Journal Entries

January 2006

January - I have been so flat out since Christmas that I haven't had a chance to update my journal. I worked right up to Christmas Eve and managed to get away from the office by 10pm. I raced down to the boat and gave it a good wash down and prepared everthing ready for a trip across the bay. By 3am Christmas morning I (and the boat) was ready. The change of tide was due at 6am so I had a quick shower and tried to get a few hours sleep so I could get the outgoing tide.

3 hours later I was awake and casting off from my marina berth. Below is a photo I took as I was leaving Brisbane city. You can see the marina in the background.

Here is another photo just after I passed under the story bridge which is the main bridge in the city of Brisbane.

It was pretty quite at 6am on Christmas day.

As I got to the mouth of the river the wind was blowing at about 10 knots straight from the direction I wanted to go. I tried using the motor to point a little higher but with the steep waves and strong wind I wasn't making any headway. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't going anywhere. After all this westsail has a 50hp Perkins which can push it through just about anything. I thought there may have been something wrong with the gearbox but was to work out later that the prop was covered in barnacles.

I decided I was going to have to tack my way across the bay, so I killed the motor, trimmed the sails, pulled the tiller hard over and headed to the North.

As I was heading across the main channel a beautiful yacht was heading in. It must have been close to 80ft. This was one serious yacht. It was very traditional with plenty of varnished timber work, but was obviously also very high tech. Triple spreaders and plenty of hi tech comms gear mounted around the boat.

As I headed out across the bay the wind really started to pick up. It was blowing a good 15 knots directly from the East. I was having a fantastic sail and this was a pretty good way to spend my Christmas day.

It was turning out to be a long day. What is normally about a 5 hour trip was going to turn into 12 hours. The weather started getting worse and I had to put a reef in the main. You can see from the photo below that the deck is wet from ploughing through the weather.

I can't speak highly enough of the Westsails. They are such heavy, strong boats that any weather just seems to be comfortable. The weather was really starting to turn foul and strong wind warnings were issued along with an encroaching storm. I was pointing at 30 degrees all day with these old sails. Those people who say the westsails are slow old boats with poor sailing characteristics would probably have headed home by now. This is what the Westsails were designed for.

Look at these cloud formations which were sitting above me as I crossed the bay. It was pretty worrying. I was sailing her pretty hard in about 20-25knots, hoping to make a safe anchorage by nightfall.

Fortunately as I got closer to the island the weather eased. I had just passed the main shipping channel when this huge tanker came through.

I finally made it to the anchorage by 6pm and was totally exhausted, having only had 3 hours sleep and sailing hard all day. As soon as I dropped anchor I tied up all the sails and readied the boat for a restless night. Half an hour later this is what happened.

The storm they had been predicting came. Just like last year. There was plenty of lightning and thunder. It lasted for about an hour then passed.

I have put a new video of this trip in the video section and there is some great storm footage in it.

So that was my Christmas day. It wasn't the most restful night but at least I got to lay down and close my eyes.

The next day was beautiful and I managed to spend it relaxing on the beach. There is El Viajero on anchor at sunset.

I managed to catch up with some friends on the island and we decided to have dinner at the resort restaurant. That's Mat and his girlfriend Jen on the right, Helen and Doris on the left and me in the middle.

As usual Moreton Island provided beautiful sunsets.

I spent the next couple of days anchored off Moreton Island, but the weather was pretty bad. Constant strong winds and breaking waves made it uncomfortable. It was difficult to relax when you are constantly worried about the anchor dragging. You can see in the photo below the anchor rope stretched right out. Despite letting all of my chain and rope out I was still somewhat nervous.

I decided to head back to Brisbane as I needed to be in Melbourne by 9 January and still had a few things to tidy up before I left.

My fellow Westsailor, Colin from Soya had been in touch with me over the last few days and he was anchored off another island close by. The weather there was terrible and I had heard over the radio that one person had actually been knocked overboard and died. They were still trying to find the body.

Colin had the same idea as me and was heading back toward Brisbane. We intercepted each other about a mile off the mouth of the river. There he is below.

There is Colin and his Westsail Soya as we are going through the main shipping channel.

January 9 - 22 - I headed to Melbourne for a couple of weeks and while I was there I checked out some of the local sites. I stayed in St Kilda which is a very cosmopolitan part of Melbourne. This is the jumping off point to Tasmania. There is an enormous bay (Port Philip Bay), long sandy beaches and good marina facilities. Below is a photo taken from St Kilda Jetty looking out onto Port Philip Bay.

Unlike Sydney and Brisbane, Melbourne has trams running through the streets. They don't seem to be the most efficient form of transport as they travel at very low speeds and hold up the traffic. They do look quaint.

The photo above and below are of the main strip in St Kilda. There are many cafes and unfortunately for me several french pattiserie styled cake shops. There are about 4 of these shops almost next to one another. The cakes are stacked in the window and are an incredibly tempting sight. Fortunately, I have been doing some serious training lately and figured I could sample just a few of these treats.

I can thoroughly recommend the mixed berry tart, the chocolate rum log, the strawberry tart and the florentine and the ..... I had better stop before I incriminate myself.

I did manage to take a day away from St Kilda and headed up to the Dandenong Mountains. Melbourne's climate is much cooler than Brisbane in the winter and it was a nice change to see the local flora which included colder climate varieties like needle pines. It must be stunning up here in winter.

The photo below is looking back toward Melbourne from up in the mountain ranges.

That was my quick stay in Melbourne and I had to get back to Brisbane as soon as possible for work.