Out the Seaway and turn left . . . . . . Almost!!! Part One

The time has come for us to go and to see if all the money we have spent in the last 12-18 months has paid off. This will be Fete's shake-down trip to see what else we need to do before we finally go out that Seaway and really turn "LEFT"

Day 1 - Monday 25th July 2016

The crew for this little adventure is once again, Russell (Ian Waymouth), the world famous chef renown for his steak mashed potato and greens, as well as a world famous adventurer, whom you will remember from several other posts, and myself.

Here we are taking selfies prior to setting off at Hope Island Marina, Gold Coast.

We decided to leave the marina around 1400 hrs and casually make our way  down to the southern part of the Southport Broadwater and anchor up until 0230 hrs tomorrow morning to catch the high tide around 0300 hrs to go out the seaway and start the trip.

1630 hrs - Having arrived at our preferred location we did what all good sailors do around about this time . . . we had a couple of Sundowners to discuss the crossing of the bar early in the morning.

Day 2 - Tuesday 26th July

0230 hrs - Awoke and enjoyed a Cup of Breakfast and motored up to Bum's Bay in order to raise the Mainsail prior to going thru the Seaway. Once thru Russell put the headsail and Mizzen up and we were off.
0400hrs - All's good and new sails look great although it is a bit chilly.

0930 hrs - Wind has died and we are under motor and coming up on Pt Lookout. We have maintained the Headsail & Main in the hope that we catch some more wind, but once again, the mizzen block has blown out so we have had to tie it down until we can sort out what to do or how to fix it (Problem #1).
We have travelled 31.8nm since coming thru the Seaway and have another 24.7nm to go to Cape Moreton and then another 28.8nm further to get to Mooloolaba.

As we rounded the point and headed across to Cape Moreton, I received an email from Zom, (Mike Daly, sv Upstart), you should remember him from previous blogs, advising that he and Sis (Karen Macdonald - that's her at the railing), were at 1770 and enjoying a beverage. A few years ago, Zom & I were in the same spot with Russell taking the pics . . . they wanted to know our progress and when we would be catching up. As we had just set out and as they were on their way up to Pancake Creek the next day we weren't sure but were looking forward to doing so.

15.00hrs - After Rounding Cape Moreton and taking a direct rhumb line course (316 deg) for Mooloolaba, we came close to Flinders Reef. I have never seen this reef so close before, as we had mostly passed it on the seaward side and mainly at night. It is amazing to see and I am glad it was daylight as we were also spotting whales to the port side between us and the top of Moreton Island.
There was still no wind as you can tell from the sound of the engine in the video above, but we managed to jerry-rig the mizzen block, by using the block off the fwd staysail, (#1 Problem  - Solved). Russell decided to raised it and surprisingly, she maintained her shape (full) with no flapping around as the headsail was doing earlier.
1700hrs - Sea is a calm as. Still on course 316 deg and passed a huge container vessel heading out of the Spitfire Channel, (the main shipping channel from Brisbane for these larger vessels), to the Pacific and beyond.
1800hrs - AIS was now turned on as it was getting dark and we were heading straight into the main shipping channel.
1830hrs - All of a sudden the AIS showed 8 vessels heading our way thru this major channel. This caused us some concern as nite had fallen and it was a black as s&^t and no moon and not a star in the sky. Now the AIS alarm was going off too frequently and had both of us were doing 360 degree head turns looking for and at all the oncoming vessels.
1900hrs - Decided to turn south-west to get below and behind the stream of container vessels and hopefully get a clearer course to Mooloolaba, but they never altered their course and so we were forced us even further south.
2000hrs - Having travelled on this course for just over an hour, we decided to turn back for a straight line to Mooloolaba. Having done this, the AIS alarm went off again - this time it was from a vessel converging onto our course from the north-west. She came so close, even though I tried to contact the crew over the radio, but never got any response. All that was left to do now was to wait to see which way he would go so we could decide what action to take. Eventually he shone his spot light on us and then turned behind our stern and took a more southerly course.

2100hrs - Pt Cartwright, as you can see from the pics atop and at left, is the point of entry into the Mooloola River. Coming in at night, as we were, and after what we just went thru, was a great relief.  We were just looking forward to dropping the anchor .
2200 - Having moored, with pizza cooking, Russell & I had a couple of Buddies to steady our nerves and settled in for an early nite.
These two pics were downloaded from the net off "Images of Pt Cartwright"

Day #3 - Wednesday 27th July 2016 - Mooloola River, Mooloolaba

Awoke to find Fete as you can see above - moored in what's called Freebee bay here in the Mooloola River, opposite the marina and Hogs Breath Cafe. I am told that you can only stay here for 24-48 hours and then you have to move on, but that didn't worry us as we were planning on leaving on the tide early the next morning anyhow.
I had originally booked a berth at the Marina, but when we found it we couldn't maneuver Fete into the narrow berth as the entrance was just too tight - obviously the girl that too my booking misheard that we were 45ft long and 13ft wide or she couldn't adjust between Imperial and metric measurements . . . all's good that ends good and being on the pick, as the pic above shows, was very comfortable.

After a couple of cups of breakfast, we decided to get the tender out and blow her up so as to go to our favourite eating establishment here, The Fisherman's Co-Op.
After much swearing and huffing and puffing, Russell finally got the tenders motor to go . . . it had been close on 6 months since I had the engine serviced and had it running, so I guess that didn't help.
Off we went for some lovely Mahi Mahi & Chips - Delicious!!!

After  breakfast we decided that due to our experiences yesterday, we would stay another night here in the river.
We returned to Fete for a relaxing afternoon . . . that was until we decided to have a couple of early sundowners. These went on until approx. 2200hrs with Russell consuming a whole bottle of J&B Whiskey and me 10 Buddies. OUCH!!!

Day #4 - Thursday 28/7/2016

Magnificent sunset looking across to the shoreline in Maroochydore. 

Mooloola River - going on dusk where we moored for those couple of days -

also where Michael & Ellen Preischel were in their 50ft catamaran.

Awoke with a super hangover - Russell was still curled up in the fwd cabin. Once he came to (approx. 0900hrs) we headed back to the Fisherman's Co-op for another breakfast and tried to make sense of what we were going to do from here. Eventually we decided to bring the tender on board as we intended to head off the next morning.
On return to the boat we noticed that we had dragged our anchor and so we set about to get back to the original mooring not far away. Upon raising the anchor for the move, it came up back to front, with the pick point facing fwd and not backward as it should (Problem #2). We straightened it out and set it and all was good - during the night Russell and I were up at varying times to check that we hadn't dragged again - all was good.

Day #5 - Friday 29/07/2016

0230hrs - awoke to get ready for the next leg - Mooloolaba to Tin Can Bay via the Wide Bay Bar.

We passed Noosa at approx. 0930hrs, as you can see here at left, and headed for Double Island point a further 28nm or approx. 3.5 hrs away.

1300hrs - passed Double Island Point and turned to a heading of 324 degrees on a direct line for the bar some 10.5nm ahead. Hoping to get there before the sun gets too low which would make the crossing difficult as the sun would be directly into our eyes.

Also, Tin Can Bay Marine Rescue has advised that on entering the bar we should stay 100m further north of the designated waypoints as the sand has moved across the bottom part of the line to the leads approx. 2/3's the way thru.

1500hrs - Crossed the bar in smooth seas but could see the sandy outcrop 12 feet below our hull.

1630hrs - Arrived in Tin Can Bay Inlet and dropped anchor for the night. On the way up, I smothered the anchor in Inox to free up all the working parts and will need to keep a check on it tonight to make sure we don't drag again.

Day #6 - Saturday 30/07/2016

Also on the way up from Mooloolaba there was no wind and the seas were choppy with a 1-2m S/E swell, but we kept the Headsail up to try to gain that extra 1/2 to 1 knot to get us to the bar just that little bit sooner. Obviously that didn't happen - all that happened was that our Headsail wrapped around itself in the shape of a wine glass (Problem #3) and so this morning, Russell (MacGyver, the all-rounder handyman) set about undoing the unholy knot - after 4 odd hours we had her straightened out and ready for our next leg. (Problem #3 sorted!!!)

Speaking of problems, Problem #2, anchor, was also sorted with the Inox spray. Surely nothing else could go wrong???

At left is Russell with his improvised tools to get the headsail freed up.

After having some breakfast we took the tender into town to get some supplies and as you can see from the pic above, we passed the familiar entry to the marine precinct into Snapper Creek, passing the Tin Can Bay yacht Club and the Coast Guard base. But on the way back, we ran out of  petrol in the tender, so we had to row back to the boat and as you can see below, it wasn't far.

Fete where she were moored in the Tin Can Bay Inlet

Later that day Russell took the refueled tender & the yabbie pump and headed off

to get some bait to do some fishing. No fish as the current and wind were too strong

so had an early dinner and got Fete ready to leave the next morning for

Kingfisher Bay Resort up on Fraser Island.

That's where I will leave this tale of adventure otherwise it can get too long in the

tooth and could be hard to download due to size, but!

 . . . as for the next 20 odd days . .  . that is another experience altogether and

  needs to be told separately - remember what I said earlier? -

"Surely nothing else can go wrong!!!

So until Part 2 of this blog - Cheers . . .

Another In-Between Time - March 2016 to end July 2016

Have you ever been walking/driving down the street and noticed someone who is so deep in thought that they seem to be a million miles away . . . and have you ever wondered what they are thinking so intently about ?

I have been back on the Gold Coast now for around 4 months and have found myself in this position many times - wondering what I'm doing here. Hope Island Marina, as you can see from the pic above, is a great place to be moored and I have many friends here but I am restless and just want to get going again.

But first, as always, there a many things to be done before we can go out the seaway/bar and turn "Left". That is what this blog is about, and as I am one week away from going thru that seaway, I thought I would get this "in-between Blog" out of the way so as we can start a new chapter on our trip north. - SO HERE WE GO!

Firstly, prior to leaving Port Macquarie, I had Ben the Diver down to check my anodes and antifouling and was told that I urgently needed to get new anodes on to Fete, so I booked into Boat Works and had her lifted out to do another antifoul and the anodes checked. Well the anodes were all good with the exception of one which we replaced.
For those of you who are unaware of Boat Works, it is billed as the Best Boat Yard in Australia, and I for one agree with their statement as it has improved 10 fold since my last liftout a couple of years ago - Check it out.

The facilities are 2nd to none other that I have been to here in Australia and better than a lot in other parts of the world . With the antifouling done, over the 3 days, it was time to return to the Marina & complete other jobs on Fete.

Time was sure going fast and all of a sudden April and May have come and gone, and here we are in June and I am still at Hope Island.
Although I feel in a rut of sorts trying to finish Fete off for the upcoming trip, it was good to know that the T(h)urd finger crew were still having their Friday BBQ's.
As you know from one of my previous blogs, Sparra and I share the same birthday and I think this was his party with the crew.
This is only thing I miss about Port Macquarie, this crew and their friendship -
Happy Birthday Sparra!!!

As always, food plays an important part of life on Fete and I found some new recipes for the much milder winters here on the Gold Coast.

Left: Chicken Stroganoff

Right: Sticky Chinese Pork Stirfry

           

            Speaking of food, these dolphins came into the marina chasing the schools of fish that are in abundance here, and as you can see at left, this lucky one had a nice bream for dinner.

As always, plenty of friends come over on their way thru the coast to say hi and at left is Marie and Rick of the catamaran sv Swaggy - ( I think in a recent post, I called their boat "Shaggy"), from Port Macquarie - Members of the T(h)urd Finger.

Rick & Marie are currently in the sandy Straits on their northern trip and I hope to catch with them in the next couple of weeks and have more Sundowners . . .

Another old friend and her husband, Trish & Robert Budd, owners of this beautiful Shannon called sv Bristol Rose, also dropped by to catch up. Robert & Trish bought the boat in the States and spent 2 years sailing her back to Australia you can see their story on their blog site - just google sv Bristol Rose and you should find the link to their site.

Bristol Rose is also here Hope Island Marina.

So as the sun sets here over the marina, Fete is finally ready for her northern trip. YES, all the prep work has been done, provisioning finished - we are ready to go as you can tell from the pic at left!!! 

Once again the crew  will consist of that intrepid explorer and world famous chef, Russell (Ian Waymouth) and me and I am looking forward to leaving in 6 days time . . .

So until next time . . . from somewhere up in North Queensland . . .

Cheers as always!

Port Macquarie to Gold Coast - February 2016

Finally the time has come to say goodbye to Port and all my friends and head back to the Gold Coast . . .

Fete is looking a treat as you can see here with her new tender moored alongside, new sails and boom covers, plus all of the other work that we had completed over the 2 years that we have been here in Port.

The time has also arrived for those goodbyes to my friends here on the Th(u)rd Finger and around the Marina, some of whom are leaving Port themselves shortly and will heading up to the Gold Coast and points further north.

Rick and Marie aboard their Cat sv Shaggy & Stevie Jourdain to name but a few.

The crew have been organised and soon I will leave to collect them and bring them back to start the trip back up to the Goldie.

I know that when I leave I will surely miss my view of the Hastings River looking north from Fete's bow.

And I definitely know that I am going to miss our afternoon "Witching Hour" drinks on the Th(u)rd finger with Sparra, Mal, Steve, Sheryn, Nic & Dana, Rob & Chris, Ray, Bob and Dave and Sue, Scotty & Annie, Rick & Marie and the others that would join us from time to time.

At left, Nicola taking a selfie with me in the back ground & right Dave & Sue English's boat San Michelle and behind that Sparra's mv sParadise.

But Before we go any further with this blog, I wanted to let you know that Fete became an Australian citizen/registered vessel. The process was slow and long as I had to get a "Deletion" certificate from the US Homeland Security before AMSA would register her as an Australian vessel. As you can see here the wait was well worth it . . .

The time is almost here to head off with the crew for this leg already in place and raring to go. 2 of the crew you would have met before, namely Zom (bottom left), Russell (bottom right) & the last and newest member Tony (Tone) Foster.

They look eager enough to get going, so all we had to do was wait for a good weather window which was what Zom was looking for on his iPad.

Getting away wasn't going to be easy as I thought as the Th(u)rd Finger crew decided to have a little going away party for me but they called it a FOS party, meaning "F@#k Off Shaun" party.

As you can see here all gathered over a drink or 20 and they even had a presentation for me. I was really touched and greatly appreciated all their thoughts and memorabilia, one in particular. . . .

Rob Radcliffe at left making the presentation to me.

As you could have guessed .  . . yes, Shaun the Sheep.

Annie (Get Your Gun) Priest tagged me with this nickname right for day one on the Th(u)rd Finger and I am afraid it stuck.

But Shaun the Sheep now has pride of place in the dodger as you can see here at right.

The day had finally arrived - Sunday 28th February. High tide was approx. 12 noon and the bar was looking smooth as we surveyed it before returning  to the marina to get ship shape.

The weather was a little overcast, as you can see, due to the flow on from the cyclone that hit Fiji, (Hinton???) earlier in the month.

We were told that further north, Ballina to Tweed, were experiencing 3-5 meter easterly swells which should dissipate before we got there - time will tell . . .

So at approximately 11.30 am we set off from the Marina on our way back to the Gold Coast hoping that the weather would abate as we moved north.

As you can see from the pics above and to the right, it still wasn't a smooth passage thru the bar and at one point we had to nose thru a swell that was breaking just in front of us.

Russell had the helm and Fete went thru with no problem at all. I have experienced this before with Fete and knew that she can handle  this type of crossing.

Off we went heading north with a 1-2 meter swell from behind and around about 15-20kn's of wind.

During the FOS party, young Nicola, had a look at the worn-thru state of my thongs and asked what I was going to do with them.

We discussed what should be done and that was to nail them to the wharf, in front of my old empty berth, to give the impression that I had walked off and left them there, and as you can see here at left, that is exactly what Nic did and sent thru the pic for this Blog.

Thx Nic.

Off we went and it was smooth sailing throughout the rest of the afternoon and as the sun began to set on Day 1 I took this little snippet with Russell again at the helm. We were flying with Russell trying to squeeze every knot he could out of Fete, but we still had the engine running due to the conditions.

It had been a rough night and as you will see below, everything and all lockers were trashed and thrown onto the floor in all cabins.

Obviously the weather from the Fijian cyclone hadn't abated and we started to experience an easterly swell as well as the southerly up our arse. We also still had the wind coming from aft as well - felt like we were in a washing machine.

Day 2 started off dull but the sun came thru and everyone was on deck to get a bit of the sunshine. Even Tony who had hardly come up on deck thru the first day due to the conditions, but here he is beside Russell & Zom.

Later in the day we had some good weather and made many miles, but there was still a little chop as you can see above in this slo-mo.

The rest of the day went the same way, but when night fell, I was glad that we had the AIS up and working. On the 1st night we saw about 4 boats on similar courses to us and we altered way to make it easy for all concerned.

On the 2nd night we saw plenty of boats going and coming in both directions. But early in the morning, around 4am, a ship coming from astern on the same course did not change his course at all and was heading straight for our stern. Russell and I waited to see if he would alter course, but that never happened and we were forced to change course to get out of his way. 

Finally with dawn breaking we saw the old familiar skyline of the Gold Coast and motored on up to the Sea Way.

View from my Hope Island marina Berth overlooking the Tavern

It was approx. 10.30 am, 47 hours since we departed Port Macquarie, when we entered the Seaway &

 signed off with the VMR at the Seaway Tower and down to the SYC to drop Zom & Tony off before Russell and I headed back to our mooring at Hope Island Marina.

There ends another chapter in our blogs, but I thought I would finish this one with a little clip from the past . . . the clip below is from October 2013 when Russell & I joined Zom in bringing his boat sv Upstart from Roslyn Bay back to the Gold Coast and his hatred for Horseflies - have a look:- 

Once again that's all, so until next time . . . Cheers!!!