Rolling Out of Sydney
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1400 Position: 33 36.5 S 151 26.6
E This morning I awoke to a steady down pour, not at all inviting conditions to go for a sail. Also the forecast was for gale force winds off the coast, easing later in the day, so I rolled over to wait for at least the rain to ease a bit. By 1000 conditions appeared to be improving so I bailed the dinghy out, hoisted it on board, and got Sylph ready for sea. At 1030 I started the engine, slipped the mooring, and motored into clear water where we turned into the wind and hoisted the main with three reefs. Winds were relatively light inside the Harbour so a short while later I shook out a reef and unrolled the jib. At 1115 we were abeam South Head, marking our departure from the shelter of Sydney Harbour as we encountered a three meter swell and steep seas providing an impressive display as they broke upon the reef that extends about 100 meters off South Head. Since making our departure, we have gybed twice; the first time because we were heading due East for New Zealand, and the second time because the wind had veered more into the South and was bringing us too close to the coast. Now we are running with the third reef back in the main and a scrap of jib poled out to starboard. The wind has freshened significantly over the last couple of hours and despite the reduced sail, we are making good time up the coast, though the swell from the SE is on our beam and is causing Sylph to roll heavily, occasionally dipping the end of the boom in the sea as she does so. While leaving harbour in the middle of a gale is not ideal, unfortunately if one doesn't make good use of favourable winds when they prevail then getting north up the East coast of NSW can take a very long time. In this instance, by tomorrow evening the winds are forecast to be light and variable, and come Saturday evening the wind will be back in the North gain. No doubt a large swell and a significant sea will be running for a day or two after the winds have eased, so whether we will have enough wind to continue sailing or not we will just have to wait and see. Now that the engine is fixed (fingers crossed) we may well resort to it as necessary to continue our push north. All is well. |