Brisbane
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Thu 20 Oct 2011 10:54
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It is nearing the end of my first full day in
Brisbane. Mojo 2 and I are sitting in the Rivergate Marina on the banks of the
Brisbane River. The marina is only six years old so the facilities are first
rate. It sits in a more industrial part of the river so it doesn't have the
nicest outlook. I am only here for one night before sailing the 40NM to the
Sunshine Coast, where the boat will stay when I return to Albany. It is 8.30pm
Wednesday and I am once again not far from heading to bed to try to
regain some of the hours of lost sleep from the crossing to
Australia.
Our last night at sea was far removed from
comfortable. We had seen a reduction in the 30+ knot winds to 25 knots around
dusk and thought we had finally seen an easing in the conditions. After the
strong winds we had seen 25 knots seemed like a calm!! Our respite proved to be
very short lived because just after dark the wind once again started
howling at 33-35 knots. Being in this strength wind in the open ocean is bad
enough but being in these conditions at night is another thing altogether.
Several times during the night we had the top of a massive swell blow off with
the strong winds and wash over the cabin of the boat. We took several
large hits to the port side of the boat but it just shuddered and kept on
sailing. Throughout the night we were sailing with virtually no headsail and the
mainsail at the third reef. Even if we wanted to we could not have
done much about changing the arrangement. The boat just kept on sailing
despite what mother nature was throwing at it.
By 2am we finally saw a lasting reduction in wind
speed to 23-25 knots and both of us breathed a huge sigh of relief. In the
aftermath of the stong winds we were left with very large seas. With the
reduction in wind speed also came a change in direction further to the
south-east. At least now the wind was behind our beam so the apparent wind speed
dropped as well. The boat was still riding well but now we were having to
contend with the tendency for the boat to want to surf down the bigger
swells. The highest peak in boat speed that I saw was 16 knots. Both of us slept
for a couple of hours whilst the boat kept punching on.
...........It is now Thursday the 20th of October
and I am off the coast of Caloundra sailing to Mooloolaba where the boat will be
kept for the next few months. I left the marina at 6am and motored out of the
River and back into Moreton Bay. I gave up writing last night because I
couldn't stay awake any longer. Now back to the last day at sea coming into
Brisbane.....
By morning we were still seeing wind speeds of over
25 knots and a huge following swell. We passed close to two ships off the
coast. One was heading south into the swell and had wave breaking over its
bows. Given the conditions it was a very easy decision to change course to
head around Cape Moreton on the northern side of Moreton Island. After having a
close look at the approach to South Passage on the southern end of the island I
made the decision that I would have been madness to have attempted to enter at
that point. Even in settled conditions it looked to be a challenge and I had
come to far to put either ourselves or the boat at risk. We sailed around the
Cape at around midday and into the protected waters of Moreton Bay. Over
the next few hours we motored into a strong south-east headwind to finally make
the entrance of the Brisbane River. As we motored through the large commercial
port one of the ships we passed was the "Cape Moreton", the ship that offered us
assistance after I had radioed them off New Caledonia. I took it as a
sign that we had made the right choice on our approach to
Brisbane!!
At 7.30pm we tied up at quarantine dock at the
Rivergate Marina and were met by two officers from customs. The officers
were pleasant and professional but like entering most other countries the
process was long, especially feeling as tired as we were. Gerard was given
permission to go to a medical centre but he had to go alone as I was unable
to leave the boat. He had the medical staff top him up with some saline
fluid and had a jab for his nausea and started feeeling better straight
away.
In the morning after a deep sleep we were met by
the officers from AQIS who inspected the boat and took away the last of our
fresh food. We were considered a low risk for termites so no fumigation of the
boat was required. A saving of around $1200!!...Whew.
Yesterday was spent recovering from the journey and
getting ready to move onto Mooloolaba. In the morning we decided to buy a
pie from a mobile vendor at the marina. Amazingly the
owner turned out to be my coach from Morningside in Brisbane, where I
played football in 1985!!! John Blair is his name, a terrific guy who
is a bit of a legend in football circles in Queensland. I hadn't seen him in 26
years and he picked me straight away. Great pie too John. Gerard left the
boat at lunchtime to spend an evening at a hotel before an early flight back to
Perth. For the rest of the day it was just me and Mojo 2 again and a load of
cleaning to be started.
It was sad to see Gerard go but I'm sure he was
very much looking forward to sleeping in a bed that did not move. He endured a
tremendously tough passage and suffered more than anyone else I have seen in
this voyage that has covered more than half the globe. He was sick for four days
straight. He did not eat any food in all of that time and could only manage
water to drink. His stomach was empty within an hour of him first being
physically ill but he kept on giving day in, day out. If bile attracted
sharks we would have had a pack following us for 400 nautical miles!! To add to
his woes we had some of the nastiest weather I have seen in this whole
trip.
Throughout the ordeal he did not whinge or complain
once. I hope once the dust has settled he does not look back at his time aboard
Mojo 2 too poorly. In the end Gerard you undertook a trip that most people would
not contemplate and you made it through. I'm not sure it would have been
possible to have had a tougher introduction to open water sailing and still made
it into port.
.........back to the present and I am now 12NM from
Mooloolaba, where I plan to spend around a week preparing the boat so I
can leave and return to Albany.
I will write one more blog tomorrow to summarise
the voyage and that will be it for the adventures of Mojo 2 at this point
in time. I am a bit sad that it is over but it is well any truly time for me to
head home.
Andrew.
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