As we usually do (year after year), we celebrated the start of the New Year by getting up early and watching he sun come up on the New Year. Best wishes to all for 2010.
]]> As we usually do (year after year), we celebrated the start of the New Year by getting up early and watching he sun come up on the New Year. Best wishes to all for 2010.
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Yes, we set off for the Harbour but a few things got in the way. We had a minor issue with the headsail (too embarassing to detail). The wind was from the South. It was forecast to be from the North on New Years Day. And the old saying goes, Gentlemen only sail downwind…
So we decided to head for Hardys Bay instead. It’s been quite wet, but we’re cozy and we had a very nice meal at Yum Yum last night, so all’s good!
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We've been in Akuna Bay for a few days, waiting for the rain to clear (which it did quite successfully yesterday. Today, we're off to the Harbour today so we can be there for the New Year's fireworks. ]]>
Yes, we’re back home. It was a wet trip, with regular drizzle all the way. But it was a pretty fast trip, less than 21 hours from Laurieton to Barrenjoey with a favourable Easterly 15-25 knot breeze. I really enjoyed the return trip from Grafton, the boat handled well and the company was great, thanks Bruce!
Where Next?
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We’re currently halfway between Camden Haven and Pittwater. We’re making excellent progress with speeds up to 9 knots. At this rate we’ll be back on the marina by 3.00 am Sunday. We’ve had persistent drizzle all the way sofar, but we’re in good spirits (even had a small glass of red with dinner just now). The photo was taken by Jeanette from Reeflection as we leaving Laurieton this morning. Jeannette and Doug are not just good company, they also take nice pictures!
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If you are going to get stuck somewhere, Laurieton / Camden Haven is the place to be. No doubt some time the rain will stop and the wind will abate. At which time we’ll miss dinners at the Laurieton United Servicemen Club!
Meanwhile, the crew of Reeflection has been experimenting with their wet weather setup.
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When we left Iluka, the Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) station reminded us about a strong wind warning for the day. We had looked at the forecast NE at 20-25 knots and decided it would give us a quick run down the coast. While the wind indeed got up to around 25 knots during the day, the sea state was very modest and Te Moana enjoyed the conditions, averaging 7 knots for the day. We wondered about the effectiveness of the hourly strong wind warnings which we kept getting from the VMR stations while we were enjoying a great day out at sea. ]]>
Joy has started her land trip home and Bruce and I left Iluka this morning, heading for Camden Haven and hope to get there early tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. There is a nice 20-25 Knot North Easterly, moving us along at a brisk pace. We just passed South Solitary Island and will pass Coffs Harbour in about one hour. I’m looking forward to the night sail. It’s full moon and it should be magic out here.]]>
After driving back to the boat yesterday, we covered the last few miles to Grafton and we’re now anchored close to the bridge. The local cruising/racing yacht club put on a barbeque for us last night to welcome us. And of course, it’s Jacaranda Festival time. From here, we’re focused on the return journey. Joy is driving back and Bruce and I will take Te Moana back to Pittwater in a few hops, starting Monday. Watch this space.
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Te Moana is on the public jetty at Ulmarra, just a few miles down river from Grafton. It's a convenient spot for me (Marius) to dash back to Sydney for a couple of meetings while Joy looks after Te Moana. I'll be back on the boat by Saturday afternoon together with Bruce Dell, who will help get Te Moana back to Sydney.]]>
We’ve had a fair bit of rain over the past 24 hours and the countryside around here looks like that is a regular occurrence. We’ve sailed past lush green paddocks and canefields. Tomorrow I fly back to Sydney for a day to attend some meetings and to pick up our crew for the return journey.]]>
The Harwood bridge opened as promised and we had a quiet motor up to Maclean. Maclean has a nice public jetty with power and water, so Me Too and Te Moana and very comfortably settled here. The public jetty is right in the middle of town and as long as we're pretending to be MacCoomans or MacWatson, we'll get on well here.
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We're on the Clarence River after an easy motor-sail up to Iluka yesterday. The Pacific Highway is going to close for us so we can go under the bridge at Harwood at 0630 tomorrow morning. Rather than rush up the river tomorrow morning, we decided to come up this afternoon and anchor at the bridge. There are two other boats with us, Mica (Mike and Carole) and Metoo (George and Nick). My Dutch friends and relatives probably won't understand the excitement of having a bridge open for you and stopping the traffic. In Australia, there are not many places that a boat can hold up traffic on a national highway. We look forward to that in the morning.]]>
Just to follow up on our engine failure the other day. The cause was a faulty relay (the one driving the starting solenoid). There is a young sparky (Marcus Edwards, 0405 248 854) here at the Coffs Harbour marina who found the cause quick smart and had it going again in a few minutes. Today I rode the bike into town to get a spare relay, just in case the starboard engine wants to play the same trick. At first light tomorrow we’re hoping to set off for Yamba/Iluka. Another adventure awaits…
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We've been sailing for long enough to know that occasionally, things go pear shape. When they do, it's a matter of limiting the damage. You can't prevent or foresee all of the challenges while cruising, merely hope to limit the damage. As predicted, we had a rolly night at Trial Bay. The plan was to get some sleep after the leg from Camden Haven and to simply lift anchor if it became too uncomfortable. As it happened, the Northerly came a little earlier than expected and so at 3.00 am we decided to get going.
]]> Unfortunately, the port engine emitted all sorts of grinding noises when I attempted to start it. It soon became clear that we would have to do without it. Luckily, catamarans have built-in redundancy and so we still had our trusty starboard Volvo. Getting away on one engine is a little tricky as the boat spins until it achieves enough boat speed for the rudders to become effective. So we decided to wait until first light before lifting anchor.At dawn, we hoisted the mainsail and made a successful get away. It was a longer day than expected (NE at 20Knots) and we were pretty tired by the time we got to Coffs Harbour. Our assigned spot was at the end of C arm, which gave us at just one shot at getting tied up while we were on only one engine. It proved to be tricky - as the boat slowed, the wind caught it and we missed the marina at our first attempt. As was to be expected, all further attempts were futile with only one engine. We crab crawled down the channel past C and B arms and found a bit of sand. As luck would have it, we stranded opposite A arm. Fellow Cruiser Mike Quinn and the Marina Manager were a great help and with some judicious rope and winch work, Te Moana was soon alongside A arm. Of course we had an attentive audience as a yachtie making a spectacle is always popular with crowds.
Next time we'll call the marina ahead of time and have a few folks standing by before we attempt this again. And now we'll wait for a mechanic to get the port engine going again before proceeding to Yamba. [No boats were harmed in the telling of this story and thankfully, no photos or video are known to exist - just in case you had ideas, Leon]
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