When we left Cairns on Sunday morning our planned trip was a non-stop,
rather zig-zag distance of 1022 nM. The predominant winds should be
established SE trades in the 15-25 knot range allowing for a fast sail and
there are two tidal gates to get right. At midnight Thursday we had sailed
622 miles but we are actually more than halfway there because we have had a lot
of help from the tide. We had celebratory steak and chips for a slightly early
halfway celebration on Wednesday evening because it felt like halfway having
rounded Cape York and navigated through the Endeavour Straight.
That was the plan, now for some detail. The first few days of the
trip, from Cairns to Cape York, were in the protected waters within the Great
Barrier Reef however there isn’t just one reef! The inshore waters
are dotted with reefs, shoal areas and islands and you have to pick your way
through them. The shipping routes show up very clearly on the Navionics
charts on the i-pads, rather less clearly on the new C-map chart on the plotter
because the whole area is overlaid by the different National Park
designations. At times the channel was less than a mile wide but
fortunately there wasn’t a lot of shipping to share it with, however it did mean
the on watch crew didn’t have time to write a log. (Excuses, excuses,
excuses I hear you say.) The main problem was that many of the legs
between waypoints were between 6 and 12 miles long, the odd one of 30 miles was
a welcome rest. We had everything from wind on the beam, dead behind and
rather too close on the nose, it made for frequent sail trimming and gybing
under control, it was also mainly in the 20-25 knot range so rapid progress was
made. We had a lull in the wind on Tuesday morning so motored for 5 hours
as we wanted to reach Cape York by midday Wednesday.
Part of the plan was ‘non-stop’, but there are also tidal gates.
Three other World ARC boats were anchored overnight in the Escape River, about
20 miles from Cape York, so we nosed our way in and anchored at about 0815 ready
to join the others when they left just before 0900. The trip up to the
Albany Pass, a narrow passage between the mainland and Albany Island impassable
for ships, was quick and I think we all had reefed mainsails! We got the timing
right and carried the tide all the way through the Endeavour Passage into the
Gulf of Carpentaria. We also shook out the reefs by about 1600, possibly a
mistake! It was a relief to change to a new waypoint about 300 miles
away.
The Gulf of Carpentaria was no longer sheltered by the Barrier Reef, the
wind built and John had sustained 30 knot winds for part of his first night
watch. When I came on watch at 2300 we dropped two reefs into the
mainsail, he had already rolled away most of the poled out genoa. Oh, and
I should have mentioned that the wind followed us around Cape York and was from
straight behind. 30 knots, sails out wing and wing, too much sail up and
big rolly seas are a recipe for disaster, an accidental gybe waiting to
happen. Fortunately when the wind got behind the reefed mainsail on one
very big roll the gybe preventer held and John shot back up on deck to gybe the
sail back. Again we made rapid though rather uncomfortable progress.
Thursday was a very different day. To start with there was far less
tidal flow, great when it is against you but disappointing when it is with
you. Secondly the wind started to moderate, more often in the 15-20 knot
range though we kept the reefs in the main but let out most of the genoa.
Finally, about mid-afternoon, the seas calmed quite significantly. There is
still some rock and roll but there are no more white capped 1.5-2 metre waves
hurling themselves at us. We are now going frustratingly slowly as the
wind has dropped a bit more. However it is still straight behind us, if we
alter course to bring the wind over the port quarter (rear nearside corner for
UK car drivers) we will head into the Gulf and have to gybe round to work our
way back out on the other gybe. This raises the thorny problem: is it
better to tack downwind, gybing from time to time, covering a greater distance
but at a faster speed or should you firmly attach a preventer, pole out the
genoa and just aim straight? We have opted for the latter strategy.
Perhaps we should have installed our second genoa then we could fly downwind
with no mainsail to worry about. The downside of that sail plan is that
there is the possibility of chafe and sail damage when you have to fly them
lying against each other at any other point of sail. It would have been a
nightmare on the passage to Cape York.
We are well but frustrated by the total lack of 3G, even within sight of
the coast. Most of Australia has no cell coverage as most has no people (=
customers). The passenger we discovered on Monday evening didn’t carry a
cell phone. A large seabird with an evil looking pale blue beak and pale
blue legs , possibly a Blue footed Booby, was sitting next to a winch just
behind the helmsman’s seat. It stayed there until dawn, unfazed by flash
photography, then flew away. Tuesday night a more timid bird of similar size
hitched a lift sitting on the solar panels, He flew off as the camera
flashed.
We would love to hear how Chloe did in her GCSEs, please.
Joyce