We made it to Coffs!
We got into the Harbour here at Coffs around 9PM. So, we made it in six and a half days- pretty pleasing. There were three bad sections (thunderstorms, front with drenching rain and gale-force winds and the final tacking scenario with the wind right in our faces. A total of 158hrs of which 136.5hrs were great sailing and 21.5hrs were bad. Of the good hours, 32hrs were psychologically bad but looking back aty it, this was simply our poor mental attitudes. Ah well, we will retrospectively adjust those attitudes!
Of the other boats which left Noumea- one went the day before us but only reached Bundaberg at the same time we reached Coffs and their passage distance was 100NM less than ours! Another boat left two hours after us but was due into Bundaberg a day later than us. So, we had a really great passage time.
Today, we narrowly avoided disaster. The wind is even stronger today. About 30kts all day. Customs asked us to come to a spot in front of the Marina Office. We did so, but waves coming into the harbour kept bumping us into the piers. The woman in the office was worried it was going to fall down! The bumps were disconcerting but really not damaging to anything. The poor Customs guy was a little embarrassed but it was not his fault. Anyway, we had a very cheerful and chatty Customs/Immigration/Quarantine experience.
When the time came to leave, we reversed away from the piers okay but the engine slowed and slowed. Even at full revs, we were barely holding our own against the wind (stern to wind) only 30metres from the walk way and rock walls. If the engine slowed any further, we were going to be blown under a suspended walkway which would cause major damage to us and it. David took the decision to swing around down wind and bring the bow into the wind to reduce windage. There was very little space to manoeuvre. This worked and we narrowly missed a fishing trawler and started towards our assigned Marina berth. As we got near it, we realised we were not going to make it. We spotted a spare berth closer and headed for it- yelling to people that we had lost the engine and were coming in and would probably hit the dock hard. Fortunately, several people gathered quickly to assist. Amazingly, with full reverse just slowing us enough, we just stopped in time. In fact, from a distance, people told us it looked like a perfect entry to the Marina pen. They did not know that it was the wrong pen and we had virtually no engine power & relying on our speed from the wind behind and the dying engine. Whew!
What happened? It appears that we have sediment in the bottom of the tank. The very bad seas have churned it up and the fuel line is partly blocked. There is just enough fuel getting through to run the engine at a little over 10% power even with the throttle at maximum. So, we are not going ANYWHERE until we have cleaned out the tank. We blew compressed air through the fuel system and changed all the filters before leaving Noumea. We suspect the fuel tank has not been cleaned for about 15yrs and it seems to contain sand and grit at the bottom. (No Mike DeB, there is no algae/fungus etc).
Then this afternoon, there was almost a similar but bigger disaster (not involving us).
A very large fishing trawler hit the reef on the way into the inner MArina Harbour and was blown sideways across the narrow channel. It appears that the propellers were damaged thus totally disabling it. Then, worse happened. The wind and waves blew the trawler free but with no power it started drifting towards the same area we had our trouble.
The crew were trying frantically to throw a line to a bystander on a nearby rock wall and also to a small moored trawler. They succeeded but all this did was move the trawler closer to damaging other vessels.
Then, within minutes, a small powerful fishing boat rushed over and with amazing skill pulled the bow around and then the stern so the 100 tonne menace would miss other fishing boats. They then positioned it so that the wind drifted it down to a vacant section of wharf. No damage to anything- a very professional performance. The small boat was darting from bow to stern of the trawler and back again pulling this way and that.
We will be going to Sydney as soon as the fuel system is properly fixed and we have a weather window. There are not many such "windows" at the moment.
Regds,
Dave & Penny
