Year One
Date: 3/4/2008 11.00
Weather: Mainly rain
Location: Kings Point, Bathurst Harbour 43'21S 146'07E
Author: Peter

Its not all plain sailing. Tired, scared, petrified, sick to the guts watching Kylie trying to stay calm but not pulling it off. I think this sums up the last two days but we need to go back to the beginning to understand.

Monday night saw an improvement in the weather and a forecast that was good to get round to Port Davey. Tuesday morning arrived clear and warmer. All seemed great so we were off, along with a 60ft sloop from the Royal. We motored out of Recherche and set sail after clearing the kelp forests. Dolphins on the bow, moving at six and half knots, one tack sail across the bottom of Tasmania and then tack at 146 55E. Up wind the wrong way through the roaring forties on a nice day. Well that was the plan anyway.

Kylie on watch, all was going great until just past Maatsuyker Island. We were ahead of schedule looking at making Port Davey well before our planed 10 hours when the breeze started to knock. Great I thought, sail into the persistent shift and then tack back earlier on a lift. So we took the knock but as we kept sailing the pressure started to increase above the predicted 25knts and much earlier than they had expected. 30knts, 35, this is not looking so good, why are we trying to head up wind in the southern ocean? Three reefs, and a corner of the jib the size of a towel to balance the boat and we are only traveling at 4.3knts and making no distance where we want to go. Its about this time our good pole tries to slide overboard after uncliping itself from its cradle. I save it just in time. But wow, just as I grab it we heel right over and I'm griping on tightly, as I know that water is cold, and my harness may keep me attached but not out of it. 42.8 knots, Its time the storm jib was up and every thing else down, a decision I wished I'd made a little earlier. We can't drop the para anchor as Tasmania is little to close (a good decision in the end given the wind later)

We tack over and start heading north, finally, but our angle is atrocious. We have knocked again with this new increase and are heading back in under Tasmania. great!! Kylie is looking a little worried. I go forwards to get the storm jib out of its locker only to discover water up to the door frames in the front cabin. Shit, is my first thought. I turn on the second bilge pump and go looking for the leak. All sorts of bad scenarios are running through my head, have we opened a seam, we have been pounding very heavily for a few hours?? No I find it quickly, I forgot to plug the anchor chain hawser before leaving (stupid, really stupid) and water has filled the anchor well faster than it can drain and stared to flow out the two holes where the electrics run through for the winch. Hole plugged, we start bailing as we have over three tones of water in the bilge. Kylie is now looking really green and she asks if she can lie down. It took about 2 hours to bail the boat out.

Crisis over, but everything is now really damp down below. Our tacking angles are dreadful in winds over 35knts so our progress is now really slow. Another really big gust hits, and Kylie is starting to look freaked out, so we decide to motor sail under triple reefed main only, the last 20nm (30nm Tacking). Motoring directly into the wind is really bad and slow (at 2knots) so we tack back out to sea. It is now pitch black outside, as dark as I have ever seen, so its makes every thing sound worse, but the engine has really helped our pointing ability and the boat has really settled down apart from the occasional big slam. 4 hours to go.

Kylie manages to get a little sleep while I tack us up the coast. 1 Hour before reaching Port Davey we pass another boat. I can't believe someone else is out here in this. GPS and radar in combination are a fantastic tool as we enter Port Davey and anchor in Whalers Cove (43 17S, 145 55E) at two in the morning. We sleep up the back as the whole front seems wet.

I'm back up at 8 after fitful sleep, and the breeze has swung further to the north and strengthened. We are now exposed so we move into the Bathurst Channel, trying to find shelter. We check out a few anchorages but are not quite happy with them so head allot further than expected all the way into Bathurst Harbour anchoring off Kings Point. The harbour itself is part of a huge national park that takes up this corner of Tasmania. We are isolated, only walkers or other yachts could be here and we are sure it is beautiful if we could see further than 400 meters.

The wind is still increasing, it is starting to get scary again. We register a gust at 56.8 knots, and we are sure our wind gauge under reads after the flinders cruise. Water flies through the air and the gusts just knock us over sideways when they hit from a different direction. I remember seeing a photo of a yacht anchored in extreme weather in Antarctica. wow was my first thought. The water is white, the boat is heeled over, and there is a mist in the air that is the tops of the waves airborne. I remember thinking his anchor must be good (the caption said 45knts).



I am really starting to hope our anchor is good, if we lose our protection under this shore its only going to get allot worse.

18:20 we sit down to dinner, the wind is constantly over 35knts and we listen to the weather forecast, " the low west of Tasmania has suddenly intensified and a hurricane warning has been issued for the south west. Winds of 60 to 70 knots are expected" What the!!!!! I have heard of strong wind and gale force warnings, but hurricane. If that does not put the fear of god into someone I don't know what would. Shit I hope the anchor is good.

Up on deck we go. I increase the scope to over 15 to 1 and we start to strip everything off deck trying to reduce our windage. Just lowering the boom onto the cabin top and Jura seems allot more settled. We prepare the insides as if we are sailing offshore and the yacht feels a little cluttered for the extra gear down below. We set out wet weather gear and make plans in case the anchor lets go.

We watch a movie to try to calm down. It is somewhat distracting, (a pretty good love movie, "The Wedding Date"), before heading to bed and trying to sleep. The wind is now howling outside and the rain hits the boat so hard it sounds like someone has a plastic garbage bag inside your ear and they are constantly scrunching it over and over. The boat wanders from side to side with each gust dropping off the hill from a different spot. We heel over with each gust that hits us a little side on. We both spend half the night griping the edge of the bed. Just as you think you may relax and nod off, you here another one coming and then the yacht heels over. It is actually calming to feel the anchor yank back hard when the yacht gets hit side on by a gust. The noise of the snubber moving in its roller lets you know the anchor still has grip.

At 2 in the morning the anchor alarm goes off. Shit,we're up in a flash and checking the plotter. We have not let go, we have just rotated with the breeze, now blowing directly from the west. We try to calm back down and are back in bed. It is loud outside and we just want the night to be over. The wind has thrown some pots round the cabin so I am back up at 3 to put them back away.

At 5 the wind starts to drop. 35knots, 25knts, and then stays there. We finally get a little sleep. I am still a little fretful so I am back up at 8, much to Kylie's surprise and checking over and cleaning up the boat before hopping back into bed.

It blows for the rest of the day.
Thank goodness for Kylie's careful reading of the cruising guide and picking this spot for us. It says the grip at Kings Point is great and we would definitely agree with that. We did not slip at all over the night. The plotter shows us swinging a perfect arc. We don't know what kind of mud it is here but it is good and we are grateful we did not have to go to plan B. We registered 60knots during the night, but I will have to check to see at what our gauge max's out at.

We also hope that everyone else is OK.
The Forties roared, and personally, we would not like to see that again.
Sleep, we need some sleep.
And some sun and warmth would be nice to. Its time to head north.
We did get some pictures so just wait.

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