When my friend Trevor Collinson recently purchased Freedom, a beautiful 43’ huon pine yacht moored in Hobart, and invited me to join him and some friends to sail it back to Adelaide, I jumped at the opportunity.
There were six of us on board: Trevor and his son Simon; Trevor’s two brothers, John and Geoff; Andrew and myself. John has extensive experience as a professional fisherman/skipper out of Port Lincoln and the rest of us are all keen recreational sailors.
This is the story of our trip from my journal. There are some photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/FlintPics/TasTrip.
Wednesday - Leaving Hobart
We are finally on the way after throwing off the lines at Constitution Dock around midday and tonight (Wednesday) are anchored off Butlers Beach, a little bay next to Partridge Island near the end of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel off South Bruny Island. We had a lovely sail down the Derwent then through the Channel but used the motor quite bit as the wind was right on the nose.
We are going to see if we can get all the way around the south coast to Port Davey tomorrow before the next front comes through. Once that blows through, the weather should be nice again for a few days.
Thursday - Around South East Cape
We got going just before sunrise this morning and motored down the last little bit of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel towards South East Cape. There is still very little wind so the seas are calm but we are starting to see the Southern Ocean swell now. The scenery is terrific and very "Tasmanian". There are hazy layers of mountains disappearing off into the distance with fog lying in the valleys and gradually burning off as the sun comes up. We were just visited by a group of 20 or so dolphins. They are like the ones in Adelaide but all very big – as big as or larger than the largest we have ever seen over there. I think they are very well fed around here!
Geoff is a keen fisherman and drops a line over at every opportunity. We have a heavy (and I mean heavy) trolling line out and he assures me we will catch some BIG fish. His brothers are not quite so sure though so we will wait and see. Geoff put a hand line over as soon as we anchored last night and caught half a dozen good sized flathead in about 15 minutes so there are plenty of fish around.
We are about 5 nm off South East Cape just now and the wind has dropped off completely. But 20 to 30 kts are forecast from the West (the way we are headed) later on today so I'm quite happy to be motoring along for awhile to make some headway while the conditions are still good.
It is now mid afternoon and we have just had a bit of excitement. I was sitting at the chart table writing away when I noticed a slight change in engine noise. I lifted the engine compartment cover in the floor beside me to check it out thinking there may be a problem with our new refrigeration compressor and was met with the sound of gushing water and clouds of black smoke. The immediate reaction of all was "engine fire"! But fortunately we quickly determined it was much less dramatic and was in fact a problem with the exhaust. The exhaust pipe had sheared off just adjacent to the engine and was gushing diesel exhaust and cooling water all over the place. A bit of a mess but hardly life threatening. Luckily there was a short piece of pipe still attached to the engine end so John with help from Geoff and Trevor quickly got to work and rejoined the pipe with a sleeve made from a tin left over from our lunch and a few hose clamps. We are back under way again and are now about 3 nm west of South West Cape.
We are very lucky with the weather. It has been uncharacteristically calm here all day with only 5 to 10 kts of wind although there is still is a 1.5 m swell coming up from the south west. Although we can sail quite nicely we are motoring to get to Port Davey ASAP as there is a gale warning out for this region for later on today. I expect the front will catch us before we get in but we should at least be reasonably close by then.
The scenery along here is just magnificent. This is the part of the coast the South Coast Track bushwalking route runs along and we can see all the peaks I remember the names of well from our Mountain Club days – Precipitous Bluff, New River Lagoon, Federation Peak, the Eastern Arthurs etc.
Geoff coked up another excellent hot lunch today – Irish stew with rice – very nice. We certainly are not going to go hungry.
Just before lunch Geoff caught a huge barracouta – twice the weight of the ones we caught down by Cape Borda I reckon. He just caught another one now but threw it back as the first one had worms. They are quite obvious – little white worms in the flesh.
Well here we are in Port Davey and wow, this is an absolutely amazing place! It is just like something out of Lord of the Rings. And we have beaten the change or at least it hasn't come to anything yet.
As we came around South West Cape there were thousands and thousands of mutton birds in the air as far as you could see. They must have been fishing as it was only around 4 pm which is too early for them to be returning to their nests. We noticed a little island on the chart here called Mutton Bird Island so I guess they are always here!
All the way along the south coast from South East Cape, around South West Cape to here is very picturesque. There are mountains rising majestically from the water with lots of steep rocky islands just off the coast. Although it is relatively calm, the ocean swells still throw big breakers up with lots of spray. There is haze all along the coastline from the salt spray in the air.
Tonight we are anchored in a little bay called Schooner Cove which is just inside the entrance of Bathurst Channel on the eastern side of Port Davey. The entrance to the channel is most spectacular. There is a small island just off the entrance hiding it and protecting it from the prevailing winds and swell. This island and all the surrounding land rises almost vertically out of the water with sheer rock faces on the exposed sides and lush green growth on the protected sides. The actual channel is quite narrow but very deep right up to the edges and is flanked on one side at the entrance by a huge double peaked mountain. Tomorrow we will probably explore further up the channel into Bathurst Harbour itself.
Geoff is busy cooking up dinner -- frittata followed by pancakes for desert this time! I think we will all sleep well tonight as we only just got in here a few minutes before dark after leaving before dawn so it has been a long but very enjoyable day.
Friday - South West Tassie
We are currently exploring around in Bathurst Channel/Harbour which is an extensive sheltered waterway off Port Davey in the pristine wilderness of South West Tasmania. The scenery is absolutely stunning with magnificent mountains all around interspersed with fingers of this waterway here and there.
We anchored last night just inside the entrance to the channel just before dusk and were glad to make it before the forecast gale arrived. It did arrive during the night however and by morning the wind was gusting to over 40 kts even in our sheltered anchorage -- although an element of it was the katabatic winds (or bullets) off the surrounding hills.
Although this is a tidal estuary there is so much fresh water coming down that it is only slightly brackish and no where near as salty as the open sea. The water is also a very distinctive "tea" colour from all the leaves falling into the catchment up stream. Given the huge volume of water (it is very deep everywhere -- 80 ft even in some narrow channels) this is quite amazing.
Once we all got going this morning we moved further up the channel to a tiny little inlet call Iola Bay which is just downstream of the main harbour itself. It is a tiny bay just big enough for one boat to swing on an anchor -- a bit smaller even than Snug Cove.
From here Andrew, John and I went for a walk and climbed to the top of an adjacent hill (about 2000 ft) which gave us a fantastic panoramic view of the whole area. The local cruising guide shows a track but we certainly couldn't find it so had to make our own way through the undergrowth. I must remember to bring a better pair of shoes for walking when we come down here on Alpha Centauri. Tomorrow we might climb a somewhat bigger mountain (Mount Rugby) on the other side of the channel.
We do not seem very busy during the day but are certainly tired by the end of each one! We haven't been sailing at night yet as we have been able to get this far in daylight steps. Once we leave here though we will need to get organised with our watches as it will be a few days at least to the next stop or we may even just head straight for Adelaide.
Saturday - Up the West Coast
It is just after 8:30 pm here and we about 10 nm off Low Rocky Point on the West coast of Tassie. That's about half way between Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour.
It was an absolutely beautiful day in Port Davey this morning and we were very tempted to stay and spend the day climbing Mount Rugby. There is another front forecast to come through in a few days with associated strong winds however and so we somewhat reluctantly decided to leave and make some northerly distance while the weather is still nice.
We left mid morning after a quick loop up into Bathurst Harbour itself and then headed back out to sea. Bathurst Harbour is quite spectacular -- a huge deep land locked body of water completely surrounded by range after range of majestic mountains disappearing off into the distance in every direction as far as the eye can see -- and not a sign of any human influence to be seen. It really does rival Sydney Harbour as one of the great harbours of the world.
As we came out of the channel into Port Davey bay we were met with a very confused swell following the strong winds of the last day or so but the boat handles it beautifully with hardly any water over the bow. The swells are quite large -- 3 to 4 metres -- but are long and not particularly steep.
As we got further out to sea the swells have become less confused and more regular. There has been very little wind all day so we are still motor sailing and rolling around a bit. It will be nice when we finally get some wind and can turn the motor off.
There was a beautiful sunset tonight. I was on the helm and all the others were down below and didn't seem very interested so I was the only one to enjoy it ... which I did very much.
This is our first night at sea and we are working out our watches. The plan is that we will mount 3 three hour watches of two people from 9 pm to 6 am and not have any formal watches assigned in the daylight hours. I am doing the dog watch tonight with Andrew from 3 to 6 am tonight so I had better get to bed soon!
Sunday - Off Sandy Cape
We have been gradually working our way up the west coast of Tassie last night and today heading for Grassy harbour on King Island as our next stop. Unfortunately there is very little wind and we have been under power almost continually since we left Port Davey. We are currently about 3/4 of the way up, about halfway between Queenstown and the top NW corner. Every now and then wind picks up a bit and we stop the motor but then it drops off again almost immediately and we have to start it again. At this rate we won't get to King Island until about dinner time tomorrow. So much for the roaring forties! I guess, or at least hope, we will get our fair share of wind before we get home.
Tonight Andrew and I have the 9 to 12 midnight watch after having the 3 to 6 am one last night. We are rotating one watch forward each night. We are still motoring along with a very light head wind. We only have the main set as the jib backs from the speed of the boat. The sea is very calm the swell and waves have died right down. I am beginning to wonder if we are going to end up motoring the whole way home! It is quite pleasant but certainly not what I was expecting. It is certainly a lot rougher in the gulf than it is out here in the big bad Southern Ocean at the moment! The swells (even the confused 4 m ones we had down off Port Davey) are really very pleasant and giver a much nicer boat movement than the short steep waves we get in the gulfs. I hope we will get some wind soon and be able to do some sailing for a change!
Monday - King Island
It is just after 5 pm on Monday and we are tied up along side the fishermen’s wharf in Grassy Harbour on King Island. We arrived here early this afternoon after finally getting some wind and having a great sail for the last couple of hours Until then we have had no wind to speak of and have been under motor the whole way here ... about two full days! The wind finally freshened to around 20 kts and the boat really got going nicely. She is a really solid heavy boat (21 tons!) and so needs a bit of wind to really get going. We were in the lee of King Island by the time the wind came up and so the wind was offshore and the sea flat so the conditions were perfect.
We are probably going to hang on a mooring in the little harbour here for the night. Geoff reckons he won't be getting much sleep tonight as he will be busy hunting and gathering. He is really excited about being closer into shore and assures us he will have lots of squid and whiting shortly. He also reckons he can hear crayfish under the wharf and so is busy setting a stocking trap for them. (Seriously ... he reckons you can hear them when you are under water). The stocking trap is an old stocking (actually a new one) with a bit of fish in it. Apparently the crayfish get tangled up in the stocking trying to get the bait.
It is now almost 10 pm and we have just come back from the town of Grassy which is a few km up the road from the harbour. We had dinner at the Grassy Club. I had Venison broth followed by BBQ octopus with Greek salad, plum tart and a selection of King Island cheeses. It was all lovely. Before going up to town we filled up with water and fuel and are all ready to head off again first thing in the morning.
This is a really small place. There are only a couple of houses some sheds and a few fishing and local sailing boats down here at the harbour and not many more up in the "town". There is a little supermarket and the "club". It is quite amazing there is such a good restaurant here as I don't know who would really go there. They have a mine here which has been closed for years but is opening again soon and everything seems to be focussed around that.
It was really hot when we arrived. As soon as we came into land the temperature went up by about 15 degrees! It was 38 deg here today which is absolutely unheard of. Apparently it is normally in the mid twenties here this time of year. We have all been swimming off the boat while filling up with water and fuel. The water is so clean here. While we were at the wharf some locals came down for a swim and a young boy got a couple of huge abalone just in the bay right here. There are so few people here it is still very unspoilt.
King Island is quite low and sandy and the coastal scenery is nowhere near as spectacular as where we have just been. I think the main development and (food) shops etc. must all be on the other (Northern) side of the Island so we will have to make sure we call there when we come down here.
Hopefully we will have some good winds tomorrow for a while at least but it sounds like it is going to be pretty calm again soon. Maybe we really will end up motoring all the way home!
Tuesday – Leaving King Island
Its 5:30 am and there is a good southerly blowing so we are all up and getting ready to head off to Port Fairy while there is some wind. You can hear the penguins making a racket over on the breakwater and there are thousands of mutton bird burrows everywhere you go here on land. It is nice and cool this morning with the wind blowing in straight off the Southern Ocean.
Wednesday - Off Portland
It is now Wednesday morning and I am sitting at the chart table while John is cooking up some bacon and eggs for everyone. We left King Island at sunrise yesterday and are now about 40 nm offshore SE of Portland.
We had a terrific sail all day yesterday with a nice fresh SW breeze ranging between about 15 and 25 kts. Overnight the wind was a bit lighter but we were able to sail most of the time. The wind finally died out just before dawn this morning and we are now under motor again.
Geoff has not been having much luck with the fish. He is trailing a very heavy trolling line with a heavy shiny metal lure about 8 inches long with several big hooks on the end and is after Tuna. While we were in the vicinity of Tasmania there was no shortage of huge Barracouta and we were catching several every few hours. They were a bit of a nuisance though as the first one we caught was wormy and so we have been throwing them back. We have however lost the whole lure several times and Geoff assures us that that is because of "huge" fish strikes but some of the others on board are more inclined to blame patches of kelp.
There must be thousands of albatrosses all over the worlds oceans because whenever you scan the horizon there are always a few to be seen off in the distance. They are truly majestic birds and endlessly soar seemingly effortlessly just above the waves. Every now and then one comes over and soars around the boat quite close and you can get a good look at it. It is hard to tell just how big they are but the wingspan looks like at least 4 or 5 feet. They very rarely flap their wings and just glide smoothly up and down over the waves in the wind currents. When they turn they bank almost vertically with the lower wing tip just an inch or two above the water. I guess they are fishing as every now and then one comes and eyes off our fishing lure but I have not seen one touch down on the water to catch anything yet.
We had another bit of excitement yesterday when we were powering along under two reefs in about 25 kts. I was on the helm when a bit of slop from a wave hit the boat just next to the cockpit making us slew a little sideway. It wasn't anything abnormal or extreme but there was a loud bang and the wheel went loose. It was immediately apparent that the steering chain had snapped so John rushed below to check it out while we reefed the jib and got out the emergency tiller. The emergency tiller has obviously not been used for some time as the wheel has been extended and a helm seat fitted and it no longer fits properly. So we had to disassemble a few things to get it into place. In the meantime however the boat just sat there beautifully in a sort of natural hove to position so we didn't really need any steering anyway. While all this was going on John was upside down in the bilge assessing the problem and getting on with a repair. Luckily the break was right at one end of the chain and he was able to move it all along a bit, insert a few shackles and get it operational again. It is all back working as before now but it would not really have been any major problem even if it couldn't have been fixed as the emergency tiller works well anyway.
In the middle of the night we came across a fishing boat anchored way out here on the edge of the continental shelf. He was about 50 nm from both the Victorian coast and King Island in about 400 ft of water! John talked to him fisherman to fisherman on the radio and it was interesting to listen to their lingo. He was just about to have a cup of coffee and a sleep while working the area for giant crabs and crayfish.
We are now about 25 nm off Portland but have decided not to call in there and to press on. There is a change forecast to come through tonight with NW winds initially but to go around to the SW soon after. The NW won't be much good for us but hopefully it won't stay there for long before it goes around to the SW which would be OK. It is still a good two days sail to KI and another day up the gulf. It would have been nice to have time to call in at a few more places along the way and to wait for more favourable (or any) winds but it is clear you really need 3 or 4 weeks to do that.
Thursday - Up the SW Coast of SA
It is about 9:30 am (must be Thursday I think) and we are working our way up the SE coast of SA. We are currently coming up towards Beachport, about 20 nm south and 15 offshore. It is excellent sailing weather, especially for a heavy boat like this, and we are having a great sail.
During my 3 to 6 watch with Andrew this morning the wind finally rose to 10 to 15 kts and we were able to kill the motor and have been having a great sail ever since. We started with full sail but are now down to 2 reefs in the main and about a third of the jib. We are cracking along nicely now at about 8 kts right on course for Backstairs Passage. At this rate we should be there in about 20 hours or so.
We have a really great crew on this trip. Both Trevor's brothers are extremely easy to get on with. John, the fisherman is extremely experienced with boats and the ocean in all sorts of conditions. He has an unlimited supply of stories to tell and is extremely personable and friendly. Geoff is a real character and I really like him. He bought a "genuine" yellow souwester hat in Hobart (the "very last one available" according to him) and carries on with "arghh me hearties" and things like whenever he has it on. He is really enjoying the conditions and is on the helm right now. He reckons he is just managing to keep the boat under control right now but recommends not looking behind at the “huge southern ocean combers bearing down on us”. This is a real adventure and something he will remember for ever he reckons. (The conditions are actually very moderate and the "combers" are normal sort of waves coming from the side rather than the stern!). Simon is really nice and fits in really well with all us “old fellows”. He is a very keen reader so is often tucked up in his bunk reading yet another book. Andrew is very laid back reserving his input for the odd well targeted cynical comment but is also very easy to get on with. He is also extremely practical and very useful especially when it is really needed.
Friday - Approaching KI
We are now only about 40 nm ESE of Backstairs Passage and feel we are on the last leg of our trip. We have had a great sail all the way up the SE coast since early yesterday morning. The wind has been blowing 15 to 20 kts from the SE all night so has been pretty much right behind us. There has been quite a big swell running as well making it uncomfortable to hold a course dead down wind so we have made a couple of big downwind tacks.
Andrew and I had the 9 to 12 watch last night before the moon came up. I was steering most of the time and found it really hard to maintain any kind of steady course as the waves kept pushing us off but there was absolutely no visual reference other than the compass to steer by. Towards the end of our watch we gybed back inshore which gave us a much easier angle to the wind and stayed on that tack for the rest of the night. Freedom has an enclosed cockpit which is really great to keep you warm and dry during the night, but it does mean you don't have much feel for the wind and what it is doing.
It is just after 10 am and the wind has dropped off a bit now but is still enough to sail. We have started the engine to charge the batteries for a while but should be able to turn it off again before too long.
Freedom is a really beautiful yacht and I think Trevor has got himself an absolute beauty. Everything on the boat is absolutely top quality and the timberwork everywhere, both inside and out, is still in perfect condition. It really is like it was built only a couple of years ago rather than back in the 70s. It has every piece of rigging you could imagine, spinnaker poles, jockey pole, halyards, lifts and downhauls galore and about 10 sails to go with it. The layout is excellent and doesn't seem the slightest bit crowded even with 6 of us onboard. There are cupboards and drawers and shelves everywhere and we all have plenty of room for our gear.
I cooked some muffins yesterday. The conditions were not exactly ideal as we were rolling around in a big swell in about 25 kts at the time, but after a bit of a mix up with the quantities I finally got them into the oven. The oven like everything else on this boat is really good and takes a full 12 muffin cake tray but after a while I noticed the rear muffins were browning much faster than the front ones so I thought I would turn them around. Now, the boat has one of those flexible "rubber" muffin "trays" and turning that around in a hot gimballed oven in a 4 m swell was a very tricky operation indeed. I thought I would just slide my hands under it with a tea towel, a quick juggle, pop it back in and all would be done in a flash. Well ... those rubber things are somewhat floppy when they are cold and empty but that is absolutely nothing compared to what it is like when it is hot and over full of half cooked muffin mix! Anyway, after a few exiting and rather stressful moments I finally got it back in and competed the cooking process. The most amazing thing is that they actually ended up being not too bad at all and were enjoyed by all.
I have just been on the radio to Allan at VMR American River to get the latest forecast. He is very friendly as always and we had quite a chat like "old mates". I have been listening to the traffic on channel 80 with all the boats heading off for the long weekend which makes it feel very much like we are back in familiar territory and almost home.
Saturday – Up the Gulf
We are now heading up the gulf and are only 20 nm from the end. It is an absolutely glorious day with the sun shining, a light SW sea breeze and smooth seas. We have the spinnaker set and are just managing to hold our course directly to North Haven. The boat is gliding through the water beautifully at about 8 kts.
Last night we anchored in Second Valley after an absolutely fantastic sail. We had a dead downwind run all the way into and up Backstairs Passage right up to Cape Jervis – about 40 nm all up – with the full main set and the jib goosewinged out on the spinnaker pole. There was quite a big following swell but the boat handled it beautifully without rolling too much at all. During the afternoon the wind gradually built to a bit over 20 kts but we were able to hold full sail and were thundering along at a good 9 to 10 kts all the way.
During the afternoon I cooked a Lemon Cake which again was quite a tricky business. I got everything mixed up and into the oven just fine, but as we were rolling pretty well at times, as soon as I put the cake tin in the oven it started to slide around the interior like a billiard ball with every jolt. It was so bad at time that bits of mixture were splattered over the window in the front door and the sides. Halfway through the oven went out and when I opened the door to re-light it the cake flew out and toppled over the about 45 degrees before I caught it, quickly shoved it back in and quickly shut the door again. The cake withstood all this trauma amazingly well and turned out beautifully.
As we entered backstairs Passage the swell quickly disappeared until by the time we rounded Cape Jervis the sea was completely smooth. After being out in the Southern Ocean swell for so long it was quite a strange feeling being in smooth waters again!
We reached Second Valley just after sunset and found our way in under a full moon. As always, Second Valley provided a lovely tranquil anchorage and was an ideal spot for our final night. Geoff cooked up yet another great meal which we topped off with my lemon cake which went down very well indeed.
After a quick swim this morning we headed off on our final leg. The wind was very light but soon came around to the SW far enough for us to set a shy spinnaker. The wind has gradually built a bit but we are still holding it beautifully and a flying up the gulf at about 8 kts in only about 10 to 15 kts of wind.
We are just about abreast of Seacliff now so I am going to head back up on deck to enjoy the final part of our trip. This had been a really great trip on an excellent boat with an absolutely top bunch of shipmates.
At the end of the "round-robin" matches, my team Youthless, was in the first position (just) and so were up against the fourth team in the first semi-final. At full time the score was 2 all so the match went into extra time. The opposition scored a goal early and I thought we were done for but we managed to equalise then with literally 5 seconds to go managed to score again ... so we were in the Grand Final!
