberg as thoroughly as we’d have liked due to the mechanical issues we faced and the repairs needed, but the people of Bundaberg are definitely worth a mention…

Krissy, Pete & Zayne

Pete, Krissy, Zayne, Michael

Jed & Grace

 

Krissy is Michael’s half sister, Pete is her partner and Zayne is her son.  It was our 3^rd catch up in 5 years… it was also Michael & Krissy’s 3^rd catch up in 35 years.  Michael’s family has a complicated history and that’s a story within itself.

 

 

It was the first time I’d met my nephew Zyane and was delighted to meet him.  He is a fine young man and a real pleasure to spend time with.  He looked after Grace & Jed during our stay and that just adds to his list of good points.

We were lucky enough to have been in Bundaberg for both Krissy & Zayne’s birthdays and feel very fortunate that we were able to share their special days with them.

They helped us enormously with the repairs on the boat and for that we cannot thank them enough… oh and of course the home made alcohol they loaded us up with prior to our departure.

Suzie the Sailor
 

Suzie & her daughter Melissa

 

Suzie is a brave and admirable woman who is sailing solo and working as a teacher.  She’s also an absolute hoot and fantastic company.  She has faced many trials as a solo female sailor and if anyone thinks they can pull the wool over her eyes, they could be in for a surprise.  I truly hope our paths cross again.

Gary the Mechanic

Gary couldn’t fix our damper plate or our starter motor has he was completely chocka-block with work but he took the time to come and have a look, offer advice and even lent us tools to help us complete the job on our own.  He didn’t charge any sort of call out fee or tool hire so a case a beer was handed over as a thank you for his efforts.  We bought the beer, it wasn’t part of our stash from Krissy & Pete.

Paul the Electrician

Paul is the opposite of Gary the Mechanic.  Paul came to the boat, offered bad advice, charged a call out fee and had no intention of repairing any of the problems.  Michael was able to fix the anchor winch for about $20 after refusing to believe Paul’s solution that would have cost us $320.

 

 

During the two weeks we spent in Bundaberg Michael managed to complete the following…

·         Remove broken damper plate

·         Order new damper plate from Sydney

·         Have new damper plate resized

·         Install new damper plate

·         Attempt to have started motor repaired

·         Purchase new starter motor

·         Install new starter motor

·         Erect new davit and move solar panels (with help from Pete)

·         Fix winch by replacing wiring and switch

·         Fix auto pilot

·         Replaced broken exhaust hose

 
 

He has to start wearing his undies on the outside because he’s my hero!

 

A long & boring night makes for a long & boring blog post...

Fraser Island to Bundaberg

After a couple of lovely days at Fraser Island, drinking cocktails and swimming, we left Fraser Island at 7.00am on Thursday heading for Bundaberg.  It was calm and there was no wind so we hot wired the motor and departed for Bundaberg.  I radioed in to VMR Hervey Bay to log our trip and was told they would keep us on log until we passed the Fairway marker about 20nm from Fraser Island and then we’d have to log with VMR Bundaberg.

At 9.30 am we had just passed the Fairway marker when Jed said… “Dad, the motor is making a funny rattling noise”.  I was put on steering duty whilst Michael checked out the engine.  He couldn’t see anything obvious going on but heard the distinct rattle that would come to cause us to spend many hours at the helm.  With no other choice we continued on our path hoping the motor would hold out.  It didn’t!  Within 10 minutes we were in neutral and not able to find a gear.  We were sitting in the middle of Hervey Bay with no wind and no motor.

I radioed VMR Hervey Bay and was taken off the log.  I radioed in to VMR Bundaberg and was put on the log.  I told them of our problems and pointed out that we were not in any trouble or any distress.  They asked for my coordinates and noted our exact location.  They asked me to radio in again at 5.45pm to update them on our status.

We hoisted the sails and sat… and sat… and sat.  Our wind indicator was showing a wind speed of 0.0 knots.  The wind occasionally got up to a knot and we felt like we were flying!

There was an eerie feeling...

 it was smoky and everything was a little fuzzy

At 5.45pm I radioed in to the VMR Bundaberg and gave them our new coordinates.  They informed me we were 2 nautical miles from our last check in… back towards Fraser Island.  We’d fucking lost ground!!!!  The swell direction was counteracting any wind we were getting and pushing us in the wrong direction.  The VMR were closing at 6 pm and gave me the Crew Chief’s mobile number and told me to contact him should we hit any trouble.  Other than that we were issued with good wishes although bad news that wind really wasn’t going to pick up.

At 8.00pm Graham, the VMR Crew Chief, called me on the mobile to check on our coordinates.  I gave them to him and he informed me we had gained about ½ a nautical mile over the last 2 hours.  At least we were heading in the right direction.  Graham advised me to anchor just south of the lighthouse at Bundaberg (if we made it) and to radio in at 6.30am to let the VMR know where we were.

At last we finally started getting some winds.  About 2 knots with gusts of about 4 to 5 knots every now and then.  It was getting cold and Michael’s shoulders were sore but I cannot be trusted to steer when sailing as I manage to lose the wind from our sails.  We couldn’t afford for that to happen in these conditions.  We still had 25 nautical miles to go before we’d hit Bundaberg. 

It was a long and boring night but we did have the company of some dolphins and I’m pretty sure I could hear a whale nearby.

There were dophins everywhere. 

It was pitch black... I just pointed my camera at the water and clicked.

By midnight Michael had about 4 cups of soup in him, but it was cold (4 degrees) and he was pretty much over it.  I told him we still had 10 nautical miles to go.  I thought this was pretty good as we’d managed 15 nautical miles over the last 4 hours but that still posed another 3 hours ahead and after 17 hours at the helm, it was a very daunting prospect.  Winds got a little more favourable and at 1.30am we’d reached our anchor point.  We lowered the sails, dropped the anchor and I made a cup of coffee.  The kids woke up and were quite relieved to hear we’d reached our anchor point.  We drank our coffee, set my alarm for 6.30am to radio in and fell into bed.

At 6.30am my alarm went off and I got up to radio in to the VMR.  I asked Michael what we intended to do when my phone rang.  It was the VMR.  It was 6.32am and I hadn’t radioed in yet.  They tried radioing us but couldn’t reach us and started to panic.  I like these guys!!!

We arranged for the VMR to come and tow us to the Bundaberg Port Marina where we could undertake repairs. 

The VMR are an amazing bunch who do an amazing job… but I hope I never have to deal with them again!

 We went and saw the marina mechanic and he may be able to fit us in in about 2 or 3 weeks.  We can’t afford 2 or 3 weeks at a marina berth (that’s a bloody luxury).  He came over to the boat and had a quick look.  He told Michael what to take off the bell housing to get to the damper plate inside.  6 hours of bleeding and swearing proved to be a success.  We managed to get the bell housing off, remove the damper plate and get it to the mechanic so he can order a new one for us. 

Bell housing complete with broken springs

We also had to see an auto electrician.  He’s coming to see us on Monday to see what the problem is with our auto pilot.  In the meantime, Michael’s trying to work out why we have no power down one side of the boat (no lights at all on the starboard side).

Looks like we may be spending a little time at Bundaberg… thankfully we’ve got some family here so it will be nice to catch up with them.