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.