Van Diemens Land Circumnavigation

Wed. February 23, 2011 
I'm taking part in the 10th Van Diemens Land Circumnavigation cruise sailing out of Port Phillip Victoria on the Mainland. The cruise is some 1000 nautical miles to my departure point in Hobart.

There are 45 yachts on the cruise most being out of Tasmania plus a number from the Geelong Yacht Club & a few extras like ourselves from Sandringham or Blairgowrie. 

I am on the good ship "Schnell" a 34 foot Dehler design with 4 crew max on board at any one time. Ian the skipper, Chris the first mate & crew of Kevin, Tony & me ."Schnell "is the smallest in the fleet with some of the yachts up to 60 foot. "Schnell " is primarily a racer that competes most Saturday afternoons at Blairgowrie, we didn't have the storm spray covers or many of the luxuries of a cruising yacht but what we did have was a sense of adventure and a crew that was determined to complete the cruise.

We departed Blairgowrie on Feb 23 after spending the previous day provisioning the vessel. There are many tasks that need to be done on any vessel for going to sea and we were about to cross the notorious Bass Strait first up, so we wanted everything that could be done to be done for safety - diesel fuel, gas for cooking, fitting of the 4hp engine for the rubber Zodiac to explore the Gordong & Franklin Rivers, a new halyard for the genoa with the skipper up in the bosuns chair up the top of the mast. Tony spent a number of frustrating hours trying to get the satelllite phone to link to the computer for up to date info on weather etc but had no luck.The worst case scenarion is that we will only be able to use the sat phone as a phone only.

There will be many parts on the cruise where we will have little/no communication, particularly along the North West Coast, West Coast & South West Coast.

Our first night was spent at Queencliffe Yacht Club wharf ready for early morning departure through Port Phillip heads out into Bass Strait.

Thurs February 24, 2011
Departed at 8am with the winds against us blowing from the S.E. we were using the motor with the mainsail up to give us more stability in the water. The water through the heads was churning like a washing machine 4 metre swell with waves coming from all angles. In my estimation it was rough but after about an hour it started to form a pattern and settled with us still motoring.

We ran into a bed of kelp that made the motor vibrate and when we cleared it (with Chris diving overboard in his wetsuit) the motor warning buzzer indicated it was overheating. We couldn't see the the intake cooling bowl full of water and because we were only a few miles off shore we decided the prudent thing to do was radio the Coast Guard and get towed back into Queenscliffe. 

The Coast Guard responded quickly enough but it was decided by all that we wait for the change of tide so that it would be safer & smoother being towed back through the heads. On our return we where fortunate to get a marine diesel mechanic on the wharf within 10 minutes of tying up.A new water pump impeller later we where ready to leave the following morning.  [NB: we did have an impeller in the ships spares & I'm sure that if we had been in the middle of bass strait we could of made the repair ourselves]  

Friday February 25, 2011
Departed at 8.00am for Beauty Point in the Tamar River Tasmania, some 200 nautical miles.

Motored through the heads again (a lot smoother and easier than yesterday). The wind was not in our favour and at best we new that we would be motor sailing for some time. Seas were steady 2 metre swells and we settled into the rhythm of the motor & swell action.

The notorious Bass Stait was being kind as far as the relatively smooth conditions but frustrating as far as we had very little wind and when we did it was on the nose.

We were working on a three hour shift rotation; myself & Chris, plus Kevin & Ian as a team. 8pm to 11pm I&K 11pm to 2 am B&C etc.

We has some company of other yachts but they slowly moved on or changed course looking for the elusive wind. Being near one of the main shipping channels between Tasmania & Melbourne we saw the Spirit of Tasmania, the regular ferry that runs twice a day going backwards and forwards (it was lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree) plus a number of other cargo ships.

Above us we had the company of mutton birds, Pacific gulls & albatross & in the water around us we saw many dolphins & fur seals.The dolphins were happy to play around the bow of the yacht and we were amazed at their grace & speed through the water, even when it was dark you could hear them blow their air valve as they were so close.  The fur seals were asleep on top of the water with their front flippers raised as some sort of stabilising device with their noses just out of the water, I'm sure we caused one or two of them nightmares - as we went by they would suddenly wake up & dive.The stars of the Milky Way were bright and we had a 3/4 moon to further light the way.   

Sat February 26, 2011
At sea in Bass Strait. Dawn heralded a magnificent red sky with the reflection from sky to ocean. We had seen in the distance for some time an oil rig that is almost half way on this particular journey. With the red sky of dawn and the oil rig's waste gas/oil flame brightly burning, you could easily have thought that we had been transported overnight to a new universe.

We had now been running the motor since we departed Queenscliffe and our navigation showed we has some 85 nm to the mouth of the Tamar. The weather forecast was for winds from the S.W. 10-15 knots later in the afternoon.

We topped up our diesel tanks with reserve fuel that we had on board and after many calculations decided to turn off the engine and sail as much as possible. We were estimating that we would arrive at the Tamar in the early hours of the morning and we definitely needed fuel to motor up the river to Beauty Point, our final destination.

At 2.30pm with about 50 nautical miles to go the winds arrived. Halleluhah !! Good S.W. building from 10 to 30 knots - boy did we get our skates on. Of course with the wind it builds the seas & swell. We were doing about 8 knots and back onto our shifts. 9pm to 12 midnight C&B; midnight to 3am K&I.

It got really cold about 10pm and started to rain, a very different night from last night - no stars & pitch black. Changed with K& I at midnight with 11 nautical miles to go, we could now see the lighthouse at the mouth of the Tamar and that was our heading.

Woken at 2am as we were entering the Tamar and needed all hands on deck to help pull down sails & navigate up the river to Beauty Point. Chris took on the role as navigator with Ian at the helm. It was a tricky entrance but with the aid of the GPS, we navigated the entrance and the river safely. We docked at Beauty Point Marina the home of Tamar Yacht Club at 4.30am. We had to raft up to an existing yacht that was moored there and managed to wake the occupants who were quite understanding when we said where we had come from. We had made it to Tasmania.

Slept untill 9.30am then contacted the bosun for the Marina who showed us where our berth was for the next few days. We refuelled during the day, did all the necessary chores, slept, laundered and got ourselves ready for the T.Y.C. Dinner at the club house.

Started at 6.30 pm - good food & wine; steak or salmon with apple crumble. They had an army of volunteers there with about 250 yachties in attendance for the dinner. It was the first time we got a chance to catch up with most of the 45 yachts on the cruise. 

In bed by 9.30pm slept well.

More adventures to come .....