Heading Home

27/11/11


We left the marina at Coffs at 6 am with a plan to sail through to Broken Bay non stop.

Conditions are mild with just an main up, and just motor sailing with hope of a stronger breeze late in the day. The auto pilot appears to be working, so that will take a bit of stress out of the journey.

By the time we got to Smokey Cape the breeze had picked up a bit and we were sailing on the main and the code 0. A couple of hours later the breeze dropped and it was back to motor sailing, with various sail combinations, including the code 0 on its own at one stage,. At tacking point the wind turned SE , right on the nose, so the code zero was put back in the bag.

Code Zero flying on its own

By  evening, the breeze dropped to nothing and we hauled in all the sail an motored. The headsail came in and out as the breeze changed, but the breeze was so variable, the motor was doing most of the work.

It was a new moon , so very little moonlight, but spectacular starlit skies. Carole cooked a Thai Green Curry Chicken an rice dish for dinner that went down well.

Sunset South of Crowdy Head

Carole demonstrating how to sleep in the cockpit (note the arm holding the dodger to ensure you don't roll off in a swell)  

The breeze was from the South from most of the rest of our trip. It turned NE on the morning of 28/11/11, but really only had sufficient strength for a good sail when we were a couple of hours out from Broken Bay.

The spectacular cloud formations captured  our attention as we sailed the last leg home.

Coming into Broken Bay was interesting, wee arrived in the last hour of the outgoing tide, but because it was a new moon, and there had been some flooding, the run out current was 3 knots.  When we got past the Hawkesbury entrance, it dropped back to normal.

We berthed at the marina at about 5.30pm , with a small problem. Someone had rearranged our mooring lines, which it not obvious until you are almost alongside you berth. Nevertheless we worked it out, but were not happy !!!

We just did a basic lockdown of the boat, went home very tired, and will come back tomorrow to clean up.

Weather is finally improving

26/11/11

We woke up to rain and wind again this morning, but by late morning there were signs of the weather improving, with rain reduced to light showers and wind strength weakening.

It was fine enough to go for a walk, (with umbrella), so we headed up to Park Beach where a surf carnival was under way. There were many clubs from Sydney and all up and down the coast. We watched the surf boat races for a while and then continued walking to Park Beach Plaza, one of Coffs biggest shopping centres.

After lunch we headed back to the marinas, and by now the weather was improving greatly, and a departure tomorrow now looks almost assured.

After lunch the weather has improved significantly

We can see everyone at the marina getting their boats ready and we expect a mass exodus in the morning.

By sunset, the sky is almost clear of cloud and for the first time in many days, we can sit uop in the cockpit and enjoy a drink taking in the view.

Sunset at the marina

Miserable Weather Continues

25/11/11


Same old weather today, strong winds and very heavy rain. Can't wait till this all passes through and we can move on. Looks like it will be Sunday and I am inclined to go all the way to Broken Bay whilst the weather holds (assuming the autopilot is now fixed).

We spent most of today on the boat, taking shelter from the rain, which was so heavy we had to put the washboard in place to stop it coming in the companionway, despite having the cockpit cover on.

The Nespresso machine is getting a good workout

View through the washboard

Carole did some laundry at the marina , but the dryers weren't working, so when we had a short break in the weather, we had to go up to the laundromat at the jetty shops to get the clothes dry.

The marina is getting pretty run down,and things not working appears the norm. There has been no hot water in the showers since we arrived, the problem finally being fixed today.

Hopefully the weather will start to clear tomorrow and we will be out of here on Sunday.

More Wind and Rain

24/11/11


We woke up to heavy rain and the SE winds still blowing hard this morning. It rained on and off all day with total rainfall 50-60mm, continuing all night. The usual strong coastal wind warnings are in place for the mid north coast, but we would not even contemplate going South in pouring rain and a strong southerly, so we are still waiting for our weather "window". Tomorrow is a possibility, if the rain backs off, as the wind is forecast to move around to the North.

In between showers we went for a walk, and on the way had a chat to a few other boats also sitting it out here. By now are very familiar with the area. We are ready to move on as soon as the weather co-operates.

We decided to stock up with food for the next 3 - 4 days in case we get away tomorrow to Camden Haven. If not, the weather eventually looks like settling by Sunday, they are even forecasting Sunshine. If that is the reality, we may sail all the way down to Broken Bay, assuming the autopilot is now fixed. Otherwise we may overnight at Nelson Bay.

Lots of books are being read, crosswords done and the TV is a bit of an added bonus.

We had pizza from the local pizza shop at the Jetty, for dinner and went to bed hoping for the rain to disappear overnight !

Strong Wing Warnings - Southerly Change

23/11/11


Any thoughts of leaving today were dampened by Coastal Wind Warnings from Point Danger to Broken Bay as a Southerly Change (with plenty of rain) heads up the coast.

Early morning in Coffs is very quiet, 5-6 knots from the SW and little sign of what is to come, but no yachts left to head South. We went for a morning walk up on Mutton Bird Island to get a view down the coast, where it looked pretty bleak, so we decided to stay put. The longer we stay here the more the timing of the tide into Camden Haven becomes an issues, as high tide moves later into the evening requiring a night crossing of the bar (not our favourite option).

Looking West over Marina  from Muttonbird Island

                                                             
                                         Looking South from Mutton bird Island (visibilty limited)


A yacht motored in from the North this morning and anchored in the harbour, opting not to continue on.

Back at the yacht I decided to have another go at fixing the autopilot. I unscrewed the fluxgate compass from its mount, so I could move it around freely and attempted to calibrate it manually by rotating it through 360 degrees imitating the boat steering in a circle. To my surprise, the autopilot computer accepted the calibration. I checked the calibration parameters with Navico to ensure they were within tolerance and got the all clear.

After refixing the compass, it was still relatively mild conditions, so we decided to cast off and go out into the harbour to run the auto tune program to align the autopilot settings with the new compass calibration. A quick 360 degree turn to check there were no dead spots in the compass heading, and we headed back to the marina on autopilot, seemingly working properly. We will not know for sure until an extended use at sea, but it looks encouraging.

Back to our berth, we tied up and had lunch, then headed into town to do some shopping.

The southerly hit at about 3pm with strong winds and heavy rain. Fortunately we were back on board by then. We cooked dinner on board and the heavy rain and strong winds persisted all night.

Repair Day in Coffs Harbour

22/11/11

The sailmaker / rigger arrived at the boat at 8.30am, with two new battens for the mainsail. He had fabricated the longest batten, the bottom on on the main, out of flat batten material, not the round glass reinforced rod which came out, so hopefully, it will last better. The only batten that survived the storm was a similar one I installed at Airlie Beach last year.

The wind was already pushing the 20 knot mark, after howling all night. We managed to get the two battens in place without too much trouble, and then it was onto fitting the new backstay block. Pierre, the sailmaker, was blowing around in the breeze in the bosuns chairs, but managed to get it fitted after judicious use of PVC tape to tape the loose backstay wires  to the stays to stop them flying around and keep everything steady as he worked.

Those jobs were out of the way in about an hour and he was on his way. Carole and I then decided to fix up the no. 2 reefing system. I had fitted the new block on the sail, and had been up to the chandlery to buy 34 m of 12mm double braid to replace the damaged line. We managed to feed it through the boom, blocks and back to the cockpit through the below deck channel, without too much difficulty. So after about 45 mins it was operational again.

Damaged Blocks (I had to attack the reefing block with a hacksaw to release the line)

Next was getting the boom bag secured back in the track on top of the boom. With the aid of the continued strong winds it was now about 50% out of the track, from the mast, halfway back to the stern. We had to "lift" the sail up out of the bag so we could slide the bag out from underneath it. Putting the main up would have been the easiest way, but in 25 knot winds, was not even a consideration. So we wrapped a rope around the main like tying up a meat roast, and hooked the main halyard onto the centreline and lifted the sail with a winch , enough so we could slide the bag out. All went well , we reseated the bag, untied the main and everything is back to normal.

In the meantime, another Hanse (a 371 named Selene from Sydney) had arrived at a berth opposite us and gave the marina pontoon a good nudge on the way in, in what was pretty much uncontrollable conditions. They did well to get in first go. A motor boat a little later on (with a bow thruster) had 3 attempts before success).

Selene with dinghy attached to the transom

The only other loose end now is the autopilot. I have talked again with Navico, located where the fluxgate compass is located, and have been told if I remove it from its mount, I may be able to calibrate it by slowly rotating it by hand through 360 degrees, imitating the boat going in a circle. Access is difficult and i have had enough for today, so will have a go at it tomorrow, if we are still in Coffs.

We went for walk this afternoon and saw the marine Rescue team, rescuing a green sea turtle, that had become jammed in the rocks on the marina seawall. All ended well and it swam away furiously, then returned, surfaced and looked up, almost as if to show thanks, and then turned around and headed out into deeper water.

Video of Turtle Rescue

Whilst the forecast for tomorrow looks suspect, we filled the water tank, and generally got things ready in case we decided to go in the morning.

We went to the yacht club for dinner, watched TV for a while, had a last look at tomorrows forecast, and went to bed, planning to get up at 5 am to see the updated forecast.

Still in Coffs Awaiting Parts

21/11/11


Hopefully today the 2 blocks I have ordered from Sydney will arrive, and replacement mainsail battens ready to fix. If the blocks don't arrive this morning then I cannot get the rigger, sailmaker until tomorrow morning, not that getting way tomorrow looks viable anyway. Northerly winds up to 30 knots with 3 m seas and storms forecast. The Hanse 470 "Seal" set out this afternoon for Broken Bay

I was able to replace one of the broken battens this morning with a length cut from one of the longer broken battens, so only need to purchase 2 new ones. The blocks arrived at around 1 pm, so the bridle block on the backstay will have to wait till tomorrow. The reefing block I can replace myself, which I decided to do later in the afternoon when it cooled down a bit. It was then I noticed that the no 2 reefing line was badly damaged in one spot where it had jammed in the block, so it looks like I will have to replace it to. I will get some double braid from the chandlery when it opens in the morning. Another little task is to reseat the boom bag in the groove in the boom, as in amongst all the storm activity, it had pulled out of the boom for about 30% of the way along its length from the mast.

I have also been in touch with Navico, regarding the Autopilot and they also now suspect the fluxgate compass. It may be resolved by relocating the compass, but I suspect it is faulty. They are looking to see if anyone in Coffs can help.

There is very little wind today, I could have headed south if not waiting for parts, however it did come up stormy later in the afternoon.

In the afternoon we caught a bus to a major shopping centre and had a walk around and did a bit of shopping, but hurried home when we saw the storm brewing. The winds picked, but that was about all we got.

We are having a BBQ on board tonight.

Coffs Harbour Celebrates its 150th Anniversary

20/11/11


Today Coffs Harbour celebrates it's 150th Anniversary. Apparently the city is named after a John Korff  who ran ships up and down the NSW coast.


"In 1847 John Korff had sought refuge in a gale in a port which he called Korff's Harbour. In 1861 surveyors changed the name to Coff's but according to newspaper and family reports Korff's name continued to be used for many years."

The is still a small islet on the Southern side of the entrance to the harbour called Korffs Islet in his memory.

There are celebrations everywhere. The whole Jetty Park area became a large outdoor market, with a lots of stalls and huge crowds.

Market 

At noon there was a sail by off the Jetty, as a lead up to a yacht race held as part of the celebrations. It is still blowing around 25 knots from NNE so it is interesting conditions, but 10 boats decided to brave it. we went out onto the jetty to see the sail by, with great views looking down on the boats as they passed.

Sail past before the start of the Sesquicentenary  yacht race

The market food stalls all had very long queues, so we went to the fish co-op, got some fish and chips and had lunch on the boat.

A Hanse 470, "Seal" arrived in the morning from Southport, saying they had a very bumpy ride down the coast overnight. At least there were 3 men on board to crew. She is based at RPAYC in Pittwater and hopes to head home tomorrow ( forecast doesn't look great, so it will be interesting to see if they go)

                                       
                                                            Seal ( Hanse 470) on the berth across from us


The strong winds (gusting up to 30 knots) continued all afternoon with the seaspray flying over Northern Seawall of the marina, so we huddled up inside the boat and watched the final round of the Presidents Cup.

We decided to eat in tonight and Carole cooked up a sensational meal of slow cooked Lamb Shanks on the Cobb.

Relaxing in Coffs Harbour

19/11/11


Today the breeze has come in early and was already blowing at 20 knots from early morning, building to 30 knots by lunch time and continuing at that speed well into the night.

After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast, I headed off to the diesel pump with my jerry cans to refuel Mica. I estimate we used 50 litres of fuel from Camden Haven to Coffs Harbour because of the strong Southerly current.

After two visits to the fish co-op to get the fuel, the tank is full and the spare jerry cans are full. We also took the opportunity to fill water tank, and do some temporary repairs to the tears in the bimini, which has shifted about 75-100mm to port, bending the stainless stainless steel frame.

The Bimini will need some work when we get home

It was now close to lunch time, so we went up to the fish co;op and bought some small king prawns to have with some fresh bread rolls and a cool drink.

Prawns for Lunch

After lunch we went for a walk up to the Jetty shops, bought a few provisions at the IGA supermarket, made a booking for dinner at the Crying Tiger restaurant ( a recommendation from Mike Wesslink), and it was back to the boat to put our feet up and watch the Presidents Cup Golf on TV.

Flags at the yacht club show how strong the wind is

We headed off for dinner at 7.30 pm, had a great meal at the Crying Tiger  (Thai food with a western twist), and had enough food left over to provide lunch for tomorrow.

It was still blowing at 30 knots when we went to bed.

Last Look around Laurieton before Heading North

17/11/11 and 18/11/11


Today is annual bonanza day in Laurieton, when all of the shopkeepers have specials and many set up street front stalls with a Christmas theme.The girls quickly got into the spirit checking out many of the stores for bargains. Unfortunately for the guys the only shops that didn't seem to get in the spirit and have exceptional deals were the hardware store, the auto shop and the bottle shop.

Kim managed to secure the first purchase (helped by Santa)

Bev tried to look uninterested

There were some interesting buskers as well, who may have been real talents in an earlier life. We particularly like this lady singing Christmas carols in from in front of her karaoke machine.

Our favourite busker

Even the local tradies dog was in the spirit looking very cool in his sunglasses

After a couple of laps of the town , it was back to our boats to prepare for departure, in our case North to Coffs or Yamba depending on the conditions, and in Wilparinas' case, home to Broken Bay. The forecasts for both directions looked OK, although going North there was a possibility of isolated thunderstorms.

We said our goodbyes and headed out of the river at 1pm on the high tide. We headed off in calm conditions with light winds, motor sailing until about 3.30pm when there was enough breeze to sail. It became a bit brisk, so I put a single reef in the main, and within 30 mins we had to start the engine again to keep up a reasonable pace. It was clear the the East Australian Current was running very strongly and close to the coast, as 8.5 knots through the water was giving us only 4 to 4.5 knots speed over ground. It was clear it was going to be a long day, motor sailing all the way.

We didn't think it could get worse when around midnight a series of storms appeared from nowhere, just off Smokey Cape. I managed to quickly get the headsail in, but we still had a single reefed main up when the worst of them hit with vengeance. We were tossed around in circles with sail and ropes flying everywhere, whilst I managed to get a second reef in the sail, but it was chaos, no visiblity , the boat going round in circles and everything taking a pounding.

The topping lift caught on the backstay block (again) and this time snapped in two, bring the boom down on top of the dodger frame, and lots of other excitement. We simply concentrated on keeping the boat away from the shore steering off the compass. As soon as it petered out, some time later, I quickly dropped the main and got the halyard onto the end of the boom to elevate it back out of the way.

We struggled on still against a 3-4 knot current towards Coffs Harbour, through more rain, but no more storms, and arrived at the harbour at 6.30am, exhausted. Neither of us had any sleep, understandably. We anchored in the harbour awaiting the marina office to open to get a berth, and began to survey the damage. To make matters worse, the autopilot misbehaved most of the way and it was hand steering for most of the trip.

The dodger and bimini need some significant repairs with the dodger frame bent from the impact of the boom, and the bimini badly torn and shifted a bit to one side, but fortunately still structurally intact with the solar panels still there. The topping lift needs to be replaced, as does the bridle block on the backstay, that it caught on. One of the reefing blocks on the main was demolished, only one of the 4 mainsail battens survived the onlslaught, but that seems to be the extent of the damage.

The rigger and sailmaker had been down to the boat and will come back on Monday to complete the repairs. The bridle block and reefing block have been ordered from Sydney and should also be here early next week, so it looks like we have a few unplanned days in Coffs Harbour. We have abandoned our plan to go on to Yamba, as will now be short of time and the thought of another 60 nm against a 4 knot current has low appeal. Should be great on the way home though.

We heard from Steve on Wilparina that they had a very casual motor sail back to Broken Bay, assisted by the current we were fighting, and arrived back around lunchtime on Friday. Guess we should have gone South !!!

It will be a BBQ on board and an early night tonight.

Resting at Laurieton

16/11/11


Today we plan to explore Laurieton and have a general day of rest. The next weather window for us to continue North appears to be tomorrow, with light to medium SE winds forecast, but there is a likelihood of scattered storms.

We headed across to town at around 10.30am, and wandered around, getting some provisions, and the girls from Wilparina were keen to search for bargains in the various specialty shops. After a full lap of the main street (and a few backstreets), we ended up at the pub for a beer in the beer garden, and a pie for lunch, purchased from the nearby bakery.

The weather started looking a bit threatening, so we decided to get back to our boats before a storm hit. Steve and Chris stopped by at the local bottle shop and organised for a case of beer to be delivered to the wharf where our dinghies were tied up. No long after were we comfortably settled on our boats a storm rolled in and it rained on and off until around 7 pm when we made a dinghy dash to the shore to have dinner at the RSL , which still offers very good value meals.

The RSL wharf with a recent arrival tied up ( storm coming from left to right)

After dinner we headed back to the boats before more rain set in.

The current plan is to head to Coffs Harbour or straight through to Yamba depending on the conditions, leaving around 1 pm on the high tide. Wilparina has to head back South, so we will be parting company here.

A Wild Ride to Camden Haven

15/11/11


As planned anchors were raised at midnight and we headed out of our protected anchorage bat Coal Shaft Bay, to round the bottom of the Island and head North. To our surprise the wind changed to the South almost as we left Broughton and was already blowing 15 to 20 knots, so we just set the mainsail with a single reef and were cruising along at 7-8 knots in no time.

Unfortunately, the BOM forecast for strong winds turned out to be correct and soon we were in winds up to 36 knots and with a second reef in the main were surfing along at 9+ knots. Wilparina just had their big genoa up and were doing similar speeds. We stayed together pretty much the whole way up to Camden Haven and on arrival there was only 2 nm between us.

Needless to say it was hands on all the way, with only brief periods on auto pilot, as the following seas could easily knock you off course and manual steering allows you to respond quicker.

The last few hours were much more pleasant, as it was daylight and the wind had dropped to 15 to 20 knots.

We motored across the bar at Camden Haven at 11.15 am, about 1 hr before the high tide. Wilparina draws 2.5 m, and had just 300mm clearance at the shallowest spot they crossed, we never had less than 800mm.

Surprisingly, when we reached the anchorage, there were no other boats anchored in the rive, so we had the place to ourselves. We set our anchors, I pumped up the dinghy, and we went ashore with Steve, Kim, Chris and Bev (their friends from Adelaide who have joined them for this adventure), and had fish and chips (and a couple of glasses of wine) on the riverside at the fish co-op.

Wilparina anchored well upriver in deeper water (Fishermans Co-op in background)

It was then back to our boats for some sleep, and then a roast dinner on Wilparina, which was excellent roast pork done on the Cobb.

Finally the weather forecast improves

14/11/11


After studying several weather forecasts, it was agreed that we should head to Camden Haven overnight. We also decided to spend the day at Broughton Island, and leave from there at around mid night.

Anchors were up at Fame Cove at around 10 am, and everything was well covered in mud. We are still not well equipped for a major anchor chain and anchor wash , on retrieval, but a deck wash pump has now moved well up the priority list, So we loaded our muddy chain into the anchor locker, with the knowledge that Coal Shaft Bay at Broughton Island, had a nice clean sandy bottom and if we let the chain our there it would self clean and we then only had to clean the locker !!

We were anchored at Broughton at around 1pm.  Neither of us were keen to put a dinghy over the side for our short stay here, so we talked on the VHF and tried to get some rest before our departure tonight. Just before dinner, we were sitting in our cockpits admiring the sunset, when 2 whales slowly swam past Broughton Island between us and the sunset.

Wilparina at Coal Shaft Bay

Sunset at Broughton Island

We had an early dinner and got a few hours sleep before awakening at 11pm for a midnight departure.

Whilst the forecasts continued to look favourable, we were a bit uncomfortable with a strong wind warning posted by BOM at 9pm for the coast between Port Stephens and Port Macquarie. From our anchorage conditions seemed idyllic.

A lazy Day at Port Stephens

13/11/11


This morning was a bit of a slow start, cleaning the boat up a bit ( there was plenty of salt to wash off after yesterdays sail), topping up the water etc and enjoying a big cooked breakfast.

We caught up with Steve and his crew and after studying the weather forecasts, we decided to stay at Port Stephens another day until things settled down. We went into town to get a few provisions and left the marina at around 12 noon, to head around to Fame Cove where we planned to spend the night. On the way we had a short sail, just on the headsail , for about 45 mins.

All of the moorings in Fame Bay were taken when we arrived, so we anchored in about 5 metres of water with very good holding. We watched a less fortunate yacht, who arrived after us drag his anchor for about 100m before deciding to reset, fortunately some distance downwind of us. (It was blowing up to 20 knots from the NE with not a lot of protection).

We had lunch on Wilparina and about 4.30pm returned to Mica to cook ourselves a BBQ dinner.

                                                    Wilparina at Fame Cove

Port Stephens next stop

12/11/11


We cast off at the NYC marina just after 7.30 am and passed through the heads at 8 am. As usual; it was a light NE breeze to we decided to motor sail east and await the breeze to build before we set course for Port Stephens.

Just after 10am we were able to stop the engine and sail for the next few hours, but were not going to clear Point Stephens, so eventually  had to tack back out to sea for about 45 mins during which the wind started to really build and when we tacked back we were facing 20 knots on the nose, so reluctantly pulled in the headsail and motor sailed the rest of the way with a reefed main. Other than a few dolphin sightings, we saw no other wildlife in the water, just a few fish traps.

We went through to heads at Port Stephens with a reefed main and a touch of engine doing 8.5 to 9 knots through a very rough and confused sea. It was a reach all the way to Nelson Bay where we picked up a mooring to have lunch. It was now close to 3pm.

Steve Smith had gone to Fame Cove for lunch, and was returning to the marina whilst we were having lunch. He had booked a berth for us at D'Albora, and we went in after lunch (around 4pm).

It would have to be the most expensive marina on the East Coast of Australia ($125 for an overnight stay for a 12 m boat). The most we have ever paid anywhere else was $90 at Hamilton Island in the middle of Hamilton Island race week. We won't be back !

We had a few drinks on Wilparina and headed into town to a local Indian restaurant which had very good food and was good value.

The forecast for a tomorrow night departure to Camden Haven does not look promising. Monday night looks good. We will reassess in the morning.

Off to Newcastle

11th November 2011

We set out this morning for day sail to Newcastle, on our way for a few weeks North , hopefully as far as Yamba (weather permitting). We left Bobbin Head at 7.25am and radioed in off Lion Island at 9.10am, as we headed out to sea.

There was little breeze, about 3-4 knots NE so we motor sailed for the next 4 hrs awaiting the promised shift to the East and increase in strength to around 10 knots. The only positive was that the seas we also slight.

Not far past Box head we had our first whale sighting.

At around 1.30pm the wind had shifted and strength built enough for us to turn off the motor and we had a good sail doing 7.5 to 8 knots but right on the wind all the way to Newcastle. We had a good sail in small but bumpy seas.

 

                                               Carole at the helm doing her "shift"

We were greeted by a pod of dolphins off Swansea, but had no further whale sightings. We entered the heads at Newcastle at 4.30pm and berthed at the Newcastle Yacht Club marina soon after.

Steve Smith (from Wilparina)called from Port Stephens where they had arrived earlier to check our progress and see if we wanted him to book us in at D'Albora marina tomorrow. We plan to set out at around 8am tomorrow to sail to Port Stephens to catch up with them, and then head off together to Camden Haven Sunday night.

We headed up to the Newcastle Yacht Club for dinner, only to find it was packed (standing room only) with what appeared to be several functions booked for dinner. We wandered off to find somewhere else to eat and ended up at The Albion Hotel, not far from the Yacht Club on the other side of the road. It was a great find, with an excellent restaurant and very good service.