Leg 5 - Albany to Two People's Bay

Another diamond day presented when we finally motored away from the jetty at PRSC- I suspect BTW that jetties are to be avoided. They are hard to leave AND you spend money like a maniac while there. The day was just gorgeous, by far the bluest sky of any in the preceding week. B5 was there to help with our lines and waive us away. How lucky we have been to have met him, his cruising partner wife - Maxine, and one of their daughter's - Trina. They have been so generous with their time, stories, help, advice and even produce from their gardens!

B5 was on the jetty to ensure we got away without hitch and to bid us fair winds.

B5 had one last tip. In Albany, what comes after 2 rainy days? Answer- Monday!

Albany from PRSC. Pretty as a postcard.

We were only half way across the bay when a light breeze arrived justifying our decision to delay our departure from 6am to 8am. Perfect, a bit of sailing at last for a mere 20 nm trip round to Two People's Bay. A similar distance in fact as to Becher Point on our old bit of pond. The trip would be nothing like it though and a kind reminder about RESPECT.

We had a fabulous 10 -15 knots most of the way, some in the relative protection of King George Sound as we slipped in behind Michelmas Island and over the shallows behind what probably represented a former connection to the mainland. Wow, the water color was stunning.
Once we moved in the direction of Cape Vancouver (Cape number 4) things became a bit more energetic. The wind was unexpectedly on the nose and lots of tacking was needed to get around the Cape. In fact we had 2 goes at laying the Cape as the 'Cape effect' played havoc with the wind direction and sea state. All three crews underestimated and messed up this rounding to some extent. Easy Tiger finished up being the first around though; the Bloke marveling at how close she was sailing to the wind. Doh! Of course 3 boats traveling in the same direction - it's a race. 


The cats then proceeded quite close to the cliffs while we zigzagged further out, always on a decent heel making me feel that maybe a cup of tea would be enough and that food could wait seeing as this was really meant to be a short hop, wasn't it?. Nope - 6 hours is quite long enough for quite a lot of food usually to be consumed. Thinking it would be over soon, we sailed on. Note to self: Provision the same for 20nm as you would for 200nm. Make sure there's plenty of water to hand and sandwiches and food other than just nuts and snack bars.

Leanne points to our location. Thanks, here is one we made earlier.

But what about those cats - where were they going -surely not behind Coffin Island, in between it and the cliffs! Under a suggestion from B5 with his local knowledge, he'd encouraged B1 and B4 to traverse the narrow 'Coffin Pass'. Too shallow for us of course, so B5 hadn't mentioned it to us but its a seriously narrow gap with not a lot of water over some of the reef. We've yet to see the video but I expect it was awesome experience. There has been some joking to suggest that fenders might have been nice.

Once we'd reached the 'Drunken Sailer' rocks (a true name and not invented by me) it was time to take down the sails and turn into the lovely Two People's Bay. Darn it! Couldn't furl the main sail. It was stuck again, just like it had after we'd rounded Leeuwin. We had intended to fix this before leaving the jetty. We forgot; got too busy and distracted with other stuff and missed opportunities of calm times to sort out this gremlin. Note to self: The value of lists. How had this been missed?
By now fatigued, the Bloke had to clip on the harness and go up front to investigate. The main halyard was lowered an inch, the sail poked back into the mast and then furled away. Problem 'sorted' again for now. We were now tired from the longer than expected passage with lots of going-about and winching, hungry and a bit rattled. Our first attempt at anchoring over the dread weed and hard sand does not bear describing, suffice to say that the language was unusually colorful. And just who did the Bloke think he was talking to anyway? Certainly not the best Deck Hand you could wish for...she was missing in action and replaced by a jabbering wreck!