Gulf, Storm and Near Miss

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Map 22 – Location of object and storms

Sat 6 Nov 04

0530: Rise and shine. Check oils and top up slightly. Set up the water pressure pump, winch in the anchor, secure it and hose down the bow of mud.

0615. Finally … underway to return across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Gove in the NT. Kathy waves from the cockpit of Mimpy and I try to call her and Paul on the VHF radio but they don’t answer. Motoring for the time being because the batteries are down a long way.

There’s a small cool easterly breeze following which makes me hopeful of some good sailing today once clear of the harbour. Call Weipa Harbour Control to advise we’re leaving via the South Channel. They tell me no other boats are booked and we’re cleared to go. On nearing the entrance to the channel we get the full run of tide that slows us down by a full knot. Put up the full mainsail and push the boom out to maximise the following wind then lash a preventer rope to the side rail. The preventer will stop the boom from slamming across the boat in case the wind gets in behind the sail.

0715: Still in the channel but clear of the shallow areas. Set three waypoints into the GPS following the channel south of Bremer Island near Gove. If we arrive at night we’ll be able to just follow the waypoints and pick up the lead lights to enter the harbour. Turn the laptop computer off and stow it away since we’ll be working with the GPS and paper charts from here on. Set course to the first waypoint 290 nm – nautical miles away. Mostly clear of tide influence now and getting around 4.2 kts through the water and 4.3 kts over the ground.

0730: Weather forecast seems good except they say winds are building to 18 kts in the Torres Strait area today and tomorrow. That’s not too bad but will have to wait and see if it affects us later on with swells. However E to NE winds from 10 to 15 kts are expected on the other side of the gulf right through the next four days. Overall its looking good except for the possibility of some lumpy waves coming through from Torres Strait.

0800: The following wind is barely able to keep up with us. Hot already. Still charging the batteries under motor.

0930: We’re sailing faster than the following wind and the mainsail is bellying in against our own forward movement. Sheet the boom in amidships. Not using any headsail yet. It’s hot and breathless with seas that are green and flat.

1050: Still motoring with no useable tail winds. Adjust all ships clocks back half an hour to Central Standard Time (NT) time even though we’re still in QLD waters. Seas calm with very small swells coming through occasionally. Fred and I sit under the small cockpit shade catching up on each others news as we motor along around 4.5 kts. Alternator is putting out about 6 to 7 amps which I’m quite happy with. The motor temperature is up slightly but that’s still okay because the motor is cooled directly from the sea and the sea temperature is over 34 degrees Celsius.

Right: Fred on the bow getting his sea legs back. Bottom right is the life-raft under a red canvas cover. The vertical grey cylindrical object centre left is a dan-buoy attached to a life-ring stowed in the blue canvas bag below it. The white line running fore and aft on Fred’s left is a life-line set up to use during rough weather.

1115: Duyfkin Point, the last of the Queensland coast that we can see slips below the horizon into a smoky haze. Conditions remain the same with no wind and the mainsail slats back and forth so sheet it in harder. Although it’s hot, it’s pleasant enough except for the drone of the motor.

There are five separate containers of snacks on the dinette table including lollies, cakes, biscuits, snacks and nuts. Should have opened the packets and sorted them out ages ago. Am feeling great now that I have company aboard. Not tense. It’s so good just to feel relaxed again and actually enjoy the passage. Obviously I don’t like my own company too much.

Fred and I discuss my future intentions at some length. I’m pretty sure it’s time Lowana IV and I have a parting and I’ve made a loose plan along those lines. First thing is to sell the plastic dinghy and buy a cheap 8 to 10 foot tinnie to replace it. Then build a targa again at the stern to stow it and to mount the two forward solar panels. That will mean taking off the wind steering vane off to sell separately.

When ready Lowana IV could be listed for sale with a broker on the East Coast over the Wet Season. If it’s not sold by May next year, Fred agrees to help me take her over there and leave it with the broker. However I’m not yet convinced this is really the way I want to go but at least it’s a plan while I’m still thinking about it.

1230: Headwinds. In spite of the weather forecast we’ve got westerlies. Would you believe it? They’re small but coming from dead ahead … of course. Have a lunch of dry biscuits, smoked mussels, sardines in tomato and cold meatballs.

Left: A pair of dolphins come by to keep company for a short while.

1430: Westerly winds start in earnest.

1830: Have covered a reasonable 52 miles since starting out. The westerly kept getting stronger during the afternoon and forced us a little north of our rhumb line. Small choppy waves are butting us head on. Speed has been mostly just under 4 kts but presently is barely over 3 kts. Put a reef into the mainsail. Looks like this might continue for the rest of the night since it hasn’t died down at dusk as it would normally do. Actually the wind and waves seem to be building.

We’ve both had a little rest in the early afternoon and are now cooking dehydrated meals in a packet for dinner. Check engine oils and top up. There seems to be a new leak on the starboard and forward end of the motor somewhere.

2000: No moon. Still getting westerlies but they’ve abated a little bit. Short seas are stopping the boat from building up speed. We’re still 10 degrees or more off course which isn’t too bad and making 3.5 kts average. Apart from our speed and direction it’s otherwise pleasant even if it is frustrating. I’ve pulled the first watch and Fred goes to bed up in the forward berth first. He looks a bit pale again and admits to feeling a bit off.

2100: Fred has just got up to go to the head and then went back to bed. Hope he’s okay. Am mildly puzzled a few times by what I think are sharp flashes of light. Look around the horizon but don’t seen anything. There’s no lightning or black clouds about. Stars everywhere. Think maybe I might have a light fitting shorting somewhere and spend some time peering up the mast at the various lights but don’t see anything unusual. Begin to think I’m having hallucinations.

2200. The flashes have become real and getting brighter. There is a storm cell in the distance behind us and it looks to be growing. Those westerly headwinds we’ve had this afternoon have probably been this thing drawing wind into itself. Not sure which way it’s going to go yet.

2300: It’s beginning to look like this storm might keep coming our way. Get Fred up so I can get a quick nap in case we get hit.

Sun 7 Nov 04

0200: Fred wakes me. The storm is much closer and coming up quite fast from behind, the lightning is much clearer and the thunder quite distinct. It’s looks really nasty. I keep watch but it just keeps growing. Not sure whether it’s going to go either side or directly over us. It’s times like this I wish I had a radar. Can we run before it? Not yet. Put our vests on and clip onto the life line. Turn to starboard and try going north for a while but the billowing black clouds overtake us. Turn westerly again but the storm keeps pushing ahead that way too.

0230: This thing is definitely going to go over the top of us. Turn towards the NE to try and cut across the face of the storm and get back around it. The wind suddenly starts screaming at our back. The boat yaws and wallows with waves driving us forward into an inky blackness and plunging down the face of them. At least once there’s a strange crack or sharp fizzling sound and a smell of ozone on the air.

0245: Something appears briefly dead ahead in the intermittent flashes of jagged lightning. Something big, black and ominous sitting above the surface of the water which can only be seen in the flashes of the lightning, without which it’s pitch black and I can’t see anything.

Another flash of brilliant, fluttering white. It’s dead ahead and I get an impression of a small drilling or derrick platform, or some kind of boat with a mast. Whatever it is, it’s not showing lights and is a substantial size big enough to sink us if we hit it. It’s impossible to maintain a straight course. That thing could be anywhere out there. Can’t see it … can’t see it. Search desperately for another glimpse. Lost in the blackness.

Another lightning flash. There … flick my eyes across. It’s too late to get a good look but it’s dead ahead and closing fast. Bound to bloody hit it! It’s gotta be close and I can’t see the bloody thing! Rip the autopilot off the tiller heedless of damaging it and make a crash turn to port. Another lightning flash. There it is – slipping down the starboard side maybe 30 or 40 metres away. Stare intently into the darkness. Spot it one more time pulling away rapidly astern before it’s lost to sight into the blackness behind.

Mark the position with shaking hands using the MOB – Man Over Board function of the GPS. Posn: 12.22.56S – 140.03.02E with a view to reporting its position to authorities. Illegal Indonesian fishing boats are being regularly caught around here. It might have been one of them.

Turn north for a while and after an hour or so the electrical thunder storm seems to be falling behind. There’s more black clouds and thunder still off to the west to try and keep clear of but for now I think we’re safe; seas are still rough but manageable.

0530: More than one storm cell threatened during the rest of the night but thankfully we managed to avoid them. Some had serious lightning in them and seemed to be quite close. Several times I found myself trying not to touch any metal but on a steel boat that’s hard to do. The end result of all this evasion was that we’d been running north to get above the storms and let them pass under us. We’re now 15 miles or so back to the east from where we’d been, plus 24 miles north of our original rhumb line to Gove.

Turn back towards Gove only to find the wind once again coming from the west. Fred suggests we try for Cape Wessel which is at the top of the Wessel Island group and is a northerly turning point when travelling west from Gove. It would at least give us some angle on the wind. Look at the chart. We’d only have to change course by 13 degrees but I can’t be sure we’d have enough fuel to get home if we have to motor all the way. And I don’t know whether we’ll continue to get headwinds, or no wind, or hit more storms. Decide to continue to Gove for now. If we can sail and conserve fuel we can then look to make for Cape Wessel and go straight home.

At dawn another storm cell moves across our bow on the horizon. Looks like it’s going to be a game of hide and seek all the way to Gove. This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid whilst waiting in Weipa.

0615: It’s a bit deflating. The day is cloudy, almost overcast and we’ve still got headwinds from the SW. Streaky cirrus clouds are sitting up high in the east presaging even more higher winds later. Nothing seems to be going well for us. Am so pissed off that the weather forecasts are forever predicting E to SE winds and we’re getting SW winds. Swells left over from last nights storms are pushing in from the NE and from the opposite direction as well. It takes two hands and much bracing to move about the boat.

0800: Call Alice Springs base and talk to a female operator. Give her our position. Seas have calmed right down to flat except for low swells from the NE. The wind has died and the wind vane is hunting for air so we’re motoring with only the mainsail up. Pull in the headsail as it’s useless. Hot. Cloudy. Sultry. Large ominous group of clouds sitting on the horizon to the east. I’ve seen these sort of conditions before and it’s usually not good.

0900: Weather forecast isn’t good either. Nor was it good a couple of days ago in the sense that they stuffed it up. But they’re now suddenly saying there are isolated storms for today and tomorrow with gusts up to 35 kts.

Contact Coast Radio Gladstone and then Coast Radio Cairns on one of the Distress and Calling safety frequencies on the HF radio. Report the near miss with an unknown object last night and give its position.

1200: Hot. Desultory. Stifling. Wet season-ish. Humid and bugger all wind to use. Mainsail slats back and forth juddering the boat each time Lowana IV rolls on the low swells. Threatening clouds still sit around the horizon to the east. Wind vane at the top of the mast keeps hunting for any kind of air movement and being pulled around in circles as the boat rocks.

1400: Any little bit of wind we manage to get is from the north. There’s also increasing swells coming from the S and NE no doubt due to storms out in those directions. Patchy sunlight and the cloud banks to the east are building up. This day just doesn’t feel right. A welcome cool breeze occasionally wafts across the cockpit under the small shade canopy. The surface of the water is ruffled. I must say I don’t like this.

Despite these observations we’re making fairly good time at 4.7 kts over the ground and 4 kts through the water. Fred is having a sleep, or at least is trying to. Mainsail continues to slat and bang back and forth. For the next few hours the wind picks up and changes more northerly allowing all sails to be used to pick up some speed to around 5.5 kts or more.

1730: Afternoon continued uneventfully. Wind is dying now with not as many whitecaps out there. The position plots on the chart are so close together compared to the length of time elapsed between them. Irksome journey this. Mostly boring, especially knowing that we’re not even half way yet.

Skies have mostly cleared of the nastier looking clouds. Some high altitude cirrus continues to promise higher winds but these are crossing to the north and may not affect us. Seas sloppy on top of swells but at least the ones coming from the south have subsided. Perhaps they’re just being absorbed by the ones from the NE.

2200: Fred has been feeling a little bit off colour again earlier this evening but insists on pulling his fair share of watches. He’s now had something to eat and feels a bit better. Send him back to bed and don’t wake him when it’s his turn to take watch.

We’re motoring again and pass the halfway mark across the gulf. It’s pleasant once more and the only wind is that which we make by our own forward movement. Boat continues to rock and roll along as the lingering swells pass underneath. Have double reefed the mainsail although there’s no sign of any storms just now. The weather forecast earlier tonight didn’t make any mention of isolated storms tonight but I don’t believe them. However they do say we’ll have more of them tomorrow.

Mon 8 Nov 04

0400: Fred surfaces on his own accord saying he’s feeling better. Black clouds had come up earlier on the ENE horizon. They’re now sitting above the horizon and obscuring the sliver of moon that should be there. It’s nice though when breaks in the clouds allow the moon to shine through. Swells are down and we’re making a fairly consistent 4.5 kts on a direct course towards Gove.

0700: No mention of any storms in the weather forecast. Conditions are calm and hot already. Stop the motor and check oils. All seems okay. Fred and I think we’ve figured out the problem with this motor. Sometimes the oil put into the motor via the filler cap doesn’t drain straight down into the sump. It’s as if there’s some blockage, maybe a bit of sludge or something blocking the oil drain holes. It seems logical to me that if oil is being forced out of the engine block there must be pressure inside pushing it out. The motor is eventually going to have to be completely stripped down, checked and cleaned thoroughly.

1330: The day continues hot with almost no wind. Sea almost glassy with low swells that keep the boat rocking. Steering vane sometimes doing complete circles in sympathy with Lowana IV rolling from side to side. Less than 80 nm to go doing about 4.5 kts or so.

1600: Cross the QLD/NT border longitude at 138 degrees about a mile back. Now officially on NT time although we’ve been using it all the way across so far. No wind to use and the seas still oily looking.

1800: Fred and I have a cold coke in the cockpit then check the oils. No need to top up either sump which is unusual. Still have 58 miles to go.

1930: Night closes in. Heat up a stew for tea. Wash up and settle into night routine. No change outside. Close up the forward hatch for the night. Hot inside.

Tues 9 Nov 04

Overnight: Conditions continue the same. Leave the mainsail double-reefed just in case but there wasn’t any wind to take advantage of.

0730: Reach the first waypoint off Bremer Island near Gove. Change the navigation system over to the laptop. Slow going at 3.3 kts against the current in the channel. Within mobile phone range so ring Delma to tell her we’ve arrived at Gove knowing she’d notify Fred’s wife Beth.

1030: Pass around the main wharf and make the final turn towards the anchorage in Inverell Bay off the Gove Yacht Club.

1115: Select our site and drop the anchor in 5m at low tide.

Gove: Position 12.11.953S – 136.42.005E. . Total distance travelled 1348 miles. Log across the gulf at 315 miles. Max speed 6.1 kts.

MORE TO FOLLOW

A Boat Named Dauntless

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Weipa and Evans Landing

Tues 2 Nov 04

0530: Not sure if it’s a second sense but something is bothering me. Get up anyway to take a look around just in time to see Dauntless no more than 5m off my bow. Watch for a while but there doesn’t appear to be any danger of collision. As I watch, Dauntless turns and takes off towards Always where upon almost reaching her, turns her nose back again into the tide. Lowana IV decides to follow but instead drifts sideways until she takes up a position directly behind Dauntless. The boats are being playful tonight with the tide coming in and the wind pushing them all over the place.

0630: Like so many times before in the forward bunk, I listen to a rising and falling noise like the wind moaning through the rigging. But it’s only coming from a ship and the wharf further down the harbour, the sounds being borne on the wind according to which way it’s blowing. Occasionally I think it must be getting really blowy out there and get up to take a look, only to find everything is just peachy … or at least okay.

Today is the day of the famous Australian Melbourne Cup – a horse race that stops the entire nation. No doubt many of the local businesses will close their doors at lunch time. Happens all across the country.

0730: Weather forecast still looking good to Friday. Dauntless is just 5 metres or so off my bow again as she wanders back and forth. It’s getting a bit too close for comfort and I don’t look forward to the high winds expected again later today. It just might be enough to push us together.

Speak to Paul on Channel 17 VHF about it but cop a caustic comment that he’s not bothered by it. Decide to re-anchor anyway and pull the anchor up. Wander around for a while looking for somewhere to put the pick down but there’s nowhere else suitable. Finally return to roughly the same place except a little further out. Set the pick but the wind pushes me out into the main shipping channel. Don’t want to argue with one of those monster ships coming by so pull the anchor up again.

A stink boat had left earlier so anchor up where he’d been, making sure to leave a bit of room it case it comes back. It’s still a fair way out from shore and with the help of the wind puts me a little uncomfortably right on the edge of the main shipping channel. Watch for a while keeping the motor running as Lowana IV settles to her new position. Start cleaning up a bit.

0845: Go ashore to meet Rebecca who turns up in a four-wheel drive vehicle. She’s a pretty woman with short auburn hair, slim and wears glasses. We sit on the embankment overlooking the harbour. She tells me about herself and her sailing experience including extensive experience in Australia, South-East Asia and across to South Africa. Seems quite intelligent and friendly enough. Tell her my history with Lowana IV and something about myself.

Take her out to the boat to show her around. Have a hot drink of Milo. She seems to be satisfied with the boat and keen enough. Back on shore we go on a Cooks Tour of Weipa visiting the mine site travelling across the bridge at Mission River to the north of town. Stop at a hotel for a comfort break and then drive around for a while. She drops me off at the library so I can send and receive my emails after which she takes me back to Evans Landing.


Lowana IV previously berthed at Tipperary Marina in Darwin being prepared for cruising. Extra water and fuel containers on deck. Shade canopy rigged here. Inflatable dinghy stowed on front deck.	Looking aft to the cockpit showing wind-vane centre left. Outboard motor. BBQ centre right.

Looking forward from wheel house down companionway into interior. Dinette table on port side can be lowered to form a bunk. Fridge at bottom left. Gimballed citronella lamp above table.	Inside looking aft up the companionway. Drop bench seat upper centre right on port side. Fridge centre right with drop down navigation table above. Quarter berth with red mattress centre. EPIRB on wall (yellow object). Galley off photo to left

The galley on starboard side looking aft showing gimballed stove and oven. Deep sink. Deep freezer to left of sink. The rope at bottom left is used to hold you next to the stove or sink in rough seas.	Saloon looking forward on starboard side showing galley bottom right, settee at bottom centre, TV, gimballed lamp, stereo top left. The white pole at left is the stepping post under the mast.

Looking forward to the v-berth. Can be converted to a double bunk. Door to anchor well at head of bunk with anchor motor above. Hanging cupboards to left and right. The head is extreme left.	Some would say the most important place is the head. Manual pump out system with a hand wash tray providing manual backup to pump fresh water if the electric system fails. Cabinets behind full of first aid and hygiene items.

On the way back she tells me she’s been speaking with her new boyfriend on her mobile phone. She isn’t going to come with me after all because she doesn’t want to stretch the relationship at this stage. Of course I understand and in any case the morning has been pleasant and a good break in routine for me. She says it’s been good to get back in touch with yachts and yachties even if only briefly, and that perhaps one day she’ll own her own boat. It’s too bad she can’t come. I think I would have really enjoyed her company across to Gove but never mind. Back to Plan B and get Fred onto a flight for Thursday.

1230: Ring Delma and ask her to book Fred on the Thursday flight to Weipa then return back to Lowana IV. It’s become quite hot and almost windless with occasional gusts out on the water today for a change, a good indication of a break in the weather. Shame I’ve had to waste a day and a half waiting around but I guess that’s the price if I want company to go back home.

Hope that stink boat doesn’t come back and want this spot where I am now. Don’t know where I can go if that happens. Tides have been really strange this week. They’re outgoing all night and incoming all day, each lasting 10 to 11 hours with just an hour or so of still water in the middle. Just one in and one out tide a day for about the next 5 days. Where else would you see that? Weird …

Afternoon: Try to rest but can’t because it’s too hot so start on the repairs to the stuffing box. Unscrew the dog clamps, lift the cockpit hatch and climb down behind the motor. Pull the grease tube and locking nut off the stuffing box. The nut has split completely down one side and won’t tighten. Take the part to a Mitre 10 hardware shop to see if I can find a fitting that might be modified to do the job. If not then I’ll have to mix a batch of steel epoxy putty and try to repair the cap, which would only be a temporary fix but I have to do something. Without the grease tube held firmly into the stuffing box, seawater will make its way inside the boat.

Nothing at Mitre 10. Walk around the area and as I thought, most places are locked up for the afternoon due to the Melbourne Cup. A van pulls up at an Enzed franchise shop that specialises in hoses and fittings. The driver goes inside so I head on over there. The fellow knows exactly what I’m talking about when I mention the stuffing box, finds me a new part and puts it into my hand. It’s the exact part. I can’t believe my luck for a change. Also gives me a little brass “onion” ring through which the grease feeder tube fits and clamps onto the tube when the cap is tightened. No more having to use plumbers tape. When I offer to pay he refuses, saying he doesn’t want any money so I leave him with my deep thanks.

Sure enough back on the boat the nut fits perfectly and it doesn’t take long to reconnect the grease feed tube. Job done. Tidy up. Refill a 10lt petrol container and refuel the generator ready for use tonight. Make a copy of the anchorages Paul has identified and take it over to the boys on Falmari. Shaun asks if I want a beer which I decline but I notice Mick once again doesn’t invite me aboard. Not being invited once or twice is okay but not being invited at all is getting a bit rude I think. However to be fair, each time I’ve come by they’ve been doing something or other.

1745: Delma hasn’t booked Fred on a flight yet. She tries to do it on the internet while she’s on the phone to me but there’s some glitch or other and she can’t get the booking through. She says she’ll ring them directly once she finished talking to me.

Evening: Make up a big stew for tonight. Have it for dinner then divide the remainder into four meals in separate containers and put them into the bottom of the fridge. Watch a movie. Have a read. Really pleasant outside. Sit in the cockpit trying to enjoy the ambience of my surroundings with my heart sitting in my throat and thumping away.

Weds 3 Nov 04

Overnight: Get up a couple of times either to a call of nature or just to check what’s happening with the boats around me. I’ve learned to expect anything here in this place. It’s really nice outside with a bright moon and almost glassy water. It’s a little disconcerting watching the big ships coming and going literally within just a stones throw away.

0730: Weather forecast tells me the pressure ridge dominating the East Coast and keeping me in Weipa is weakening. Winds across the Gulf of Carpentaria and Top End will be dropping to less than 10 kts at times, though swells are still pushing through Torres Strait out into the gulf. It’s just as well I’ll be waiting another day to let them settle down a bit, and it looks like Fred and I will be doing a bit of motoring at this point.

1130: Top up tanks with 20lt of fuel and 75lt of water which still leaves me short of 30lt of fuel in the tank but that’s okay. Put the empty water and diesel fuel containers plus the empty petrol container into the dinghy to be refilled.

Call Delma. She’s booked Fred to arrive at 1 pm tomorrow and even got $100 or so off the usual fare. Fill the fuel containers and lug them back to the dinghy. Refill the water containers at the laundrette. One of them is broken. Think about whether it can be cut up and used in some other way but end up putting it beside the rubbish bin.

Return to Lowana IV and stow the filled containers on deck and lash them all down. Start the motor and run the fridge compressor. Put some drinks and juices into the fridge. The day is hot again. Some small gusts of wind blow across the harbour from the SE, but it’s mostly a light breeze allowing a smoky haze from bush fires across the harbour to settle along the shore line.

Pull out the manuals for the stereo radio and finally get around to properly running the lines and hooking up the speakers in the cockpit under the solar panels frame. Install a switch to isolate the cockpit or cabin speakers as required and it all works first go. Adjust the volume and at last there is music outside without having to string a temporary speaker line and speaker out there.

1600: Have some lunch – hot dogs on toast and tomato sauce. Pull out and test weigh the gas bottle. It feels about a third full but decide to get it filled anyway so take it ashore. Two men are standing at the bow of a commercial fishing boat next door using electric tools. It looks like they’re sanding the deck and give me a friendly wave as I pass by.

A brisk westerly wind has set in creating waves and making it a bit more difficult to get to shore. The attendant tells me the gas bottle is almost empty and only charges me $30 whereas I’d been previously quoted $40. Get it back onboard and lash it into it’s bracket on the stern rail.

Pause to look at the westerly wind and waves coming into the harbour and ponder about leaving Weipa tomorrow if it’s against an incoming tide. Wind has been coming in all afternoon at only about 15 kts but its bound to be lumpy in the South Channel, especially with the shallows out there creating bigger waves. Pushing and banging into that is no way to start a passage … no thanks. Decide to either leave tomorrow night when it calms down, or maybe early Friday morning with the calm dawn conditions and maybe an easterly wind behind us.

1730: Notice another trimaran at anchor on the way to shore. Ring Delma. She’s been busy getting the house painted while I’m away. Fred and his wife Beth have been helping her.

Stop by Just Roamin‘ on the way back to Lowana IV for a short visit. Kevin and Sharon are sitting on deck enjoying a quiet drink in the late afternoon. The nearby trimaran is Easy. I know this yacht and met the owners back in Gove. There’s nobody topside but the rubber-ducky is still on deck so they’re probably sleeping. They must have had a hard passage given the strong winds recently. Stay with Kevin and Sharon until the sun goes down in a red banded ball.

They mention they won’t be onboard Just Roamin tomorrow when I leave, so we say our goodbyes and I cast off for Lowana IV. We exchange best wishes as I pull away. They say they’ll probably be in Darwin around July next year and will probably stop at Tipperary Marina where I keep Lowana IV. Maybe we’ll meet up again then.

1900: Run the motor, start the fridge compressor and fire up the oven for the first time. Am cooking a store bought steak and kidney pie with puff pastry and mushy peas tonight. Wind has died right down to a light breeze and the water is calm – lovely conditions. It strikes me that it’s times like this that I really enjoy some company.

Evening: Bake the pie which is probably the first time I’ve ever baked anything. Works out well with a lovely golden brown and flaky crust. Ladle the mushy peas on top to make a yummy meal followed by jellied fruit for desert.

Another catamaran is coming in. Her navigation lights are weaving about and I don’t envy him trying to find a place in the dark before the moon comes up. There’s not much room with the bottom shelving so quickly and a dozen boats anchored here. Apparently there’s usually only about 2 or 3 boats here and locals are already commenting on the large number of boats.

Thurs 4 Nov 04

0630: Calm conditions with a light easterly breeze. Fred arrives today so we should be good to leave tomorrow even if we’ll be pushing against the tide. Fire up the motor and get out the electric grinder. It’s a 650-watt grinder which I can run through a 1000-watt DC to AC inverter. Need to round off the corners of the brackets on the forward solar panel since they’ve now torn two pairs of shorts.

0700: Smoke haze hangs over riffled water with the sun streaming inside down the companionway. Dauntless is a friendly little bugger – wants to cuddle up with everybody. She tends to sit sideways to everyone else and is now making her way over to check out Just Roamin again. Weather forecast is looking good up to Sunday with easterlies of 10 to 15 kts. If it holds in like that we’ll be able to sail when we leave and rest the motor.

Paul comes over to say goodbye in case I leave today. He and Kathy are going into town and don’t expect to be back until late. It’s pension day and they’ll probably have a bought meal in town for a change and do some shopping. I tell him I’m undecided about when to leave. I might leave tomorrow or might just leave tonight if I feel like it. Paul smiles and says, “I often do things like that too”.

Paul is quite handy with diesel engines being a truckie from way back, so I ask him what he thinks about the motor and the chances that it will get me back to Darwin. Given that the motor is leaking oil from the head gasket, if I was to work the motor hard for any reason would it be likely to blow out the gasket seal completely? Paul doesn’t think so. He says it should be alright but to just keep the oil up to it.

It’s reassuring, and Fred is pretty handy around diesel motors too if it comes to that. Paul says just as he’s leaving that if he doesn’t catch up with me before leaving then he’ll probably arrive in Darwin about this time next year.

The name of the catamaran that came in last night is Dave The Cat and he’s found a place above Just Roamin but closer to Evans Landing Wharf. Being a cat he has a shallower draught than me so can get in a bit closer to shore. The incoming tide is in full flight and an easterly breeze has picked up. Lowana IV starts pitching slightly to the small waves but it’s still pleasant despite the smoke haze.

1030: It’s a beautiful day with a gentle breeze and just small wavelets coming through. Nice, but my mood doesn’t match it. Put a last load of washing through at the laundrette. Try to ring Delma at the usual phone box but it won’t accept any coins this time so have to walk about a kilometre to the next one at Evans Landing Wharf. There’s been an issue with Fred’s flight and she asks me to wait 10 minutes while she gets more details.

Wander around kicking stones and looking at the park. It’s a nice though smallish oval with green grass, framed with frangipani trees thickly sporting a variety of pink or white scented flowers. A small stand of bamboo is nearby and a there’s a number of brick fireplaces. Some of these have had the thick steel cooking plate removed but most are useable and one has a good supply of timber ready. Shady, quiet place. Would be ideal for a nice Sunday picnic with a family.

Ring Delma back. Fred’s flight left this morning but the aircraft hit some birds causing damage serious enough to warrant returning to Darwin. Bugger it! I say to Delma, “Alright. I’m going. I’m going out to the boat right now, pick up the anchor and set out for Gove while I’ve still got this weather window before this afternoon’s westerlies set in”. She tells me Fred’s already been re-scheduled for 3:30 pm today on a Qantas flight. The ticket’s already paid for and can’t be refunded.

Bugger it again! Stuck here for another 24 hours and my weather window may be shrinking for all I know. My emotions are already tightly strung and in frustration I thump the phone box cabinet and hear a beep from the phone. The connection is lost and it takes a moment to realise I’ve simply run out of money and haven’t broken anything.

Call back and Delma says that Fred will be accommodated in Cairns tonight and will fly on to Weipa tomorrow morning to arrive at 1:00 pm. Nothing else can be done but to wait and hope that Fred makes the connection okay. Go back to the laundrette and pick up my washing, return to the boat and hang the washing out.

Author’s note:
There was good reason for some concern but as a typical anxiety suffer, the problem was being magnified. Isolated tropical thunder-storms can start to appear at any time beginning in November, and occasionally more than one in the same area. They sit under towering anvil shaped clouds bringing a prodigious amount of crackling lighting, reverberating thunder, strong winds and heavy rain. Nasty. And the open water of the Gulf of Carpentaria is not a place to experience a bad one.

1200: Hot. Breathless. Flag hangs listlessly. Water is flat. Lunch of toast and spam slices.

1400: Westerly afternoon sea breeze starting in at around 10 kts, enough to get small waves coming through. Take down the washing. Batteries are right down after using the grinder this morning so run the motor for a while and to cool down the fridge. Hopefully I can get enough charge into the batteries to last through the night.

1630: Still a little windy outside but not quite as strong as yesterday. Go through the cassette music tape collection. Find a couple of cassette trays and mount them on the wall above the settee berth and put another one in the forward berth. Choose a few dozen tapes for ready access and bag up the rest. Find a small treasure trove of good tapes in the process that haven’t been played so far on this trip.

1830: Frigate birds are wheeling about as usual. They look almost like some kind of prehistoric pterodactyl with their pointy wings. Ring Delma who tells me there’s been more delays with Fred. He didn’t make the afternoon flight to Cairns for some reason but is now due to leave later tonight. I’m already agitated enough about these ongoing delays and can barely contain the inner explosions.

Tell Delma that if he can’t make it to Weipa tomorrow then to cancel the booking, get a refund and not accept any bullshit from the airline about it. They will have failed to provide the service that has been paid for and must refund. I can’t just keep waiting. I can lose my weather window and the longer I delay, the more chance of running into storms. I’m too wound up to realise how unrealistic I’ve just been and wander off muttering to myself cursing every unoffending thing I see.

Fred and Kathy have returned so call by Always on the way back to Lowana IV. Stay for a short while and tell him what’s been happening with Fred.

Evening: Cook the last of the frozen mince with minestrone soup mix and curry powder into a frypan with water. Works out quite nice. Watch a movie.

Fri 5 Nov 04

0630: There’s a cool easterly breeze again this morning, just a bit stronger than yesterday. Looking toward the mouth of the harbour is a sailboat making its way out but can’t identify who it is. Both yachts Dave the Cat and Easy are both gone. Clean the citronella oil lamps for something to do while waiting for the weather forecast.

0700: Weather forecast is still okay up to Monday with a hint of increased winds this side of the gulf coming up. Delma tells me on the phone that Fred got on the plane last night and she hasn’t heard anything since. Can only hope he makes the connecting flight alright.

0810: Return to boat. Notice the commercial fishing boat next to me is gone. Falmari has gone as well. Seems everybody’s taking advantage of this weather window. Reset the log on the GPS. It was reading 1,104 sea miles (2,045 km) but I think that also includes the aborted trip to Melville Island before this one.

The large ore carrier River Embley is alongside Lorim Wharf where they load raw bauxite ore and which belongs to the Camalco Mine. A smaller wharf is closer with the strange name of Humbug Wharf. It’s used to service the township of Weipa where containers and other goods are delivered.

0830: Try to get a weather fax but can’t get a good signal on the HF radio. The frequencies are all too noisy but you get days like that.

0850: Easterly is now blowing up to 15 kts once again bringing whitecaps in the bay, perfect for sailing if I could leave right now.

1100: Wind has eased. Head off for a shower ashore. The blocked saliva gland in my throat has flared up again last night. I’ve had to take some painkiller tablets today but they’re not doing much good.

1130: Delma says there’s no more news from Fred so assume he’s made the connecting flight to Weipa. Have no idea where the airport is so start hitch hiking towards the supermarket. It’s hot but nobody seems interested in giving me a lift until a minibus taxi comes by and stops. Find out I’m going the wrong way. Should have been heading out along the harbour road towards Lorim Wharf.

Decide to pay the expensive $20 fare and get into the cab to go to the airport. The driver tells me there’s been a couple of rapes over the last couple of weeks and the locals are being a bit careful about picking up strangers by the road.

1200: Arrive at the airport. Sit and read a book. Idly chat with some people who are departing on the same aircraft.

1300: Flight from Cairns arrives. Fred gets off looking pale and his eyes are a bit puffy. A lady passenger says how wonderful he’d been putting her at ease during the flight. Fred later tells me the lady had been petrified for the whole trip, gripping his arm with such ferocity that her knuckles had been white. Fred is a thorough gentleman and it’s typical of him. Always so willing to help others despite his own dislike of flying. The woman looks with surprise at Fred when I tell her about his earlier flight with birds striking the aircraft. He hadn’t mentioned it to her, I guess because it might only have alarmed her some more.

Right: Fred (in blue shirt) arriving at Weipa.

Fetch Fred’s backpack off the trolley carts when they’re wheeled in. Manage to get a cheaper shared fare with 8 other passengers back to Evans Landing. They’re all going to join a fishing charter boat called Eclipse which is waiting for them at the wharf there. Get dropped off at the laundrette. Ring Delma to tell her Fred has arrived safely and that we’ll probably be leaving first thing in the morning.

1400: Hot and sunny out on the boat with almost no wind. Am almost tempted to put straight out to sea, except I know the westerly afternoon seabreeze is likely to kick in soon. Have a hot cuppa with Fred. He’s taken some aspirin and is starting to get a little colour back in his face. Pass a mattress up into the cockpit so he can take an afternoon nap. He really looks like he needs it.

1430: Wind springs up first from the NW then westerly to about 15 kts. Gusts fitfully at first but blows more steadily as the afternoon wears on.

1730: Wind still blowing a little but dies down slowly. Fred is awake. Go ashore to tell Delma we’ll definitely be leaving tomorrow morning. Take a walk around the Port Weipa area before returning to boat.

Evening: Cook up some stew and frozen eggs, the latter not being too much of a success. Jellied fruit and custard for desert. Have a nice hot cup of coffee and Milo out in the cockpit after the washing up is done. Conditions are calm with a slight cool breeze. Watch a recorded TV show on the laptop

MORE TO FOLLOW

A Second Hand

Standard

Fri 29 Oct 04

0630: Nice outside with a light easterly breeze and calm water in the anchorage for a change. Lowana IV hasn’t moved during the night.

0700: Weather forecast tells me I’ll be here at least until next Monday with 20kt winds predicted on both sides of gulf.

AM: Hard wire the starboard solar panel. Put the dinghy over the side. Mick of Falmari comes over for a short visit. Type up some emails and save them to floppy disk to send later in town. Take a shower at the ablution block next to the public boat ramp then manage to catch a mini bus to town along with some aboriginal passengers. I only have to pay a share of the fare instead of the full amount but even so it still cost $7.10 to get to the supermarket.

Visit the hairdressers for my long awaited haircut but they can’t fit me in until late today, so make an appointment for 1:30 pm tomorrow. Taxi wants $11.00 to take me to the library so I skip that. Buy some lunch at a quick food place and eat it at a table in the centre aisle of the supermarket. It’s a greasy toasted bacon and egg sandwich that plays up with my stomach for the rest of the day, probably because I’m not used to big greasy meals.

Right: Weipa Shopping Centre

Buy some loaves of bread for Always and Mimpy who had asked me to do so by radio earlier. They’re on their way to Evans Landing having left Duyfkin Point. Start hitch hiking out of town but end up walking almost half way before finally scoring a lift. Heaps of cars go by in the hot sun. Check in at the servo to ask about diesel injector services for Mimpi’s motor. They tell me there’s a place on Howard Road further in town that does injectors but anything complicated can’t be done there. Get a bit more success at a place next door called Weipa Mobile Repairs. The manager Warren tells me they’ll go out to boats to check motors. They can do certain injector and pump tests on board but if they require further work, the parts will have to be sent to Cairns.

I ask him about taking at look at my own motor. He says he has a reasonable supply of parts. He warns that on Monday mornings he nearly always has a line of tourists at his front gate wanting repairs, but he’ll send a mechanic out to Lowana IV after lunch on Monday. I’m to go ashore about midday and check with him.

Look in at a Suzuki boating repairs and workshop with a view to getting a smaller dinghy. It doesn’t have any small dinghies but offer a Quicksilver inflatable with a wooden floor. The agent says, “Mate, I can’t take your plastic dinghy for a trade because I don’t think I’d be able to sell it to anyone locally”. He adds with a smile, “I’d probably be able to sell it to another yachtie, but we don’t get many wind thieves through here”.

A sign on a fence nearby announces an auto and marine trimmers shop. Maybe they’ll be able to repair my headsail. Enquiries inside reveal that the couple who had run the shop disappeared about two months ago and nobody knows where they’ve gone. Nor do they know anyone in Weipa who has an industrial machine capable of stitching headsails.

Take the dinghy out to Falmari. Mick had been thinking about my motor problems and mentions he has a diesel mechanic mate who might have a look at the motor tomorrow at 2:00 pm. Thank him anyway but have to decline. I’ve got that 1:30 haircut appointment and besides, I’ve already made arrangements with Weipa Mobile Repairs.

1500: Always and Mimpi are anchored near Lowana IV. Visit each in turn and hand over the loaf of bread they’d requested earlier. They apparently hadn’t had any bread for a while. Paul says they’d arrived about half an hour ago. To my mind they’ve parked fairly close to me, maybe too close.

1700: Have a rest. Read a book. Strong westerly winds blow through the anchorage with boats swinging every which way. Go ashore and ring home but there’s no answer so leave a curt message on our answering machine. As I get off the phone I realise it was a bit churlish of me. There’s no excuse even if I am feeling uptight. Take a walk and find a place where I can get my gas bottle refilled.

Try calling Delma again and this time am successful. She’d been driving home when I’d called before and I apologised for my earlier remark. I tell her my biggest concern is to get the motor fixed before the next weather window opens across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Gove. The next one could be in three days. I want to try and get Lowana IV home across the Top End before the north-westerly monsoon winds and storms that are due to start early November.

We discuss whether Delma might be able to find someone willing to go to Gove at short notice to help me bring Lowana IV home quickly. If I can get another set of hands and eyes I should be able to do it in 4 days from Gove if I push straight through, but I’ll need someone to keep watch while I’m asleep. Even if I take it a bit easy and just do a couple of overnighters, weather permitting I could still be home inside a week from Gove. I give her some names to start checking with and she says she’ll see what she can do.

Dusk: Back onboard and heat up a can of steak and vegetables for supper. Put on some easy-listening CDs and light the citronella oil lamps which give a soft glow inside the boat.

Evening: Paul and Kathy come over for hot drinks in cockpit. Full moon rises and bathes the anchorage in a soft light at first, then in full light as the moon rises. Pleasant chat. Lowana IV hardly rocking. Sometimes its nice here.

2130: Guests go home and I go to bed to read for a little bit.

Sat 30/10/04

0700: Weather forecast continues to cast doom and gloom on my plans. Can’t move from here now until Tuesday because of those high winds both sides of gulf. Make up some Crew Wanted notices to put up on the notice board at the shopping centre and also at the workers camp here at Evans Landing.

AM: On the way to shore check in at Falmari. Meet Mick’s mate Shaun who’d arrived from Gladstone late yesterday. Big chap. Seems friendly enough. Go for a walk to stretch my legs once ashore and ring Delma for a chat. She tells me an old friend Fred Sims may be interested in coming to Gove to help to bring Lowana IV home and will get back to me with more later.

Wander down to a cultural centre at the wharf area. There isn’t much there except for some information on saltwater crocodiles and an interesting exhibit of a meeting between Europeans and aboriginals in the early 1600s.

Map at the Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney showing the routes of early explorers including Willem Jansz off the West Coast of Cape York in 1606. Much of the Western Australian coast was mapped by early explorers during the 1600s.

In 1606 the aboriginals at the Pennefather River watched the Dutch ship Duyfkin, skippered by Willem Jansz sail south to Cape Keerweer. It later returned to the East Indies. The cultural centre has another large map on display of the route taken, showing Ceram and Aru Islands of Indonesia and Papua of New Guinea, quite accurately showing the coastal areas of Port Musgrave, Pennefather River, Weipa and Cape Keerweer.

Left: Duyfkin replica berthed
at the Sydney Maritime Museum.

Bottom Left: Main deck looking
aft.

Bottom Right: Main deck looking forward.

There is an oral history by local aboriginals of the visit by the Duyfkin at Cape Keerweer relating to a clash with the local Wik-Ngatharr tribe. The Dutch had kidnapped several aboriginals, some or all of whom may have been aboriginal women. The tribe responded by spearing some of the Dutch from behind trees. The Dutch then went to the south of the river mouth and shot some aboriginals there as they lay sleeping though these were not the ones responsible for the spearing.

Other Dutch visitors are recorded to have visited this area including Carstenz on the Pera in 1623, Abel Tasman in 1644 and Jean Golzal in 1756.

Notice a dinghy hanging off Just Roamin as I’m returning to Lowana IV so call in. Kevin and Sharon are both aboard and keen to hear my story. They commiserate with me after I’d told them my tale. Sharon says tears had been streaming down her face on the day everyone had left since she and Kevin weren’t going along too.

1130: Leave Just Roamin and dinghy over to Falmari to find Mick and Shaun almost ready to go to town and they offer me a lift. Visit the Mitre 10 hardware store at the shopping centre first then have some lunch. Browse through the shelves at the newsagency and put up my “Crew Wanted” notice on the notice board.

1300: Sit outside the hairdressers reading a magazine waiting for my appointment. One of the staff comes out early and invites me inside to get my haircut. Seems the 1:00 pm appointment hadn’t turned up. A friendly, pleasant and curious lass cut my hair at a price commensurate with my usual barber shop price. Leave the supermarket and reach the road leading out to Evans Landing. Almost immediately catch a lift from a chap who says he’d been picked up in the same spot last night after having walked for two hours.

Walk over to the Dining Hall in the workers camp at Evans Landing. Find an aboriginal mal who is one of the staff and ask permission to put up a notice. He makes room on the board for me saying he’d be interested but can’t get away.

Afternoon: Having a read and a rest onboard when there’s a series of short horn blasts. Think I’d better get up and take a look, just in time to see the stern of Always sweeping past about 5 metres away. No sign of Paul. Call him on the radio to get him up topsides but no answer. Both boats are wandering to the conflicting winds and tides. There’s a moderate easterly blowing on an outgoing tide and the boats don’t know which way to go. Am so sick of this place! Awful bloody anchorage. Just can’t relax here and on top of that Paul has to go and anchor right next to me.

1630: Big ore carrying ship Fitzroy River passes by in the main shipping channel about 100m away, leaving behind a flattened surface of discoloured water.

It’s hard waiting for this weather to clear. So boring. Hours stretch and I’m always looking for something to do. Lethargy sets in. Uncertainty about the anchor continuing to hold. Uncertainty whether your neighbour is going to bang into you. Keeping batteries charged is a challenge. Running the small generator gets exhaust fumes down inside occasionally. I can’t receive the local TV channel either on the TV or on the laptop USB capture card – whinge, whinge, whinge.

1830: Go ashore to the phone box for a chat with Delma again. She confirms Fred is happy to join me either here in Weipa or in Gove. Will now have to find the money to pay his air fare. Not sure yet whether to meet him here or at Gove. Delma’s having family friends for dinner tonight. Mick and Shaun come ashore and I join them to buy some supper. They can’t cook onboard because their kerosene burner is leaking and they need a new seal. Mick offers to take me to town on Monday if I need anything.

Evening: Watch rest of movie. Early to bed.

Sun 31/10/04

0330: Lots of creaking and clunking from the anchor rope. Starts to give me the irrits so go up to the bow to see what’s going on. Find the anchor rope pulling back against the hull and rubbing on the dolphin striker. Try moving the boat around but it refuses to stay in any other position. Like I said – awful bloody anchorage with strange tidal currents running through it.

0700: Weather forecast looks like a break may be coming up next Wednesday. Should have a better idea tomorrow. Paul is already ashore taking Davit for his walk. Tide is turning and Lowana IV is finally laying properly to her anchor. The owners of the nearby stink boat Dauntless have arrived over there but haven’t moved it. Must just be checking up on it.

0845: Paul has moved closer inshore to re-anchor between Lowana IV and Falmari but ended up closer to Falmari. He’s now moving further along the anchorage. Apparently it’s not just me having anchoring problems here.

Pull the outer case off the small generator to see if I can attach some battery charging leads. It has a plug socket for the purpose but unfortunately I don’t have a plug to fit. In any case it isn’t going to work. And I don’t want to take the little cover off the electrics box inside since there are 240v AC connections in there too. Put it all back together. That’s a bugger because I can only get about 2 amps charging through the battery charger instead of being able to charge directly into the batteries.

Paul finally returns and re-anchors between Falmari and Lowana IV again. This time he manages to position himself more in the centre at what should be a reasonable distance.

0930: A long and dreary day stretches ahead. Everything ashore is closed. Even the service station is closed today. Paul and Kathy head ashore to do some washing. Windy from the east otherwise a nice looking day.

1130: Ring Delma who says that Fred will do the trip either from Weipa or Gove. Sit for a while on the embankment of the foreshore overlooking the harbour and the anchorage. Quite pleasant sitting in the sun. Move to a shady spot later.

Left: The anchorage from shore. Main wharf in the distance. Lowana IV centre right of photo.

Back onboard the wind gets gusty and the boat starts rocking. Mick on Falmari is in the water cleaning the propeller with Shaun standing guard for crocodiles and any other difficulties that might arise.

1400: Try to rest but can’t. Something starts banging outside. The dinghy is pushing up towards the bow so pull it back and lash the stern alongside as well.

Falmira starts moving out into the harbour for what I think is their first trial run. Dauntless the problem stink boat left earlier this morning but has now returned to create an even bigger nuisance of itself by anchoring closer than before. Work on the small gene again because the choke lever isn’t working properly.

Big gusts come through making the water choppy with whitecaps all around. Manage to pull in the anchor rope by hand down to where the chains starts and connect a second rope to the anchor chain. There had been quite a bit of tension on the first rope so am feeling a bit better about it now.

Really hard to keep a charge up to the batteries just using the 12v fridge system. It draws a lot of power. Wash salt and red dirt off all the solar panels. Take the little cockpit canopy down for fear it will catch the wind and help drag the anchor. Dauntless is laying back between Always and me so I suspect there might be more problems tonight with it.

Afternoon: Blows windy for the rest of the day. Try to sleep but can’t as usual. Read a book but can’t get into it being unable to concentrate. Ring Delma in the late afternoon. She tells me that Fred can be on a plane to arrive in Weipa at Thursday lunchtime but she hasn’t booked the flight yet. Will wait until I can get another forecast tomorrow morning to confirm if there’s a weather window there or not.

1800: Back onboard fire up the weather fax software on the laptop and hook up the HF radio. It’s my first success at getting a readable weather fax. Unfortunately I can’t see what’s coming up off Western Australia as the chart doesn’t extend that far. Need a different chart but will have to find out the times they broadcast them.

1930: Listen to the weather forecast again. Definitely seems to be a weather window coming up Wednesday. Torres Strait is presently getting 1.5m seas running on top of 2m swells. Yuk. Probably be a good idea to wait until Thursday anyway to let those seas settle down a bit.

Cook up a steak, egg and veges but the meal is too big and gives me indigestion. Am not used to large meals. Wind dies down to a constant cool breeze. Wavelets are coming through but at least the boat is facing them and it’s not all that noticeable inside.

Mon 1/11/04

0715: Lowana IV sits awkwardly across the wind as usual with an incoming tide and easterly opposing winds.

0730: Weather forecast definitely shows a break coming up on Wednesday and Thursday. Set up the weather fax software on the laptop and connect it to the HF radio to see if I can find a chart showing the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Find one chart which isn’t all that helpful but there does appear to be a break in the Highs off the Western Australia coast though.

1030: Ring Delma to arrange for Fred to come Thursday. Take some washing to the laundrette and put a load through. Walk down to Evans Landing Wharf where the ablution block is and have a shower. A huge ship dwarfs the relatively tiny Evans Landing Wharf where it is probably delivering fuel. By the time I walk back to the laundrette the washing is on its final spin cycle.

It’s blowing hard as I work my way back to Lowana IV with constant waves coming through. Hang out the washing and have a lay down. Actually manage to sleep for a couple of hours.

1230: Grab a light lunch and go ashore to Weipa Mobile Repairs. Talk to Warren who says his mechanic hasn’t returned from the airport. He’d taken someone out there and is also sending the injector pump from Mimpy to Cairns for checking.

Eventually the mechanic turns up. His name is Murray who tells me he’d stopped at the hotel for a lunch, but the service had taken a long time. Judging by the beery odour emanating from Murray I suspect they weren’t too slow in serving the beer.

In short order Murray collects a small supply of tools and off we go to Lowana IV. Once on board I show him all the places around the motor where the oil has been leaking out of the block, as well as the oil splatters and oil splash in the engine bay. His first impression is that the whole thing will have to be pulled apart to fix the leaks.

He takes off the gear select levers in order to replace the seal at the top where I think oil might be coming out of the gear box. He then places the unit assembly into his bag to take ashore and plugs a rag into the hole on the top of the gearbox. He also takes off the oil filler cap and the air filters and puts them into his bag as well. His idea is that the rubber seal on the oil filler cap is not sealing properly and that’s why oil has blown into the air filters. He maintains this is the most likely place where the oil splatters have come from. Not being a mechanic I can only accept this with some relief.

Whilst working on the engine I hear, “Ahoy Lowana”. Kevin of Just Roamin is urgently telling me the anchor is dragging. Indeed it does look that way but it’s no different to what happened this time yesterday. I’ve got 58m of anchor rope and chain out there which allows Lowana IV to skid around a little, but the stink boat Dauntless is also galloping around making it look worse than it is.

Even so, the wind gusts are higher than usual. I have my washing hanging out and the heavy dinghy is helping to tug Lowana IVs nose around. Pull the washing down which is dry now and lash the dinghy alongside. This stabilises the boat a bit and although we’re coming close to Dauntless, I don’t think there’s any danger of collision. Thank Kevin who turns away just as Dauntless decides I’m no longer any fun to play with and barrels across towards Always again.

Back ashore Murray starts looking at the gear select lever assembly. He tells me he doesn’t have a seal that will fit and will have to order the part from Cairns. I don’t really want to be delayed any further and tell him I need to leave Weipa no later than Thursday. He says that even if the oil is leaking from the gearbox it won’t be any worry and to just to keep the oil up to the gearbox as before. He makes a new seal for the oil filler cap and a rubber tube to replace the damaged one connecting the cap to the air filter. After washing the air filters we return back to the boat.

Back onboard he replaces the gear select lever assembly with some difficulty, making two attempts to get it back correctly into place. I find myself holding my breath in case a particular spring-loaded part falls into the gearbox, but thankfully it doesn’t. It would have meant a complete gearbox strip down otherwise.

Murray notices a couple of other small jobs that need to be done, but I tell him I’ll attend to them tomorrow. Despite his explanation about the cause of the oil splashes I’m still concerned there might be a broken piston ring in the first cylinder. I ask him if he will do a compression test on the motor. He says he can’t because a young lad had apparently borrowed the gauges and is away on holidays. Nobody knows where the gauges are. However he reckons the motor will get me back to Darwin but not to flog it. If I just nurse it along and it should be okay.

Warren only charges me for about two hours work which is quite decent of him. He says that until recently Weipa had been strictly a mining town. Single women were just not available to come here to work. He said there’d been the highest suicide rate in Australia if not elsewhere because of an over-abundance of men and a shortage of women. The rules have since been changed and more single women are coming into the town to take up work here. According to Warren the suicide rate has dropped but is still fairly high. I guess that tells us something about the human psyche.

Return back to the boat feeling somewhat relieved about the motor, if not completely satisfied. Tidy up a bit. Replace a couple of rusted bolts holding down the gear shift cable. Reconnect the feed tube to the stuffing box which has been knocked out of place. The nut securing the tube to the box has split lengthways and won’t do up properly, so tighten it as much as possible for tonight. Another job for tomorrow.

1730: Delma hasn’t booked Fred’s flight because she’d got a call from a lady named Rebecca. I don’t have pen and paper so memorize the mobile phone number. Delma says she’s 34, has some sailing experience and is happy to sail to Gove or Darwin. Ring Rebecca but only get an answering service. Ring her again at little later and get through this time. Make arrangements to meet at Evans Landing at 9 am tomorrow morning.

Evening: Conditions calm tonight after what has probably been the blowiest day so far. Cook up a couple of chops. Have to throw out a small packet of mince which smells a bit off. Add some eggs, asparagus and green peas. Enjoy the meal out in the cockpit. There’s only frozen mince left now and after that’s gone will only use the fridge as a fridge instead of a freezer. That’ll reduce the workload on the 12v motor to keep stuff frozen. It’s simply taking too much power out of the batteries and I’m finding it hard to put the power back in.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Crossing the Gulf

Standard

Map 18 – Transit from Gove to Weipa

Weds 20 Oct 04

0600: Anchor aweigh. Chain thick with mud and a large blob encases the anchor itself. Even the pressure hose is unable to remove all of it. Engine hours are 1593 as I turn the boat to leave Gove again. A convoy forms with the catamaran Fly By Night leading, then a motor cruiser name not yet known, Alkira, Fiddler then me. Make my way past Scuttlebug as he’s lifting his anchor.

Ron is close by and gives me a thumbs up as he calls over the radio, “This is going to be a beautiful trip”. Hope he’s right. There’s a faint breeze as we start the first turn around the main wharf. I’m already having mixed feeling about doing this trip. All of these vessels have the ability to leave me far behind and I’ll be doing this on my own again.

0640: Past the main wharf and all the other boats are already way ahead. Smoke rises steadily into the sky from the smoke stack at the mine so there’s not much breeze upstairs either. Cloudy day but mostly around the horizon. Motoring with no sails set at just over 4 kts.

0700: Listen to the weather forecast. It’s a bit more promising than the other day when we set out especially on the other side of the gulf. The motor cruiser Escapade is just ahead. Another yacht Parmelia comes up aft on my port side under motor with no sails set. Like me she appears to be also heading for the South Channel under Bremer Island.

Turn around the small West Woody Islet near the harbour entrance heading east. Breeze springing up already bringing wavelets into the strait dropping my speed to between 3.5 to 4 kts.

Right: The Gove mine looking south. The wharf is at extreme right.

0715: Speak to Daryl on HF but he’s hardly readable. Seems to receive me okay but it’s a very faint signal and the frequency is noisy, but we manage to agree to try again tonight at 2000 hrs. Tell him I’m again attempting the gulf but that I wasn’t sure about it with the conditions being much the same as when we’d set out earlier. He urges me not to turn back to Darwin.

0800: Rob calls and asks for my mobile phone number to give to Renie of Pankira. Give it to him then call Renie directly while I still have a signal. Catch him as he’s leaving Weipa instead of Bamaga where I’d thought he’d been. He gives me some advice about using telltales – bits of ribbon on the sails which indicate how the winds is flowing over them, and that getting sleep is the most important. It’s good to hear from him again.

Ring Delma to tell her I’m on my way but not to be surprised if I do turn back. She asks what I might do if I come back home. I thought I might look at setting out again next year but with crew, or else go to the Kimberley’s in WA for 6 months.

Call Daryl on his mobile and leave a message on an answering machine just to say g’day and thank him for his moral support.

0800: Renie rings back asking me to pass on a message to Rob on Alkira that Kevin and Sharon from the trimaran Just Roamin are in Weipa. They’ve got work there for the next three months and have a motor vehicle to get around in. He gives me their contact number to pass on. Call Alkira but they don’t answer the radio so pass the message to Trish on Scuttlebug in case I get out of radio range.

0810: So far the wind has steadied and waves have flattened a little.

0830: Try to call Parmelia but there’s no answer. Rob has been listening and says he thinks his name is Fritz and is also a single hander. Parmelia is motor sailing like me but is pulling slowly ahead. As they all do …

Pass East Woody Islet which is a nice collection of rocky boulders on the starboard side. The day is quite pleasant out there now. Hope it keeps up. Set up a waypoint off Weipa and key it into the GPS.

0900: Cape Wirawawoi, a sandy projection of land with a rocky tip, low scrub and trees lies abeam to starboard. To the SE a few miles away is Cape Arnhem behind which is Delawoi Bay. It marks the NE point of the Top End peninsula into the Gulf of Carpentaria. The open waters of the gulf are before me now. Two trawlers appear up ahead coming my way with outriggers slung. One looks like it’s got it’s nets out.

Left: A fishing trawler passes by dragging nets.

0930: The last of the little rocky islands off the SE point of Bremer Island come abeam to port. My rhumb line to Weipa is 095 degrees True which is of course exactly where the bloody wind is coming from! So sick of getting headwinds right on the nose almost all the time.

Low swells. Slight breeze. Nice day otherwise. Although I’m not a lover of talk back radio all that much, am listening to one of the stations for as long as I can. Set up a speaker out in the cockpit so I can listen to it over the noise of the motor.

1000: Have been considering Renie’s advice. Pay more attention to keeping the boat moving rather than the course, make sure the telltales are fluttering properly and that sleep is king above all. He had told me that if necessary to bear away off course to get a good nights sleep to avoid making bad mistakes. I’m hoping this advise will help me deal with any emotional or psychological problems before they happen. The main thing is not to get over-tired because then I’ll become vulnerable to them.

Do a plot on the big chart covering the whole gulf. Draw in a rhumb line direct to Weipa with 276 miles to go. Mark my present position and time on the chart at the start of the line under Bremer Island. Lots of empty space there between here and Weipa. Daunting. The Gulf of Carpentaria is a relatively shallow body of water and it doesn’t take much to make it pretty rough. The open water begins now after 4 hours from starting out.

1055: Feeling a bit of déjà vu about the last trip out here – am already feeling fatigued and wanting a catnap already. See the first whitecap beside the boat although the seas are only small. Keep expecting the worst. Decide that if it cuts up rough again I’ll turn around for sure and go home. And that time might be coming soon if the wind picks up like I expect it to in another few hours. Have hot noodles in a cup for lunch.

1300: Wind swings a bit easterly so roll out the headsail. Seas fairly calm with waves coming through but almost no whitecaps. Hot. Am making under 4 kts which isn’t the best all considered, but at least am going almost in the right direction. Want to get as much easting as I can for the supposedly smoother seas on the other side.

Throw down a bench seat cushion from the dinette and a pillow onto the floor amidships. The cushion doesn’t quite intrude into the galley area and I can get quickly into or out of bed. Will use a countdown facility on my mobile phone to wake me up at periodic intervals so that I can do regular checks throughout the night.

1315: Waves seems to be a little bigger already but still fairly calm conditions. Still getting the commercial radio.

1430: Seas continue to be fairly calm. There’s some whitecaps about but you have to look for them and they’re only little ones. Hot, cloudy, boring. The NT coast is just a small blue ridge on the horizon to the west. Almost on the rhumb line getting up to 4 kts but these waves are slowing me down a little. Turn the boat for just enough angle on them so that Lowana IV can get through them a bit easier without having to force her way. Did I say bored?

1530: Rob from Alkira checks in with me by radio. Says they’re motoring at 5 kts and close to our rhumb line. I’m just under 10 degrees off the line and getting just over 4 kts but catamarans are faster boats so I’m doing okay. In any case I’m fed up with trying to keep up with other boats. Rob tells me they’re running a trailing lure and so far have caught 3 mackerel. They’re going to save them to trade with a mate in Weipa for lifts into town.

The last of the land is only visible through binoculars as a small blue smudge on the horizon. Am now out of mobile phone range but still getting the commercial radio station. Glen Campbell sings a song and thanking God he’s a country boy. Soon afterwards the clouds clear up and I pass outside the range of the commercial radio station. Am 24 miles out to sea from the Nhulunbuy radio towers.

1630: The expected stronger inshore afternoon sea breeze haven’t arrived so hopefully it’ll be a good smooth night. I won’t mind even if I have to motor the whole way across.

1730: Notice the stitching on the leech of the furling roller headsail is coming undone. The UV cover has actually unstitched and is catching the wind. Doesn’t look too bad but will have to watch it if it does blows up later. Conditions are still good though. Am following the rhumb line again with both sails reefed at around 5 kts and just 10 degrees of heeling. Could only be better if I was able to turn off the motor and still be able to keep at least 4 kts on the rhumb line, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

1735: There’s an error in my waypoint. Rework it into the GPS and now have an extra 5 degrees on my course to make to windward. No big deal really.

1800: Breeze picks up a little bit and comes around northerly allowing me to point a little higher towards the waypoint. Getting around 5 kts. Prepare for night time. Heave to and turn the motor off after running it for a few minutes at idle to let it cool down a bit. Set the sails but am only able to get 2.7 kts. Could probably do better if I fiddle with the sail trim but I’m not going to.

Check engine oils. Add some oil to both sumps. It might have been okay if I hadn’t checked but I prefer piece of mind. Wipe down leaked oil off the motor. Check the fridge compressor and alternator belts for tension then re-start the motor. Pull in the headsail because I don’t want it ripping apart tonight if the wind comes up and I’m dozing away. Motor sailing at 4 kts on the rhumb line with a single reef in the mainsail but can put in another if I need to.

After 12 hours there’s 250 miles to go and 45.9 miles on the log. That will do considering for the first 4 hours or so I’d been pushing the tide at less than 4 kts.

1845: Cooking tea – loose term since it’s one of those packet meals which only need hot water added. Meal was okay. Almost dark. Will have a little bit of moonlight for the first half of the night.

1940: The night is beautiful outside. Boat jerks just slightly as she travels over the waves which are a little irregular, but of no problem size. Can walk about the boat easily without hanging on for dear life. Even have the saloon portholes open for some fresh air inside. Am still getting 4 kts right on a direct line towards Weipa. Half moon shines on the water. Sipping an orange juice. CD is playing good music. I simply don’t care any more that I’m on a sailboat and not sailing.

2230: It doesn’t last. Seas are getting choppy but it’s still not that bad. although Lowana IV is struggling a little bit at just over 3 kts. No whitecaps yet but close the portholes anyway as a precaution.

2400: Moon sinks below the horizon, the wind drops and the seas smooth down again. Still only getting about 3 kts. Wind has swung northerly but the waves are still coming from the same direction. Alkira calls on the radio. They’re about 30 miles ahead of me and almost out of radio range so we arrange HF skeds on 8.161 MHz at 0300, 0600, 1200 and 1800 hrs.

Thurs 21 Oct 04

0130: Is that a metal, whining noise coming from the motor? Lift the cockpit hatch and look down at the stuffing box – a metal housing with packing inside to support the propeller shaft where it exits the hull out into the sea. Water is pouring into the boat and the stuffing box is hot and steaming. Grab the grease gun and start pumping grease into it as normal but it isn’t doing any good. Take a closer look and see that the connection where a tube that feeds the grease into the box has come off, and that’s where all the water is coming in. By now there are big gobs of grease down in the bilge.

Grab some tools and turn the motor off. Don’t want some normally un-attachable part of my body getting caught in a spinning propeller shaft and get flung around down there. Climb down inside the engine bay burning my forearm on the hot exhaust pipe in the process. Re-locate the tube and the securing nut and re-assemble. Pump some more grease into the box and check that everything’s as it should be again. Get underway again.

0500: Seriously considering turning around and going back again. Am sick of dealing with problems in the middle of the night. I’d hate to go back, but then again I’m not looking forward to going on either. There’s a lot of empty coast and I’ll have to battle against the prevailing SE winds all the way down the East Coast.

Something else is still bothering me about going on. And I just can’t put a finger on it. Something … It’s almost like a feeling of pending doom. Maybe it’s the motor and its oil problem. Maybe it’s the cumbersome dinghy. Maybe it’s because I can’t keep up with everyone else. Maybe it’s because Lowana IV simply doesn’t work to windward very well. Maybe it’s a combination of lots of little things. I simply don’t know except that this trip hasn’t felt right from day one and I don’t have enough idea of what it is so that I can deal with it.

0600: About 76 miles east of Cape Wirawawoi and 211 miles to go. Have 84 miles on the distance log for the 24 hours but my position plots on the chart tell me I’ve actually done more than that. Seas are smooth. Am off the rhumb line by about 5 miles to the north so that’s pretty good. Boat speed has picked up during the early hours so there’s obviously a tidal influence even this far out. Alkira has called every three hours to check. He’s steaming along at 5 kts. I’m just on 4 kts still but I don’t have a headsail out.

0630: Drifting for the time being until I finish checking engine oils and topping up sumps. Take a careful look around the motor. All seems okay except for some oil staining the sides of the motor in various places as usual. It shouldn’t be there and is bothering me a bit. Start the motor and get back on course. Pull out the headsail to get an extra half knot speed.

0720: A silvery sea snake with black bands circling its body swims by on the surface. Radio contact with Daryl no good. A pod of dolphins erupt beside the boat, swim off the bow for a short while before leaving again.

0900: Distance to go clicks over to 199 miles to go. The little bit of breeze comes up but is not being kind, coming directly from the waypoint. Would you believe it? To make use of it I’ll need to turn at least 30 degrees off course. Long low swells from the SE.

1145: Coastwatch aircraft comes down low and flies past, circles and then calls me. Quite polite as usual. Seas apart from low swells and rippled appearance might almost be described as glassy. Steering vane hunts for air as the bow rises and falls to the swells. Hot. Roll up the headsail since it’s useless now. Sheet the mainsail in hard and start heading directly for Weipa. Feeling a little bit jet lagged after last night but not too bad.

Right: A small visitor rests its weary wings for a while.
This far out to sea I suspect it must be some kind of tern.

1310: Boring, boring, boring. Wonder if I can get a haircut in Weipa? Wind has picked up a bit to give me 4.5 kts or more. Try to fill time by reading but can’t concentrate. Spend the time just sitting alone with the thoughts in my head or wandering listlessly around the boat.

1800: Another night comes and 159 miles to go. Have been getting around 5.5 kts last few hours but it’s dropping down now. Right on rhumb line though which is good. During the afternoon I’d gone through another session of thinking about turning back but rationalised things until I pulled out of it. Am coming to learn that sailing solo is as much a mental challenge at times as anything else.

High wispy, windswept clouds coming from the east. These are cirrus clouds and I don’t like the look of them because they nearly always portend higher winds. Whether they’re going to be helpful or not depends on which way you’re going though I guess.

Finish one of my books. A very moving true story which leaves me feeling quite sad. Check and dress the burn on my forearm. Check the motor and top up oils. I shouldn’t be using this much oil. Find a loose mounting bolt and tighten it.

1830: As the daylight dies it’s quite pleasant outside but I just can’t seem to be able to relax and enjoy it. I find myself thinking pessimistically of the “what-ifs” such as the possibility of higher winds tonight or tomorrow. I must start learning to appreciate the moment and not be so obsessed with might or might not happen. Prepare – but enjoy the moments.

2100: The night continues beautiful outside with moonlight reflecting on the smooth sea. It’s a little harder to hold on to my rhumb line course but am managing to do it and still get 4.5 kts. Someone is on the VHF radio talking about going into Weipa tomorrow. Think it might be Alkira and Scuttlebug. If so that would put them about 100 miles in front of me.

2245: Sea glassy, undulating and smooth. No wind. Pull in the headsail

Fri 22 Oct 04

0445: The VHF radio bursts into life from Customs vessel Harvey Bay calling the vessel at 12.27S and 139.43E heading east at about 4 kts. That would be me! They do the usual customs enquiries. Look around the horizon but can’t see any navigation lights anywhere. He says he’s 12 miles to the south of me but has a good radar paint of the boat. He asks if I have a radar reflector up and I confirm that I do. Nice to know my radar reflector works so well if someone is ever specifically looking for me.

0545: Sun coming up directly in front of the bow at 095 degrees True. Seas undulating and oily looking, mirroring the reds and golds of the clouds around the horizon to the east. A ship is off the starboard bow heading this way. It’s the first sign of any other vessel since Gove.

0600: Harvey Bay calls the other vessel. It’s the MV Warrender, an 1100 ton roll-on, roll-off container vessel heading for Gove. The Warrender asks whether Hervey Bay had noticed a small yacht near his position heading east. That of course was me. Hervey Bay confirms that they had. The Warrender passes by within a couple of hundred metres or so.

According to the exchange between her and Customs she’s steaming at 9 kts. With our combined speeds of about 13 knots she had come up over the horizon and went past me within half an hour. That’s a serious point to consider. Fishing trawlers are notorious for not posting a watch, relying on an anti-collision alarm from their radar. And they often travel faster than the Warrender. One of them could potentially come up over the horizon at night and be on to me in maybe 15 minutes. But at least I know I put out a good radar reflective signal.

0620: Check motor. Not as much oil on the side of the motor where I’d tightened the mounting bolt. Check fuel. Have 205 litres and have used 80 litres so far with constant motoring for 2 days which means fuel consumption rate of about 1.65 litres/hour. More than normal for this motor. Must be from running the eutectic fridge compressor most of the time. Roll out the headsail with 110 miles to go to waypoint.

0700: Am again feeling at a low ebb. Have pretty much decided that I’ve finally had enough of single handed sailing and don’t want to go on. I’m about halfway to Cairns but the navigation is going to get tricky and the sailing much harder to get there. I simply don’t want to keep going on. For two pins I’d turn around right now but it’s more prudent to go to Weipa and get more fuel. I think I’ll rest there until a weather window opens up and then come back. There’ll no doubt be some long hauls but it’ll be necessary if I am to beat the NW monsoons back to Darwin.

0800: Wind picks up bringing some small whitecaps but I’m managing to stay on course for the present. Find myself revisiting my decision about going back. Agonising over it.

0900: Wind rises from the NE up to 15 kts bringing with it choppy water and lots of whitecaps. Should have turned back when I first saw those high wispy cirrus clouds. Try sailing but can only get 3 kts by turning way off course. Just can’t get those telltales to work properly no matter what I try. Must be the lousy cut of the sail or else the sail cloth is stretched so that its shape has alterned. This is really reinforcing my idea of going home. Don’t need this shit.

1030: Hard going. Hardly able to make 3.5 kts. Sky has clouded over and I wonder if it will start raining too. Waves aren’t too bad but they’re irregular and they bring Lowana IV almost to a halt when she hits a series of them. Reflect on what might have happened had I turned back earlier. Probably wouldn’t have been any better off because by the time the wind has pushed this muck over the other side it would be rough anyway.

The sun peeks out for a moment. Marvellous how such a small thing can hearten you, not that it’s happening too often.

1130: Seas are getting worse, more lumpier.

1300: Sun shining again. Not sure but I think the seas might be easing as well. Too soon to tell. It’s so frustrating and there are forecasts of higher winds tomorrow. Don’t need that. Still just over 80 miles from the waypoint.

Listen to Alkira talking to Forte about refuelling. Can’t contact them. Call Scuttlebug but no answer at first, then hear them calling me back. Can’t connect. A Coastwatch aircraft buzzes by but they don’t call me.

1330: Wind drops enough to put out a little bit of headsail without blowing the boat over. Makes a big difference getting up to 4 kts again, thank goodness. Now if these seas would just abate more.

1430: Alkira calls Weipa Harbour to inform them he’s entering the harbour. Contacted Alkira to let them know where I was and what’s happening. They say they knew I was still coming and that I was alright because they’d heard Coastwatch talking to me.

I’d been thinking Alkira must have already been inside Weipa and the fact that he’s just arrived now cheers me up a little. Seems they’d got bashed around in the blow this morning too. Rob tells me they’re looking at leaving Weipa next Monday sometime.

1630: Wind gone leaving just swells to contend with. Wind vane circles looking for air so pull in the headsail. I’d let it out earlier to be rewarded with an extra half knot for a while.

Dusk: Surprised to see the wind has swung to the NW. Very weak but enough to push on the mainsail a little. Getting good time around 4.5 kts.

2000: Listen to the weather forecast stronger winds north of Point Cullen, which is some distance further north. Forecast for the Weipa area is NE to SE winds, so I don’t know which way to go to take advantage for the last run into Weipa.

Waves have subsided so am able to head directly to my waypoint. Was considering going to Boyd Point which is 17 miles to the south. This would have put me in a position to take advantage of expected south-easterlies later, but that’s not necessary now. Looking good again. Hopefully this fortune will hold until I can get into Weipa tomorrow. 53 miles to go.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Regeneration

Standard

Map 16 – Nhulunbuy township and mine area

Total distance travelled since Darwin has been 660 miles. The round trip into the Gulf of Carpentaria was 167.8 nm using 45 litres of diesel fuel with a maximum speed of 6.9 kts. Estimate 37 hours use of motor for both days so approx 1.2 litres/hour. Pretty good if accurate.

0700: Dip the fuel tank and have 200 litres. Calculate that if I’d kept going across the gulf it would have probably taken 5 full days and 140 litres of diesel. I have 345 litres on board so can do it if I want to, but trying to get across the gulf again is not looking good for the time being. The weather forecast is for stronger winds and big seas across the north of Australia.

0715: Call Olympia but get a response from Amadeus. They’d been in Gove and are now heading for Thursday Island. I think she’d been one of the boats I’d seen previously near Wigram Island on the way into Gove. Have a little chat. Olympia calls but comms aren’t very good. They’ve done about 200 miles with 150 miles to go for Bamaga and will call again tomorrow. Can’t learn much more due to radio static.

0800: Pull up the anchor to move closer inshore. Mud everywhere. A catamaran is anchored where my last spot was. See a boat I know from Darwin named Sanpoi. The owner is also a member of the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Club. Don’t see Coolong. Find another spot and get the anchor down.

I look around the bay and think, “Now what?” So many boats have left for Queensland and I’ve come back here. My heart sinks a little as I listen to all the familiar sights and sounds coming from the nearby mine that I’d thought I’d left behind. A strong feeling of failure washes over me. I look at all the boats anchored around feeling inadequate and alone.

Go downstairs to make a brew and come back to the cockpit to think and take stock. Okay … I’m feeling bloody awful so let’s rationalise why I turned back.

There can be no doubt Lowana IV was a big factor in deciding to return to Gove. She’s always been a slug when it comes to sailing to windward especially in the heavier winds. But to be fair she was designed for coastal cruising with bilge keels to let her sit upright on the ground close inshore. She simply doesn’t have a deep enough keel for deep water sailing and gets pushed sideways in heavier winds.

Yet I must be honest and not blame it all on the boat. I just wasn’t enjoying it out there and simply wasn’t coping with it. Even now that I’m safely anchored I still can’t get rid of the depression that’s settled on me, nor stop the tremors in my hands and jaw. I’m finding I can rationalise it as much as I want but it doesn’t help. I just cannot control my emotions or what my body is doing.

In hindsight I’d been over-tired and frustrated with being unable to get the boat to make reasonable way under sail. I was being tossed around and uncomfortable in the rough seas. There were too many other boats around to be able to get any reasonable sleep without someone else to keep watch. And worse weather was expected.

Chronic anxiety sufferers typically focus on the negatives, exaggerating them out of proportion and losing touch with reality.

The first thing to understand is that I need to wait until the weather improves and the winds drop a bit. That might help ease the immediate compulsion that I should be doing something. Staying here for the Wet Season is not an option so there are two other alternatives – either continue on or go back to Darwin.

If I decide to head back home there’s no doubt it will be emotionally draining. I’ve already had a taste of it just coming back to Gove. And it would be embarrassing to admit I’d given up when I get back there.

And what if I have to give up sailing and sell the boat … do I really want to sell the boat? Really? I’ve been looking after this boat for 11 years. It’s a part of me now. It’d be like losing an arm or something. The thought leaves a hole in the pit of my stomach. If I sell it, what will I do then? Spend endless days wandering around looking for something else to do?

The alternative is to try and continue on this trip. I could look for Tilbah and have a chat to (Darren?) as suggested by Daryl of Olympia . But then I think about the last two days out there in the gulf. Had I’d kept going yesterday I’d probably be about half way across with probably another 2 days of discomfort, difficult work and heavy fatigue to go. I think I’ve had enough of that. But if the weather doesn’t ease up soon then it’s going to be just as hard, and just as frustrating.

I’m at a loss as to the best way to go. Either way looks unpleasant. It’s hot, sticky and it’s a Sunday. The yacht club office is closed so probably won’t be able to get a key to the ablution block until tomorrow. Be nice to be able to have a hot shower, shave and freshen up.

At least the ships batteries are all fully charged up again. There’s one positive.

0830: Ring Delma to tell her I’m okay. Discuss my uncertainties about what to do. She’s a good woman, sympathetic and understanding. I’m sure she’d support whatever decision I finally make. She says she only hopes I don’t ever regret not achieving what I want to do. That’s a very good point to make and she’s right. If I’m to give up I must go until I simply can’t do it any more. There must be no doubt in my mind if I’m to live with the decision. She suggests I take a few days to think about it and talk to some other yachties here.

0930: Put the dinghy over the side. Process goes as smooth as silk. Set up the forward solar panels and check they’re working properly. Put the V-berth cushions and bedding outside in the sun because they’re slightly damp. Must have been a little leak up through the forward hatch. Keeping myself occupied gives me a bit of relief from the constant yammering in my brain.

Am a bit more relaxed. Weather is nice. Breeze building already. Keep telling myself how uncomfortable it would be out there in the gulf now, how tired and frustrated I’d still be. But as much as I argue with the shadow man inside my head with his negativity it can’t chase those debilitating feelings away.

1730: There’s a halloo from outside. The skipper from the catamaran Alkira is hanging off the rails, comes aboard. The obvious question is why did I come back. How do I answer that without admitting I’d caved in … given up? At the same time I’m not going to lie about it so simply tell the truth. His response is that he thinks I’m a smart man for coming back instead of trying to push on.

He seems to be serious and not just salving my feelings. Yesterday he’d been coming down from the Wessel Islands and knew what the conditions were like out there. He says he’d wondered at the time why everyone was heading out into it.

Maybe I should have asked myself the same question. Why hadn’t I followed my own instincts? I guess part of the answer would be that there is a short weather window with northerly winds. Catching that would potentially make the 700 mile run down the East Coast to Cooktown so much easier. And I guess I assumed the collective reasoning of experienced cruising people, some with sophisticated communications and weather reading equipment must know or have better information than me.

A young couple Ron and Trish with 2 kids in a dinghy pull alongside. They’re from a big catamaran named Scuttlebug. They’re also curious why I’ve returned so I tell them what I’d told Rob. Ron readily agrees I’d done the right thing.

The combined reassurances of my visitors start to make me feel a bit better with myself. Alkira and Scuttlebug are travelling in company and they invite me to come along with them. They’re waiting for a weather window either to head directly across the gulf to Weipa or head south via Groote Eyelandt and I’m welcome to come along.

Rob comments that their idea of cruising is day sailing wherever possible and bugger the night sailing unless it’s unavoidable. I can’t agree more and the invitation gives me a huge boost to my spirits. I can suddenly see an acceptable way forward and with company to boot. My answer is obvious. My new friends depart with a promise to keep me posted on what their intentions are going to be.

I now have something to aim for so pull out all the charts again for the Gulf of Carpentaria, and start plotting distances and possible anchorage sites. It’s a much shorter hop across the gulf from Groote Eylandt and even Weipa is less distance than Bamaga.

Later in the afternoon I catch up with John Cook from Sanpoi at the yacht club. He’s working here in Gove. Am able to pay a deposit for a key to the ablution block but don’t have to re-register as a temporary member. Enjoy a hot shower and shave then return to the boat.

Evening: Feeling much better about things generally, enough to have a big cook-up for dinner with fried steak and canned vegetables, jelly fruit and iced custard for desert. In my new found relief on finding a way forward I even set up the little cockpit table for the first time. Enjoy the meal outside in the cockpit in the fading dusk.

Have a chat to Delma on the mobile phone while washing up. I think she might have been a little upset from my earlier call and has been worried all day. Now I feel bad again that I’d burdened her with my own problems. I sit in the cockpit with a hot cup of chocolate trying to come to terms with this trip.

The primary question is, “Am I enjoying it?” The answer so far is not yes or no, but a little bit. Maybe by following Pankina and Olympia I hadn’t been following my own agenda. I hadn’t visited the King River or Liverpool River where I’d planned, and the program had been to get up and go every day without breaks to recover from the long hard slogs. There’s been no time to relax and prepare for the next leg. This is absolutely no reflection on Pankina or Olympia. They had their own timetables and I’d always had the option of saying or doing something different.

On the other hand if I’m honest with myself, it was probably because I wanted companionship, even if it was with other boats instead of having my own crew. And I really was enjoying their company anyway. It was like being part of a team.

Do some computer work typing up the notes of this trip. Watch the second half of a movie I’d started watching previously.

2200: Go to bed to read a book but can’t absorb the words. Turn in for the night. Something banging the shrouds. Get up and find one of the ropes to lift the dinghy onboard is banging against the taut capshroud wire. Tie it off and get back into bed.

Mon 18 Oct 04

0700: Weather forecast is for more strong winds and/or big seas. Am learning that when they say 1.5m seas for instance that it can mean 3m seas like the other day coming back from the gulf. Must keep that in mind when considering forecasts, especially around the gulf region where there is anything up to a 350 mile fetch of clear water.

0715: Call Olympia. Briefly establish contact but then can’t get through. Daryl says he’ll call tomorrow.

0900: Wind suddenly gusts through the anchorage followed by a slight moaning of the wind through the rigging.

Easy day on board. Do some computer work. Top up fuel. The main tank takes 80 litres because I’d been down 40 litres before leaving Gove the other day. Go ashore to find that the yacht utility vehicle won’t be going into town until tomorrow so I won’t be able to fill my fuel jerries until then. Daughter Lydia rings asking how I’m getting on. I detect Delma’s work behind the scene here. She gives me a lovely supportive chat.

Late lunch. Read a book and fall asleep. Am checking a chart of Groote Eyelandt when Rob calls by and we discuss anchorages on the way down there. Possible sites are at Delawoi Bay, Port Bradshaw and Caledon Bay. At the NE of Groote Eyelandt is an anchorage from where we might possibly jump across the gulf. From here the gap is narrowest at 260 miles, at least 40 miles shorter than any other route. Decide to wait for the forecast tomorrow to decide our next moves, but agree we must be out of the gulf by the end of the month to avoid any early Wet Season cyclones.

Right: Gulf of Carpentaria and proposed jump-off points

Dusk: Run fridges all day using just the solar panels. Using the panels this way seems to be a good power conservation plan, but will still need to change to another power source, e.g. motor or generator in the late afternoon. The panels by themselves just can’t pull enough power to feed the hungry electric fridge motor through the night as well.

1730: Run the motor for an hour to freeze the cooling tank. Cook tea – beef patties on toast, fried egg, baked beams, fried small potatoes. Yummy. Follow with desert and apple juice. Turn on the generator. Recharge the laptop so I can use it again tonight.

Dusk: Karen rings. She’s at home with Delma checking emails from my book publishing website. Good girl. She’s also very supportive. Chat to Delma. Feel much better after these calls.

Wash up and clean up. Make a shopping list for tomorrow including a small pot in which I can just warm stuff up, like a single serving of baked beans or some dried green beans.

Evening: Doing computer work but laptop battery giving out so go to bed. Do some reading.

2230: Turn out the light.

Tues 19 Oct 04

0700: Weather forecast not looking much good in any direction for the next two days. Manage to contact Olympia. From what I can gather he’s only just got into Bamaga this morning. Seems they’d been doing it hard. Although glad to hear they’d arrived safely there’s no word on Pankina.

Olympia is a Farr design for racing yachts. If I’d kept going there’s no doubt I’d have still been out there. Give a little shudder at the thought but the information helps to boost my confidence about having turned back.

Morning: Visit the yacht club office and arrange a lift into town to get diesel this afternoon. Alkira talking about heading off this afternoon for Delawoi Bay, about 26 miles east of here behind Cape Arnhem marking the turning point down into the Gulf of Carpentaria. For my part I don’t like the idea of arriving in an unknown bay in the dark, so tell Rob I’ll probably leave early tomorrow and follow. Rob tells me he’s received a phone call from Renie. From what I understand he’s at Bamaga and arrived a few hours after Olympia. I was not subsequently able to confirm that with Daryl on the HF radio.

Test the weather fax software on the laptop for the first time. Am able to get it to work but the picture isn’t too good but it should be just a matter of getting a better signal on the HF radio. Also need to find out the exact times that the Met Bureau actually transmits the isobar charts.

1215: Yacht club calls on radio. Kevin the Yardman is going into town in half an hour if I want a lift. Climb immediately into the dinghy already loaded with empty jerries and go ashore. Find Kevin just starting his lunch. Identify myself then leave him alone so he can enjoy his lunch. Get a soft drink and sit down at a table on the veranda to wait. After a while Kevin finishes his lunch so I join him at his table. Find him to be a friendly chap and we enjoy a good chat.

Darren from Tilbah walks past pushing a pram with a baby. He and his wife had been anchored out in the harbour at The Granites. They’re a couple of small rocky islands with a sandy beach where it’s relatively safe to swim against the threat of crocodiles. The beach shallows and visibility for a long way around is good.

His wife (name unknown at this stage) comes over with lunch from the galley. Darren tells me they’d been married at The Granites. The baby is teething so they’re looking for calm weather to get across the gulf.

Kevin is now ready and loaded my 4 jerries so we head off into town. He’s worked at the Gove Yacht Club for several years, done a variety of different jobs there and is happy to get away from the club for a while and take me where I want to go. Asks me if I want to go to Woolworth’s supermarket. I say, “No, I don’t need to thanks”. He says, “Yes you do! Enjoy the air conditioning for a while”.

Deliver some alcohol back to their supplier. Get the jerry cans filled and buy a small sand anchor for the dinghy. The folding grapple type I have for the dinghy is next to useless. Kevin takes me to another shopping centre outside the main centre of town where he buys some gardening supplies. I get a couple of other bits and pieces. Look for a suitable small cooking pot but they don’t have one.

At the Perkins Shipping depot in town they don’t have the yacht club’s latest order. They say it had been sent out to the wharf area depot. Drive out to the wharf depot and help Kevin load all his supplies.

1530: Return to yacht club and take the full jerries out to Lowana IV. This is where the big solid dinghy comes into its own with its ability to carry heavy weights. Decide to go back ashore later. Do some more computer work. Alkira is still anchored nearby so has obviously decided against leaving today.

1700: Start to tidy up topsides and get ready to go. Drop and lash down the solar panels up at the bow. A middle aged couple from a catamaran Easy drop by in a dinghy. They’re staying in Gove for the Wet Season having found work here in the mine and will be pushing on to the Kimberley’s next year. They say the anchorage at the main township of Alyangula on Groote Eylandt is a bad anchorage for swells. Very uncomfortable place.

Alkira calls on the radio while I’m talking to this couple. Rob says his friends at Port Bradshaw have been threatened by aboriginals with spears, who say that if they don’t leave they’ll be returning this afternoon with guns. Not going to Port Bradshaw makes it more difficult to get to Groote Eyelandt. The coast is mostly exposed from the NE to SE with lots of coastal reefs and outlying rocks. We decide to go directly to Weipa instead.

Rob has been talking to other yachties who have been accessing the internet for weather forecasts. A High Pressure system is due to hit here next Sunday. If we stay here we’ll be delayed by at least another week. No guarantee what will follow that High. Take stock of my options. Am running out of time if I change my mind and decide to go back home before the NW monsoons start. They could start within the next couple of weeks – or not. Never can tell from year to year.

Rob argues that the weather locally hasn’t been too bad for the last couple of days despite what the forecasts have been saying. I think to myself that’s no guarantee what’s happening offshore because we’re actually sheltered here in Inverell Bay. In any case the forecasts for the NE Gulf region are predicting only 1m seas, so in theory the further east we get the better it should get. Good theory but they don’t always turn out like you’d expect.

All the while the couple beside the boat wait patiently. They tell me they’ve worked for several years in the Torres Strait area and rely implicitly on the weather forecasts. They believe they’re usually accurate for that particular region but they’ve now had enough of Torres Strait and are looking to go somewhere else. The gentleman offers his opinion that when the High Pressure systems reach near Melbourne then the high winds are down. Sounds fair to me. They then leave to go check on their dog.

Lash down jerrys. Finish cleaning and tidying up. Jump into dinghy and visit Alkira on the way to shore. Alkira and some other boats have decided to stick their noses out into gulf tomorrow, and if it cuts up rough during the day to return to Gove. That sounds fair enough to me so decide I’ll join them after all.

The tide is right out as I go back ashore for the last time, so have to wade some distance through the shallows pushing the dinghy. Have a shower and retrieve my deposit for the shower block key.

1930: Return to Lowana IV in the dark. Check the big battery for fluid levels and do a hydrometer test. Clean up forward. Bring the dinghy alongside and get it aboard. Tie it all down. Generally square away for sea.

2100: Cook tea. Ring Delma about my plans. Only remember now that I haven’t topped up with water but have plenty on board anyway. If there’s one thing I can say for this cruising lifestyle is that by night time I’m usually tired and ready for bed.

MORE TO FOLLOW

False Start … Again!

Standard

Map 14 – Gove to gulf and return

Right: Voyage area this post

Weds 13 Oct 04

Weather forecast much the same, easterly winds to 20 kts until about Friday. Batteries below 12v because I’ve had to run the fridge on power. Start the motor to help pull down the fridge and give the batteries another boost. Let it run for an hour or so but batteries still down a bit. Connect the generator to push in another couple of amps.

0900: Working on computer typing up notes. Wind is gusting through Inverell Bay as expected. Lowana IV jerks and wanders back and forth to her anchor a bit with the wind moaning softly through the rigging. Aft solar panel doing a reasonable job under the cloudy conditions pumping between 3 to 5 amps into the batteries.

Go topside to hang out the washing from last night. Renie calls across the water and points towards a white catamaran named Vivacious. It’s slowly dragging its anchor and is only metres from the largest set of rocks to one side of the bay. He gets into his dinghy, collects me and we head off over there.

Climb aboard Vivacious. First job is to drop the outboard motor get it started. There’s no key, switch or start button we can find. The anchor chain is heavy and only being held by the winch itself. Not a good practice. A sudden jerk and the winch can be damaged or the clutch can suddenly give way.

A man comes out in a dinghy and looks up at us wide eyed and obviously alarmed. I think I would too under the circumstances. He’d left the key to the motor back at home and will have to go back and get it. Renie gives him a rope lying on deck and asks him to take it over to another anchoring buoy nearby. Hopefully this will stop the boat from dragging any further but as soon as it’s connected it starts dragging along with us too.

Renie decides to go back to Pankina and get his own stern anchor. If we can get that set it might give enough time for the owner to get back with the key for the outboard motor. The owner and Renie take off on their separate missions. Looking around I can see a previously unnoticed metal framework of some kind sticking up out of the water and it’s directly in our path. We’re going to have to be quick or that thing is going to punch holes in the hull.

Renie doesn’t take long and he’s soon back. Hand him another rope which he connects to the chain of his own anchor. The idea is to set this anchor to make a V pattern of anchors out there. He gets the anchor down, pays out the chain and brings the loose end of the rope over to me where I can secure it to the front starboard bow. Vivacious yaws over to the side and settles. This seems to be doing the job for now and there’s nothing much more to do but wait.

Eventually the owner returns and starts the motor. With the motor engaged we’re able to move slowly forward, gather in both anchors and clear the second buoy away. Once back out into a clear area we reset the main anchor. He only has 30m of chain so we let it all out before tying it off to a small bollard forward of the winch.

As we sit and watch for a while he tells us he’d just bought the boat in Cairns and had only arrived this morning, having spent the last couple of weeks sailing home. He seems pretty inexperienced to me so I’m guessing he might have enjoyed a good slice of luck on that trip.

Return to Lowana IV for lunch. Start the motor and run the fridge compressor for an another hour.

Afternoon: Run the generator all afternoon charging batteries. Visit Pankina to take over some movies on loan. During the late afternoon take some water jerries ashore to fill.

Evening: Go ashore for a shower and dinner. More boats have arrived in the harbour with lots of new faces and delighted re-acquainting going on between various owners and crews.

2030: Back onboard. Ring Delma. Watch a movie but am too tired to see it through.

Thurs 14 Oct 04

0700: Weather forecast looking okay for tomorrow. Still trying to get the batteries charged. Pick up the flooring in the saloon to check for water in the bilge area along the top of the keel. There’s a little bit there but hard to say where the water’s coming from but most likely a bit of draining from the hawse pipe and anchor well. Mop it up and vacuum away the dirt.

Sort out various charts into Gulf of Carpentaria, Torres Strait and Cape York regions so that they’re ready when needed. Find a suitable chart to cover the whole passage across to Cape York.

0900: Check the contents of the gas bottle by a simple expedient of test lifting, followed by quickly pouring hot water over the bottle. The top half gets hot while the bottom half stays cool so it appears the gas bottle is about half-full. Really should get a bit more gas to be on the safe side.

Hot already. Sweaty. Check the batteries. The starter battery is still down too far. Looks like it’s starting to fail and likely why the whole battery system isn’t charging up properly.

1030: Hitch hike into town and price an auto battery. Too expensive. If necessary I can isolate the starter battery and change the battery system around a bit. Buy a 4 kg gas bottle at the sports store and this time they manage to find an adapter that works. Fill the gas bottle for an all up cost of $100 which is expensive but gives me an emergency reserve of gas. Also get a new hydrometer battery tester as the old one perished this morning while using it.

Back on board am concerned to see the charge in the big 200 ampere-hour battery up on the bow is very low. Much too low. Have some lunch and make a big stew. Run the motor to try and get some more charge into the batteries. Finally get a reading of 13.1v but something in the system is wrong because the big battery is still flat. Start running the generator.

1500: Tidy up around the boat. Lash all jerries to deck. Find a place to stow the canopy poles other than inside the dinghy. Go ashore to put the last lot of dirty clothes through the wash and hand back the ablution block key and collect the deposit.

1600: Wash the dinghy down on the beach. Once back onboard finish hanging out the washing then winch the dinghy up on deck and lash it down. Rig a lifeline both to port and starboard sides. Being alone in open waters that line could be a life saver, my only one if I fall or get flung overboard.

Generally get the boat ready for sea. Renie drops by to offer me a powerful 240v AC charger. Thank him but decline since I won’t be pulling the generator out and running it whilst at sea.

1800: Pull up the anchor at the same time as Pankina. It comes up heavily packed with mud so just heap it on deck for now. Both of us are moving out of the crowded anchorage for a clear start in the morning. There’s too much of a chance of colliding with someone in the pre-dawn darkness, or run over a buoy or foul the propeller on a floating rope or something. Motor out to deeper water where a motor cruiser MV Fiddler is anchored. Renie motors over to say g’day to them.

1900: Find a spot in 6m and drop the pick. Wash and brush all the mud off the deck using a bucket and seawater. Heat up some stew. Let the motor run for a while because I’ve put a big container of warm stew into the fridge. It’ll need a bit of engine compressor power to quickly cool the box down again. Watch TV.

Fri 15/10/04

0300: Early rise and set about getting underway. There’s a series of radio calls going on with crews making sure friends on other boats are all up. Four boats Pankina, Olympia, Lowana IV and Adventure Seeker are moving out.

0330: Underway slowly out of harbour. Anchor chain filthy with mud which I’ll need to clean later and get it stowed into the chain locker. The log isn’t working again.

0400: Turn around the main wharf at Point Dundas. Put up the mainsail with two reefs and connect my safety harness to the lifeline. Heading for the western side of Bremer and Victoria Islands.

0500: Radio sked with Pankina. All okay. He’s under sail at 4 kts. I’m staying motor sailing for now still trying to get the ship’s batteries recharged. Turn the electronic navigation off on the laptop and start working with the GPS and charts.

0530: Arrange with Olympia for a daily sked at 0715 on 8.161 Mhz in the event we get out of VHF range. She’s a much faster boat so that’s more than likely going to happen. Pink sky in the east. Getting 4 kts over ground. Bremer Island sitting forward off the starboard beam.

0600: Sun clears horizon in a big bright yellow ball. Streaky cirrus clouds to east portend higher winds today. About 7 miles NE of Gove. Adventure Seeker coming up abeam on my starboard side.

0615: Not having a log to measure the speed through the water is bugging me, so I bring the boat to a stop and pull the log transducer out of the hull. A gush of water comes into the boat but it’s quickly plugged. Get a brush and clean the little transducer wheel. Put the transducer back into place with another gush of water and the log starts working properly.

0620: Olympia calls to check why I’ve stopped. I must be on their radar. Good to know he’d noticed. Tell him what I’ve been doing. The first whitecap of the day happens just near the boat. Narage in sight coming up behind.

0700: Weather forecast – east to NE winds 15 kts. Headwinds … and the prediction for Sunday doesn’t sound too good either. Tide is starting to hold me back as I get near Victoria Island. Other boats steadily pulling away ahead of me.

0745: Narage catches up and is about 100m off my port side. Give me a wave as they go past making it look so easy just gliding through the water and leaving me behind. Frustrating that. They must be doing 6 kts. And they’re pointing into the wind about 10 degrees higher than either Pankina or even Olympia. Must be motoring as well.

0800: Renie calls ScuttleBug and Alkira. He tells me Coolong will be pulling up anchor soon back in Gove and following. A fish torpedoes out of the water nearby into a 15m jump before hitting the water again.

0815: There’s 312 miles to the waypoint off the NW of Cape York at 11.00S and 142.00E.

It tends to get a bit depressing when you just can’t keep up with any other boat. I could probably sail now but I really do need to get these batteries charged. In any case Renie’s only getting 11 degrees True so I’d most likely be worse off if I tried to sail. At least while I’m motor sailing I’m getting 060 degrees True which isn’t too far away off the 80 degree True rhumb line to Bamaga at Cape York.

0900: Bumpy but not too bad. Still within sight of other boats. The sea is a dark blue. Getting hot. Take a little catnap.

1000: Approx 25 miles NNE of Gove. Bremer Island is a very faint smudge and just about to disappear below horizon.

1100: Change to port tack – i.e. to starboard with the wind on the port side. Heading ESE just under 4 kts. Not much wind. Olympia and Pankina are talking about motoring if they drop below 3 kts.

1300: Wind drops down. Irregular swells.

1400: Been watching the amp meter putting out 10 amps most of the morning with the battery voltage not budging at 13.3v. Something is definitely wrong in the charging system. Fiddle around until I finally find the reason. I’d inadvertently set the fridge thermostat colder than I’d needed to. The poor little fridge has been trying to be a freezer and since it chews 8 amps or more, the batteries have at best been only getting a very low charge.

Reset the thermostat to see an almost immediate improvement. Would be glad to be able to sail even if I could but there’s not enough wind out there now. Only 36 nm NE of Gove after changing course in a rather dogleg kind of route so far. Haven’t really gone that far but it’s not surprising. We’d spent the first couple of hours at about 3 to 3.5 kts just getting out of the harbour. Anyway … I’m getting over 4 kts right now motor sailing using a partially rolled out headsail and full mainsail. Wind has swung around so am able to get an ENE course only about 10 degrees off the rhumb line.

Narage is long way off just forward of starboard beam. There’s a mast in the distance behind but don’t know who that is.

1620: Been experimenting with the windvane most of the afternoon without success. A bit of wind has come up and the boat seems to be sort of holding a course, albeit wandering around a little from side to side. Turn off the motor. Getting just under 4 kts under sails – thank goodness for small mercies.

1800: Not happy. Just can’t get Lowana IV to sail to windward in these swells. Disturbed, sloppy water with swells are coming from all different angles. The windvane can’t work properly is these conditions. Find myself thinking several times about going back. Feeling depressed and frustrated. Pankina and Adventure Seeker are both under sails. Lowana IV can’t sail. Fed up. Sun going down. Night approaches.

1830: Dusk settles. Seas getting lumpier. Lowana IV being thumped now and again by head seas and she judders her way forward.

1945: Tack southerly. Best course I can get on this tack is 150 degrees True but I need to get back down onto the original rhumb line, otherwise I’ll end up way off course to the north near Papua New Guinea.

2330: Tack easterly again. Only getting 060 degrees True and once again heading for Papua New Guinea. If I could only get reasonably near to a course for Bamaga just under sails it would be easier to persevere. SE winds are forecast for the NE side of the gulf. If I get too high on this tack I’ll find that instead of it being easier over there, it will be just as hard. In fact even harder because higher winds are forecast. Quite demoralising this sort of thing.

Sat 16 Oct 04

0545: Distance made good from Victoria Island is 65 miles. Dawn. Seas very disturbed and lumpy.

0645: Not a good night spent catnapping. Up and down, up and down all night long. I’d thrown a couple of cushions down on the floor of the wheelhouse. Not much room and highly uncomfortable but at least I wasn’t going to fall into a deep sleep there. Set the alarm for short sleeps but found myself constantly jerking awake, anxious that other boats might have tacked and be bearing down nearby. Wind continued at a moderate level all night and the seas were lumpy and disturbed with big cross swells. Several times I’d given serious thought to turning back.

Pankina is on the same latitude but a few miles further back west. Can’t see his sails in these seas. Once again I reflect that at least he’s able to sail while I’m still having to motor in order to make some reasonable headway.

0700: Forecast bodes worse to come. Seas are picking up even as I watch, hitting Lowana IV and bringing her to successive shuddering stops. If I belly out the sails to try and power through the waves then the wind overpowers the boat because of her shallow keel and tips her too far over. Renie calls and we discuss options. I’m not sure that I can get a reasonable easting today which I’ll need if I’m to handle the forecast 20kt SE head winds tomorrow.

In the meantime I can expect more of this slop for this side of the gulf for today and tomorrow. My sailing angle is only between 30 to 150 degrees True and that’s under motor. It’s worse if I try to sail. But it’s not the pointing angle so much on this boat but the effect of drift. Lowana IV is designed to be a coastal cruising boat. With her shallow keel she just doesn’t have the grip in the water to prevent the heavy winds from pushing her sideways further left or right off her course. And her flat chines slapping hard against the waves aren’t helping either.

Try to weigh my best options. Call Daryl of Olympia at our HF radio sked. He tends to agree that I should return to Gove and suggests I should wait for better weather. Also suggests I speak to Tilbah who doesn’t go anywhere unless it’s calm. Decide to turn back and wait for better weather. Daryl wishes me a safe trip and suggests we maintain our daily sked. Agree with this. Exchange best wishes.

0720: Call Renie and tell him of my decision and he wishes a safe trip back. He’s behind me at the moment so may pass him on the way back.

0800: Reluctantly turn the tiller to bring Lowana IV to a WSW course with a heavy heart. At this point I’m thinking this is most likely going to be the end of the trip and I’ll be returning to Darwin. I just can’t see how I can cope with another attempt across the Gulf of Carpentaria like this one.

Authors Note: I was to learn in later years that if someone is in a depressive state they are just not mentally capable of seeing things clearly. Ordinarily I would have just kept plugging on but fatigue makes you even more vulnerable than usual to emotional turmoil and faulty judgements. A sense of failure is also common among those afflicted.

The wind comes around to my port quarter so I can put up a full mainsail and full headsail. Speed builds up quickly to almost 6 kts under sail alone and I’m able to turn off the motor. Bring the boat up into the wind to pause for a moment to set up the wind steering vane. Once the steering oar is dropped down and secure, bring the boat back on course and adjust the trim until it’s working close enough to the proper heading. Seems to be working alright but will have to watch it. Feeling a curious blend of regret and relief in the ease of sailing.

0915: Making steady time between 6.5 to 7 kts. Following seas yawing the boat around a bit but is okay. I think I might actually be beginning to enjoy the ride except I’m going the wrong way. Coastwatch calls me on the radio as they fly past.

1100: Blowing quite hard. Whitecaps everywhere. Waves hitting the boat and sending spray into cockpit. Gusts up to 20 kts or even more. Reef both sails.

1200: Reach the same position where I was at 11:30 pm last night. In four hours I’ve covered the same distance it had taken me about 8 hours to do going the other way.

1330: Rock and roll. Rock and roll. Getting 4.5 to 5 kts. The windvane finally doing all the work and is working well. If only it was like this going the other way, it would be excellent! Large seas rear up from behind but not breaking and pass underneath. Strong gusts.

1530: Wind dying down. Waves and swells still up but not as bad as before. Still 26 miles to waypoint off the channel below Bremer Island. Small waves washing across the deck on the leeward side. A booby skims across the waves and swells expertly, keeping itself just inches off the water. Beautiful to watch. Wind steering vane doing a good job. Nice to save on battery power too.

1730: Dropping below 4 kts. Time to secure for the night. Big waves are still coming through from two different angles just as they have been all day. One lot slants in on the port stern and there’s a cross swell which comes in broadside on the starboard side. It’s 18.5 miles to the waypoint. Bit like being in a washing machine. Will motor from here.

1740: Feeling lousy most of the day. When I’d made the decision to come back to Gove I felt very bad about pulling out of this trip. Like lead in my heart and a weight in my stomach. I’ve come to the conclusion that the life of a single-handed sailor is not for me.

Getting 5.5 to 6 kts motor sailing. Will be glad to see some calm water. Very uncomfortable over the last two days without much sleep, and the night is again coming on. Have kept trying to catnap during the day but without much success. I’m just too keyed up. Swells still rolling through like mini hills.

1750: First sighting of land – Mount Dundas to the south of Bremer Island on the mainland.

2130: Water gradually eases with the fading of the wind in the late afternoon. However it continues to be rolly through the last few miles threading back through the channel at the southern end of Bremer Island and the mainland. Pitch black. Getting 4 kts but the tide should change soon. Under motor and mainsail only. A sliver of moon is showing but is soon hidden behind some low clouds before sinking below the horizon.

Sun 17 Oct 04

0130: Another boat is coming into the harbour as I make my way towards the anchorage. Finally get the anchor down in 7m on the outside of the other yachts. Will move in closer tomorrow. It’s been a long, slow night since it got dark. The plots on the chart seemed to inch ever so slowly but it was nice and calm in the harbour at least. The water gradually calmed the further I got in behind the protection of the land.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Russ Swan

The travels and adventures of Russ Swan.

Tag Archives: gulf of carpentaria

Gulf, Storm and Near Miss

A Boat Named Dauntless

A Second Hand

Crossing the Gulf

Regeneration

False Start … Again!

rwswan@bigpond.net.au

rwswan@bigpond.net.au

rwswan@bigpond.net.au

rwswan@bigpond.net.au

rwswan@bigpond.net.au

rwswan@bigpond.net.au