Rhiann Marie - Round the World

G'day!

Stewart Graham

Sun 10 Oct 2010 05:25

Sunday 10th October 1409 Local 0409 UTC

21:06.823S 149:13.601E

G'day from Oz!

Well actually the weather is very poor but actually as far as I am concerned every day is a wonderful day just sometimes the weather is crap!

On Thursday early morning about 0335 the engine went on in very light winds from behind us. The winds fell all the way to four or five knots variable and the engine stayed on and on. This is a depressing situation for any sailor as some of you will know. You can't help but feel ..... well almost guilty.... I can't describe it but somehow you feel you should be doing better. So inevitably there are several attempts at the merest sign of winds to try to fly the sails which are then aborted.

I had been closely examining the weather and there were weather warnings in place for Queensland with flash flooding and thunderstorms together with strong wind warnings. Ideally we would want to get in before this weather hit. Also we have been nursing a genoa forestay pin which is perpetually making a bid for freedom over the bow. It has been creeping, with enough force to shear the retaining pin. Getting it located back in is a serious task and if it comes adrift there will be serious structural consequences. I was monitoring it every hour and just wanted it to last till Australia.

So I comforted myself for running on the engine by the fact that we might just get in before the very dad weather and that we may arrive with our genoa forestay and furler still attached top and bottom.

However on Friday night after 20 hours of engine the wind started to pick up to about 13 - 15 knots but at about 150 deg to our course and we would have had to sail about 30 deg off our course and boat speed would have been down at 5 - 6 knots (I know, I know - but very slow for us). We would only have been making abot four knots to our waypoint on the south end of the barrier reef so all things considered I took the lazy option, but it was poor for my moral and those "cheating" feelings....

I decided to leave the engine on through the night and the next morning the wind had freshened to 15 - 17 knots from the same direction. We were of course motor sailing. Not motoring with the sail up, often called motor sailing, but actually getting significant drive out of the sails. Nevertheless....

I was tired having only been to bed for seven hours for the three days and night of the passage so far. I made this up of course with cat napping in the resting chair.

Finally, I thought I needed to get a grip and stop being so lazy and give myself a good boot up the arse, weather or forestay issues or not I could now sail so I should. I started the long process of getting the main all the way out and prevented, the pole (about 5m long and 120mm diameter), which is a little heavy and akward on a rolling wet foredeck was rigged with all the neccessary lines. Then out with the jib. But hey it was daylight. So up with everything and we started sailing again, oh it felt good. We (sorry, I ) have prided myself on putting relatively few hours on the engine since Gibraltar. We were rewarded with the wind continuing to freshen, right up our chuff, just as forecast. It was forecast to build to thirty knots. That would mean of course it may very well be thirty five knots but gusts would be significantly higher. The Australian strong wind warning forecast said up to 40% higher.

In reality thirty knots from well behing the beam does not only not bother me in the slightest I have to date thoroughly enjoyed it. We approached the south end of the great barrier reef, the GBR as it is known in these parts, nervously. I say we but I do almost all of the passage sailing aside from in this case the seven hours I got in bed and Trish took the watch. I like to try and make it as endurable as possible for Trish and she has done extremely well. I am really in awe of her and really proud of her for backing me up all through this adventure.

The nights were pitch black no moon and complete cloud cover. Nothing but black and the odd ship. Now for the first time we were among shipping and the fishing fleet. No problems in these parts, everybody seemed to be displaying the appropriate lights, except us my stern light was done and I rigged a temporary one.

I was more confident in the charting here within a couple of hundred miles of Australia but couldn't help but be distracted by the breaking following rollers from time to time being illuminated in the near distance by our nav lights. The names were there to evidence their inglorious ship hungry past - wreck reef, snare rocks, alarm reef etc.

The winds freshened further and by Saturday morning we were inside the reef but from the south east where the wind was coming from we were exposed all the way to New Zealand. Nevertheless i was loving it. Blasting up inside the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, Australia! Amazing. All canvas was up and as I got more excited about our imminent land fall I decided to cut though out of the channel through some of the small islands. I thought with this "fair" wind and a decent run of tide I could make it into Mackay around midnight. At times Rhiann Marie was charging along at 12 knots. Not surfing or surging. Charging along, though mostly about 10 knots. Another black night fell and using radar I cut a course through the islands and rocks shaving a few miles off the track.

I got Trish to go to sleep as i knew it would be a rolly ride and that I would need her up on the approach to Mackay 50 miles away. I was dog tired but had an absolute blast "dingy sailing" Rhiann Marie, nerves on edge and senses sharpened to ensure a safe landfall. It was to long a distance to have travelled to make the "wrong" landfall! Check the forestay again, double check everything. Under torch light examine the sails both genoa and main now with wear - and tears... Everything OK, tweak the helm again...

Now I had to pick my way through the FIFTY, yes FIFTY, ships anchored up to fifteen miles outside MacKay. The night was black and the wind was steady at 28 knots. The depths were down to 12m and the waves were breaking and racing along beside us. I was very excited but did not want to sail up the beach at 10+ knots! I charged down through the anchored ships with all canvas up. Then I though I better take down the jib so at least it would improve visibility. Strangely the boat speeded up? I was too tired to work out why, but I will.

Finally it was time to start taking the white stuff down as we were in the final approaches to Mackay and the waves were getting bigger, the strong tide was apparent and the wind was still blowing at 28 knots. The entrance would be tricky and Trish came up on deck and rigged a spot light to help identify the corners of the breakwater.

I had to be careful taking all sail down alone as a couple nights before I had been taking the mainsail in, which had been all the way out to the spreaders with a preventer rigged. Doing this alone means going forward to release the preventer line and getting back to the cockpit to haul in the main sheet and the boom in, before the inevitable rolling causes the boom to crash across. After hauling in the end of the boom with the mainsheet, the sheet was all twisted up on itself and I had to unravel it before hauling the sheet all the way in. It was pitch black, I was weary and I needed to be careful. However when untwisting the main sheet at deck level the boom took up the slack now created with an attempted gybe. This caused the taught 14mm main sheet line to come slack and try to lynch me. One line came either side of my head and I was still just sharp enough to prevent it coming round my neck. It did however snap closed again across my face on one side and my head on the other. This cut and grazed my face but the blow to the head on the other side was hard and almost nauseus.

Mackay. My "dingy surfing" fun, which was not at all reminiscent of Jimmy Cook's arrival centuries before, was over and the difficult conditions at the entrance needed to be negotiated. It was hairy, we were tired and then we needed to find a marina berth in the huge marina with 28 knots bowing across us now.. We would need to get the boat lined up perfectly then make a leap for it with at least two of our 28mm 12 strand nylon lines (available at Gael Force of course www.gaelforcemarine.com). The lines are too heavy for Trish and there is no way she would have the strength to haul the lines, or quickly adjust them, as the boat settles. And so landfall was made.

We did it. We sailed safely from Southhampton to Australia, we can hardly believe it. Australia - it's on the other side of the world for goodness sake!

I slept soundly and even customs and quarantine knocking on the boat this morning could not wake me. Trish gave me a shake. They were excellent, thorough and expenseve, but pleasant and professional. Don't believe what people say about Oz customs and quarantine. It's their country and they must protect it as they see fit. We know the rules before we come so for us there was nothing to complain about. We have found that all along the way. Play the game, most of all be pleasant and we have had no bad experiences.

The skies are grey the wind is blowing hard. Not what we expected - but we still can hardly believe it we are in Australia after almost 20,000 miles of sailing!