june 1 2005 : coast of new south wales, australia
It was surprisingly hard to leave Sydney. We were tied to a nice safe mooring just a quick walk away from anything you could possibly need and right on the doorstep of an amazing city. But when we woke up the other morning and found the temperature inside the boat was 50 degrees we knew it was time to get moving. Our goal for the first day was pretty modest, we decided to head over to Manly Beach in order for me to buy the surfboard that I had seen there a couple weeks earlier.
Manly is only about three miles away, so an hour after dumping the mooring we were looking for a place to anchor. Manly is quite possibly the least cruising friendly bay we have been to. Every available protected space is taken with moorings packed together so tightly that you can hardly see a space to drive a boat between them. The weather was calm however, so we anchored in 40 feet of water just outside a mooring field. We headed into town and straight to the surf shop where the guy hooked me up with everything I needed to pretend I was a full on surfer. Next stop was the beach where the waves were looking pretty good and there were at least 100 surfers in the water. Even in the sun on the beach it is getting cold though. Ali sat on the beach in jeans and a sweatshirt and gamely watched on as I tried to catch a few waves. My surfing was mediocre at best, but it was exciting just to be on my own board. In town we picked up a couple of things that we needed for cooking tacos, which is by far the best thing that we know how to cook. Then back to the dinghy for the half mile ride back across the bay.
When we got to the dinghy dock we saw that there were large whitecaps blowing across the bay. Not good. This of course made for a very crappy wet ride back to the boat. The wind was coming from the one direction that we were really exposed to and Manly is also open to the ocean swell since it is the first bay inside of the harbor heads. We weren’t all that excited about the prospect of bouncing around on the anchor and saw that there was an open mooring nearby which I was sure had had a boat on it just a few hours earlier. So since it was nearly dark we figured the boat had probably taken off for the evening.
We upped anchor, once again blowing a fuse in the process, something which we’ve really got to get figured out very soon, and picked up the mooring. Ali started cooking the tacos while I cleaned up the boat and sure enough, ten minutes later the boat came back and we had to move. Now it was really getting close to dark and we weren’t sure where to go. I asked the guy if he knew where we could get a mooring and he suggested we just pick up the Police mooring which was right next to his. That of course was my plan all along, though originally I thought I’d have to wait for him to leave, but now with his blessing we picked up the “No Public Use, Emergency Use Only!” mooring. We weren’t entirely sure that we had an emergency but quickly concocted a story just in case the cops showed up.
Our tacos were the best ever that night, I think we may have actually gotten a little sick of eating out every night, but I’m sure we’ll get over that soon enough. Ali pointed out that it was our wedding anniversary that day so she claimed my new surfboard as being her present to me and teasingly asked me what I had gotten her. At least I think she was teasing.
Today we took off early for Pittwater which is the first bay up the coast from Sydney Harbour. The swell was running pretty big into the harbor but once we got around the headland and headed north it gave us a nice push. We had just the right amount of wind for the screecher and were somewhat amazed when we shut off the engines and just sailed up the coast in peace and quiet. What a novel idea.
After an uneventful morning we rounded the corner into Pittwater. We headed straight for a little bay full of empty moorings surrounded by a national park. Then for the first time in a month we just stayed on the boat and relaxed.
Got a funny email the other day. Remember us telling you about the Bart Roberts party back when we were in the Bahamas? Well if you’ll recall there was a film crew there that night shooting video for a French television show. So we get this email from a website follower who lives in Saudi Arabia of all places and he tells us he saw the television show. He didn’t give a very glowing review of our acting abilities. However I suspect that if we ever happen to be passing through Saudi Arabia we will be accosted by young fans asking for autographs. We’ll try not to let all that fame go to our heads.
june 6 2005 : coast new south wales
Judging by the days that have passed between updates there hasn’t been a whole lot going on. We spent a couple of nights on the previously mentioned mooring just laying around the boat, getting a little sun, reading, and working on a couple of boat projects. One we finished up was fixing a couple of cracks that had appeared in the saloon and kitchen area over the last 18 months. Just gelcoat cracks from the twisting and slamming of the boat. They look quite a bit better, but matching up gelcoat colors is nearly impossible, white on white is never that simple.
On Friday we moved a few miles down the bay to the Royal Motor Yacht Club. A website follower of ours, Jim, is a member there and recommended it along with a Volvo mechanic who we had out to the boat in the afternoon. He had a listen to the engine, confirmed what I thought by saying that the noise was coming from just in front of the gearbox. Judging by the sound of the two clunks coming on the last two revolutions of the engine as it shuts down he suggested it was probably the drivesaver, which is a piece that absorbs shock loading when going into gear and presumably is loose or worn and causing the two clunks on shutdown. A couple of others have suggested the same thing. The mechanic gave us a quick estimate of $1500 to fix it, $1100 of which was labor, since the engine will have to be removed to get at the piece. Well after our New Zealand experience taking apart the engine I figure that I can easily remove the engine myself, with the help of one other person to help lift it out. So in the end we decided that we’d do it ourselves, but not immediately. I know, we’re breaking the number one rule of preventative maintenance, but we are really wanting to continue moving north and the engine is running perfectly, so we are going to push our luck for a couple more weeks and work on it in Brisbane.
Another major project to get off the to-do list was fixing the dinghy leak. It has been leaking ever since we put the boat back in the water in New Zealand. Recently it began needing twice daily infusions of air in order for us to be able to use it, so I finally pulled it up onto the dock and completely deflated it. I peeled apart the seam that was leaking the air, applied a liberal amount of glue and used plenty of pressure on it while it dried. Two days later it is still holding air. I won’t feel overly confident until a month has gone by, but it feels good to get that done.
In the meantime Ali was busy with her usual projects of keeping the boat looking good and life running smoothly. She polished all of our stainless steel, which is anything but stainless, cleaned up the gelcoat mess that I made all over the inside of the boat, and caught up on all of our laundry.
We met a cruising couple today who have never ventured offshore, but who think they might like to. Their one recurring question revolved around what the long passages are like. I should really consult a thesaurus, because the only word I can ever seem to come up with is, boring. We spend hours and hours for days on end with nothing to do. The boat doesn’t require our constant attention; between the sails, engines, and autopilot, it’s got things pretty well covered. Of course there are a lot of exciting moments out at sea, catching a big fish, having dolphins join us, spotting whales and finding water in the bilges. Then there are always a few frantic moments when the wind picks up or quickly shifts and we are required to take action. But for the most part there just isn’t a lot to do. We are sailing the trade wind route around the world for a reason.
We each reach a point on every passage when we say, “this sucks” and at the time we say it we really think it does. But once we make landfall all is forgotten, and we are two of the happiest people in the world. I always feel a real sense of accomplishment at those moments. Ali never used to think much about the accomplishment of sailing across vast oceans, but yesterday when we were talking to this couple she seemed genuinely proud when she said, “Yeah, we crossed the Tasman.” I think she might have even had a bit of a swagger about it.
Today we motored over to Jerusalem Bay which is just a few miles up a river into another national park area. We had a couple of sea eagles flying around the boat today, possibly eyeing us up as an easy meal. For dinner tonight we are cooking up some sausages on the barbie Australian-style. We had Pizza Hut (I promise I wouldn’t eat Pizza Hut back home, but out here it is sooo good) the last three nights, American-style, but they won’t deliver out on the water so we are on our own.
june 7 2005 : coast new south wales
We woke up this morning at six and found fog so thick we couldn’t see anything beyond 20 feet. Since we had come in the day before and were confident our charts were correct and were reasonably sure there wouldn’t be many boats out this early in this fog we decided to leave as planned. We untied from the mooring and within seconds had drifted far enough away that you could no longer see it or anything else. Ali went down below and took over charts duty while I steered the boat. We cruised along at only three knots while Ali yelled up from below “left 10 degrees,” or whatever was needed to keep us in the middle of the river. Within an hour the fog started to burn off and we could see well enough to set the autopilot and relax.
There wasn’t much wind all day and what little there was was on the nose. So we motored up the coast to Lake Macquarie. Actually we only made it to Swansea, the river bar entrance to the lake. There is one bridge to go through along the river and we had just missed the three o’clock opening and would have to wait until five for the next one. Well it is winter here now and it is dark at five so we grabbed one of the public moorings right outside the bridge and told them we’d wait for morning. Anyway, uneventful day and what looks to be shaping up as an uneventful night.
june 9 2005 : lake macquarie, new south wales, australia
We motored through the bridge and into Lake Macquarie yesterday morning. We pulled up outside the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and anchored just outside the hundred or so boats moored there. The water across the entire lake is only around 20 feet deep so you can anchor pretty much wherever you’d like. The weather was beautiful, hot for once, and no wind. Seemed like a good time to jump in the water and scrub the waterline clean. Wow sixty-seven degree water is damn cold! With the new paint job the scum comes right off the boat and we got her looking good again.
Just in time for the sailing racers that came by in the afternoon. Apparently we anchored right in the middle of their course, and they all sailed within a few feet of the boat to check us out. Ali and I just kicked back in the sun with a couple beers and watched these guys (and I do mean guys, out of 100 or so racers there was one woman) race their little sailboats around in circles. I know a lot of you will think we are the ones who are nuts, but I tell you, no matter how hard we try we just can’t see how racing sailboats could be fun. In fact, when you are only moving at two mph can it even be called racing? Ah well, to each his own I guess.
It turned out Chris, our friend from the Sydney marina was working on his new boat just a few hundred yards from where we happened to drop anchor. He had been working on his boat all week by himself so we had him over to the boat for some good home cooking. You know, hot dogs, Doritos and beer.
This morning we tried calling the Coast Guard station to set up a time for them to open the bridge for us to leave. I called and called but couldn’t get a response. Finally the Coastal Patrol answered our call. The Coast Guard station is only four miles away but couldn’t hear us calling, even though our VHF should be good for 20 miles. The Coastal Patrol was two miles away but we still couldn’t communicate on any station besides Channel 16. So that’s how we found out that our VHF isn’t working very well. That really helps explain why nobody ever answers my calls until I am practically within yelling distance of them. Just another stupid boat thing to work on at some point. The Coastal Patrol set up a bridge opening for us at nine and we were off again, on our way up to Newcastle 20 miles up the coast.
Our cruising guide for this area didn’t have much information other than it is a pretty industrial port. It did say however that a new marina was supposed to be built in 2000, other than that there is no area to anchor and no moorings. We came through the entrance right behind a big cargo ship and found a very nice looking city. They had obviously done a lot to develop the waterfront, with lots of cafés and new condos. But apparently they haven’t gotten to the part where they fix up the water facilities. They have about a mile and a half of waterfront with nothing but derelict wharves and rock walls. So we motored right past this nice area of the city and back into the commercial port area where we finally found the little marina.
We pulled into a spot and went into the office where we found out they charged $60 AUS a night, by far the most expensive marina since Florida (New Zealand was $17). Nice little monopoly this place has got considering there is not one other option anywhere in the area. We paid the money and headed into town. We found a great burger joint called Big Al’s and had to stop in as a sort of homage to Ali’s dad. Bought a couple of really cheesy postcards. You just have to love postcards from places that really have nothing that stands out or sets them apart. You get great things like a picture of a crocodile saying “mmm, that tourist sure was good.” Despite the fact that there are no crocs around this area. Or a picture of some innocuous brick building with an inscription saying it is home of the Newcastle Foundry built in 1932. All of which probably makes the folks back home really wish they were here with us. The town was nice though, a lot of good looking shops and pubs, but it is definitely right smack dab in the middle of an urban renewal project.
june 10 2005 : coast new south wales
We had planned on spending a couple of days in Newcastle but with the marina fees being so high we decided to take off today instead. So we set off for Port Stephens 30 miles up the coast. The wind was on the nose but only at about 8 knots and the forecast didn’t call for any more than that. About an hour out we spotted whales. We altered our course to intercept them and got some amazing views of them but once again missed getting anything really good on camera. I’m not sure why whales are so hard to photograph. When they passed in front of us they were less than 50 yards away and the noise they made was incredible; blowing and groaning as they went by. For about another 30 minutes they followed roughly the same path as us but a couple hundred yards off to our side. We watched them surface and blow every minute or so and then suddenly they were gone.
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About the time they disappeared the wind came. Despite the forecast of 5-10 knots we ended up pounding into 25 knots for three hours before finally rounding the corner and cruising into Port Stephens, the dolphin capital of Australia. And sure enough, as soon as we sailed in a pod of dolphins emerged alongside of us. They seem like they are pretty familiar with boats though and didn’t find us interesting; they took one look and then peeled off in the other direction. I knew there were supposed to be free visitor moorings available and we headed for those. There were only three and we happily grabbed the last one before closing up the house and calling it a day.
june 14 2005 : coast new south wales
The weather hasn’t been too nice the last few days, overcast, some rain, and winds from the north. The winds haven’t been strong, but seeing as how we are trying to sail north we thought we’d wait them out and hope for the SE trade winds that are supposed to be blowing this time of year. We hung around the town of Nelson Bay for a couple of days. The place is a tourist mecca. There were hundreds of tourists, mostly Asian, lining up for the hourly dolphin and whale watching tours. There was one tour boat, a catamaran that didn’t look much bigger than ours, that went out so loaded down with people I couldn’t believe that it even moved. And this is winter, I can’t imagine this place in summer, it must be crazy.
Yesterday we motored across the bay to a different anchorage. There were dolphins all over the place, every direction you looked you would see a couple of dolphins surfacing. But again, they didn’t show any interest in us and never came close. The anchorage was a nice little spot surrounded by woods and had a little tidal stream running a mile or so inland from it which was just deep enough to cruise along in the dinghy. And this morning there were even dolphins swimming around the boats.
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The weather is finally looking a little better for our sail north, so we left this morning for Broughton Island which is just about ten miles out of Port Stephens and two miles offshore. The cruising guide said it was a national park with a couple of fishing huts on the beach. We motored into the bay expecting to see a couple of falling down wood shacks and so were a little surprised to find six little cottages lined up along the shore. They looked nice, but for some reason the whole setting gave us the creeps. For one thing there were suddenly flies everywhere, then there was a guy just standing over on the shoreline staring at us and not moving, and then when I heard a banjo and looked through the binoculars to see an albino kid sitting on the porch playing it, I knew we were in a weird place. Tomorrow we are off on an overnight passage. We had been trying to cruise up the coast just doing day hops but are finding that it is taking us forever to get anywhere. So assuming the wind is good we’ll just keep on going tomorrow.
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june 17 2005 : coff’s harbor, new south wales, australia
Broughton Island was a strange place. During the day there didn’t seem to be anybody around. Then right after dark there was suddenly a whole group of people on the beach drinking beer, fishing from shore, and cleaning fish. Yet there were still no fishing boats to be seen. We left early the next morning, our plan to sail overnight up to Coff’s Harbor which was 150 miles north. As soon as we came around the island we saw humpback whales about a mile away. They eventually passed in front of us about a quarter mile away.
After that start to the day we figured we’d be seeing them all the way up the coast but it turned out they were the only ones we’d see. The wind was pretty good in the morning and we were flying downwind at eight knots, but within a couple of hours it started to die down and we spent the rest of the night sailing slowly along at four knots. By morning it didn’t look like we’d make it to Coff’s before nightfall so we decided we’d stop farther down the coast and sail to Coff’s the next day. As soon as we made that decision the wind picked up and we were moving again, so we made a run for it. After a long, uneventful day in which we caught one sad little tuna, we pulled into Coff’s Harbor right before dark.
Our cruising guide said that there were courtesy moorings to use and not to try anchoring because the holding was bad. So of course we pull in and find that there are no moorings. The marina was tiny and there was no way we would be able to fit in there so we called Coastal Patrol on the VHF and he told us the moorings had been removed a couple of months earlier and that we would be in the way of the fishing boats if we used the public jetty. So with the last of the light we went out and anchored. As usual I shouldn’t believe anything another cruiser says about an anchorage because it always seems to be wrong. The anchor dug right in on the first try and we went to bed.
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june 19 2005 : coast new south wales
The weather has been awful the last couple of weeks. Like I said previously the trade winds this time of year are supposed to be from the southeast which is the most perfect angle of wind we could have for sailing north up the coast. Unfortunately we haven’t had those winds. Instead we have had nothing but winds from the north or the west, forcing us to sit tight on the northerlies and run for the next stop on the westerlies. The forecast the other day showed a one day window with winds from the west sandwiched between a bunch of days from the north, so we decided to leave Coff’s Harbor at one a.m. yesterday for the sixty mile trip up to the Clarence River.
We woke up at one and found that the wind had shifted like it was supposed to and was only blowing about five knots, which was fine with us because we wanted nice calm seas for leaving Coff’s Harbor in the middle of the night. Luckily there was enough light from the harbor itself to make getting through the narrow entrance pretty easy. For the rest of the night we motorsailed and by morning the wind had picked up to ten knots and we were moving at a nice clip. We made it up to the Clarence River entrance by two and prepared for our second river bar entrance.
Here is where our family members and anybody who is trying to talk their wife into sailing around the world should stop reading. No seriously.
First off I’ll explain what a river bar entrance is like for those of you who don’t know. It is where an inland river runs into the ocean, but to make it navigable they have to make a few changes. Generally here in Australia what they do is build two giant retaining walls a 100 yards apart and these run out to sea about 200 yards or so essentially making a big runway. Now the trick with these is the tides. During a flood tide the water from the ocean floods into the river creating a current that runs upriver, and during an ebb tide the water from the river flows out of the river and creates a current running down river. So during a flood tide you generally have a flat sea at the entrance because all the water is flowing up the river. But during an ebb tide you have the water flowing out of the river and running into the swell of the ocean which is still coming towards the river creating big waves where the two meet.
About a week ago we entered our first bar entrance at Lake Macquarie. The day was similar to yesterday with light winds of five to ten knots, and a very small ocean swell. When we got to the entrance, despite it being an ebb tide, the water was like glass and we were able to continue right in.
Yesterday, at the Clarence River entrance, I expected to have similar conditions. Again, there hadn’t been much wind for the last couple of days and what little wind there was, came from the west which seemed to be mellowing out the ocean swell. So despite it being near the end of the ebb tide I figured that we would see similar conditions to Lake Macquarie.
The cruising guide told us there were breaking waves about a quarter mile out from the entrance and that to avoid these we should sneak in close to the end of the breakwall before entering “the runway.” The runway is an area about a hundred yards long that runs between two long breakwalls directing the river out in to the ocean.
As we approached the entrance we didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. There were a few waves breaking against the north wall, but that made sense since there was a small south swell. Then just as we entered the runway we saw a huge wave about 75 yards in front of us that seemed to be moving in slow motion as it rolled straight up the river. Looking back now it would have been at this point that we probably had five seconds to make the decision to stop and get ourselves out of there. But we didn’t, we hesitated, and then it was too late.
Suddenly there were huge breaking waves roaring up behind us. Ali scrambled to close the cockpit doors while I tried to get us in a straight line up the river. The waves were on us in seconds. The first one picked the boat up what felt like a hundred feet in the air, but somehow passed safely underneath us. We weren’t so lucky on the next one.
The wave took control as it grabbed hold of the boat. Up to this point I had been using the autopilot; I quickly realized that wasn’t going to react fast enough, so I hit the standby button and grabbed hold of the wheel. I cannot imagine how fast the boat was moving at this point. For the moment we were pointed straight ahead and I still had hope that this wave too, would slide beneath us.
Then suddenly the boat veered to the right. We were in the face of a huge wave, sideways at a 45 degree angle, and moving at incredible speeds. We could see the wave beginning to break and we were completely under its control. It seemed at that moment there was no possibility of a good outcome. The boat, with us on it, was about to be flipped over and destroyed against the shallow river bottom. The wave continued to break from one end to the other, until the top of the curling green monster above us finally turned white, and crashed over the top of our heads.
Ali was knocked off her feet and slammed to the cockpit floor by the wall of water, while I somehow managed to hang on to the wheel. It was in the split second as the wave broke over us that we both truly thought that it might be all over for us. We had zero control and were completely at the mercy of the wave. It passed both over and through us, yet miraculously the boat didn’t flip. Then despite the fact that we were still moving sideways at an unbelievable speed I was able to crank the wheel and feel the boat slowly come back around.
There were more waves gathering up right behind us though. I yelled to Ali to stay in the cockpit, hammered the throttles and kept going, trying desperately to keep the boat running perpendicular to the oncoming waves. The cockpit was full of water as the drains couldn’t keep up, and the doors had popped open a crack when the wave hit, so there was tons of water in the boat as well, but so far no serious damage. We held our breath as a couple more waves lifted us up, passing harmlessly underneath before breaking violently upriver. And then, just like that, we were out of it.
The whole thing happened so fast that we could hardly believe it had happened at all. We motored into calm water, both shaking, not sure if it was because we were wet and cold or our nerves were fried. I suppose it had more to do with the adrenaline coursing through our bodies. We both stripped out of our soaked clothes and Ali brought up some dry ones to put on. Ali kept asking over and over again, Are you alright? as I just sat there quietly. Ali went inside to make sure the bilge pumps were doing their job and that everything else was okay. Somehow the computer was still sitting on the nav station table charting our progress as if nothing had happened. A half hour later we were tied up to a mooring where we spent the rest of the day cleaning the boat, in silence.
Aside from learning a lesson on how severe these river bars could be, we also learned just how seaworthy our boat was. There is a lot of criticism directed towards catamarans by monohull owners, but I have no doubt this same situation would have ended very differently if we’d not been on a cat. Another thing boat related is something I often kid Ali about. She keeps the boat spotless. She doesn’t like anything on her counters or basically out in the open at all. Everything on our boat is always put away. The women who come on our boat always comment on how clean and organized it is. Seems like a minor thing, but after the boat is tossed that violently and we come inside and there isn’t one thing on the floor or out of place it sure feels worth it. Same goes for the outside of the boat. We don’t store anything on deck. No jerry jugs, no fenders or extra lines, nothing. If that stuff had been tied up outside it would have been ripped off the boat for sure. Lastly, I found that by keeping our heads we can make it through pretty much anything. Neither one of us panicked, which enabled us to get things under control and get out of there in one piece.
Anyway, that was that. We talked briefly about not including this on our website, knowing that it would scare our families and would provide fodder for the know-it-alls. But we’ve been honest about everything this long so we couldn’t stop now. And we hope that it doesn’t sound flippant or come across like we are trying to be heroic or something. We know that we are the ones who put ourselves in that position and it could have been the biggest mistake we ever made. Fortunately it wasn’t. Live and learn.
june 22 2005 : coast new south wales
Well we are still sitting in Yamba. The weather has been really crappy ever since we left Sydney. We haven’t had one day of trade winds sailing since we left to head up the coast. Our plan was to stop here for two nights but most likely we are going to be here a week from the looks of the forecast. There is another small town just up the river a couple of miles that we are going to head up to today though.
Anyway, not much to report from Yamba. We have just been jumping around from open mooring to open mooring while here. There were supposed to be the government installed courtesy moorings here but once again they have been removed. Of course we don’t mind anchoring, but in Australia virtually every place that is any good at all for anchoring has been filled to the brim with personal moorings making anchoring a little tricky. Yamba is just a small little town with the normal grocery store, take-away burger joints, surf shops, and a bank. Not a whole lot to see and do, especially when it is only sixty degrees with overcast skies.
We did manage to get some more minor projects done around the boat. I pulled apart the windlass, cleaned it and regreased it. Hopefully that will solve the problems we have been having with that. I also checked the wiring on the windlass and confirmed that it is the correct size. It seems that is the most common source of fuse blowing problems. Cleaned the barbeque, straightened up the tool locker, etc. etc.. And it has been long enough now that I can finally claim victory over the dinghy leak. I haven’t had to pump it up once since the fix!
june 24 2005 : coast new south wales
So a couple days ago we untied our mooring and headed back across the river to the town of Iluka which I had been assured had visitor moorings available. An hour later we passed into the small harbor and battling the 2-3 knot current began searching for the moorings. The wind was blowing through at 20+ knots as well which was making the whole process all the more enjoyable. Low and behold there was not a visitors mooring in the entire harbor. We weren’t about to anchor in this place with the conditions the way they were so we turned the boat around and two hours after we left we were back in Yamba tied up to a mooring for which we had no idea who the rightful owner was.
This morning was the day we had been waiting all week for. The wind had finally shifted and it was time to go. We motored out into the river where I was sure there wouldn’t be any waves during the flood tide. We came into the opening and on the horizon we were sure we could see huge waves forming. What the heck? Ali called the Coast Guard on the VHF and they assured us that right now was the time to go. So we motored hesitantly forward and found that there indeed were no waves, just calm seas welcoming us back out. The waves we saw turned out to be just the swell against the horizon. A couple of nervous Nellies we were.
Sailing along later in the afternoon, Ali was down below trying to take a nap, and I was sitting outside reading a book when a pod of about fifty dolphins appeared at the front of the boat. They all took turns swimming in the bow wake for a few seconds but then within a minute they were gone. I didn’t see them surface again anywhere. Seconds later my attention was drawn to the side of the boat by a flock of squawking birds, diving at the water. Usually that meant fish were being chased to the surface, and as I looked over, a humpback whale suddenly surfaced twenty yards from the boat. His giant head broke the surface first, he then slowly arched his back, gave a big guttural groan, lifted his tail, and dove. He was so close I could see clearly the color and texture of his skin.
I jumped up and yelled to Ali, scaring the crap out of her in the process. We could still see the area where the whale had just dove, leaving a turbulent oil slick behind. We held on tight as we waited for him to surface, but he didn’t come up again. Just like the dolphins, it seemed he’d come up to have a quick look at us before going about his business.
june 26 2005 : coast new south wales
The other day we were sailing from Yamba up to the Gold Coast Seaway which was only a 97 mile jaunt. At a four knot average for a 24-hour passage, a perfectly leisurely sail. And we were enjoying just that until around dark, as usual, when the wind kicked up to between 25 and 35 knots. It’s easy to sail four knots when the wind is behind you and under 20 knots, but once it is zipping along at 35 knots, it’s a little trickier. At midnight we found ourselves with only 25 miles to go. Problem was that we couldn’t enter the Gold Coast Seaway until after 8 a.m. because it is another one of those river bar entrances and as we now know very well you cannot just enter these bars when you want to. Anyway the plan if we couldn’t slow down was that we would just heave-to and wait until it was time to go. To slow down we sailed with a tiny bit of the jib sail out tacking slowly side to side and amazingly in 35 knots of wind directly downwind we were able to average just 3.5 knots and arrive at the entrance at eight o’clock on the nose. Just to make sure, we called the Coast Guard on the VHF and confirmed that the bar was navigable before heading in. No dramas as they like to say in Australia.
The Gold Coast Seaway is an inland waterway linking the Gold Coast area with Morton Bay about 20 miles to the north. Basically the same thing as the Intercoastal Waterway back home, only on a much smaller scale. It seemed to get a lot of hype in the cruising guide but frankly we didn’t see the draw. There were loads of sportfishing boats flying around making monstrous wakes and the scenery wasn’t anything special either. Just a lot of low lying sand islands with mangrove trees growing right up to the edge of the water.
The depths are a little tricky and it is imperative that you stay between the channel markers at all times. Well 35 knot winds do not make for the best sleeping conditions and in the previous 24 hours I had managed about an hour and half of sleep. At least that is what I am using as my excuse for running us aground. Ali and I were sitting together chatting away as we drove along, keeping the red markers to our left and the green to our right, when we felt a little bump and Ali asked “What was that?” In the space of about one second my brain clicked on and I looked down to see the depth finder reading 2.4 feet (Bum hits bottom at 2.5 feet due to the location of the transducer). Fortunately the Seaway is pure sand and muddy bottom. We revved the engines hard in reverse and backed right out, all the while staring at the red channel marker that was 10 yards off to our right (yes, it should have been on our left).
Around noon we decided to call it a day and started looking for a place to anchor. It was surprisingly hard to find a suitable anchorage in this Seaway because of the hard running 2-3 knot current. We were both exhausted and weren’t in any mood to lie in bed worrying about our anchor dragging as the tide did a 180 a little later on, so we found an area with literally hundreds of boats on moorings. Looking around we could see there were dozens of them with no boats attached and so we picked one up and called it a day. That night we realized that we were surrounded by “boat bums.” You know, those people who live on boats that have absolutely no chance of ever being the least bit seaworthy. There was the guy next to us who had the big Honda generator sitting right up on the deck of his sailboat which of course didn’t have a sail on it, and there was the family who were sitting on the porch of their “houseboat” which is actually a plywood shack that is built on top of two rows of 40 gallon drums, making it a “catamaran houseboat” I suppose, and I am quite certain doesn’t even have a motor.
After being lulled to sleep by the hum of the generator next door we woke this morning and headed off for Manly Harbor near the mouth of the Brisbane River. Our original plan was to sail on up the Brisbane River to the moorings at the Botanical Gardens right downtown, but yesterday we made the mistake of getting out the large scale Australia map and realized that we have got an incredibly long way to sail in the next two months. About 2000 miles to be exact (to give you an idea, we have covered 500 miles so far in Australia). And in that time we have got about a dozen places to visit, including the renowned Whitsunday Islands, and that little thing they call the Great Barrier Reef. So with an engine that needs to be fixed and plans with a few friends of ours here in Brisbane we decided that it would be better to be able to leave the boat in a marina where it would be easier to get the work done and we would feel safe leaving it for a few days to travel inland.
With this in mind we headed into Manly Harbor “the second largest marina in the southern hemisphere.” You would think with those kind of credentials there wouldn’t be much of a problem getting a slip. We quickly found out otherwise. The harbor actually has about four different marinas inside it, and we went straight to the one that the cruising guide had said accepted visitors. As soon as we asked the lady in the office I could tell things weren’t going to go well. She gave us that sad look that says, “I wish I could help you.” Turns out they didn’t have any space. We tried the marina next door, same story. Nobody could even give us an idea where to try. The first lady gave us the lowdown and explained that in the last couple of years home prices have gone through the roof, which had caused a lot of people to buy boats to live on. She eventually agreed to find us a spot for the night but told us we were on our own the next day. We tied up the boat at our slip for the night and quickly realized that she wasn’t kidding about people living on their boats here. On our dock there were three of those floating plywood shacks, one of which had a smell coming out of it that just about knocked you over.
We went back to the office and grabbed the phone book to try and figure out our next move. We called the marinas that are downtown Brisbane and were practically laughed right off the phone. We also heard that we had zero chance of actually finding an empty pile berth next to the Botanical Gardens. So now with the news that there was not a single space in the entire Brisbane area for an overseas visitor we called Scarborough, a town about 20 miles north of the city. We finally found a sympathetic ear there and they told us to come on up.
june 27 2005 : coast new south wales
So this morning we headed up to Scarborough. The weather was absolute crap once again; raining, cold, and windy. The first thing we did at the marina was talk to a Volvo mechanic. He came right out to the boat and confirmed that the knocking noise was most likely the driveplate vibration damper. He then called around and got us a price for the part, $904!! An entire new engine only cost about $6000, how can this part possibly cost one-sixth the price of a new engine? I don’t get it. I do know that our Volvo supplier in the States will be getting a call from us tomorrow though. There is also still a slim possibility that the part won’t need replacing and that it is just loose. Anyway, tomorrow I’ll unhook everything on the engine, the mechanic will help me lift it out and then we’ll know more.
As for Scarborough, it’s a pretty boring little place and there isn’t much within walking distance. Doesn’t much matter though as the forecast for the rest of the week is for some serious thunderstorms to roll through. That should help us stay focused on getting the boat work done though. Oh, Domino’s Pizza does deliver here as well for those of you who were wondering.
It never really dawned on us before, but it seems a lot of people, upon hearing the name of our boat, assume the meaning has a much more European influence. We Americans don’t often use the word “bum.” So often the name Bumfuzzle seems to make women blush and feel a little ashamed of repeating it. Today we got the best reaction yet when the wife of the mechanic working on our engine asked for our boat name. We told her. “Excuse me?!” “Bumfuzzle,” we said again. And then when she realized she had heard us correctly she gave us this angry look and actually used the words “tisk, tisk.” We quickly explained the meaning to her but still just got an unhappy shake of the head.
june 29 2005 : coast new south wales
Yesterday morning I went to work on the engine. Things went surprisingly smooth and within an hour or so it was ready to be pulled out. We went and got the mechanic who came right out to the boat and together we slid the engine block away from the gearbox. It was immediately evident that the driveplate assessment was correct. Basically there are two round metal plates that have these rubber cushions or dampers between them. There was absolutely no rubber left between ours but the housing was chalk full of rubber dust. The pieces were a piece of cake to remove and we’re now ready for the new part to go in. Unfortunately we ended up having to have it shipped from the U.S. The cost for the part there was $198. $500 cheaper than the price the mechanic quoted me for it here in Oz. So even after paying over $100 to have it shipped here we will end up saving around 3 or 4 hundred dollars. That’s pretty ridiculous. We had hoped that a Sydney company might be able to fabricate the rubber cushion, but after emailing them pictures they determined that the entire assembly was shot and needed to be replaced. So now we have our fingers crossed that the part will make it here in only a week as we are hoping to move on by next Thursday.
Here’s something cruisers might find interesting. Again, I don’t know all the terminology, so bear with me. Coming out of the gearbox is the shaft, and that shaft has teeth that plug into the teeth in the driveplate. The driveplate spins around when the engine is running and that in turn drives the prop. Something like that anyway, you get what I’m saying. Anyway, when we were taking a look at the driveplate that we removed the mechanic asked me if we kept the engine in gear when we were under sail. I guess a lot of cruisers put the engine in gear because of the noise caused by the props continuing to spin underneath the boat while sailing. We don’t. But the reason he had asked was because the teeth on the driveplate were halfway eaten away. He theorized that the previous owner probably kept the engine in gear. The problem with this he said is that there is always that tiny little millionth of an inch of space between the teeth, and when you put it into gear there is a constant “chattering” back and forth as the prop continues to try and spin but is blocked by the engine being in gear. Eventually this wears the teeth out. I don’t know how realistic that is since we have never been bothered by the little noise the props make, but it seems like a sound theory.
I also continued to try and figure out the problem we’ve been having with the alternators overcharging. The system works like this, when the engines are running the alternators produce power which charge the batteries after first going through a regulator which keeps them from overcharging. The problem is that the regulator isn’t working anymore and the volts don’t get regulated and run away to 16+ which would obviously fry the batteries in no time if we didn’t shut down the alternators. At least that is my understanding of the entire thing after reading the regulators website. The nice thing is the regulator (which is a NextStep by AmplePower) has a little error light that blinks out different signals to tell you what the problem is.
On their website it explained that there were only two possibilities for our error. One was the field wire wasn’t connected properly. So I checked and double checked that, even replacing all the connections. Still not working. The second possibility is that there is a shorted driver in the regulator so that the driver no longer turns off when it is commanded. Of course the troubleshooting guide stops right there. There is no explanation of what the heck a sentence like that means, how to fix it, or if it is even a possibility to fix it. I emailed the company but so far haven’t heard back. Assuming the worst I searched the internet to see how much these regulators cost and found that, as seems to be the case with every single item on a boat, it is around $500. Lovely.
Today Ali and I hopped the bus into the nearby town of Redcliffe. From what people had told us we were expecting it to be a bustling little place, but we found instead that it was just a small strip of little shops and a post office. About a two mile walk down the road was a shopping mall and so we hoofed it over there. The mall was about equally as exciting. In fact once we got there we realized there was not a single thing that we actually needed. We ended up spending 20 cents on a key ring to use for our camera’s carrying strap. Can’t say as I would ever want to own a key making kiosk in a mall. Can there really be any money in that business? Very exciting stuff, not sure that was worth the walk.