Leg 62 - Port Macquarie to Trial Bay

The best time to exit through the bar was early. Not quite stupid O'clock but just after. The Bloke was itching to get across that bar, his anxiety having caused a poor nights sleep, so it was a case of throwing off the lines at 08:00.

Looking out towards the bar. Quite benign today.

We had half a notion to leave the day before but we both felt extremely fatigued and elected to sleep in and let the strongest of the Southerlies pass. There were still a few more days of more moderate Southerlies predicted. Plenty to facilitate a downhill ride as far as Yamba/Iluka 3 day-sails away. What a relief to say goodby to the weeks of Northeasterlies and to be able to sail and not be driven by the Yanmar. As it turned out, we enjoyed an 8hour passage with 10-15kn Southerlies to make good the 35nm which was quite good considering the current.

Passing South West Rocks and into a new forecast zone. Hooray!

   

Norfolk Island Pines always give away habitation. The goal at Trial Bay coming into view.

The Junk rigged yacht Arion, sharing our destination at dusk.

The anchor snatched like a beauty in the wide and sandy Trial Bay.

Slightly rolly but very secure in our southerly conditions, allowing a great rest.

Sauage Roll Table of Fame - March Update

Has 'The Bloke' given up on the sausage roll hunt, I hear you say! The answer is NO, I have been constantly sampling sausage rolls from Sydney to Port Macquarie. Newcastle had several offerings but none worthy of a rating. In Port Stephens I was forced to throw away 2 sausage rolls after just one bite. The twin towns of Forster and Tuncurry both provided opportunities but like Port Stephens they were not worth wasting calories on so they soon found the bottom of a bin. I had high hopes for Laurieton, a provincial town with multiple bakeries. Alas no idea, the concept of a tasty sausage roll evaded all. Now that we are in Port Macquarie, a city of almost 50,000 people, was I too optimistic to believe that one of the several bakeries could put together meat and pastry in a tasty and interesting combination. Yes, I was because again, the simple concept of the sausage roll got lost somewhere between including carrot in the meat to pouring in a bucket of salt and maybe flour to create some kind of 'paste'.

Our new prime minister wants an agile, clever and innovative nation, but the majority of our bakeries cannot even make a sausage roll! What is Australia's future if the simplest of tasks cannot be achieved? I am not yet in despair, however, if I do not find a good sausage roll soon am going to write to the before mention national leader and get him on the case. This is IMPORTANT!!!!!

 A Sausage Circle Roll created by Gayle who hadn't previously known about the Bloke's quest.

Examining the Bar

River Bar crossings do cause the Bloke a loss of sleep and studying what they look like and how variable conditions manifest themselves has become a new project. The crew of Nautilus considered it their duty as locals, to further acquaint us with some of their favourite spots in Port Macquarie. So this is how a Sunday tour panned out.

Coffee at Social Grind. A hipster cafe with GREAT coffee.

While having coffee every firefighting asset in the district; professional and volunteer alike, came screaming past. Sirens, lights and speed. Reports came in that the Rydges Hotel on the foreshore was on fire. So what do you do in a provincial town? You go and have a 'sticky-beak'. Setting up an incident centre wasn't a problem because the Police Station was right opposite. The Air conditioners were to blame and the fire quickly isolated but a week out from Easter, there was sure to be lots of angst.

Seeing as we had got to the sea wall by this time, we took yet another stroll out to check conditions at the bar. The local yacht club Sunday racers didn't seem to care about the adverse tide situation (strong outgoing current) and motor-sailed out to their ocean course with the tide fairly tearing out and some selecting visibly 'less optimal' exits. their destiny was dictated by the starters gun. Conventional wisdom is to use the leads and exit close to the northern wall (see Left). The water is very 'active' at the southern (R) side and those that chose it looked like they may have loosened their dentures.

 

 

We checked the beaches and general surf conditions and noticed the love locks at the lookout.

We've had a good look around. Next time we visit we'll anchor in the Hastings river. Southerlies are promised by the Bureau of Meteorology for 4 days. Time to point our bow north.

Good Looking Port Macquarie

The civic landscape in Port Macquarie is very attractive and with a number of historical buildings dating back to the early days of European settlement in Australia. Both the rivers edge and the fabulous ocean surf beaches provide even more eye candy.

The Bloke seated with Edmund Barton, our first Prime Minister

   

More sculptures on the riverside sculpture trail.

Headland viewing platform with the river bar in view.

 The Bloke and Kim, one of the gals in my Women Who Sail Australia group.

We socialised a bit, which is to be expected seeing as our chief purpose of visiting was to catch up with Rob and Henma. We squeezed 10 revellers in our cockpit and The Bloke reluctantly shared a tray of home made sausage rolls with them.

 

Henma withe The Bloke at Ricardoes.

There are 50 or more of these painted Koala statues all around the district and as far afield as Laurieton, where we saw our first one. They are a fundraiser for the Koala hospital and something of a tourist attraction; tourists being urged to visit them all.( hello-koalas-public-art-sculpture-trail). This one was adorned with strawberries as Ricardoes is a hydroponic tomato and strawberry farm. The morning tea, purchased tomatoes and hand picked strawberries were all yummy.

Port Macquarie Rocks

Slipping into the Hastings River across the bar at Port Macquarie, we were immediately intrigued by the large number of brightly painted rocks along the groyne. What was all that about? We didn't get to the bottom of how it began but did find out that at some point the local Council had plans to paint over the myriad of messages and memorials. There was a public outcry and the rock messages remain painted and updated too.

Some rocks are dedicated to love, some to loss, others to commemorate multiple holiday visits over successive years by large family groups to the local caravan park. Still others, offer encouragement for events like the Ironman  Triathlon that is held annually. We found it intriguing. It wasn't really graffiti.
 

Walk along the rivermouth to the bar.

 

Rock art.
   

Pedestrian life is very confusing in Port Macquarie.

We never felt confident while walking around the civic heart of Port Macquarie. Were we in a pedestrian mall, a car park or in the middle of an intersection? Civic leaders have discovered a way of euthanizing their senior citizens. Confuse them, then run them over. I found myself in the middle of a traffic lane on multiple occasions but luckily this is Port Macquarie and there's no real rush.

A huge stage was being erected for an open air concert just near the marina. We would soon be entertained by classic Aussie rocker, Jimmy Barnes.

Saturday evening became a rock extravaganza with live performances from The Angels, Noiseworks and Jimmy Barnes. Jimmy screamed his lungs out, for which he's well known, and even asked the front row if they could hear him. He said he was screaming louder than Jeffery Dahmer's house guests. He might have been right!

The Bloke enjoying the event from the comfort of our own deck and at a tolerable volume.

Yes, we danced too!

   

Lots of boats anchored up close, enabling a water-based view to enjoy the entertainment on the cheap.

It was all over by 8:30PM and time for oldies like us, to turn in.

Leg 61 - Laurieton to Port Macquarie

The anchor came up for a 10:00 departure from the Camden Haven River anchorage area, near the Laurieton United Services Club and we waived to the folks at Marine Rescue building as we went past. Reeflection had left 2 days before, School's Out the day before, which left just Tramontana (staying a month) and another couple of other mono's. We'd really enjoyed our time here with good company. We had the benefit of the odd hot shower ashore too at the LUSC and returned the key to reclaim the $50 deposit the night before. All set to have another trip through a bar.  In fact, two for the day. We were headed to Port Macquarie just 15nm further north. That bar has a 'reputation' and most sailors seem to skip it. Our friends Henma and Rob from Easy Rider, with whom we'd crossed Bass Strait just a year ago, are there so Port Mac, here we come!

We were escorted part of the way by the Camden Haven tourist boat, no doubt again crammed full with elderly passengers. It did a U turn in front of us just ahead of the seaward exit. No point giving the oldies a fright, their thrill seeking days are over!

 

Target in sight: looked OK. Webcam footage showed it to be a bit bumpier than the day before when we watched Reeflection slide out. Nothing too wild though and the Bloke negotiated the way out. This time the Nav gear didn't display us on land. Mind you, seeing something a second time, even in reverse from the first, is so much easier and we didn't really need to look at it much.

We motor-sailed (yes, again) towards Port Macquarie and the pile of clouds that were out to sea started to change in character. They got our full attention as parts of the cloud started dropping down like a pointed finger. It didn't take long to recognise that these were water spouts forming. Yikes!

 Waterspouts

   

The cloud cover became filthy and menacing and the radar located this 'trouble' only 3nm away. A yacht that had followed us out of the Camden Haven River just 30 minutes behind, suddenly dropped their sails and began weaving a strange course. They were likely in the trouble zone. The spouts dipped up and down and the screw-like twirling formation was clearly evident. We could see the waterline was fizzing beneath the 'fingers of doom'. Chilling!

With the waterspouts out to sea the Bloke could barely wait to cross the bar into Port Macquarie. We were not premature so the bar was pretty good and the advice to approach from the north and then hug the northerly wall made the trip in very easy. I was sent forward to put out the fenders in preparation to going to the Marina just as the rain came poured down. Those clouds were always going to deliver. The Bloke laughed his head off as I got drenched.

Bill, the marina manager was waiting on the visitors wharf to help us pick a berth from 4 available and take our lines. Lovely. We'll stay a week.


Port Macquarie Marina
Bill Oliver - 0412 667 208

Anchor Wrap - Not a New Hit Song

The Bloke here,

Wind against current can cause problems in an anchorage. If this situation develops get out the F@#K box immediately, you are going to need it. The boat movement will be erratic, to say the least and perhaps, just perhaps the chain may become wrapped around the keel. In this situation wait for slack tide, lower a GoPro into the water to see how and where the wrap is. Then with some urgency, before current starts moving, power the boat forward and turn to release the wrap from the keel. In our case, we moved to starboard and Hey Presto, put away the F@#K box and crack out the beers, Happy Days (again).

Note to self: Remember to cancel the solicitor appointment because that divorce is once again on hold.

 What the GoPro revealed. Ouch, Ouch and Ouch!
The anchor chain wrapped around the keel just above the bulb.

Our Anchor Alarm App recorded our track.

It should have remained on the outer perimeter of the circle.

Up or down-stream, instead of wound tight!

Back to the BlogMistress,

Symptoms of Keel Wrap:
Failure to swing with the tide. See image above.

Prevention:
A stern anchor can be helpful as it will 'set' the direction that your boat lies relative to the current and prevent the boat from riding/sailing over the top of the anchor when it's windy, but 'wisdom' from the internet suggests using an Anchor Rider.  This is a device not dissimilar to a Kellet. The idea is to attach a weight to the anchor chain at a depth that is slightly greater than your keel depth but not as low as the sea bed. This is meant to prevent the chain from trailing across your keel bulb when the wind causes the boat to sail over the top of the anchor. The extra weight offers resistance to the chain preventing a whipping motion (like a skipping rope) across the keel bulb. We experienced rapid direction changes when hit by 25-30knot wind gusts while the boat was lying to the current. The ride was so extreme, the Bloke began experiencing seasickness. That's not his job. It's usually mine!

What we cobbled together:
We used 3 spare weights from a dive belt, a strap with nylon clips and a length of thick cord. We secured the weights together with the cord and then tied a knot in the cord to denote the depth that we should deploy the weights. When the knot was at water level, the weights would be below the level of our keel. The strap was threaded through the weights and sewn so that it could be clipped around the chain, allowing the weights be slipped down the chain. The bitter end of the cord was pulled up over the bow-roller and was secured to a cleat on deck. Pretty simple really.

Anchor Rider cobbled together from items 'just lying about the boat'.

Outcome:
We didn't experience the strength of wind that contributed to or problem again, but our 'Anchor Rider' was easy enough to deploy and subsequently retrieve, and seemed to work OK. Standby for an update when we are next up a river.