It was barely light when Lydia had to go for a swim. As there were high winds and waves coming, we decided to make a run for it and head to Great Keppel Island for more shelter. We waited till 11am to exit Lady Muskgrave at low tide (less current in the channel).
So that meant more swim time. This time Lydia came back with treasure she had found. A reef anchor. Someone had lodged their anchor on a bommie and had cut it loose. Its not big enough for Imagine but we will keep it and gift it to someone on our travels.
We set off with the wind and waves off our rear quarter. It didn’t take long for the swell to turn to side on and make the rest of the journey uncomfortable. We battled the conditions through the night and arrived at Great Keppel at 8.30am. Within minutes of dropping the anchor everyone was in bed, as we hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in 5 days and were exhausted.
Sunday 20th
There was a slight breeze overnight (33kts) and a couple of bumps (2.5m dueling swells). As the wind was taking us too far off course, we turned on the motor and pounded through the waves. Dead of the night with no moon, we trusted Imagine to get us through. By daybreak the wind had died down, so we could head to Lady Muskgrave. The timing worked well to get though the 30m wide channel at low tide with Andrew up the mast, Sue on the helm and Lydia cheering them on.
Lady Muskgrave was a much needed reprieve. Fixed poor FRED the autopilot, we won’t be taking him for granted again. Lydia had a dive checking out the bommies in the amazingly clear 20°C water with 20m vis. Andrew had a quick dip but Sue decided to wait for the warmer water up north.
Early this morning after running 2 days straight, the autopilot started making noises so we have had to manually steer. Of course the weather wanted to play the game too with high wind gusts and messy seas!
Not long after we spotted a cabin cruiser off our starboard side and heading straight for us. We carried on our course knowing they should give way to us under sail.
He will turn soon… He’s going to turn… OK everyone we are turning hard to port. Just as we did he must have woken up and turned his autopilot off. He swung hard to starboard and powered off. What a great start to the day.
We’re all pretty tired but enjoying being out in the big blue and sailing.
Finally out of Moreton Bay. Nice sunny day with light winds. After several cycles of helming, Lydia was so confident that she able to read her book while on helm duty.
For a short time we were graced by the presence of dolphins coming right up to the boat. By evening the wind had got up so we reefed the sails and headed into the night.
Thursday 17th June 6am we hauled anchor and headed down river, stopping at the fuel depot to fill the diesel tanks. Out into the bay and up went the sails. The watermaker went on as the water tanks were low. By 12:00 we were starting to head out of Moreton Bay when the Vang broke. Then we discovered the watermaker had not been making water.
We had a quick look at the watermaker and found it wasn’t going to be a quick fix. With heavy hearts we turned around and headed back to the Brisbane River where we could fill the water tanks at one of the docks.
First dock (which was the fuel dock and water dock) had someone parked up for the night, but us pulling up behind that boat and in front of a huge super yacht was just going to be too tight of a squeeze.
Dock 2 (1.0m of water below the keel), Sue was saying hurry up, but the water only trickled out. No good,
Dock 3, 0.1 (100mm of water below the keel!) but tide just turning to come in, success, we managed to get water. With air bubbles in the tank it still took more than an hour to fill 300L of water.
Silver lining, we got lots of practice mooring and Lydia’s lassoing deck cleats with the mooring lines improved tenfold.
Now 8:30pm and the tanks are full. Let’s try again.
We finally have a new crew member. Lydia is silly enough to join us this season sailing up the Coral Coast to the Whitsundays. We were supposed to head off up north 6 weeks ago, but the lady we had organised for crew was unable to make it due to personal reasons (she may join us later) and we also did some maintenance on the boat. The second crew we organised were a couple from Melbourne. Because of a Covid outbreak in Melbourne all of Victoria went into lock down and Queensland are still not letting Victorians into the State.
We have been watching the weather and the set off date has been put back a few more days. There is a weather window opening tomorrow so we are off!
We have been shopping almost every day for the last week provisioning the boat as we can’t carry a lot of groceries back to the boat at one time. We will not be close to the mainland or shops for at least 42 days.
While doing the repairs to Imagine after our two night time encounters, I noticed that one part of the deck flexed as I stood on it. YES I have put on weight. NO it wasn’t that! After seeing this problem on other boats I knew what had to be done.
So I proceeded to cut the deck open. Sure enough it was rotten. A year ago I had cut out part of the rub rail that was rotten right next to the piece of deck I’ve just found. My guess is that water had been tracking up the bolt holding the rub rail on and I hadn’t noticed it.
I cut the deck back as far as hard dry wood then back as far as a rib (for strength). Luckily the timber around the chain plates was still ok. I Inserted new plywood and coating with fibreglass. I then primed and painted it with the little bit of KiwiGrip we still had (courtesy of Alan Thrower).
That has now created a bigger problem. The new paint looks great, but it shows that the rest of the deck now needs painting.
We had just finished dinner when there was a large bang and grinding noise. We rushed out on deck to find a tourist sight seeing boat across our bow. He had been anchored a short distance away and dragged without noticing. He then tried to back away from us but his anchor was around ours so all that did was bring him along side. After fighting off his boat, trying to save our solar panels. he managed to move forward enough to take the tension off the anchor chain and I was able to untangle it. Once free we were able to exchange details. We will inspect the damage in the morning.
We were woken in the middle of the night by the phone ringing. It was Theo, the owner of a boat anchored near by. “HELP the chain on my dinghy is caught under the jetty and the tide is coming in”. We dropped our dinghy into the water. I grabbed the hacksaw and headed off to Mowbray Park Jetty with my headlamp on. Reaching the jetty I could see the bow of Theo’s Aluminium Dinghy at water level and the stern and outboard motor in the air. I passed the hacksaw to Theo and he started cutting into the chain while I tied off our dinghy to the jetty.
PING. The sound of the hacksaw blade breaking was heard just before Theo muttered some words that must be French or German or something. Luckily some smart bugger had thought to grab a spare blade when picking up the hacksaw. I fitted the new blade and this time I started cutting from on the jetty. Although the floating pontoon jetty was rocking around I had a better angle than Theo.
PING. The sound of the blade breaking could be heard just before a BANG as the back of the dinghy hit the water. The bow flew up launching Theo in the air. Somehow he managed to end up in his dinghy. Upside down but in the dinghy.
With the dinghy now free from the jetty the strong tidal current of the river now had control of it. Theo just managed to right himself in time to grab the back of our dinghy as he went past. After composing himself he was able to start his outboard motor. I jumped in our dinghy started the outboard and we both motored back to our respective boats.
Just another night on the river!
Boat life is being prepared for whatever is going to happen next.
Things going bump in the night scare us as children. When we grow up we condition ourselves that the scary stuff is all in your head. Maybe not …
A few nights ago a motor launch came and anchored quite close upstream of us. Early the next morning he floated past us dragging his anchor. The next night he anchored down stream of us. In the middle of the night the tide changed and at 5.30 in the morning there was a strange noise. I went on deck to find the launch hard up against the bow on one side of Imagine and his dinghy on the other. The launch being powered forward then backward to pull his dinghy free, dislodged our anchor. Now we were both drifting towards another anchored boat. Eventually the dinghy ripped its mounting off the back deck of the launch and we were free of them both.
Sue at the helm and Andrew controlling our anchor, we got Imagine under control metres away from the anchored boat and returned to our spot and re-anchored. The launch retrieved his dinghy and went back to his spot and anchored.
A little later after making sure we were secure I inspected the damage. A 1.5m scrape about 10mm deep along the side of us.
I went across to the launch to get some details and discuss what to do. During that time I asked him how much chain he had out the first time he dragged. 30m was his reply. So I asked him how much he had out last night. 30m he said. Curious I asked how much he has now put out. 30m he said.
If you do the same thing over and over again you get the same result over and over again. That is what we are all taught, well not all of us.
Anyway we came to a cash settlement for the repairs to Imagine. That night we we didn’t get much sleep. I went out on deck every hour. and guess what? He dragged anchor! He didn’t hit us this time but he did leave the area.
