Fitzroy Island

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 14 Oct 2024 07:02

Position: 16 55.74 S 145 59.29 E
At anchor off Fitzroy Island
Wind: SE, F3 - gentle breeze
Sea: rippled Swell: negligible
Weather: sunny, warm
Day's run: 65 nm sailed, 34 nm made good

Trade wind sailing is great when you are going the right way but definitely not so good when you want to go the wrong way, which is what we are currently doing. It is rather like trying to climb a steep hill. In the same way as when climbing you sometimes have to take a zig-zag path, so it is when sailing 'uphill', and just as gravity wants to pull you down the mountain, the wind wants drag you the other way, making progress that much slower. The upshot of the above is that we have sailed close to double the distance that we would have if we had been able to sail directly to from Port Douglas to here. Consequently we did not get to anchor behind the shelter of Cape Grafton in Mission Bay until just before midnight last night.

This morning, after a bit of a sleep in, we got under way again at 1040 with the goal of getting to Fitzroy Island, which is only seven miles from Cape Grafton. Again we had to work our way upwind, putting in several tacks before we got into the lee of the island where we handed sail and flashed up the BRM to motor in among the moored boats looking for a spot to anchor. There was one public mooring free which surprised me but when I picked it up it turned out that it was only rated for a boat up to ten meters. I was tempted to stay on the mooring as it was nice and close to the beach but in the end decided it wasn't worth the risk. I slipped the mooring and motored back out into clear water where, after motoring back and forth for about fifteen minutes looking for a shallow spot, I dropped the anchor in 13.5 meters of water, the shallowest spot I could find where we had sufficient room to swing to anchor.

I am not looking forward to having to crank in all the anchor cable back in when we leave (13 plus meters of 10mm chain is rather heavy), but at least I can console myself that I won't have to worry about a mooring buoy bashing against Sylph's hull when the wind is against the tide, nor will I have to worry about the 24 hour time limit on the moorings if I want to stay here longer than a day, which is likely the case.

Fresh headwinds are forecast to continue until Friday and the next spot where we can gain some shelter and rest is Mourilyan Harbour, 42 miles away. Given that it took 16 hours to sail the 35 miles from Port Douglas to Cape Grafton, an average speed of 2.2 knots, I figure that the 42 miles to Mourilyan will take close to 20 hours. I reckon I might have a rest day here tomorrow and see how I feel on Wednesday as to whether we continue or wait for the winds to ease.

All is well.