Sailing around Australia; Straight across the Strait

9^th 3 2015 Straight across the Strait

It’s fair to say that our sailing around Australia adventure aboard Easy Tiger has not been without a degree of anxiety and apprehension. For example the apprehension caused by knowing that the next step was across the Great Australian Bight, was measurable, when we were in Esperance WA. That was when we were sailing with two other boats. 

Over our last week in Portland, we have had another “elephant in the room”. Our next leg or stage would be sailing through Bass Strait, alone. I say it was an elephant in the room, because we new it was next up, but neither Leanne nor I really brought it up for discussion.

I suppose another reason we hadn’t discussed our anxiety at sailing across Bass Strait, was that we had planned do it in as many “hops” as possible. That is we would go from Portland to Port Fairy, then to Apollo Bay then into Port Phillip bay, Across to Western Port then around Wilsons Promontory to Refuge cove and the to Lakes Entrance.

Each of these was a day trip. Each of these would also mean waiting at each location for the next weather window. Weather windows are about a week apart, so that could mean that our Bass Strait crossing would take about 5 or so weeks.

After hearing that Stephen and Sharon Bone on their boat Shiraz were going straight across the strait, the possibility of being in the Gippsland lakes in a few days instead of a few weeks was too hard to resist and to do it with good company, would be the icing on the cake for us. We have a rule that say we don't do overnight passages unless absolutely necessary. We threw our rule book out the window and decided to go for it.

A last check of the weather conditions on Friday evening for the next few days made us all catch our breath. Bass Strait is known for storm cells that conjure up very strong winds and big seas without warning. The latest weather report on Friday, for the weekend, was for big seas and winds of up to 30 knots. The only thing that didn’t stopped our plan right then and there is that all this would be behind us pushing us across the strait in good time. In fact, if we could average 2 more knots than usual it would cut at least 10 hours off the journey.

It was decided that another briefing with Shiraz would be held at 6.00am to do a final weather inspection. The morning revealed calm and gloomy conditions with very little of the predicted wind.

Optimistically, we hoisted our sails to the first reef and turned Easy Tiger eastwards. The anxiety and apprehension reached their peak as we rounded out of the breakwater, expecting t o be greeted by 4 metre high waves and swell.

Normally we would be disappointed with an inaccurate weather forecast. Saturday was, however, the exception. The forecast was for 25 knots plus. We found only a perfect breeze of around 12 knots that pushed Easy Tiger along nicely at our projected speed of 6knots, for most of the day. The forecast 4 metre seas didn’t eventuate either. We had about 2 metres behind us that gave us a regular “skate” of about 2 more knots for a few seconds as we surfed the following seas.

As night fell, the wind dropped out and one motor was brought to life. At around midnight as we were rounding Cape Otway, Shiraz called up to say that due to problems with their auto pilot, they would head for Western Port. That left us on our own.

Day break found us with little or no wind, tonking along on one motor. This was way behind our predicted speed and was adding hours to the time we would take for the journey.

At  mid morning Sunday, the half way point between Cape Otway and Wilsons Promontory, the wind was kind enough to give us a delightful four hours sailing with our MPS (the V8) sail out. But we were still way behind on our forecast speed. We did not want to spend another night out alone in Bass Strait, but it was looking like that was to be.

As our second night out fell, we were very excited to be rounding Wilson Promontory the south eastern most part of the Australian mainland. This would mean that after 18 months and more than 2000nm Easy Tiger finally gets to turn north.

To get “round the bend” I had planned a route along the mainland side of the shipping channel. This was actually the east to west side of the shipping channel, we were going west to east.

I was thinking to myself that afternoon that it seemed very quiet shipping wise, we hadn’t seen a ship all afternoon. It looked like we would get away with sneaking along the edge of the channel without the excitement of an oncoming ship. Wrong!

As the laws of sailing say, we approached the narrowest part of the shipping channel right on nightfall.  We would be squeezing past some rocks in about 1 hour. This was when the AIS system alerted us to the oncoming ships. Yes, Ships! 4 of them, including a cruise ship travelling at 18knots. I couldn’t turn out of there way as we would hit the rocks. We just had to hope that Shcitano, the Costa Concordia captain  wasn’t at the the helm and wanting to have a close look at the island we were passing.

The AIS also gives really good information on ships passing by. The Proud Seas for example is 1000feet long, 120 feet wide and draws 9 metres of water. This is very useful information when the Proud Seas is motoring at 13knots straight towards you on a dark moonless night and your only direction of evasion contains a 90 metre high rock island.

Fortunately we managed to keep our course and the ships passed on the other side of the island.

We were so relieved that it was all over as we anchored in Refuge cove, on the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory at 1.30 am on Monday morning, finishing our journey of 240nm in just over 41 hours of non stop express motor sailing straight across "the strait".

Wilsons Promontory off in the distance, but I had to take a photo while it was still light.

Our chart plotter as we rounded, The black boat shape is us, the grey triangles are ships. The yellow brown bits are islands, the red crosses are our path and the green line is the current course we are steering.

The birds don't get much action out here, so when they have visitors they put on their best red lippy!

It's actually hard work, this sailing caper??

Yet another Island called Seal Island. There are actually seals on top if you look hard enough.

Here's another way to get to Refuge Cove. Hiking. It looked like hard work though.

Refuge cove, a lovely spot to anchor.

The South Eastern side of Refuge Cove

Sailing around Australia; Perusing Portland

8/3/2015  Perusing Portland

Our sailing around Australia adventure has uncovered yet another delightful place in Portland,Victoria.

We really did enjoy our time Portland, Victoria. It’s very much like our home town of Bunbury, with woodchips, logs and minerals stacked up around the port. They even have an alumina refinery or actually maybe theirs is  a smelter.

Strolling around town we stopped at the markets and met a friendly chap who told us not to miss Portland's botanical gardens. So on our 29th Wedding anniversary, we had a real treat in wandering around the Portland botanical gardens. Some very unusual trees, beautiful plants and pretty flowers, free to all too, so really worth a look if your passing through.

Leanne enjoyed browsing through a very interesting shop called Portland disposals. They had many things you can think of and some things you wouldn’t ever think of. I went in there to buy a new gas stove toaster and could have come out with anything from a two person kayak, to a pair of woolen socks to door mats with pictures and cut out in shapes of 70’s muscle cars.

As we have come to (almost) expect, the locals were very receptive and friendly. Scott and Phil who organise the marina couldn’t do enough to help us out. We took a seat cushion to the local upholsterer to get some stitching done he was very helpful, even delivering the finished product back to our boat. (probably so he could have a sticky beak).

We also got to meet Brian (barney) and his wife Julie. Brian (who I have presume would be B6) is a local cray fisherman who was nearing the end of his quota for the year. He stopped and had a chat on his way past each day, then brought Julie out for a beer and a look over Easy Tiger. They are obviously very proud of their town with good reason too. As a very kind gesture they leant us a vehicle for a few days and we were able to venture out to see cape Nelson from the landside, having seen it from the seaside a few days before.

During the trip out to Cape Nelson and Bridgewater, we were amazed at the size of the wind generators in close proximity to the road. It felt quite eerie to be chased along the road by the shadow of the giant propellers.

Having a vehicle also meant that we were able to join Richard, Isabelle, Robbie and Rebecca, off the yacht Sapphire at the RSL for cheap meal Tuesday. These guys sailed from Kangaroo Island to Robe and then on to Portland with us. Richard’s parents came over from Lakes Entrance to bring some parts for Sapphire. They have spent a lot of years in the Gippsland lakes, which is our next stop over, so it was a very informative evening.

As a scouting venture, while we had the vehicle, we drove to Port Fairy, the next anchorage on our list. We were surprised to see a delightful town and a very different type of boat harbour. There is a small river running in from the ocean, and jetties running parallel with the river that you tie on to. The boss of this is Max, who was very helpful. As Easy Tiger would take up a fair bit of the small amount of room he had, with the Port Fairy folk festival on that weekend. With 50,000 people about to descend on the town (with a normal population of 3000), Max still  promised he would fit us in.

Then Stephen and Sharon Bone off a yacht called Shiraz came along the jetty and introduced themselves. A brief discussion was followed by an invite for drinks o’clock aboard Easy Tiger. During these festivities, Sharon and Stephen mentioned that they were seriously looking at Saturday and Sunday as the perfect weather window to get right through Bass Strait to Refuge Cove in one hit.

Leanne and I looked at each other. We hate long overnight passages. We hate the feeling of fatigue during and after a 30 hour sail. Especially early morning shift just before dawn. But, in order to get to some places you just have to buck up and do it, if there is nowhere in between to comfortably stop.

After more information abut the length of journey and the time that Shiraz expected to take, we had a long look at the weather.

The possibility of being in the Gippsland lakes in a few days instead of a few weeks, had the final say. We asked Shiraz if they would like some company on the passage and it was settled. We all started preparing for the 240nm journey that night.

Next morning at 6.00am we said goodbye to the beaut town of Portland.

ET tied on in Portland. Typical southern ocean weather!

In Portland they don't bother with tip tucks, they tip the whole truck!!!

Giant windmills are like mushrooms in the Portland, they pop up everywhere!

Interesting Artwork like this mosaic shell are sprinkled around Portland

On our 29th Wedding anniversary, we strolled around the botanical gardens.

Sailing around Australia; The Great Trolley Debate

Portland, Victoria

3/3/15  The Great Trolley Debate

Arrival in a town or port, on each leg of our sailing adventure, gives us the opportunity to replenish stocks of food, water and fuel and that is usually a major undertaking.

On the completion of most legs or stages, we will need to take on a couple of weeks of food, 100 litres or more of fuel and a couple of hundred litres of water.

Fresh water is usually the easiest commodity to replenish if we are in a marina. Most marinas have a tap right next to the berth.

For fuel, many marinas have a fuel berth. Problem is that most fuel berths are built out of tough materials like wood and steel. Not a good mix with polished white fiberglass!  They are usually built for bigger boats and quite high out of the water. So scrambling off Easy Tiger and passing the thick, black, dirty, heavy pump hoses down, then swapping sides is not for the feint hearted. One of the few times Leanne and I have had a bit of a bingle on Easy Tiger was trying to get off a fuel wharf  with the wind against us.

To counteract these problems we have 8 20litre jerry cans, 4 for fuel and 4 for fresh water. We also have 2 jerrys for unleaded fuel that's used in the generator and the dinghy engine.

These all have to be taken to the nearest service station and filled. Add to this 2 weeks worth of grocery shopping, and 20 kilos of washing, there is plenty that has to be transported back to the boat.

Fortunately, in every port, without fail we have met some amazing, generous and helpful people who have offered to either take us to the shops or, in most cases have leant us a vehicle. The problem then is, getting from the vehicle to the boat. For example in Streaky Bay, I had to completely refill our fresh water tanks which are about 600 litres, using four jerry cans (84 litres at a time). Geoff and Heather Georgiou very kindly loaned us their ute and donated rain water form their home tanks. But then I had to get the full jerry cans from the vehicle to the dinghy at the other end of the jetty, a 200 metre walk.

I had predicted this problem while we were in Albany at the start of our around Australia Sailing adventure. There I purchased a $19 sack trolley. The problem with this was, that I could only fit 2 jerry cans on it at a time and the weight of 2 full jerry cans made it quite hard to tip and push.

The other problems with this sack trolley were that it didn’t fold down at all, so one hadn’t to be a bit of a magician to put it into the front storage locker on Easy Tiger and being $19 worth of metal trolley meant that my $19 worth of value ran out on the jetty at Streaky Bay on about the fourth trip back and forth along the jetty. The wheels suddenly became the one part of trolley that folded up, pity they weren’t supposed to.

When we were preparing for our sailing adventure we somehow came across an aluminium folding sack trolley. These are great because they fold down virtually flat which takes away the need for magician’s skills when storing it.

Unfortunately, with the weight of just one full jerry can and rolling over a slightly rough service, this trolley folds down virtually flat, ready for storage!

While we were in Crown marina in Adelaide, people from another boat went by, pulling a four wheel tow along trolley. Thinking that they were off a boat on the other side of the marina, we knocked on their door and asked them to have a look. Right boat, wrong trolley.  Although these people showed us trolley was a Claxo, sort of like a shopping trolley that folds down flat. It was obviously very well engineered and being poly, it wouldn't rust. They were very proud of it.

I wasn’t convinced that this was the right trolley for us though, as the wheels were only small and I couldn’t see them rolling easily over rough surfaces with four full jerry cans of diesel in the trolley.

We were sitting out the back of Easy Tiger “discussing” the merits of my ideal trolley and Leanne’s ideal trolley, when the guy in the boat next to us happened along, pulling a four wheel garden cart type trolley. We set on him with a thousand questions mostly all at once, “does it fold down? Is it rust proofed? How heavy a load can it bare? Where did you get it? How much was it?”  After trying to answer all our questions he referred us to the nearest Bunnings store.

We got to Bunnings not long after and wandered around looking at wheelbarrows and sack trollies. No 4 wheel garden carts in stock. We considered another type of folding trolley but having experienced the folding up of the folding trolley and the difficulty of pushing and tilting heavy loads over rough surfaces, I could see the benefits of the 4 wheel pull along “wagon”. Without one to demonstrate though we were far from convinced.

The trolley debate went on hold as we left Adelaide for Kangaroo Island. After Kangaroo Island we arrived in Robe ready to replenish fuel and food and take washing to the caravan park. A walk around the town first to track down the location of each service we required was done on the first day.

Leaving the Foodland and looking across at the local hardware store, I was stopped in my tracks! The perfect trolley sat out the front of Mitre 10. It was a four wheel pull along garden wagon, with a poly bin! Leanne and I raced acros the road grabbed the trolley and took it for a test drive. It rolled along nicely, Leanne could both steer it and pull it with me in it. It seemed to be easily able to take my weight ok. $105 seemed like a good price. YEP, this was it. The perfect trolley.

The lady from Robe mitre 10 delivered it to the boat. We had people on board for morning tea. As soon as they left, it was into assembly mode. BUT, before we could assemble, Leanne decided to give it a coat of rust guard. But where to spray paint? Off we went over to the sand dunes behind the sailing club. No problems there with over spray. Then we waited for 6 hours for the paint to dry. I was really hanging out to take for a spin.

Next morning we had the super trolley assembled and packed. Four Jerry cans for diesel from the servo and a big bag of washing to be delivered to the caravan park a mere kilometer and a half away.

To say I got some strange looks as a I wheel my loaded garden cart down the main street of Robe, would be an understatement. They might have though we were homeless people, or, you know, not quite all there. Either way they gave me a wide berth. I got even stranger looks as I towed it up and down the aisles of Foodland with only a loaf of bread and a lettuce in it.

When I had the 4 jerry cans in it, the young guy at the servo asked me if I was preparing for Armageddon or the end of the world. I said yeah something like that and gave a nervous twitch just to add good effect.

But I didn’t care. The trolley will be super handy when it comes to getting our provisions from point a to point b. The debate has now changed form what type of trolley to where the hell do we store it.

The super trolley / wagon loaded with 4 jerry cans and 2 weeks washing, ready for it's maiden run.