NSW Coast: Jervis Bay anchorage



Jervis bay is about 120nm north of Eden and so a reasonable 24 hour run up the coast.  With fair winds and weather we sailed into the bay with plenty of light and sunshine.  Just on the port side of the entrance are four public moorings, great for passage stopovers and just around far enough to be sheltered from the ocean. 

After a short relax on the mooring here we decided whilst it was pleasant and sheltered there would be some lovely beach anchorages further round.  We spotted another public mooring further along and it was free! so ten minutes later we were tied up at Murry's beach. 

Anchorages seem to have there own character and this spot was exceptional for spending the evening.  I often wonder why it is so inspiring to be on the water and this spot reminded me why.

Sailing North - Scarborough to Double Island Point

Wednesday July 27th.
Refuelled with 300L, restocked with fresh vegetables and raring to go. Headed off into the bay ready for high tide, around Deception Point and off for a great sail into the sunset. Not much wind and direction was right behind us making for a roly-poly passage but with good average speed still over 5 knots. Lots of ships in the shipping channel to keep us alert and the coastline was lit up like a stadium at various points along the way even though we stayed a few miles off, wonder what they were? Out of the channel and further north sea traffic quickly disappeared and we settled into our watch pattern.
Thursday 28th July 2011
The wind picked up gradually as dawn approached so we rounded Double Island Point lighthouse around 07:30 and turned into a very fresh offshore breeze around 20kts. Edged as close to shore in the anchorage as draft allowed and dropped the hook for the day in 3m waiting for the high tide to cross the bar into the Tin Can Bay area.
Sea temperature has risen to 18C, but blowing a hooly. Prop can wait.

From Keppel island to Fraser

Back from Thailand diving on the Similan islands. 

I managed to book myself (well Heather did) to the wrong airport on the way back.  I had ended up in Gladstone instead of Rockhampton and so had the afternoon waiting for the train up to Yeppoon.  Looking at the weather there was no rush anyway as we are unlikely to be heading south until the Monday, the weather is in the wrong direction.

The weekend was spent relaxing and doing a few jogs to get ready for the second part of the trip to Brisbane.  The first leg is a long one of 180 nmiles down to Fraser Island.  We then will have some short days travelling in channel to the mainland, this is about fifty miles, and then a 100 nmile trip down to Brisbane for the following weekend.

Percy to Keppel overnight

We left Percy anchorage late yesterday at 4pm. The weather had not changed and we could not get ashore at all. We had planned leaving for earlier and were delayed as the anchor chain got caught on a bommie. The tide had been catching us and I suspect had turned us in a circle overnight. We tried circling to release her, tightening up and running over the position and all to no avail. We had just about resigned to waiting the night and diving down when the weather had settled in the morning when I inched her up and she began to give bit by bit and freed off. Three hours of effort and seceded off under sail.

The night passage was overcast with some breaks of moon, strong NW winds pushed us down with maybe over 2m of swell behind us and so we averaged over seven knots reefed down. It reminded me of the English channel trips we have taken and as dawn appeared the day brightened to sunshine and warm winds now on the starboard beam. A great dry day for sailing on our way to Keppel Island for anchorage.

Last night was the first night at sea with Tiki. I reefed her down before dark and she sailed well with the wind about 30deg off the stern. She feels safe and stable, what we would expect really from a solid long keeled blue water cruiser. The swell behind us was taken in her stride and never felt uncomfortable unless we steered her off at the wrong angle. We are hand steering as we have no autopilot and this is good for me as I am learning more about how she handles as a result. I love sailing into the dawn, whatever the weather, it is the most inspiring part of the day.

I plan to sail into many more daybreaks.

Sailing south - sail performance update

Position:

Running along in great weather, wind from north west so just behind the port quarter. Cloudy and warm. Can just make a track with all sails up. Have not tried running with sails goose winged yet. Must buy a parachute soon.

Scawfell Island Sanctuary anchorage - more Tiki-leaks

We arose at 0530 to up anchor from what was a calm and relaxing nights anchorage at Goldsmith Island. The engine ran for a while and then engine stopped. There was no fuel and we sailed south as I finally figured out that the starbord fuel tank was empty. What happened to the 150L that has disappeared? It would transpire that it has leaked from somewhere and emptied to the bilge. I changed tanks, bled the system and off the engine went.

We planned to go direct to Percy overnight if all went well. Weather fair, overcast and wind moving around to the east for the journey. Contra to every forecast there was monsoon rain for about five hours from 10am until 4pm. Also no wind. We motored down and then decided we did not fancy doing this all night and so detoured to an anchorage.

We anchored at Scawfell Island in Sanctuary Bay and to little wind, flat sea along with two other boats. Tiki is drenched outside and little better inside, we found some more horrendous leaks over the galley. The biggest problem was the main hatch that was leaking and then when you open it to go below huge amounts of water pour in off the boom. There was no way to stop it so the main cabin is soaked, maps got drenched, seats damp.

Glad to be anchored up and trying to dry out. Even here we had the great experience of enjoying another motor boats' loud rock music (they were 200m away at least) and then the joy of them helping us see in our cabin all night with their special spotlight ranging around the bay and into the yacht portholes for no apparent reason. Beyond that a very special anchorage to return to.

Dramas Sailing to Goldsmith Island

What a day! Setting off this morning at 0545 was simple, a calm quiet and warm morning for us to slip the lines and start heading south. The sails were soon up and and pushing us along in the WSW breeze. Despite having checked and rechecked the rigging,lines and sails several times it was a relief nothing broke or fell down during the morning. We headed along to clear water and tacked around to travel south along long island, just making a bearing close to the wind as we could go.

Dramas unfolded on the starboard tac as the bilge line was not taken high enough above the water line and so began syphoning water in, then i found the fresh water tank breather pipe had been cut off short somewhere in her past life and drained to the bilge on a tac. Good for easing the tepid bilge smells at least. No worries these are easily fixed and I set to it with plenty of spares and materials on board. Of course the wind died and so we began to motor a while which made my repairs much easier until the engine died as well as an attempt to keep me on my toes.

For the first day at sea this was getting interesting so it was moving swiftly onto diesel repairs after a session of pipe fixing. We were drifting over some sandbanks, at low tide, that theoretically gave us less than 1m of water under the keel. Well, the tide would come in if we bump them.
I suspected the diesel system needed a good clean through so I started at the tank to check fuel input, then the electric pump, then checking each seal and changing the primary filter, testing for good fuel, to the mechanical pump and check again, then the second filter change and then to the injectors. She had not been used for a while and this set up the engine to work again so I put it down to the filthy fuel filters from tanks that had just been wired brushed free of years of sediment and rust build up.
At last we settled down and got on with sailing south again as the wind picked up.

Our first evening we anchored at goldsmith island. Arriving at about 1730 we used the guide to place ourselves in a good position. Unfortunately we got too close in and ended up in 2m of water. Tracking around it was obvious the bay shelved steeply in places down to 16m in a long channel just off the beach and not noted in the guide. We moved out beyond this channel and anchored in about 6m. We had 15kn of wind and yacht was sitting good in the bay. I will make a sketch of the bay from my soundings and add them to the guide for future. We are the only yacht here and the island is uninhabited. The difference between this coast and Brittany or UK is stark as we sit in the cockpit. There is no one to go ashore for!

Dave loves creating food from our fridge full of pasta, meats and wine so we soon settle down for a relaxing evening with a glass of wine and then a session of bleeding the steering hydraulics out to clear the air that is in them. It is making steering harder work than it needs to be and I have a feeling we will need a complete service to eliminate this.

Plan to leave at 0530 in the morning as light gets up and I go to sleep with the anchor alarm set on the iPad. Life's good.