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!