A Good Start
Got up early and had breakfast, prepared the boat and cast off at 9am destination Sydney. The weather not as good as yesterday and category 1 cyclone Debbie is forecast to hit the north Queensland coast in the next couple of days. But not much choice as we have a limited window of opportunity to get the boat back to Sydney. Hopefully we will be far enough down the coast to limit the impact of the approaching cyclone.
There are 4 of us on board, myself, Jim Felton, Trevor Bell and Sam Cheng. Slow to motor out to the seaway and both motors stopped at about the same location as the day before. So we definitely have a problem with both motors. But we know what to do and can get them running again.
As we head out of the seaway it is calm. (maybe the calm before the storm?) We report our plans to marine rescue Southport and head south.
We need to motor almost to Coolangatta before there is enough wind to set sail.
Then it is blissful Sailing and the boat performs really well. I am happy. Sailed on through the night rotating watch shifts. The plan was for 2 on watch 6hrs at a time. Sam with Jim and Trevor with myself. That plan did not work out as Sam got rather seasick.
We went well out to take advantage of the southerly current but that puts us right in the coastal shipping lane. Need to be vigilant here. One large freighter came within 1 nautical mile and that was after we altered course. I am sure they did not even see us. Can often see 4 or 5 vessels at the same time.
Sailing into a Storm
By morning the apparent wind had picked up to about 15knts and we were pushing 8-10knts. All good but cyclone Debbie had been upgraded to category 4 and was stronger than expected and winds set to increase during the day. Further to that, there was a strong Southerly change forecast to hit late Thursday or early Friday. As the day wore on the wind steadily picked up.
As the sea state grew worse we had to make a decision on what to do next. The next safe Port was Port Macquarie and after that Port Stevens. We figured that to get to Port Stevens before the southerly hit was risky as it was another 100 nautical miles further than Port Macquarie. We would easily make Port Macquarie.
What we did not take into account was the increasing wind speed and swell. In the afternoon we furled the head sail and by sunset the main. We were still doing 8-10knts peaking at 12 knots. The wind had picked up to 20 knots and gusting to 30knts.
We needed to slow down or we would pass Port Macquarie before daylight. Not good, we don’t want to enter a strange port in the dark. So we furled in the small stay sail to reduce speed.
I needed some sleep so left Jim and Trevor on watch. About midnight I was woken up. The boat was out of control. We were laying ahull and Jim could not get the boat back under control. Very confusing and I was not fully awake. Not responding to the helm and moving sideways with the wind.
After some deliberation discovered that the auto pilot had frozen and locked the rudders. So we had to deactivate the auto pilot and regain manual control. Not easy in the middle of the night but we managed.
Then start the engines and get and get the boat moving down wind. But when we shut the engines down the auto pilot lost control again. We did not have enough speed to maintain control so the auto pilot had lost its mojo and failed.
Solution to unfurl the stay sail so we had enough speed for control. Then the auto pilot was happy but we were going too fast!
So we had to tack back and forth in order to slow progress. Port Macquarie could have been the wrong call. If we had pushed on fast could have made Port Stevens but too late for that now.
Battled through the night with strong northerly winds. They were pushing us too far south to make Port Macquarie! Could not go too slow as you lose steerage so we tacked and kept well out to sea. By 3am we were level with Port Macquarie entrance. Did not want to go too far south only to fight our way back against the wind. So turned into the wind in hove too position on autopilot and drifted slowly south west towards the coast. Quite rough into 3m waves and 30 knot winds.
By daylight we had drifted about 5 miles south so started the engines and battled up the coast for an hour with stay sail still up. Jim spoke with marine rescue Port Macquarie and fortunately the tide was high with reasonable conditions for entering the harbour. Jim took the helm while I navigated and kept the engines running. . We needed to get a bit north of the entrance to come in with the north east wind behind us.
Once in position I took the helm with Jim controlling the stay sail and Trevor standing by as needed. Of course it was raining so visibility was poor. Sam was still very much under the weather.
Everything went to plan with a smooth entrance to the harbour. We then had to find an anchorage. Trevor phoned the Marina and relayed directions to a vacant mooring. Not much width in the channel and a lot of shallow mud flats.
Jim took over the helm and myself and Trevor tried to locate the correct mooring bouy. We got it wrong and ended up stuck in the mud. I took the helm again and eventually managed to get off and to our allocated mooring. Secured in a safe mooring we could relax and enjoy some breakfast. Has been rough couple of days but we are all safe and well. Did not expect Debbie to have so much impact this far south!
The forecast for the next week was not looking good as the southerly change hit. Strong southerly winds and a rising swell is not good for the journey south.
It would be almost another week before there was another good weather window to Sail on to Sydney. Everyone had commitments including myself. So we decided to abandon the journey south until we returned from our overseas in June. Trevor managed to get a loan of a car from a friend so they could all drive back the following day.
I had to stay on to arrange for the boat to be left for 3 months. Rang my sweetheart and she drove up for the weekend.
In the morning had breakfast and the crew packed gear and rowed to shore. Car was there by 10am. We had a coffee and they left for Sydney. I arranged with the marina manager to keep the boat there for 3 months and started essential work in order to leave the boat. My sweetheart arrived in the afternoon. Wind strong from the south and tide very strong too.
Not everything goes according to plan and the most important lesson to be learned was that fixed schedules do not work in well with sailing. Your plans need to be flexible and match in with the conditions that Mother Nature dishes out.
With cyclone Debbie lurking in the background we should have waited. To go out into those conditions is not advisable and in a boat that you are unsure of is definitely not good. But everyone has commitments and we did not have that luxury as it would have meant cancelling the trip. It was a rough trip and my sincere thanks go out to the crew I had sailing with me. There were a few scary moments but cool heads and experience carried the day.
Now the boat is half way to Sydney. Need to make the last half in July when I come back from overseas.