Leg 68 - Trifecta for the Wide Bay Bar Crossing

It's easy to have a bad night's sleep ahead of a tricky passage but a night of rolling gunwale to gunwale ensured we'd be up and raring to go to face the infamous Wide Bay Bar - the southern entry to the Great Sandy Straits, inside Fraser Island.

We were treated to another glorious sunrise as well as the silhouettes of other yachts that were arriving to take their place in the Wide Bay Bar morning processional. These were the smart ones that had either sailed overnight from Moreton Bay or left Mooloolaba very early, as we should have done.

Here comes the sun

  

We were in the queue with a couple of others behind us.

The Bloke had researched and conferred extensively on the best way to get the job done. Tin Can Bay VMR (07 5486 4290) provide the latest coordinates of the bar channel as it often moves and re-positioning of the navigational markers seldom keeps pace with the state of the sand. In fact the GPS coordinates supplied were given with an additional instruction to pass 100m to the north of one point and south of another. They were giving these same coordinates 6 weeks earlier. Given all the big storms that we'd recently experienced there could be big changes. Something to ponder when faced with what is also known as the 'Mad Mile'.  We were more than happy to log in with Tin Can Bay VMR ahead of the crossing as well as once successfully 'through'.

 Another yacht getting into position

  

The target. The gap between the mainland and Fraser Island.

 Chart with the waypoints and AIS traffic ahead of us.

It took about 20 minutes to traverse once lined up.

 

View to Fraser Island along the Mad Mile. 

It's a popular camping destination - mind the dingo's!

The coordinates were locked into the 'navacomputer' long before the day came and planning for an unexciting crossing included combining an in-going tide - TICK, with low swell (under 1.5m and actually only 0.5m on the day) - TICK and light winds (under 10kn) - TICK. The overnight northerly that had made our night so uncomfortable and way more chirpy than predicted, had done its job in flattening any vestige of the recent big seas and then lightened off. We claimed the Trifecta Jackpot of an easy entry and the ugly night of anxiety was instantly forgotten.

 Sun shining on calm, protected waters.