Weirdly names abound
X86
Rich Carey
Mon 8 Oct 2018 02:10
It's been 11 years since I was in Australia, and over 20 since I was up on the north New South Wales Coast. It now seems a bit surreal to see the chart plotter peppered with: Coolangatta; Tweed Heads; Mullumbimby; Byron Bay; Lennox Head; Ballina; Yamba ... and destination Coffs Harbor - now just 140 nauticles away. Karen and Chance have regularly visited the area, on their many holidays to visit relatives. But to Jo, Bob, and I, they're just names and sketchy images, from a distant road trip over two decades back.
Currently I'm struggling to make the nauticals plan. I've spent quite some time working and reworking the arrival timing, as it's quite important - you can't just stop these boat things at a motel/boatel if you're arrival challenged - i.e. night. So as pointed out in the past, you need to race or break in the pre arrival days, to align arrival with daylight. This time I also have the tiny bit daunting 'Border Force' to deal with. In truth the boat is now so cleaned up, that it should be a breeze, but as we saw in Vuda Point, you never know. While 'Border Force' work 24/7, they charge a lot of money for 'standard working hours' Check-in - $450 to be precise (most countries charge nothing, nowt, lovely zero). So as I dread to think of how much it would be for 'out of standard hours' - my mileage/arrival plans is thus more important than usual. This passage, I've been lucky with the wind (not so much with the waves) - it's been stronger and more persistent than forecast. I've skipped along so well, that instead of breaking for a morning arrival, I've been confident of a shortish sprint getting me there, the afternoon before. But now the wind has died, and I'm experiencing Australian coastal currents and tide, that like many things Australian, are not so small. I've got both donks working medium hard, but can't quite make my minimum mileage plan for a mid afternoon arrival tomorrow. I'm hoping for the tide (unlikely the coastal current), to turn more in my favor this afternoon, but as I hadn't given any thought to this as an issue, and I don't have the Internet, I have no way of knowing if this is wishful thinking. Extra costs aside, I'd rather not go into an unfamiliar port, on my own, and try and find wherever they tell me to go on the radio. And while tomorrow morning looks good on the forecast, in the later afternoon, things seem to be building up. I do have an hour in my favor as I'll be putting the clock back shortly - I may well need it.
All's well on x86 - chasing a deadline, when a wiser man would have slowed down earlier!
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