Because we arrived later than many of the other boats we decided to stay tied up in the pen at the Tamar Yacht Club Marina. Many things to do:!!! Freshwater tank fill & check for leaks. Look at leak from the head inlet pipe. Sponge out the bilge area. Scrub the floor boards. Clean oven & gas top. Scrub down the aft of the transom for exhaust carbon from the diesel engine. Go into town to purchase an extra two 20 litre drums & fill with diesel. Unscrew the sea water inlet reservoir for the engine & refill. Change the battery in the ships clock. Do the washing at a local launderette for all crew.
All done R&R, sleep, read a book, write this entry. Going to the local cafe for tea at 7pm. In bed at 9pm.
Tuesday 1/3 Departed Beauty Point about 7am.
16C cloudy showers windy
Weather forecast not the best but we needed to be on the move because the majority of the fleet had already gone. The draft schedule indicated that we should be in the vicinity of Devonport by the end of today.
We were now headed anticlockwise from the mouth of the Tamar River 'Launceston' along the coast towards the Three Hummock Islands in the Hunter group the North West of Tasmania.
The wind & the tide where both against us travelling towards the exit of the Tamar. We had already hoisted the main and the no. 1 headsail. The weather forecast as we left was now upgraded to "Gale Force" for all coastal Tasmanian waters. We reefed in the main and changed the no. 1 to the no. 3 headsail. Winds were increasing to 30 plus knots with 4 metre swells. Bass Strait was about to live up to its reputation - winds were now 35 to 40 knots and 5 metre swell.
We pulled in the self-furling headsail but after a short while it unfurled itself and as we tried to refurl it again, the furling sheet came undone and laid on the deck. Flapping wildly we focused on how we could take down the headsail the safest way with the wild wind increasing in strength. It was decided to take the wind out of the headsail by turning the yacht so the main covered the headsail exposure to the wind. Kevin & I went forward on a pitching deck, undid the two sheets, pulled down the sail and dragged it down the main companionway. We made sure during this manoeuvrer that we were attached by our safety line at all times.
We thought we would have a breather for a while but suddenly the main reef ripped out. The reef had been put through an experimental pulley, the experiment didn't work. With the main flapping badly we slowly got it under control and put in a second reef.
Things settled down but still huge seas, swell & wind. Schnell was performing beautifully just taking all of this in her stride. There is nothing like some rough weather to start giving you greater confidence about the vessel you are on.
We were now tacking constantly and revised our plan to sail to Devonport. We decided to get off the ocean and head for a small coastal town called Port Sorrell. Our maps and the GPS indicated a sandbar with a narrow opening into the Rubicon River that led to Port Sorrell.
Arrived at 2.30 pm Low tide at 1.30pm tied up at a buoy in the river after advice from a local yachtie who saw us enter over the sandbar and wondered down to check us out like most yachties do.
Comfortable at last. Sausages & gravy, Deb potato & peas. All OK. In bed by 9pm.
Wednesday 2/3 in Rubicon River Port Sorrell
16C Windy showers sun
Cleaned out the bilge - 6 huge buckets of water. We struck gold in the fact that there was a public pontoon adjacent to our buoy and only three minutes walk from there was a caravan park. We could use the washing machine, showers & toilets. A further walk about 25 minutes put us in the middle of downtown Port Sorrell.
The town was a mixture of old & new buildings. It looks like the expansion part of town is due to the influx of retirees and a new aged care facility. We were able to purchase some silicon at the local boat suppliers to try and fix a leak in the skipper's quarters.
We moved from the buoy and through the pick out for the night. It was still windy in the river so at sea it would have been no fun. Had a beautiful roast dinner for tea. Beef, roast potatoes, pumpkin, onion, carrots and a bottle of red wine. We bobbed & bucked during the night but slept well.
17C Wind easing
Discovered the no. 3 headsail had a rip from the other day. It needed to be fixed for the rest of the journey. Looking at the cruise info, the closest sailmaker was in Wynyard. We got a lift from the caravan park manager into Devonport about 20km away & hired a car to go up to Wynyard, the journey took about 4.5 hours. While waiting for the sail to be fixed we visited "Trezor" who was rafted up to other vessels in the river in Wynyard. Trezor was part of fleet doing the cruise around Tassie & we had met them at the Tamar Yacht Club at Beauty Point earlier. On board Trezor is Andrew, Vickie & Bruce. Really nice people. They confirmed the winds were easing Friday pm.
We all hope to leave on Friday. The sail was fixed and we returned to the good ship Schnell at Port Sorrell. During the day Kevin had assembled an electric bilge pump that will speed up our disposal of unwanted seawater from the bilge.
Sausages, mash, onion & cauliflower for dinner.
Friday 4/3 Rubicon River
17C Sun out wind about 15-20 knots
9am weather forecast reporting reasonable to good conditions at sea. Left the buoy at 11am .Manoeuvred the sand bar and departed the river at 11.45am. Good to be on the move, wind forecast 20-25 knots, 2-3 metre swell, winds W/SW. We are bound for the Three Hummock Island/Hunter group the far north west spot in Tasmania. The GPS indicates 81 nautilcal miles.
Pretty rough to start but Schnell sailed well, saw a few dolphins & another yacht well astern of us.
Shifts Chris & myself 8-11pm; Kev & Ian 11-2am.
Engaged auto steering device after first 20nm Wind FREEZING I had nearly all my clothes on: 2 sets of thermals top & bottom, T shirt, another shirt, fleecy jumper, raincoat & then the oilskins top & bottom. Gloves, beany, life jacket, safety harness & lifeline. Head torch over the beanie, waterproof socks & new waterproof boots. I kept warmish despite the night winds. I estimated the temperature to be 8C with wind chill minus another 2C; let's say it felt like about 5 or 6C.
Ate snacks on the way; NO hot drinks as it was too rough. Salada biscuits & topping, Mars Bars with an apple & bottled water. Handed over at 11pm. All on deck for our arrival at 3am Saturday morning.
Great sail 15 hours average just on 5 knots.
Anchored off shore in lee of islands. There were 14 other yachts in the bay.
Saturday 5/3 Anchored at Three Hummock island.
Woke at 8am we rock-n-rolled a little with the swell but nothing compared to the ocean. We are all well. Jobs to do today. Electric bilge pump is a winner - well done Kev.
Breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomato & toast. We didn't go ashore. Had to fix auto steering device, it had fallen apart at the tiller. Fixed it temporarily; it will probably be OK down wind but suspicious otherwise.
Rested a bit throughout the day. Great dinner - Spag Bog. In bed at 8.30pm. Slept well.
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