by Judy Handley | May 14, 2008 | Australia Bundy to Cairns, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 5, Year 3: A Day at Anchor
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Weather: Beautiful Day; Winds SE 10-15
Location: West Bay of Middle Percy Island, Queensland, Australia
Change of plans. We are still here in West Bay and we are not going to do an overnight to our next island location, Refuge Bay on Scawfell Island. Instead we are going to pull up anchor at 4 AM and head the 60 miles northwest. With the continued reduced winds predicted for tomorrow, it will be a long day, but it should be a pleasant one.
We spent our morning working on the boat. Our Amptech alternator started giving us trouble late yesterday and without an alternator, you have no power to run things like computers and radios. Since that is how we are navigating and communicating, having power is essential. Actually the alternator was fine. The problem was a loose bolt that was causing some sparking. Mark used a piece of one of those amazing little rubber hot pads as the insulator and found a way to fix the bolt situation. Actually
he discovered that the bolt was too small but he was able to add a piece to fix that. While Mark was working on this, I was working in the galley making granola. That was my big contribution for the day. And Donna and Gerry on Scot Free II also spent the morning working. They had their mainsail repaired in Bundaberg but unfortunately the stitching came out already. So they had to hand stitch the entire length of the Sunbrella UV protection along the edge of the sail. What a bummer to pay to
have work done and then have it pull out the first time you use it. Sure hope that doesn’t happen to us.
Both of us completed our jobs by noon and in the afternoon we put our dinghy in the water, picked up Donna and Gerry, and went to shore. The beach on this little bay is beautiful and the “structures” quintessential Australia. There is a little shack and a larger A-frame shack (really just a roof with no walls) that houses wooden signs left by the many cruisers that stop here. It is really quite unique. The A-frame structure has a sign hanging over the entry saying, “Percy Hilton.” The corrugated
steel roof has been painted green and is now rusting. It is definitely an outback Australian version of the Hilton. The little shack has a big wooden sign on front saying, “Telephone.” And out back there is actually a shower. Well, it is a pipe coming out the ground with a shower head on it. We didn’t turn it on to see if it works, but we read in an old guide that it did work a few years ago. We were the only boats here this morning, but by afternoon we had been joined by five other boats.
Most everyone was onshore and we talked to two couples from Australia and got some pointers on future anchorages. We all laughed about it being our main goal of sailing in Australia to keep our names out of the 6 o’clock news. Between the deadly jellyfish and the crocodiles, not to mention the sharks, the deadly little blue octopus, and oh yes, the aggressive dingoes on some of the islands, there are lots of things to watch out for. There is a homestead on this island but we were not able to
walk to it as there were signs posted saying that the government is hunting feral goats on the island at this time. That means they are shooting them, so we thought it best not to venture inland!
Tonight’s challenge is the computer. For some unknown reason, our GPS is no longer “talking” to our computer which means that we cannot use the computer for navigation. Not good. And until just a few minutes ago, our computer would also not “talk” to our HAM radio so we couldn’t send or receive email. That was a setting problem, but we have no idea how the setting got changed. So at least we can communicate and hopefully by 4 AM in the morning when we leave for Scawfell Island Mark will get
the navigation issues solved. He is working furiously to do so right now. So as they say, cruising is all about working on your boat in exotic locations. The work continues and the exotic places just keep coming. And I just heard an exclamation from Mark, “I got it.” So I do think we will have our computer navigation up and running.
by Judy Handley | May 13, 2008 | Australia Bundy to Cairns, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 4, Year 3: Pearl Bay to Percy Isles
Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Weather: Partly Cloudy Skies with Lots of Sunshine: Winds 20-25 SE
Water Temperature: 75 degrees F
Latitude: 21 degrees 39.199 minutes S
Longitude: 150 degrees 14.599 minutes E
Location: West Bay of Middle Percy Island, Queensland, Australia
We sailed 62 miles today from Pearl Bay to Middle Percy Island. I think there must be a permanent high pressure system that hangs over this part of Australia at this time of year. The weather report for everyday is the same – SE Winds 15-20 with isolated showers. We had no showers today and the wind exceeded the report. It was another downwind wing and wing sailing day with the headsail out to port and the mainsail out to starboard. For part of the day the winds were 15 to 20, then 20 to 25,
and then 25 to 30. This pattern cycled throughout the day making for a rock ‘n roll passage. We rock and roll so much that it is hard to get anything done during the day. We spend a lot of time working with the sails and then it takes energy just to hang on.
We have traveled about 250 miles in the four days since leaving Bundaberg. Since sailing is never in a straight line, we have actually traveled only a 190 miles due north. In those 190 miles, the water temperature has gone from 69 to 75 degrees F. Not bad. We are starting to see palm trees on some of the islands, so it is looking tropical once again. We are also seeing lots of wildlife. Our resident yellow moth was still with us this morning, but finally with encouragement from Mark, she flew
off toward shore. For over an hour today, a pod of dolphins played in our bow wake. They would swim so fast toward the bow that they looked like torpedoes and then they would dip into the bow wake and out the other side. Once in a while, a lone dolphin would fly out of the water and do a little flip. These little dolphins were so fast that it was almost impossible to get photos of them. Of course, the fact that Windbird was rocking and rolling didn’t help much. But we did enjoy the live show.
And then just after we anchored for the night, twittering little Australian “welcome swallows” (hirondo neoxena) did water level fly-bys and then some of the bolder ones would land on our life lines, obviously to greet us.
We are hoping that our anchorage tonight is a little more settled than the one last night. Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up as I was being thrown out of bed. Windbird was rocking wildly from side to side and I was about to become her first casualty for the night. I tried sleeping on the main cabin settee, but that was not much better. Our anchorage tonight is on the west side of an island and again is not very well protected. We are sloshing around right now, which is tolerable,
but we’ll have to wait and see what things are like in the middle of the night. It is hard to find protected anchorages out here, so I guess we are just going to have to learn to love the rolling from side to side or learn to do without sleep. Both days and nights are challenging out here-not the easy sailing we learned to love in the South Pacific.
We will stay here throughout the day tomorrow. We haven’t been off the boat since we left Bundy, so we will take a walk on land and then leave around dusk to do an overnight to our next destination. It is too far to make it during daylight hours but really not far enough for an overnight. But if we leave late enough, we should be okay.
by Judy Handley | May 12, 2008 | Australia Bundy to Cairns, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 3, Year 3: Squally Day on the Australian Coast
Date: Monday, May 12, 2008
Weather: Overcast and Periods of Rain Squalls; Wind SE 15-20
Water Temperature: 71 degrees F (up 2 degrees from Bundaberg)
Latitude: 22 degrees 26.619 minutes S
Longitude: 150 degrees 44.083 minutes E
Location: Pearl Bay, Queensland, Australia
Windbird is at anchor tonight in a beautiful little bay on the east coast of Australia. We were supposed to be doing an overnight passage to the Percy Isles, but today’s challenging weather changed our minds. We could tell before getting out of bed this morning that it was a cloudy day. When the skies are clear, the sunshine streams through the boat, but this morning there were no rays of sunshine. But yesterday early morning was cloudy as well, so we pulled up anchor in hopes of clearing skies
and we were on our way by 8 AM. By 10 o’clock we had our first rain squall. The black clouds were looming in front of us and then we started getting the fluky winds that accompany a squall. Once again the winds were behind us. We were sailing with both headsail and mainsail out to port and when the winds exceeded 25 knots, we reefed the headsail. We had no sooner done this when the winds settled, the rain stopped, and we had to pull out the headsail once again. This pattern continued throughout
the day. We went through one sail configuration after another and finally in mid-afternoon, we decided that rather than fight this through the night we would pull into an anchorage and continue tomorrow. We had read that Pearl Bay is the prettiest coastal anchorage on the east coast of Australia, so we decided to make that our destination. We are rolling a bit, but not bad, and it is pretty little bay. At the end of the day, we are once again so thankful that we have our cockpit enclosure. When
we pulled into the anchorage we were snug and dry and warm at the end of a very wet and yucky day.
This is our third day of our third season of world cruising, but we can tell already that it is going to be a very different year. Coastal sailing requires constant attention. When we were on long passages or sailing between islands in the South Pacific, we could read and relax while sailing. We sometimes had stormy weather but rarely had ship traffic. For the most part the sailing was easy. Since leaving Bundaberg three days ago, that has changed. There are ships and fishing boats out here
that we must watch out for and certainly the sailing is challenging. But we have seen dolphins and turtles, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and this morning the prettiest little yellow moth was in our cockpit. Who knows what surprises we will have tomorrow?
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2008 | Australia Bundy to Cairns, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 2, Year 3: About Children
Date: Sunday, May 11, 2008
Weather: Sunny Day with Lots of Puffy Clouds; Wind SE 15-20
Latitude: 23 degrees 09.545 minutes S
Longitude: 150 degrees 57.285 minutes E
Location: Great Keppel Island, Australia
As we approached Great Keppel Island this afternoon, I thought it was a most fitting Mother’s Day tribute that we first sailed past a little island called “Child” and then we went by “Man” and “Wife” islands. On Mother’s Day children think about their mothers but mothers think about their children. At least that is what this mother does. Having just returned from five months at home in the United States where we lived with our daughter and her husband and got to visit with our son and his wife
on three different occasions, Mother’s Day on Windbird here in Australia was a bit of a lonely affair. Justin and Jo had sent a card and a pair of Cerrillos turquoise earrings with Mark to give to me and there was an email waiting from Heather, Jed, and Sam early this morning wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day. Both were wonderful, but I sure did miss seeing the kids in person. Mark tried to fill the gap by buying me a huge dark chocolate egg called “Decadence.” He is also fixing dinner for me right
now, so after Australian steak and salad, we will have a little of that chocolate while we think about our kids. It is so satisfying to watch our daughter Heather with her child Sam. She is such a good mother. Justin and Jo have two dogs, two cats, two bunnies, and four chickens . . . no children yet, but lots of furry and feathery things to love. For me, the greatest Mother’s Day gift is having happily married children taking care of their “babies” with love.
We are on the fast track up the coast of Australia. Although this is beautiful little anchorage, tomorrow morning we will take off again and do another overnight passage to the Percy Isles. We are told by Australian friends that this is a place to spend a couple of days before heading further north to the Whitsunday Islands. Our daughter Heather went to undergraduate school here in Australia, and while she was here, we came to visit and we chartered in the Whitsundays. These islands are not out
on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, but there are lots of beautiful places to snorkel and I’m looking forward to that. Mark got in the water here today to check out the condition of our bottom and our prop. Actually the bottom is not bad, but the prop was covered with barnacles. Mark did a lot of scraping so motoring should now be a lot easier.
by Judy Handley | May 10, 2008 | Australia Bundy to Cairns, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 1, Year 3: Overnight Passage to Great Keppel Isles
Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Weather: Sunny Skies; Air Temp 68 degrees F; Winds SE 10-15
Latitude: 24 degrees 19.212 minutes S
Longitude: 152 degrees 07.960 minutes E
Location: On Passage from Bundaberg to Great Keppel Isles, Australia
Sea Moth . . . Yes, I think if I were to ever rename Windbird her new name would be Sea Moth. Not a very romantic name, really, but a practical one. If you have followed our logs in the past, you have probably heard me singing the praises of our cockpit enclosure. This is the plastic and canvas “cocoon” that envelopes our cockpit and protects us from the weather. It is the beginning of winter here in Australia, and even though the sea and air temperature are both around 68 degrees F, that can
feel a cool when you are out here on the water with nothing to protect you. We were brave this morning as we were starting out. We only put up one side curtain (clear plastic) on each side of the cockpit. When our friend Gerry of Scot Free II asked if we wanted to take time to put up the rest of the plastic we replied that we didn’t think we would need it, and if so, we would put it up later. I mean, really, we are sailing through the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Do you think Crocodile Dundee
would need a cockpit enclosure?! Well, I just got up from an afternoon nap (yes, we do have to nap when on passage) and when I got up in the cockpit, the cocoon was surrounding me. Mark said the wind felt a chilly, so he gave in. I’m sure that in the middle of the night, we will be very glad that we have our warm little haven, but right now with the mid-afternoon soon bearing down, it feels a little like a greenhouse. The seas are very calm, so I have opened the front “curtain”-a zippered affair
that allows us to roll up the middle part of our front “windshield.” Normally you take the chance of getting a rogue wave in the cockpit if you open up the front, but I think not this afternoon. We are sailing wing and wing with the headsail poled out to starboard and the mainsail vanged out to port. The wind is right behind us, coming from the southeast as we head northwest up the coast of Australia. The sun is in front of me right now, but I can see Dutch Touch out in front. Dutch Touch is
a much bigger and faster boat than Windbird. Behind us is Scot Free II, although they were in front of us for most of the day. They were sailing with just a headsail, but they are now also sailing wing and wing and starting to catch up with us again. We are lazing along at 5 knots and are not quite one-fourth of the way to Great Keppel. We will probably have to motor during the night if the winds don’t pick up and hopefully we will make some speed then. It is just too beautiful this afternoon
to turn on a motor and even at this speed, we will make our destination sometime tomorrow afternoon. We think we are moving a little more slowly than normal, probably due to a fouled bottom. We made the decision to not have Windbird hauled out of the water before leaving to have her bottom scraped and painted. It is illegal to dive on a boat to clean the bottom while in a marina in Australia, but when we get to Great Keppel, we will take the plunge and see if we need to clean the bottom and scrape
the propeller. More than likely we have a family of barnacles living on the prop and that really slows you down when motoring. We plan to have the boat hauled and the bottom painted when we reach Darwin if it is needed, and if not, we will wait until we reach Thailand. It is much cheaper to have that kind of work done there.
We were up at the crack of dawn this morning in order to get everything ready to leave by 8 AM. We didn’t quite make our goal, but we did pull away at 8:30. Paddy of Zfarse came by to say so long. He had a last minute offer on his boat and he has made the decision to sell her. He and Allison were going to be in the Sail Indonesia Rally with us and we are going to miss them. Paddy will return to the US and will probably buy a new boat there. He thinks he will work in Alaska this summer and Allison
will join him there. Most of the folks we know that are going our way have already headed north, so we are going to have to play a little catch-up. I left the dock this morning with mixed feelings. There is no doubt that it feels good to be out here sailing again, but leaving the dock is that final act of cutting the ties with land. There’ll be no more Skype calls home to talk to and to see Sam for a while and that is hard for me. I’ll just have to keep in touch via email. Thank goodness for
HAM radio. I guess a cockpit enclosure and HAM radio are at the top of our list of things world cruisers must have.
by Judy Handley | May 9, 2008 | Australia Bundy to Cairns, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Year 3: Cutting It Close
Date: Friday, May 9, 2008
Weather: Threat of Rain; Cool Nights
Location: Bundaberg, Australia
Today was a day of anticipation that turned into frustration but then ended on a much more positive note. Our sails that were in for repair should have been returned to us yesterday, no later than this morning. So we waited and waited, and then we waited some more. We tried to call but got no answer time after time. Finally in the early afternoon, Keith and Patty, the Australian couple we met aboard Scot Free II on Wednesday night, loaned us their car so that Mark could run into town and try
to track down our sails. He was assured that they would be here no later than 3:30, but at 5:00 they still were not here. The sun sets here at 5:30, so we figured that even if they came there would be no way to get them put up tonight. But just after 5:00 they did arrive, and with the help of Gerry from Scot Free II and two Australian cruisers we met at lunch today, the sails were miraculously installed in less than an hour. We have a few things to do in the morning, but we will be ready to leave
by 8 AM.
Our first destination is Great Keppel Island. We will do an overnight passage and arrive in early afternoon on Sunday. Mark and I are both exhausted tonight. We have only been back here for five days and we have had much to do to get Windbird ready to sail into her third world cruising season. We are hoping that life will slow down a little once we get away from the dock tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes.
