Harmonie - Smooth Sailing, Bat Fish and a Killer Stingray

Smooth Sailing, Bat Fish and a Killer Stingray - Low Island, Queensland, Australia

Harmonie

Don and Anne Myers

Sun 11 Jul 2010 07:07

16:22.895S 145:33.830E

On June 8th, we sailed 45 miles northwest from Cairns to the Low Isles. On a mission to move at a fast pace given our late departure from Cairns, we decided it was time for the downwind rig to make its first appearance of the season. Usually, setting up the downwind rig for the first time of the season is accompanied by at least one calamity. For example, there was that time on the first day of the World ARC Rally after leaving St. Lucia when Don's $500 prescription sunglasses went overboard while we struggled with a flapping ballooner sail in hefty winds and big seas. Then there was the first day of the ICA Rally after leaving Opua, New Zealand last year when we forgot to set up the ballooner halyard properly, and spent several hours hauling headsails up and down while pointed into brisk winds and seas. That one wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fifteen or so ICA rally boats that passed us by with crews gaping at our half-hoisted sails fluttering out of control while we motored in the wrong direction. It figures that this year, the one time we put up the downwind rig in the beginning of a season without a single hiccup, there was no one around to witness our triumph. - sigh - At least we can feel good about smoothly dismantling the downwind rig within sight of the six or seven boats anchored and moored in the lee of the Low Isles when we arrived just before sunset.

For those of you that care about such sailing-type things, the reason why deploying the downwind rig can so easily lead to disaster is because it's a fairly complicated rig and when we haven't used it for a while, we tend to forget the proper sequence of events and/or the proper equipment setup. The downwind rig involves two short poles that attach to either side of our main mast. Two long poles cantilever off the short poles, extending well out from each side of the boat, each held in place by four lines - a topping lift to hold the poles up vertically, and forward, mid and aft guys to hold the poles in place horizontally. All the guy lines are different lengths and color coded, so we have to remember which goes where and how tight to tie them when the pole is swung into place. Once the poles are in place, the mainsail and mizzen must be furled and the genoa headsail partially furled in order to feed its sheet into the end of the port-side pole (oops, this step should really take place before the pole is deployed - see? just writing about this is confusing). Once the genoa is happily poled out to port, we remove the starboard-side genoa sheet and replace it with the ballooner sheet (again, this must be done before the starboard pole is deployed since the sheet must run through the end of the pole in order for the system to work). Then the pretty blue ballooner is hoisted, running its front edge up the second foil on the headsail furler. Then the topper...through the use of a nifty plastic catch, the top of the ballooner is transferred to the furler head swivel and removed from its halyard. This way, if the wind suddenly gusts up, we can furl both headsails together to reduce sail. An excellent system when all goes well. And extremely wind efficient - with as little as 6 knots of apparent wind directly behind us, the downwind rig with its two giant headsails pushes us along at 6 knots. Fabulous.

The Low Isles, so named by Captain Cook (who else?), are famous for several reasons. First, they were the base for the first comprehensive reef ecology study in 1928. Second, Steve Irwin, the crocodile guy, was killed near here when the barb of a very large (2.5m wingspan) stingray penetrated his heart. One of only three fatalities caused by stingrays in Australian waters, it definitely was not Steve's lucky day. Lucky for us, we didn't see any giant stingrays while snorkeling.

Picture 1 - Don putting the final touches on the downwind rig after our flawless deployment.

Picture 2 - Low Island with its picturesque lighthouse, mainland mountain background and American boat Baraka adding to its ambiance.

Picture 3 - The Low Island lighthouse. Originally built in 1878, it still functions as an important marine navigation marker.

Picture 4 - The friendly bat fish and its remora friends. The bat fish is the big, flat brown fish and the black stripe you see is really just a shadow from the line securing the dinghy to the back of Storyteller. This bat fish took a liking to Storyteller's dinghy and in dog-like fashion traveled under and beside it everywhere the dinghy went. Its remora friends are often found in anchorages. They look like mini-sharks and love to gobble up any food scraps thrown overboard. In this anchorage they seemed to particularly enjoy our cantaloupe scraps, although they probably would have been happier with something more grisly like lamb chop bones. The remoras have suckers on the top of their heads which they use to attach themselves to larger marine animals in order to hitch a ride. They will sometimes attach themselves to the underside of a boat, and it's possible they would attempt to do the same to a swimming human. Don has had to shoo many a remora away when scrubbing the underside of our boat using his scuba gear. When this happens, it's not clear whether the remoras are just being territorial regarding the underside of our boat or whether they'd like to get to know Don better in his attractive shiny black suit surrounded by swirling bubbles.

Picture 5 - This looks fake, but it's real - our favorite bat fish hanging out under Storyteller's dinghy. Helen took this picture as well as the one above. Marvelous.

Picture 6 - Our first non-camera shy turtle. Isn't he cute? The waters around Low Island were teeming with turtles and we swam with a few when Don took his first swim of the season.

Anne