Rendezvous Reload for our Lady Musgrave Experience

Having abandoned our first attempt at reaching Lady Musgrave by 23rd September there was nothing for it but to actually arrive on the 23rd. The Bloke estimated that if we set off at 04:00am we would at least minimize the length of time where we would experience swell against tide, the wind was meant to be abating 3-5kts and the swell down by 0.5m. Wind angle was predicted to be more southerly too for our southeasterly course. Another wet and wild ride but better than earlier. We wouldn’t be smashing into it (quite so much) and actually sailing into better conditions. Estimated arrival time might coincide with Main Event -The Lady Musgrave ferry. What could go wrong with this plan reload? Lock and load. We contacted the kids before their planned 18:00 early bedtime. Their overnight drive from Brisbane to Bundaberg (Burnett Heads) with 01:00am departure was still ’ON’. If we were slow arriving they could at least participate in the ‘Lady Musgrave Experience’ activities with the ‘Main Event’ for a couple of hours.

It seemed a viable plan revision so we gave ourselves a bit of a rest after our 6 hour bruising only to re-anchor 300m from where we’d started. At dusk we headed back out to Clews Point, the outer anchorage of Pancake Creek and picked up one of the 2 new moorings there. It would save us 30minutes in the morning and without worry of the tide situation nor be stressed dodging any idiots who failed to have their nighttime anchor lights lit. We’d already had a big lunch so we turned in early for our ‘stupid-o’clock’ start.


The shipping lane into the Port of Gladstone is a busy one. The route takes ships around Lady Musgrave and its large reef system. We were on an intersecting path at one stage with this ship, according to our AIS, but in the end we just passed one another close enough to smell their engine fumes.


The plan went pretty well. We had a very vigorous sail in better conditions although it was a wet ride and at a heel that might have ‘spilled our chardonay’. Our average speed was over 6kts with plenty of time at 7kts. The Bloke commented later that he felt the bow was ploughing down quite a lot. After our arrival we got a clue as to why.


Unbelievably, our arrival almost coincided with the ferry just as we approached Lady Musgrave Island around 09:50. We had updated the kids of our progress just before losing phone signal, suggesting they keep an eye on the horizon for our sails. It was very exciting to watch the speck on the horizon resolve into the shape of the ferry knowing our youngsters were aboard. We think they were pretty excited to see us coming too. Even more pleased though that their own rough ride would be at an end. The ferry had been cancelled on the 2 preceding days and the sea state far from settled so it had hardly been a dream run. Lucas was the only one of his party not throwing up. The kids dubbed the ferry ‘The Vom Express’.


Our excitement was swiftly terminated by the unnoticed arrival of the jet boat from the town of 1770. They barged their way past us at speed just as we were about to enter the narrow channel through the reef entrance. The Bloke had only seconds to abort and veer away to avoid being pushed by current and boat wash into the reef. Good grief, commercial dive boats are run by cowboys and they think they own the place!

The reef entrance is marked by port and starboard markers. We came through at mid tide.

Once through a sharp turn to starboard is required to avoid this substantial bommie.

Now came the job of anchoring up then reinstating the boat from passaging mode to floating caravan for 6. The kids were going to be occupied for an hour or two with their guided Island tour, glass-bottom boat trip and lunch but in the end the skipper radioed to make sure we were coming to collect our passengers. Preparations aboard Zofia were not going smoothly.

Water ingress is never fun. Salt water never dries and everything will remain damp eventually becoming mildewed too. To my horror a brown gritty stain had appeared on the for’d cabin wall and worse yet the mattress and bedding was partly wet and gritty as well. Far from merely laying out the doonas, pillows and towels home-sweet-home style, this would require an urgent complete strip-out plus an emergency laundry session of sheets, mattress protectors - the works! Thank heavens the pillows and doonas were still stored in their vacuum sealed storage sacks. Investigation of the source of this water and grunge would have to be postponed beyond of course assuring ourselves we were not at risk of sinking. The gennie was swiftly set up on the foredeck to run my little 2kg twin-tub washing machine (my little saviour) as well as small blow heater to help dry out the cabin. There was no time to grab the dehumidifier which we’d only just stowed in ‘the shed’ (the space behind our bunk and under the helm stations) the night before. We couldn’t rip the stern cabin apart as well to get to it. We already had our work well and truly cut out. Getting the kids aboard together with luggage loomed as a horror prospect amongst the chaos!

Somehow it all came together even if the kids arrived to a boat decked out like Hoo Flung’s laundry with sheets flapping from the life lines. Amy, Lily and Tom recovered from their earlier mal-de-mer and we all settled in for our own 5 day Lady Musgrave Experience. We each felt like we’d pulled off the impossible.

Dinghy down - cocktail time!

Take Two For a Rendezvous

It can’t be repeated enough how we hate a timetable; The Bloke in particular. It makes one try things that are pushing it a bit. Probably the most dangerous thing you can have on board is a plane ticket. In this instance Lucas and Amy had a ferry ticket. One to meet up with us at Lady Musgrave Island bringing the kids and staying on board for 4 nights. This scheme was hatched some time ago, leave applied for to coincide with school holidays and a full moon. What the weather might be like was a complete punt. All we could do was try to get to Lady Musgrave Island by 23rd September.
With this date in mind we decided against extending our cruising range beyond Great Keppel Island and to focus on a bit of Island hopping down through the Bunker Group if and as the weather permitted. Perhaps we’d get to North West Island, Astari or Fitzroy Reef, Masthead or Herron Island along the way. Were we successful? Nope.

  

View of Masthead Island on a fine day

With a week till our deadline, we left Great Keppel in light northerlies for the 30nm trip to Masthead Island. There is a recently installed GBRMPA* mooring at Masthead and we’d need to shelter there on the north side with a wind prediction for a return to SE overnight (15-20kt). We were lucky too because the anchorage was empty on arrival and the mooring available. It’s never easy anchoring to an initially lee shore knowing that overnight you’ll switch orientation and then experience stronger winds. Setting anchor is more difficult and not needing to do it was a win. Instead the later arriving SV Vagabond, was forced to do the anchoring.


Not 100% trusting the mooring we set the anchor alarm and then had it go off as the wind switched from a Northerly to SE exactly on schedule at 02:00am. Luckily the Bloke worked out what I’d done wrong in setting the ‘safety perimeter’ after I woke him.

There was no going anywhere the next day with the wind firmly in our face relative to our intended direction of travel so we busied ourselves with some water-making, baking and washing by way of preparation for our guests at Lady Musgrave. Going ashore was out of the question in the conditions

Wrap around swell made our wait at Masthead Island uncomfortable.

Our invitation to the crew of Vagabond for sundowners aboard on the 2nd evening was declined at the last minute. Conditions hadn’t improved. It was just too rough to consider getting into their tender.


Although we contemplated a 3rd night at Masthead before we’d had our 2nd, by morning we were done with hanging to the wind only to be slammed on the side by wrapping swell. We needed to inch further south anyway and the wind angle was suitable for a trip to Fitzroy Reef. As we came out of the lee of Masthead Island however, it was clear we’d be plowing into the horrid sea state generated by the preceding 36 hours. The Bloke and I looked at one another and almost as one said “you’ve got to be kidding!” and immediately re-routed to Pancake Creek where we knew we could sit still for a couple of days leaving only 35nm left to complete for our Lady Musgrave rendezvous on 23rd with the kids.

Conditions at Pancake Creek were as we imagined. Flat although windy. Too windy to go ashore. Too windy to visit another boat but out of the swell. Bliss. Days were running out. The Bloke was particularly keen to reach Lady Musgrave by at least the day before the kids arrived. Mmmm? What were the predictions? Well.... about 18 -20kts SE but with a 2m swell against us. Mmmm? Not our favourite. Hate timetables. We’d been hoping for some northerlies. Actually we’d generally avoid what was on offer and stay on at Pancake Creek like everyone else. Time was running out though. We’d have to give it a shot.

Bustard Head at 07:50 heading out.

Anticipating a rough ride, the Bloke cooked a whopping omelette, raiding my earmarked provisions without mercy. Going below to prepare food wouldn’t be an option today. We got ‘tooled up’ in our foulies and headed off to the acknowledged shaking heads of our anchorage companions. Gentlemen sail downwind! Yes they do, but we have a timetable. Grrrrr.

We’ll spare you an account of the following 6 hours save that it became apparent that progress of barely 3-4 knots in very gusty winds would potentially have us arriving to Lady Musgrave after dark or at best at dusk. The time to arrive at an atoll is midday with the sun overhead to watch for coral heads!! We had a saved track in from our previous visit last year but we weren’t even tempted to be that foolhardy. We took the decision to turn about and return to Pancake Creek and messaged the kids to be on standby for Plan B- once we had one. They were scheduled to depart Brisbane at 1am for their drive up to Bundaberg to catch the ferry.

Once we turned round, one of the skippers back at Pancake Creek called on the VHF radio to check if everything was OK. He’d been tracking us on Marine Traffic, a website that tracks AIS signals and he’d noticed our 2 donuts out to sea. We received a couple of messages from some of our cruiser friends too who knew we were on the move and were also concerned by our funny looking track. Were we in trouble, they asked.

The return trip was none too special even if we were running before the wind. Today was a day when the Bureau of Meteorology’s eternal codicil to their forecasts, that “wind speeds may be 40% greater than the averages given and wave heights may be 40% higher...” were on show. Wind against tide plus gusty conditions made for a most unpleasant and salty day. We were prepared to motor into it if we had to but even at high revs progress was too slow. We did give it a red hot go but trying to stick to a timetable was crossing our safety thresholds. So it was back to Pancake Creek to reassess the Rendezvous. Would there be a viable Plan B?

Clews Point in the afternoon heading back to Pancake Creek.

*Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Bunker Group Mooring Map
http://elibrary.gbrmpa.gov.au/jspui/bitstream/11017/3391/1/Capricorn-Bunker-Moorings.pdf

Upgrading our Safety

We don’t even want to calculate the amount we’ve spent on safety gizmos and you don’t need to cast your eyes far around the decks and cockpit to find stuff for almost any eventuality.




Our little rescue episode earlier in the year while racing in Geographe Bay (not on Zofia) is a reminder to never be casual on the water and always be ‘tooled up’ as we call it. This includes being appropriately attired when sailing. A couple of months being lazy around Great Keppel Island had us drop our guard. We took off for Masthead Island in the Bunker Group (south end of Great Barrier Reef) and traveled fully 10 minutes before we remembered our life jackets. Bad, bad, bad!


Anyway, getting back to safety upgrades we had the opportunity to buy some personal AIS beacons. Some Kiwi cruisers were selling up after completing a trip from the South Pacific to Bundaberg and we were able to get them 2nd hand. The battery life is good until 2023. Maybe they see us through!

We already have personal EPIRB’s with GPS but the reality is that in a Man Overboard (MOB) situation the vessels nearest you are the most likely ones to locate you. An AIS signal would be a great help. In our own earlier rescue we were not in heavy seas but relied on being visually spotted after notifying authorities an approximate location which was a square mile of potential search area.



While we hope never ever to need to rely on any of our gizmos, the personal AIS is attached to our life jackets just in case.

Our War With Waste

Column inches have been written about waste and the wastefulness of western society. There is a topical obsession at present with plastic bags for instance and a gaining interest in food wastage. We have a problem with waste on board too but with a twist, mainly what to do with it and where to put it.

Snipped up plastic is far more managable

We’ve become pretty adept at reducing food spoilage. Fresh provisions are consumed in pretty much the order that they will last. Salads greens like spinach will be eaten first. A paper towel popped into the bag until all the spinach is gone. Snow peas/mange tout and sugar snap peas are washed with a drop of vinegar, dried and then wrapped in paper towel before placing in a plastic bag or container. These are long keepers and will be be eaten at the tail end of a provisioning gap. Citrus is washed and dried too before being individually wrapped in foil (for up to 3 months or more). In so doing we never run out of limes for a G+T. Important priorities indeed!

A few ‘old school’ food preserving skills have been resurrected too eg pickling beans and cabbage.

A vacuum sealer has been another tool in extending the shelf life of dry produce. Meat lasts better generally when vac sealed and freezes better too.


The real dilemma though is not so much food wastage but what to do with the stuff that goes into the kitchen tidy. In a house or in a marina, no worries at all. Just tie off the bag when it’s full or a bit smelly and off to the wheelie bin or skip with it. On board however, that kitchen tidy needs serious management if you intend being out of range of facilities for 2-3 weeks at a time. The Bloke can fill the bin in just a day - he does not pay as much attention as me, the chief waste wrangler. Pretty much nothing goes overboard. Do olive pits count?

Our war starts with packaging. As much as possible is stripped off before produce is stowed. Styrofoam, cardboard boxes are in the skip before we leave the dock but inevitably the crackers for our sunset snacks will be in a foil-like wrapper plus an internal tray, both of which are infuriatingly springy and resistant to flattening when the time comes. The UHT milk carton can at least be flattened and the egg cartons also. Up until the moment that you need to live with your rubbish for a few weeks, life is carefree and potentially odourless.

Peels in a bucket that will be left in the sun to dry out a bit

The Bloke is less concerned with such domestic niceties. Beer cans, wine bottles, wrappers, tissues, tea bags, veggie scraps are all natural companions in his ‘big picture’ world view. It’s easy enough to tie off the bin liner and sling the bag in the dinghy which could on that basis, very quickly, become a
garbage barge! So the kitchen tidy has become a de-facto sorting station for me and the contents get redistributed around the boat. There is though, only so much space in the bilge.


Firstly, the wine bottles get returned to the locker they came from. The Bloke will get a shock after a few weeks to realise the locker is full but of empties! Beer in cans is preferable to bottles since cans can be crushed and stored separately. Nothing to see here, move along. Dry rubbish is stored in a bag outside of the kitchen bin. Paper and boxes are flattened. Plastic stuff gets snipped up for consolation purposes. The wet rubbish is the headache though as this is the stuff that will smell any day soon. Even triple bagging in scented bags won’t contain the methane for long! In short, rubbish gets consolidated on board and even a small looking bag will weigh a lot.

Vac sealed food scraps

Some cruisers stuff their wet rubbish into juice and milk cartons using the handle from a wooden spoon to jam in as much as possible and do up the cap. I’m not patient enough to do that and besides we don’t drink juice and 1litre of milk sometimes lasts a whole week. We’d be a few cubic litres short of receptacles. As far as is practical, the tea bags, fruit and veggie peelings and such are collected in a small tub with a lid. If possible these might be placed outside to dry out a little. More recently I’ve been re-purposing old vac sealer bags to hold wet rubbish and much to my delight, my 240v vacuum sealer unit will operate using a small inverter. I’m yet to discover how long my wet rubbish satchels will stay sealed and odorless but hopes are high for this latest brainwave. Maybe this will prove a little win over our waste even if the onboard war over where it all belongs is ongoing.

Out of Hot Water

Leaving Zofia at Keppel Bay Marina was cheaper when paid for a month in advance as opposed to 3 weeks and then maybe a extra week, if needed. So arriving back from shore time in Perth inside of the ‘month’ presented an opportunity for doing some ‘boat jobs’ with the ever present convenience of running water, power and hardware to hand.

 

One of The Bloke’s least favourite locations aboard.

 

The Bloke had already identified a problem with the Hot Water System while in Scarborough Marina during my 'care visit' to London back in May. Turning on the HWS switch blew the main electrical trip switch! A replacement element was ordered from a terrific South African chap on the Gold Coast. He had previously provided a replacement element when we were in Port Lincoln. Super efficient and really helpful, a guy who knows his products. He even called past the Scarborough Marina to deliver it. All The Bloke needed was the bravery to tackle the task. 4 1/2 years ago the F@#*k Box stood pride of place next to the plumbing tool box. Chief among the problems was having the correct tool - a monster wrench, which luckily was loaned to us by a mechanical workshop.

+61 418 497 029 info@bcaaustr.com.au

In anticipation of this day, a hoped-to-be suitable implement was spotted on a shopping expedition with his Canadian ‘virtual-brother’ Gary, off Kaijasong. It seems that there is not much that will match the satisfaction of going through the tool shop at the hardware store with a mate AND actually discovering ‘just the thing’!

It’s not that we haven’t had hot water since May. We make it just by running the motor but it’s a pity to run the motor just for hot water. In a marina our electricity use is included in the tariff and it’s annoying to boil the electric kettle to do the dishes!

 

What the control panel needs to look like.

 

So the day arrived. All items were in place: the spare part, tool, time, location and mood. On with the fun and games.

Work commenced with a release of the 40L contents of the tank - long cold after our absence. This would be a good test for the bilge pump. TICK. Part of the labyrinth of bilge channels would get a fresh water rinse for good measure. TICK. The tank was then easily released from the cradle and moved sufficiently to utilize the new ‘weapon’. The Bloke verified that the jaws would accommodate the head of the element on the spare. TICK. The tool was then applied to remove the old element. Joy of joys: out it came! TICK! It’s appearance pretty much confirmed that the element was ‘cactus’ and the anode completely eaten away and the likely cause of our grief.

Spot the difference!

 

The Bloke fitted the new element quite easily before refilling the tank and satisfying himself there were no leaks. TICK. Next the blue smoke test: would activating the HWS switch cause the electrical trip switch to flip? Happily, all going great guns. The final test was to ensure that the water did indeed get hot. Another TICK.

The 'weapon' made easy work

The best part of the whole exercise was the big grin at the end and no contributions to the F@#*k Box. Winning!

A postscript to this is that the following night, the bilge pump kept burping intermittently. It was well into the night before good sense prevailed and the pump switches were turned off. We were in a marina, the water was fresh and we were not taking on water! Investigations could occur after dawn. It turned out that some of the debris from the old element had lodged in the overflow valve. A quick and very easy fix.

Happy Days!