Looking at Trouser Bay

With a NE wind freshening to 30knots we were happy to we well anchored in a sandy patch and free of the ribbon weed. We do have a secret weapon for that though. We bought a Marsh Stockless Anchor through Marevelous Miles at Sparks and Spanners in Port Lincoln for exactly the day we'd be in ribbon weed again. Seeing as there was an abundance of sand we decided to keep that weapon holstered for another occasion and 'stick with what we know' - our Delta plus a 'shed load' of chain!

Our anchor-watch track reveals the arc of the wind shifts

The wind strength meant that walks on the beach would not be possible so the dinghy stayed up and we chilled out and enjoyed the view.

Easy Rider settled for the night.

Clouds rolling in.

 

 

A dramatic sunset

During the night 2 more yachts arrived around 02:00. The Bloke on one of his nocturnal visits topside to check the depth (note: boy code), spotted red and green navigation lights and switched on our deck light to hopefully assist. Two yachts come across from Tamar. There is a general exodus of boats from Tasmania. The Van Diemens Land Circumnavigation is over and the RPAYC Cruise has concluded too. Some yachts are staying though. Some were delayed 3 weeks in Eden getting south because of the weird Low Pressure system in January and have hardly enough time to cruise about and are hoping for a better summer next year. For some it take them 12 months to gather up the courage to go home after a bruising trip down. Certainly there is much in Tassie to stay for and we ever-so-nearly did too!

Southern Belle arriving 24 hours after us

By mid afternoon Southern Belle pulled in making 5 boats in the bay. We'd stalked her on Skipr.net and met the crew of George and Gail subsequently. Channel 16 sparkled with 'Hi George" and "Hi Brian" after the customary "Zofia, Zofia, Zofia this is Southern Belle, Southern Belle"  etc. Gail had flown home to Sydney and left the delivery home to George and some pals who will no doubt relish a 'boys own adventure' across Bass Strait to Eden. Very blokey. We on the other hand, considered to be 'short handing', are approaching this cautiously and with some trepidation. We are probably a bit more than coastal cruisers but our hops are not really long enough to get into the swing of a 'watch' pattern so 'overnighters' are tough going.

The forecast is for the wind to swing through the clock placing us on a lee shore, so the Bloke and Rob from Easy Rider, have conferred and mulled over several scenarios of where to hide next and how to claw a bit more distance off the major Bass Strait sector. Every 20nm reduction is another 4 hours, so let's scratch it off where we can. Next stop Royden Island at the top of Flinders Is. ahead of maybe a day at Deal Is. Best of all though, we can sleep in and get some more sleep in the bank.