11/15/2014 3 Comments Oh What A Night! A Night to Remember!
On our way up to the Whitsundays we decided to sail on the outside of Fraser Island and miss the notorious Wide Bay Bar, skip the Great Sandy Straits and get some sea miles behind us – putting us at the Whitsunday Islands faster and perhaps a little more easily. We planned to travel back down the coast more slowly, making sure we got to see all the places we had missed on the way up. So we left Burnett Heads on Thursday, ready to explore and take in all we had missed in the Great Sandy Straits on the way up. At first it was quite lovely – we set off across Hervey Bay with a pleasant 10 knot of N/NE wind and spent a lovely day sailing towards our first intended anchorage, along with friends Will and Tina aboard Siva. They called us as they approached the anchorage we had intended to stop at for the night, at Kingfisher Bay, suggesting that it would not be a good plan – it would be roll-ey and a lee shore and not as benign as hoped for! They had decided to head towards River Heads and anchor there, but we would struggle to get that far before dark and so decided to head for Woody Island instead. We happily anchored and spent a peaceful night, and decided to stick around for a day or two – until the morning that is – when the wind blew up a bit more strongly and left us feeling less comfortable than the night before! So we set off, aiming for a spot just before the infamous shallows, close to Bookar Island which turned out to be a little bit sheltered from the increasing wind, and quite calm. Happily we dropped anchor and made plans to tackle the shallows the next day and head towards the well-known and comfortable Gary’s anchorage. We were joined during the afternoon by more than half a dozen other boats who all seemed to think we had made a good choice! Mid morning the wind had picked up quite a bit and we began to get a touch closer to the boat behind us – one we had met at Percy Island – a quick raise and reset and we were fine but we were aware of the increasing strength of the wind! We left at 1.30pm, with an hour until high tide and plenty of time to traverse the shallows with the full tide beneath us, and predictably, all the other boats left and followed us. The wind was blowing at 15 knot by then and the water looking murky and messy, with that inky colour that I always find so uninviting! The shallow spots approached and sadly, the charts on Navionics really let us down. They were out by so much in some spots – which you could expect with shifting sands, but we were quite surprised to see channel markers not at all where they were supposed to be, channels not correctly marked and bearing no resemblance to what we could see with our own eyes! At one point we were even on what Navionics had marked as LAND, while we were actually rounding a port marker than wasn’t even on the chart! It was a stressful journey in many ways, thankfully only short and we all breathed a joint sigh of relief as Gary’s Anchorage approached – soon to be replaced by a sigh of ‘Oh well’ as the building wind made it impossible for us to actually get up into it! The boats behind us could see that it would be hard for them too and while one began to try to turn the others all kept going, following us to who knew where!!! We usually have plans and back-up plans, and our back up had been to keep going to Tin Can Bay but it had been a hard trip and Peter was pretty tired from then intensity of having to negotiate the shallows relying on the depth sounder more than anything else, so another few hours of motoring seemed like a bad option. So we looked for somewhere else we could anchor just for the night. Close in to shore the water was less choppy and several other boats were already anchored, just on the south east corner of Fraser Island so we decided to give that a try. We came in, and true, the wind was reduced and the water a little more calm, and with only the tiny hic-cup of a momentary touching bottom we set the anchor and began to relax. Ok so it was more than a tiny hic-cup – people say that if you haven’t grounded you haven’t really done the Great Sandy Straits and we can certainly say we have! The sand came up on the side – a ridge, that we just nudged. To get off Peter had to use all the power we had because unlike most people we grounded at high tide and there was no option of waiting for the tide to come up and lift us gently off! But the wind kept building. And building. And building. And the waves built and kept building. And we rocked and rolled and bounced and hoped it would calm down a little over night. The weather forecasts indicated that this might be the case, but now there was also a strong wind warning issued for Sunday, and we knew there was every chance that could bring more wind sooner rather than later – we literally held our breath! It was going to be a long night! Peter stayed on deck – watching cautiously as the conditions deteriorated, keeping a very close eye on the anchor and monitoring how Argos was handling things. At one point we clocked over 30 knots of wind. We were bouncing back and forth, pitching and tossing about, Peter had added two snubber ropes to the anchor chain to reduce stress but had to replace one of them when the rope gave way! Oh my! And all the while the wind and waves kept building. We had made a plan that we would head in to Tin Can Bay as soon as it was daylight – and not try and negotiate the channels in the dark – especially after our experience with the Navionics program already – we hoped that we would not drag anchor – which we didn’t – our biggest problem, we could see, was going to be getting the anchor up without putting too much stress on the winch. It was just after 3 am when we began to try to get the anchor up. It took us about half an hour – Peter pulled it up as the waves dropped us down, gently, carefully, as I helmed Argos, tracking the chain…..it was indeed a very happy moment when Peter called back that the anchor was fully up and we were free to go! We are anchored now in calm water in Tin Can Bay – after enjoying a glorious sunrise on our way - the wind is still with us but nothing like last night. We are slowly relaxing – have even had some sleep! Oh what a night!!!!
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11/15/2014 1 Comment A Real Milestone! Last week we reached a major milestone in our journey – we notched up 4000 Nautical miles since leaving Albany, WA over 3 years ago!
It was just after we left Airlie Beach on our journey south towards Brisbane, as we left Scawfell Island. We didn’t comment on it to each other at the time as it was a bit hectic – we had arrived at Scawfell in the afternoon, swam and explored and the children had snorkelled on the reef, but as we were getting ready for bed the swell began to really mess us around and after an hour of tossing and turning and checking and considering the likelihood of us getting very little sleep, we decided to spend the night sailing towards our next intended stop instead of bemoaning our lack of sleep! So we notched up our 4000 miles somewhere between rounding the corner of the island and hoisting the sail, the children down below, all of us oblivious! It’s quite an achievement though! When I think back to who we were 4000 Nautical miles ago and compare that to who we are today – well – it is an amazing transformation. When we left Albany we hadn’t even dropped the anchor yet on Argos – we set off to cross the Bight with more only slightly confidence than capacity! But of course we built that capacity with every mile we sailed and every hurdle we faced and overcame! I remember when we first began, Peter said that sailing was going to be like doing an apprentice-ship – we would learn as we sailed and we would listen to what people said to us. And that’s really what we did. We were like sponges ready to soak up everything we came across – of for sure there were times when we felt completely as sea (pun intended!) and had to hastily google what people were talking about – we knew so little! But we took it all in, asked lots of questions, and practiced what we were learning. Even today we are still the same – we are always asking people what they do and how they manage things, ready to adopt new ways and practices that may enhance our journey. We may have notched up the 4000 NM but I don’t think we will ever become nonchalant about what we are doing! Peter of course has more miles than this – the two deliveries he assisted with from Sydney to Albany and then from Albany to Auckland earning him over XXX more as well as his Yachting Australia Keel Boat endorsement, but this is a measure of the journey we have been on as a family and on board Argos. Currently we are sitting at Lady Musgrave Island. The weather is delightful - sunny, warm, not very windy - the children are delighting in the snorkelling and becoming incredibly good as swimming the big distances you find you do when you follow a reef along! We are all loving seeing the incredible array of coral and fish that inhabit this delightful coral Cay and have all had the thrill of swimming with a turtle! We stopped at Lady Musgrave on our way up to the Whitsundays but it’s different now – we are much more confident of our capacity to enter a coral lagoon, much more confident of our ability to anchor amidst coral, even more confident at snorkelling and much more able to enjoy the diversity and richness of life that is visible. It’s all so much more sun second time around! We are expecting a little wind shift today and then tomorrow back to the north when we we’ll make our way back out of the lagoon and head towards Bundaberg where we will collect Jack and welcome him aboard! And then it will be on to Hervey Bay, Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Straights and time to celebrate Erina’s third birthday since leaving Albany! She will be seventeen in just a few days! It’s hard to imagine what our lives were like 4000 Nautical Miles ago – we have travelled a great distance but none more so than the distance in ourselves as we have grown and developed as cruising sailors! 11/14/2014 0 Comments A Real Milestone!Last week we reached a major milestone in our journey – we notched up 4000 Nautical miles since leaving Albany, WA over 3 years ago! It was just after we left Airlie Beach on our journey south towards Brisbane, as we left Scawfell Island. We didn’t comment on it to each other at the time as it was a bit hectic – we had arrived at Scawfell in the afternoon, swam and explored and the children had snorkelled on the reef, but as we were getting ready for bed the swell began to really mess us around and after an hour of tossing and turning and checking and considering the likelihood of us getting very little sleep, we decided to spend the night sailing towards our next intended stop instead of bemoaning our lack of sleep! So we notched up our 4000 miles somewhere between rounding the corner of the island and hoisting the sail, the children down below, all of us oblivious! It’s quite an achievement though! When I think back to who we were 4000 Nautical miles ago and compare that to who we are today – well – it is an amazing transformation. When we left Albany we hadn’t even dropped the anchor yet on Argos – we set off to cross the Bight with more only slightly confidence than capacity! But of course we built that capacity with every mile we sailed and every hurdle we faced and overcame! I remember when we first began, Peter said that sailing was going to be like doing an apprentice-ship – we would learn as we sailed and we would listen to what people said to us. And that’s really what we did. We were like sponges ready to soak up everything we came across – of for sure there were times when we felt completely as sea (pun intended!) and had to hastily google what people were talking about – we knew so little! But we took it all in, asked lots of questions, and practiced what we were learning. Even today we are still the same – we are always asking people what they do and how they manage things, ready to adopt new ways and practices that may enhance our journey. We may have notched up the 4000 NM but I don’t think we will ever become nonchalant about what we are doing! Peter of course has more miles than this – the two deliveries he assisted with from Sydney to Albany and then from Albany to Auckland earning him over XXXX more as well as his Yachting Australia Keel Boat endorsement, but this is a measure of the journey we have been on as a family and on board Argos. Currently we are sitting at Lady Musgrave Island. The weather is delightful - sunny, warm, not very windy - the children are delighting in the snorkelling and becoming incredibly good as swimming the big distances you find you do when you follow a reef along! We are all loving seeing the incredible array of coral and fish that inhabit this delightful coral Cay and have all had the thrill of swimming with a turtle! We stopped at Lady Musgrave on our way up to the Whitsundays but it’s different now – we are much more confident of our capacity to enter a coral lagoon, much more confident of our ability to anchor amidst coral, even more confident at snorkeling and much more able to enjoy the diversity and richness of life that is visible. It’s all so much more sun second time around! We are expecting a little wind shift today and then tomorrow back to the north when we we’ll make our way back out of the lagoon and head towards Bundaberg where we will collect Jack and welcome him aboard! And then it will be on to Hervey Bay, Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Straights and time to celebrate Erina’s third birthday since leaving Albany! She will be seventeen in just a few days! It’s hard to imagine what our lives were like 4000 Nautical Miles ago – we have traveled a great distance but none more so than the distance in ourselves as we have grown and developed as cruising sailors! |
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September 2017
Our life aboard Argos has been seriously challenged this year with the surprise departure of our skipper. As a writer, diesel mechanics and the complexities of many aspects of Argos’ on-going maintenance are way beyond me! We would like to see Argos continue to sail and eventually hope to use her to offer support, encouragement and a break to people who are struggling in their lives. Any on-going help towards maintaining Argos would be greatly appreciated and enable us to achieve this goal.
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