Jurien Bay, May 16 - 17
Geraldton, May 18 - 20
Jurien Bay 110nm, 21.5hr sail
Abrolhos (Post Office Island, Pelseart Group) 96nm, 20hr sail
Geraldton 34nm, 6hr sail
Twenty-one and a half hours from Rottnest to Jurien Bay. We expected that. Twenty-eight hours from Jurien Bay to Geraldton via the Abrolhos Islands. We didn't expected that! We made it to the Pelsaert Group of the Abrolhos Islands in 20 hours and dropped anchor near a magnificent reef. It was so calm and clear I could see 20 feet down! However, not comfortable with the anchorage we hauled it up to relocate and discovered the anchor winch was struggling, so much so that we would have to go straight to Geraldton for repairs. You could probably hear my resounding "Nooooooooooo" all the way to Fremantle! For further explanation see the Ship's Blog at http://www.fatbluesky.net
Abrolhos (Post Office Island, Pelseart Group) 96nm, 20hr sail
Geraldton 34nm, 6hr sail
Twenty-one and a half hours from Rottnest to Jurien Bay. We expected that. Twenty-eight hours from Jurien Bay to Geraldton via the Abrolhos Islands. We didn't expected that! We made it to the Pelsaert Group of the Abrolhos Islands in 20 hours and dropped anchor near a magnificent reef. It was so calm and clear I could see 20 feet down! However, not comfortable with the anchorage we hauled it up to relocate and discovered the anchor winch was struggling, so much so that we would have to go straight to Geraldton for repairs. You could probably hear my resounding "Nooooooooooo" all the way to Fremantle! For further explanation see the Ship's Blog at http://www.fatbluesky.net
CAPTAIN'S BLOG:
ROTTO TO JURIEN - 15/16 MAY
16/5/2014
We had a very relaxed day at Rotto on Wed, with lunch at the pub, and a fair bit of time with Nicole finding out where I had stored all the gear. We met Marty and Patty from Callisto, another Beneteau Oceanis 411, and had evening drinks with them and Marty's second cousin Candice and newly acquired husband Ben ( a chef - handy person to have on a boat!).
Departed Thomson's Bay at 1220hrs on Thursday into a 5-10kn Northerly and a 2+m swell, so not ideal conditions for going North to Jurien. We headed NW at about 345 degrees, which meant we could motor sail on Starboard tack. This lasted for a few hours and then the breeze swung into the WNW, still light and fickle. We only managed about 4hrs of sailing at 5.5-6kns between 2200 - 0200hrs the rest we motor-sailed at about 5-6kns arriving in Jurien at 0940hrs.
We had radio coverage from Fremantle Sea Rescue (VN6DI) leaving Rotto on Channel 81 which is a VHF repeater station on Rottnest. I logged off with them on the HF radio in the morning on Freq 4125, which was picked up by Perth Coast Radio, although VN6DI also picked us up but didn't respond to our call before Coast Radio got us and passed through our message. We also logged on and off with Jurien Bay Sea Rescue in the morning on VHF channel 21.
It was a very gentle night at sea with a gorgeous bright full moon coming up just after dark. Our official happy hour has now been set from 1700-1800hrs. Watching a huge full moon rise with a cold beer out on the ocean with a gentle breeze blowing while cruising up the coast is a memorable experience. Nicole managed very well, furling the headsail and adjusting the main to the changing breezes without any need to wake the sleeping Captain! She was very proud of herself, and has been bombarding people with emails, video and Facebook of her adventure - lucky she hasn't got a twitter account or I'd never prise her off her smart phone.
So all up an easy first leg. We are safely moored up in Jurien Bay, took the dinghy for a good spin today down to the town jetty and enjoyed a nice coffee at the Jetty Cafe. We plan to keep moving up to the Abrolhos, so will head off from here at about 16-1700hrs tomorrow to aim for a mid to late morning arrival at Pelasert group of Islands in the Abrolhos on Sunday.
JURIEN TO PELSAERT (AND THEN GERALDTON)
18/5/2014
Well we had another easy leg from Jurien to the Pelsaert group of Islands at the Abrohlos. We departed Jurien at 1400hrs on Saturday and arrived just off Post Office Island in Coronation Bay at 1030hrs Sunday. A lot of motoring with just 2-3hrs of sailing during the mid to late evening. Listened to the Dockers beat Geelong on ABC radio streaming over the web, as the TV couldn't pick up a signal, and my 3/4G boost aerial provided just enough to let us listen to the game while sailing about 15miles off the coast. The aerial on our normal radio doesn't exist - something to look at maybe one day when we are stuck in port!!
I had hoped to pick up a mooring at the Abrohlos that appeared on one of the electronic charts I have, but it didn't exist in reality and may have just been a recommended anchoring area. We carefully anchored in about 20m of water on arrival, but I thought we were a bit too close to the island and rapidly shelving coral reefs for comfort. We lifted the anchor to try and anchor out a bit further. In doing this the winch started labouring as it hauled in the 40-50metres of chain and eventually "click-clicked" on the up button refusing to lift any further. Hmmmm, lucky there was only about 5m of chain and anchor left to lift and also lucky there was no wind at all - complete glass off.
I figured the last place you want to be with a dodgy anchor winch is the Abrohlos, so decided to head to Geraldton (5-6hrs) to get the problem sorted. I had another go at using the anchor after an hour or so on the way to Geraldton. It seemed to work all right for a bit, but then got hot and did the same as before. Suggests needs an oil change and maybe electric motor brushes cleaning? I'll pull it apart tomorrow. Kicking myself that I didn't service the anchor winch before we left, but it had never caused any problems before - oh well. The weather window at the Abrohlos is looking great this week, so hope we don't get held up for too long, but will just have to go with the flow.
SERVICING THE WINCH
19/5/2014
Yes it is very tempting to dip into double entendre's on this post, but I will refrain. If you see a double entendre, feel free to whip it out!
I spent the day servicing the anchor winch, pulled the cover off the electric motor and cleaned the brushes and the commuter, both in need of a fine sandpapering. I also went for a "short walk" from the Batavia Marina, where we are moored - across to the Geraldton Fisherman's Co-op Boat Store to get some oil and other bits and pieces. It took me about an hour to walk there! But success, as I got the SAE 90 oil I needed for the anchor winch and a fish landing net (always the optimist!) and some in date flares (hope DoT people aren't reading this).
I forgot to mention that Nic had gone to the hospital while I was doing this, to check if she had broken her ribs while we were at Rotto. She fell heavily while trying to get into the dinghy from swimming the other day, based on a technique I recommended. IE just slip up over the side "it is easy", she slipped up, then got up on all fours and then fell back on her ribs. We will find out in a few days if she has actually broken them - not much you can do in terms of healing except the right dose of sympathy from the boyfriend, (she still hasn't told me who he is), but it is important NOT to go diving - there in lies the serious side.
That aside - I got the bits I needed to finish servicing the winch, taxied back to the marina with a taxi driver who had been in Gero for 10 days. He has to live 2 years in regional WA to get a permanent residents visa. Immigrated from India and qualified in Commerce and Accountancy. Interesting.
I changed the oil, cleverly decanting the old treacle like substance from the winch into a handy 1litre container I had bought from bunnings for just this unforeseen purpose. I then decanted the brown treacly like substance into a 1litre milk container with a cap so I could dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner. While this was happening, I started testing the newly serviced anchor winch. To my joy it worked beautifully up and down and back up again a few times with out a hiccup. Then I turned to see my 1litre Milk/Oil container tipped and treacling gluggy oil in a slow ooze down the deck. I said to myself "damn" and walked slowly back to the cockpit and asked Nic if she could find me some paper towel, because there had been a bit of an accident…. (well something like that).
Onwards and upwards - we are setting the alarm for 0200hrs to go over and fuel up at the Fisherman's Wharf and then make our way back to the Easter Group of the Abrolhos (apologies for earlier spelling misteaks) again to arrive lunchtimeish. I have promised Nic fish for dinner tomorrow night so the pressure is on!
Click images to enlarge
ROTTO TO JURIEN - 15/16 MAY
16/5/2014
We had a very relaxed day at Rotto on Wed, with lunch at the pub, and a fair bit of time with Nicole finding out where I had stored all the gear. We met Marty and Patty from Callisto, another Beneteau Oceanis 411, and had evening drinks with them and Marty's second cousin Candice and newly acquired husband Ben ( a chef - handy person to have on a boat!).
Departed Thomson's Bay at 1220hrs on Thursday into a 5-10kn Northerly and a 2+m swell, so not ideal conditions for going North to Jurien. We headed NW at about 345 degrees, which meant we could motor sail on Starboard tack. This lasted for a few hours and then the breeze swung into the WNW, still light and fickle. We only managed about 4hrs of sailing at 5.5-6kns between 2200 - 0200hrs the rest we motor-sailed at about 5-6kns arriving in Jurien at 0940hrs.
We had radio coverage from Fremantle Sea Rescue (VN6DI) leaving Rotto on Channel 81 which is a VHF repeater station on Rottnest. I logged off with them on the HF radio in the morning on Freq 4125, which was picked up by Perth Coast Radio, although VN6DI also picked us up but didn't respond to our call before Coast Radio got us and passed through our message. We also logged on and off with Jurien Bay Sea Rescue in the morning on VHF channel 21.
It was a very gentle night at sea with a gorgeous bright full moon coming up just after dark. Our official happy hour has now been set from 1700-1800hrs. Watching a huge full moon rise with a cold beer out on the ocean with a gentle breeze blowing while cruising up the coast is a memorable experience. Nicole managed very well, furling the headsail and adjusting the main to the changing breezes without any need to wake the sleeping Captain! She was very proud of herself, and has been bombarding people with emails, video and Facebook of her adventure - lucky she hasn't got a twitter account or I'd never prise her off her smart phone.
So all up an easy first leg. We are safely moored up in Jurien Bay, took the dinghy for a good spin today down to the town jetty and enjoyed a nice coffee at the Jetty Cafe. We plan to keep moving up to the Abrolhos, so will head off from here at about 16-1700hrs tomorrow to aim for a mid to late morning arrival at Pelasert group of Islands in the Abrolhos on Sunday.
JURIEN TO PELSAERT (AND THEN GERALDTON)
18/5/2014
Well we had another easy leg from Jurien to the Pelsaert group of Islands at the Abrohlos. We departed Jurien at 1400hrs on Saturday and arrived just off Post Office Island in Coronation Bay at 1030hrs Sunday. A lot of motoring with just 2-3hrs of sailing during the mid to late evening. Listened to the Dockers beat Geelong on ABC radio streaming over the web, as the TV couldn't pick up a signal, and my 3/4G boost aerial provided just enough to let us listen to the game while sailing about 15miles off the coast. The aerial on our normal radio doesn't exist - something to look at maybe one day when we are stuck in port!!
I had hoped to pick up a mooring at the Abrohlos that appeared on one of the electronic charts I have, but it didn't exist in reality and may have just been a recommended anchoring area. We carefully anchored in about 20m of water on arrival, but I thought we were a bit too close to the island and rapidly shelving coral reefs for comfort. We lifted the anchor to try and anchor out a bit further. In doing this the winch started labouring as it hauled in the 40-50metres of chain and eventually "click-clicked" on the up button refusing to lift any further. Hmmmm, lucky there was only about 5m of chain and anchor left to lift and also lucky there was no wind at all - complete glass off.
I figured the last place you want to be with a dodgy anchor winch is the Abrohlos, so decided to head to Geraldton (5-6hrs) to get the problem sorted. I had another go at using the anchor after an hour or so on the way to Geraldton. It seemed to work all right for a bit, but then got hot and did the same as before. Suggests needs an oil change and maybe electric motor brushes cleaning? I'll pull it apart tomorrow. Kicking myself that I didn't service the anchor winch before we left, but it had never caused any problems before - oh well. The weather window at the Abrohlos is looking great this week, so hope we don't get held up for too long, but will just have to go with the flow.
SERVICING THE WINCH
19/5/2014
Yes it is very tempting to dip into double entendre's on this post, but I will refrain. If you see a double entendre, feel free to whip it out!
I spent the day servicing the anchor winch, pulled the cover off the electric motor and cleaned the brushes and the commuter, both in need of a fine sandpapering. I also went for a "short walk" from the Batavia Marina, where we are moored - across to the Geraldton Fisherman's Co-op Boat Store to get some oil and other bits and pieces. It took me about an hour to walk there! But success, as I got the SAE 90 oil I needed for the anchor winch and a fish landing net (always the optimist!) and some in date flares (hope DoT people aren't reading this).
I forgot to mention that Nic had gone to the hospital while I was doing this, to check if she had broken her ribs while we were at Rotto. She fell heavily while trying to get into the dinghy from swimming the other day, based on a technique I recommended. IE just slip up over the side "it is easy", she slipped up, then got up on all fours and then fell back on her ribs. We will find out in a few days if she has actually broken them - not much you can do in terms of healing except the right dose of sympathy from the boyfriend, (she still hasn't told me who he is), but it is important NOT to go diving - there in lies the serious side.
That aside - I got the bits I needed to finish servicing the winch, taxied back to the marina with a taxi driver who had been in Gero for 10 days. He has to live 2 years in regional WA to get a permanent residents visa. Immigrated from India and qualified in Commerce and Accountancy. Interesting.
I changed the oil, cleverly decanting the old treacle like substance from the winch into a handy 1litre container I had bought from bunnings for just this unforeseen purpose. I then decanted the brown treacly like substance into a 1litre milk container with a cap so I could dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner. While this was happening, I started testing the newly serviced anchor winch. To my joy it worked beautifully up and down and back up again a few times with out a hiccup. Then I turned to see my 1litre Milk/Oil container tipped and treacling gluggy oil in a slow ooze down the deck. I said to myself "damn" and walked slowly back to the cockpit and asked Nic if she could find me some paper towel, because there had been a bit of an accident…. (well something like that).
Onwards and upwards - we are setting the alarm for 0200hrs to go over and fuel up at the Fisherman's Wharf and then make our way back to the Easter Group of the Abrolhos (apologies for earlier spelling misteaks) again to arrive lunchtimeish. I have promised Nic fish for dinner tomorrow night so the pressure is on!
Click images to enlarge