Arrrived Southport
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Position: 27 57.97 S 153 25.19 E We continued to enjoy a gentle SW breeze carrying us past Cape Byron and, at 2000, Point Danger into Queensland waters. (A small aside: whenever one encounters such evocative names on charts one can generally be assured that there is an interesting story behind the name. In this case, as in so many, it was named by Captain James Cook on 16 May 1770 when HMB Endeavour encountered shoals and breaking water. Cook stood out to sea for the night on an E'ly heading with a strong S'ly blowing. He tacked at 0500 and was surprised to see that on regaining sight of land that he was back among the breakers. Clearly he expected to be pushed north by the strong south wind but did not know about the East Australia current pushing him south and countering the leeway the bluff bowed Endeavour would have made. Interesting, I think.) Sylph on the other hand, in the benign conditions with a gentle breeze and no significant current running, encountered smooth seas off Point Danger, though we remained well clear of the shoals that extend out from the headland. From Point Danger we had only fifteen miles to sail to our destination of Southport, where we arrived off the Seaway entrance just before midnight. Unfortunately the tide was ebbing strongly at this time which, while there was only a low swell running, can be potentially hazardous. Also, I had come down with a cold over the past 24 hours and with the cool night breeze I thought it best for my health not to be standing at the wheel for an hour or so while we motored in through the narrow channels against a strong ebb stream. Consequently, at 2350 we tacked and, like Cook, stood out to sea for the night. By coincidence we also tacked back at 0500 to regain the Southport entrance. Here we duly arrived at 0730. I rolled up the jib, started the engine and we motored in through the calm entrance on a near full flooding tide. We are now at anchor off a large shopping centre - "Australia Fair" - where tomorrow I will explore in order to hunt down some victuals. (What a difference 254 years make.) All is well. |