Pastime of Sydney- 2009 Adventures

We had a good sail from Broulee to Jervis Bay, making it in just after sunset but with sufficient light remaining. Many dozens of dolphins again playing around the boat in transit and here in the Bay. Pleasant night followed today by an 11km walk in the National Park.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, we are heading for Port Hacking. We are expecting 30kts on the beam at first so it should be a fast and wettish passage. 72NM which we should manage in 10-12hrs.

Best Regds, Dave and Penny no-footer

We had an uneventful passage from Eden to Broulee. It was 80NM (about 150km). We got in around 10pm and anchored at the South end of Broulee Beach. After a walk around Broulee Island, we have relocated to the North end as we are now experiencing strong Northerly winds.

Broulee is between Batemans Bay and Moruya.

Yesterday, we again saw seals- probably the last for this trip as we are moving North, A pod of over 40 dolphins also came to visit at one stage but did not stay long.

We will move on to Jervis Bay in a few days.

We are again in the land of 3G-internet and better mobile phone coverage.

Best Regards,

Dave and Penny

Hi All,

This blog update got lost in the ether, so I am having to re-type it.

We hoisted the sails and upped the anchor on Sunday morning, leaving at 0800. There were some other boats there and they had a lousy night with a lot of rolling. Fortunately, we have our own proprietary "rocker stoppers" and had a perfect night's sleep.

As we went up Murray Pass, we notice about 150 fairy penguins sitting on a huge rock at the water's edge. A very pleasant sight to send us on our way.

The wind was light and all over the place with occasional squalls and light rain showers, but nothing nasty. We had a very slow trip of 43 hours arriving in Eden at 0230 on Tuesday morning. At the moment, we seem destined to arrive everywhere in the pitch black of moonless nights. Along the way, we saw a giant leatherback turtle, seals, albatrosses and huge numbers of dolphins which frequently came to say "hello". We saw two or three different varieties.

Although the low wind strength was a bit frustrating, the positive side was that we had benign conditions for Bass Strait. In front of us was a continuous row of thunderstorms and for once, we were chasing them rather than the other way around. The last 19 hrs was much faster than the first 24hrs during which we covered less than half the total distance. A slow-speed record for Pastime.

Here in Eden, we have done some minor re-provisioning. We carted about 11 days of washing up the hill to the laundromat only to find that it has shut down since our last visit. So, yesterday and today we festooned the lifelines with clothing. They were probably a topic of conversation from the tourist ferry that comes quite close. Today, we went ashore for hot showers and then headed South for Boydtown and East Boyd Bay. Boydtown was a disappointment but the bay here is beautiful. It has become a little full with other boats hoping to shelter from the Southerly front coming through this evening. We will head off for Broulee in the morning. This Southerly interlude will only last about 30hrs, so we will enjoy a few days exploring Broulee and Broulee Island. Then it will be off to Jervis Bay early next week.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

It is looking as if we will leave Deal Island for Eden Sunday morning (21/3/09).

We have had absolutely marvellous weather here with clear blue skies and today was the warmest since we were in Batemans Bay many weeks ago. The water has sparkelled. It has been 26deg rather than the cooler temperatures of mainland Tassie.

We go to sleep each evening to the sound of penguins and wake to them early in the mornings. We have been doing more walks and have now pretty much covered both Deal and Erith Islands. David braved the freezing waters for some snorkelling and endeavoured to find remains of the 1877 sinking of the Bulli. However, the weed and sea grasses have pretty much obliterated it and the fierce storms and shifting sands have removed traces.

Wes and Ethel, the caretakers have been kind and we have had morning tea with them. This afternoon there will be a BBQ behind the beach as several other yachts have arrived. Previously,we had been the only one and now there are four. Wes's grand father was head light keeper here during the war and Wes's parents honeymooned here- so he has a special interest and affinity with the place.

We had two dinners aboard the beautiful Miriama, finding that we had acquaintances and friends in common. Their cook prepared wonderful meals. We have been sharing weather details and they went off this afternoon to a different island and will also leave in the morning for Eden.

That's about it for now. Could be in Eden on Monday night We will be back in the land of less extreme weather and a little more warmth. However, we will greatly miss Erith and Deal Islands.

Until Eden- bye for now.

Best Regards, Dave and Penny

We put up the sails and pulled up the anchor at 0635 on Tuesday. We had been anchored in “Middle Arm”, South of Georgetown and Beauty Point. We had a pleasant time there with more enjoyable walks. Unfortunately, the anchor and chain were covered in thick gooey mud. We wanted to get away quickly and just left it to dirty the previously clean deck. We popped down the river with assistance from the tide.

We had a quick passage. A couple of hours faster than our best estimate. However, the seas became very nasty for a few hours (4metre seas on a 2 metre swell- occasionally breaking). This was when the strong current and strong Westerly swell and winds were in opposition. That part was exceedingly cold and rather wet. Still, things quieted down from the 30-37knots at the right time to a more pleasant 25-30kts and the tide changed direction so the waves improved. Two other yachts which left after us turned back and tried again the following day.

We sailed up the Murray Pass- in almost pitch dark with just some starlight to guide us and anchored safely with the sails up under the high cliffs here.

Next day, we upped anchor and delivered some fresh grapes to the newly arrived caretakers on Deal Island. Wes and Ethel have been here three times. His grandfather was head light-house keeper here and another relative was killed in the RAAF aircraft crash in the mid forties. So, many connections with the past and lots of interesting stories.

We completed some of the walks still outstanding from the last visit. Then it was back to the other island for the night. We had pleasant drinks aboard Miriamar with here skipper Bob and crew. He has been at St Vincents Hospital for 40 years, knows Penny’s sister (Annette) and also our friends Peter and Ruth Carter. This is his 18th sailing visit to Tassie.

We may be leaving for Eden on Sunady but the weather is a little uncertain at this stage.

We were very pleased that we had left Deal Is just before the gales which we experienced in the Tamar. Apparently they recorded wind gusts up to 72knots here (that’s about 130km/hr). We also found out that the 5 stranded kayakers got away and paddled all the way to Victoria in something like a 17hr paddle.

Best Regards, Dave and Penny

Hi all, we should be leaving Tuesday morning (tomorrow) for Erith Island. There have been gale warnings for the past three days and tomorrow is a "strong wind warning". It has been a very windy holiday so far.

We were anchored off Georgetown on Friday when a member of the George Town Yacht Club came out and invited us to their "Happy hour". Very pleasant. Then he invited us home for dinner, which we accepted. It was an extremely enjoyable evening and very generous of John and Bev. They have 20acres and a beautiful water front spot on the Tamar. John is one of the Devenport/Launceston pilots and it was very interesting to hear of his work. Bev's sister and husband were also visiting and helping with curtains and installation of a heater in the ketch John and Bev have just bought. A heater would be very useful in Tassie. Dog Patrick, a happy Labrador, was extremely friendly and rather a comedian.

We got back to Pastime around 11pm and woke up to the anchor alarm as we drifted towards the main shipping channel around 5am. The whirlpools and lack of wind plus tides had wrapped the chain all around the anchor making it ineffective.

Other things we have been doing are plenty of walks and exploring the Low Head Pilot station and maritime museum. We have re-provisioned and topped up the diesel which involved carrying 20kg of fuel and walking almost 3Km. Yesterday was so cold, wet and crummy that we stayed on the boat. Today we explored Beauty Point.

We will not be able to receive normal email until we reach Eden next week.

Regds, Dave and Penny no-footer

This was 90 minutes before low tide. Eventually, we were 0.6metres above the water which was but a trickle in the channel 100 metres away.

Where we were "parked" in Launceston, we looked up the Cataract Gorge (shown here) in one direction and onto Royal Park in the other.

We visited two of the three publicly accessible cave systems in the Mole Creek area of the Great Western Tiers.

Wood chips are loaded onto a ship called "The Forest Creator" on the Tamar River.

We rented a car for a few days and did some exploration of Launceston.

That evening, daughter Tess flew in from Canberra. It is a long weekend both in Canberra and Tasmania, so this was great.

Over the long weekend, we visited gorges and underground caves plus a number of the wineries in the Tamar Valley. Pastime is now a little heavier with cases of wine stacked in one of the spare cabins. We just won't fill the water tanks fully to compensate.

We left Launceston on Tuesday, just scraping out with an hour to go until high tide. We stopped along the way at a very old waterfront pub, Rosvears tavern, built in 1831. The food was okay, but like many places that get a reputation for good food, it has undoubtedly deteriorated after the reputation was established.

We anchored for the night and part of today (Wednesday) in a beautiful, isolated Bay called "Spring Bay". David went ashore to get some yabbies. This was successful, but not without effort as the mud was so soft he sank over his knees even while supporting some of his weight on the side of the rubber ducky.

This afternoon, we will go back up to Georgetown.

The weather here has been glorious. Apart from the two days of gales, each day has been fine and balmy. Very pleasant indeed.

It looks as if the next weather window will open up on the weekend. We will then set out for Erith and Deal Islands.

All the best,

Dave & Penny.

We did some re-provisioning and laundry the first day in Georgetown. It was rather windy. There is a series of public pontoons up and down the Tamar River and they are very useful for people like us as we can pull into them much like pulling into a kerbside parking spot in a car.

The replica of the "Norfolk" is housed here. The original Norfolk was built on Norfolk Island after the wreck of the First Fleet ship, the Sirius. Penny's ancestor Peter Hibbs was the Sailing Master.

We were able to explore the replica Norfolk inside and out. It re-enacted Bass and Flinders' circumnavigation of Tasmania and also Flinders' trip to Hervey Bay. All very interesting and particularly exciting for Penny.

As the winds were worsening and the gale warnings continued throughout Tasmania, we moved to a place called "West Arm". First task was to wash off the boat. One always thinks of Tassie as a pristine, clean place but on that Tuesday it rained mud. We are not sure if this was dust brought in from Victoria or a remnanrt of the terrible bushfires. Whatever it was, the boat was a brown mess. Just after Dave finished scrubbing everything down, we had several large rain showers which finished the job rather nicely.

Wednesday, we read books as the wind howled. We saw a maximum of 45 to 50knots in our relatively protected spot. To put this into perspective, there was a large ship outside the harbour and they were trying to get a Pilot aboard to get them into the Harbour. The Captain sounded quite stressed. When the pilot asked him to "increase speed to 8 knots", the Captain said that his engines were at full power and he could only achieve 4knots. This is walking pace and not really enough to maintain steerage way- quite dangerous. So, the six metre seas and howling wind were pretty bad out there.

Thursday, we moved down the river towards Launceston. We had phoned the Tamar Yacht Club and planned to stay there for a few days. Sam, the bosun, had told us there was a real problem with siltation and the high tides (which have a four metre range at the moment) so we would be "sitting in the mud".

We anchored for the night about 6 miles short of Launceston so that we could go in near the peak of next day's 4.2metre tide. It was a very scenic trip and we saw a lazy seal well up the river. The river has some narrow and shallow bits, but they are well beaconed. At some points, the river is several kilometres wide- an impressive river. There are lots of wineries around and the cool climate wines appear to have been quite successful.

Friday, we were up early and went the final stretch into Launceston. In a number of places, the depth was fine but at low tide would have been too shallow for us. "Bosun Sam" met us at the club pontoon and was very welcoming. Definitely not five star accommodation, but good hot showers and everything is clean and tidy though old. The Club House is a very stylish old building.

The yacht club itself started in about 1836 and lays claim to being the oldest in Australia. We were the only boat on the pontoon (which is smallish). Another yacht was tied to piles near the slip yard.

We waited anxiously for the first low tide, to see what was going to happen. It was all very un-dramatic though still remarkable. Our keel, rudder and Saildrive (ie gearbox and propellor) just sank into the mud and the hull sat in the mud on the surface. The mud is very soft and apparently 2.5metres deep. By the time the tide was all the way out, we were sitting 0.6metres ABOVE the water level and all around us was drying mud! Quite remarkable. As we were tied to the pontoon, we could come and go as we pleased. Some other boats, attached to pile moorings on the other side, were very restricted. Their owners could only come or go by small boat at the high tides.

We have a beautiful view up the famous Cataract Gorge.

More later.

Best Regards,

Dave & Penny

We set off from Erith ISland on schedule. All the kayakers had paddled out to say good bye and we charged a mobile phone for them. The 12V charger used the day before had not worked but this time their 240volt one was okay. Not that they can get reception there but more for when they got in range of the mainland.

Yet again, we had a brief (but adequate) weather window. We were expecting about 8hrs of 30kt winds in the night. We started off with a single reef in the sail and because of the currents around these islands, we were racing towards our destination at over 9kts.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a very pleasant 15kts of wind on the beam. This is what most sailors like best.

The wind began to build (as expected) and we made excellent time. We had current both with and against us which is expected in these waters. Indeed, the for and against currents cancelled out to within 1% over the passage.

We spoke with Tamar Coastguard with position updates. Bryn is a very friendly and dedicate, hard-working volunteer who is a main contact point for yachts in these waters. We are guessing he is Welsh. When he reads the weather forecasts, his voice drops pitch at the end of each sentence. So, it is perfectly clear and legible but could be part of a Welsh hymn or Gregorian chant.

A few hours before night fall, Bryn advised us that he had received a call from Victorian Police to say that the wind situation and approaching front seemed to be much more serious than predicted.

We were still within our predicted wind range, though getting close to 30kts. So, we decided to add a further reef in the mainsail and reef the headsail a little. Just as well, because the wind rose further. We were glad not to be on the West Coast of Tasmania because the predictions were for 6-8metre seas on 6metre swells. Not nice!

Anyway, we had an excellent night with the boat performing beautifully. The three metre seas were starting to get a bit cranky as we neared Port Dalrymple. The wind had risen to 36kts and indeed was blowing hard. It had not come around to behind us which we had expected but was still on the beam. This gave us heaps of boat speed, indeed almost too much even reefed down.

The only difficulty with all this was that we were way ahead of even our most optimistic schedule having averaged 7kts the whole way. So, despite the planning, we were yet again coming in with no moon and hours until daylight. We got the sails down in the harbour and the autopilot lost its head. We only use it for taking down sails so it was very annoying that it started heading us into danger as we were tying up the sail. Perhaps the mainsheet knocked the "standby" button on the autopilot? Let's be charitable and say so because the AP has been behaving fine (last used when the paddle kept coming off the Cape Horn and we used the AP until daybreak on the way to Deal Is from Eden). As normally the case, Flinders the Cape Horn windvane had steered us perfectly from Deal Is to the Tamar.

We made our way up the river for a few miles and anchored off historic Georgetown. We set an alarm to wake us for the morning sked where we reported to Bryn that we had arrived safely. Just as well, because by then it was blowing a gale outside and indeed inside the river.

We will be here for a week or two, exploring the Tamar. It is about 64km down the river to Launceston and it looks as if daughter Tess will be visiting us one of the following two weekends. Hooray!

Best Regds, Dave & Penny

Deal and Erith Islands were wonderful.

We had anchored in West Cove on Deal Island at 2300 and slept really well. In the morning, we inflated the rubber ducky. We also needed to tidy the sails. We had pulled them down in the strong winds the night before with little regard for neatness.

Upon going ashore to the beautiful sandy beach, near an old disused wharf that originally was used to supply the light house, we were met by Janet and Glenn. They are volunteer caretakers who live alone on the island and carry out numerous tasks. On this morning, they were weeding down behind the beach. Their transport is paid by Parks and Wildlife but they pay for everything else. We chatted for a couple of hours and unfortunately delayed their weeding some what.

They told us where to find the small museum that volunteer caretakers have been putting together. They also told us where to find the key for the light house. This was built in 1848 and is reputedly the second highest lighthouse in the world. It's height was a big problem as it was often above the clouds and invisible to mariners (it is at approx 300metres or 1,000ft).

It was decomissioned in 1992.

We did plenty of walking and looking at the abundant wildlife which included Cape Barron Geese and wallabies. None of the animals have known predators and allow humans to get quite close.

Around noon, the front started to come in with lowering clouds, rain and howling wind. It was time to move the yacht to the other side of Murray Pass to Erith Island. We had an interesting ride across as the current was ripping through the pass (between the two islands) at about four knots and there were whirlpools and overfalls (waves that stand still and break in situ). We were casting apprehensive glances at the rubber duck with outboard still attached but made it safely. We anchored off yet another beautiful beach.

The wind gusts were gale force at around 40-45kts and we decided to fold down the canopy and perhaps remove the outboard from the rubber ducky. Too late! The rubber ducky had flipped, submerging the outboards. Oh well, something else to keepo us occupied cleaning it out with fresh water, undoing bits and pieces and applying plenty of WD40 and lanolin sprays. We got it working again.

We were unable to avoid dragging anchor in the strong winds plus bullets (very strong, brief gusts coming off the cliffs from different directions). The whole area off the beach is covered in weed. We have a different (Admiralty) anchor for this and it is normally great. However, this anchorage has only a thin cover of sand over rock and you cannot anchor in that.

We did find a much better spot away from the beach and with thicker sand. With a constant 30kts of wind, strong bullets and full reverse from the engine, we dug the qnchor well into the sand and there it stayed put for the rest of our time in the islands.

Next day, we walked on Erith Island and inspected the wreck on the beach and a historic shack built from driftwood and now maintained by visitors such as kayakers. In it was an old note from the 50s or 60s confirming what we had found about anchorage on this island. Most people just anchor in the weed and "get away with it" but this will not work in a gale. Then, having ascertained that the outboard was okay, we set across Murray Pass for Deal Island. We chose low tide (for safety as one could easily get swept out of the 1Km wide channel) into the open sea. On the way, we passed within a few metres of aseal which gave us a "grin" and lazy wave of the flipper. Then we ascended to the lighthouse and admired the spectacular views. It was a clear day and we could actually see Flinders Island. Fantastic views. It was also rather nice being able to inspect all the history, with our own key, in our own time and no-one to drag us around.

Shortly after we had arrived, we met up with five kayakers who had got here from Flinders Island and the Furneaux Group of islands. Every year, they kayak around parts of Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands. We were impressed with their professionalism and prowess.

We were able to provide them some weather forecasting, which doid not look good. Gales were on the way and they wanted to get to the Hogan Group of islands and then to Wilsons Promontary. They were at the end of their one month trip and had job commitments. We were able to give them some extra food and books to read. When we left, it looked as if they would be stuck there a further week. They were going to paddle over to the other side and stay with the caretakers. It is likely that they will have to leave their kayaks on the island and get onto the once-per-three-month supply vessel. This was due in about a week to pick up the caretakers and bring their replacements.

We only saw one other yacht. A timber kech arrived late afternoon from mainland Tassie. It came down Murray Pass but turned too late to make the beach where Pastime was anchored and the kayakers camped. It appeared unable to make any headway against the powerful current using its engine and disappeared out the end of the Pass to anchor in another small Cove at the North end of Deal Island. On our second last day, when we were half way to the lighthouse, we heard a helicopter. Strange, as you need special permission to come and land. Turned out it was a rescue helicopter. One of the crew from the ketch was having turns and had become ill so the ketch dropped him off with the caretakers and the rescue was initiated. The ketch set off for Eden in the short weather window now available. At last report, the crew member has recovered and is okay.

We determined to leave at 1400 on Monday. This would get us into Port Dalrymple in daylight and avoid a really strong front due around midday.

We really loved our time at Deal and Erith Islands and will explore some more on our way home. It was looking as if we would have winds to 30kts in the middle of our 101NM passage to the Tamar with seas to 3 metres. That's okay.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

Deal and Erith Islands are fantastic! More on this and yesterday's helicopter rescue of ill yachtie once we are in the Tamar River.

We are heading off for the next 100NM (187Km) leg in a few hours (about 1300) today, Monday. ETA early Monday morning. There is seriously bad weather on the ay and we want to reach the river before it does.

Best Regards, Dave and Penny.