Bay Rock (trip10, day2)

Anchored in the calm of west point for an hour to rest and eat breakfast.

Breakfast - A small table made with the hatchboard under the bunk cushion. Trangia stove in the cockpit and food box on bunk stows in the corner space.

From the hatchway i could see Bay Rock a few miles away to the NW.

Bay Rock is a lonely and remote place and used to have a manned lighthouse  (now on display at the Martime museum in Townsville).  The lighthouse was built in 1886 with a lighthouse keepers house next to it. It was to guide sailing ships and steamers into the quarantine station at west point.  In 1920 John Laswon was the last lighthouse keeper who lived on the rock with his wife family. Lawson was lost at sea when his small boat capsized on a supply run. One of the boats crew was also attacked by a shark and thrown into the air but survived and swam to shore with another crewman. The light was automated after this tragedy.

Weather was favourable light NE breeze and slight seas,,and was already close so decided to set course to explore Bay Rock.

West Point, Magnetic Island 

Bay Rock ahead, (Acheron and Rattlesnake islands behind)

The crossing was pleasant in the mid morning, rounded the seaward side (video) and anchored in the lee just beyond some fringing coral reef. A  half cabin power boat with two fishermen were already trying their luck,, so with someone else present it felt allot safer setting off in the scamp kayak for Bay rock's beach landing.

The dead coral at the top of the beach made pristine clink underfoot before the trail up was found, an old stone stairway made it easier to ascend in the blistering heat (34C and humid)

Teria and fishing boat at anchor with clouds over the Hervey Ranges on the mainland.

 Looking South back towards Townsville and Magnetic Island

Granite rock covered in orange  and white lichen overlooks the fringing coral reef below

 The site of the old house was flattened with coral carried up from the beach long ago but not a thing remained except low dry stunted shrubs and grasses. The rock reclaimed by nature.

Paddled scamp around the side of the rock,  over coral beds and past barnicle encrusted shores with a sea surge on them. The midday heat soon drove me back to Terias cooler bimini shade.

The trip back was good, sailed until becalmed behind Magnetic Island then motored through, skirting the almost invisible fringing reef there.  Fishermens open dinghys seemed to mark the reef edge and the smart phone app with GPS mark on a  google map fixed the Terias position and confirmed this. Navigation is a bit tricky here as middle reef also lurks in the straight. It is marked by two yellow and red navigation pylons at each end with cardinal markers on top. The app map helps before spotting the markers. Of course the good old laminated paper chart is always on hand too along with the tell tale compass on the hatch top.

Tacked back up to picnic bay for a breather, only to discover that the center board lift cable was stuck fast. The plate was still fully down. This would make re-trailering difficult if not impossible later on..better to "fix" it in tropical coral Picnic Bay rather than the crocodile habitat of Ross River's mangroves later on

No amount of cajoling would free it either from inside or under the keel snorkelling. So jury-rigged a rope outside the hull to pull the plate up into the case.

The trip back was about half speed under reduced sail with the external hull ropes taking 2 hours, but got Teria winched back on the trailer OK.

Kayak Search and Recovery (trip 10, day2)

The alarm rang at 0430 and Teria sailed out of port quietly on a light sea breeze. Soon the motor got us to 5.8 - 6 knots over the ground, At dawn I started the search at Rowes Bay beach about 200m off shore and scanned the long beach to Cape Palleranda. My family drove to the boat ramp to have a look too but we all saw nothing there.

 Rounded  Cape Palleranda and motored into the uninhabited Shelly beach National park area - it was also a large shoaling sand bank which is usually avoided by sail boats but it was calm and near high tide so went in. The Sun was just rising and the tide was falling an hour or two past the high point. Then on the first remote beach  - a spot of bright blue lay on the beach - It was "Scamp"!!! . It had missed the rocks of the Cape and landed on the coarse sand of Shelly beach near some stunted mangrove forest.

But the tender was not yet saved - Still elated i turned terias bow towards scamp. The broad sand-mud shoals extended far off this side of the Cape. Terias 2 ft shoal draft helped a bit i took her in to within 200 m of the beach using the centerplate as a rudimentary depth sounder. Once the main keel grounded i spun Teria around 180 degrees, motored out another 50 m and anchored in waist deep water with about 1 foot of water below the keel base.

 The wade ashore with scamp's paddle seemed to be in slow motion. Thoughts of "man vs wild"  and "crocodile hunter" came to mind however they were never in it alone like this.  The life-jacket was on and mobile phone was in a waterproof neck pouch. Tested the sand ahead with the paddle blade, the bottom gradually shelved shallower. Fortunately it was unusually calm with no waves. Surprised a  small 2 ft shovel nose shark near the beach.

Sea weed festooned the Scamp like something out of pirates of the Caribbean. A quick look around and fast paddling across the sea to beat he falling tide which could strand Teria for 8-10 hours if  grounding occurred. The anchor was up and made a beeline out of there under power. The pivot center board scraped the shoal sands until Teria was free. Scamp was following along nicely on it's well tied painter.

Kayak retrieved

After and during this incident a few thoughts on towing a tender came to mind..mostly obvious since this happened

1) Really make sure the tow line is well secured, a really good belay on the cleat with locking half hitch. Don't rush it or get distracted by other things..

2) Tow for short runs in calm waters only

3) Tow by day but NOT at night or late evening.

4) For longer or rougher open water crossings stow the tender on deck

Summer sail - Kayak lost (trip10, day1)

Maintenance prior - replaced a leaking and falling off outboard fuel hose connector, the fitting plus clamp coast about $12 at Motor marine, Townsville.  Top service and a great shop for the outboard powered.

Sat 27th afternoon was preparation time..checked boat/trailer systems, recharged battery,,got the fuel, water and food supplies aboard. along with sailing clothes and personal items. The latest addition being a waterproof mobile phone pouch which also floats and has an adjustable neck string, so it can be worn at all times on the boat or going ashore etc.

Sun 28th Dec..the Sydney Hobart yacht race was on down south, Wild Oats and Comanche were already in Hobart and much of the fleet were still at sea. Enough sailing motivation was at hand to launch Teria in the middle of the festive season.

Weather at this time of year is hot and humid, the wet season rains were late so it was sunny too. Holidays so a horde of mostly powerboats out fishing and going to the barrier reef. The VHF radio to coast guard channel 22 was running hot with trip sheet logging in and out.. 

Did the usual Ross river launch and rigup, again it was uncrowded with plenty of parks. Then sailed to the down town pontoon to pickup the family about 2 pm for an afternoon sail in 15 knot NE breeze. The relatively new bimini shade was much appreciated and it was a battle for the shaded spots in the cockpit, out terrier Rex always found the best spot with a windward rail cooling breeze too. We sailed out to leeward of a sabot (8') racing fleet with dozens young sailors contesting the National title.

Conditions were right to close reach over to West point, Magnetic Island with some help from the outboard in the lee of the Island.

As soon as the anchor was down, "Scamp" the kayak was carrying our shore party to the beach. Stinger suits on, it was a good time for a swim in the warm sea at the calm beach front. Rex got swimming lessons, he's hardly ever swum before, we took him into a river once and he proved he was capable but definitely prefered hard land.  didn't want to go in, so a little prompting required, like dropping him in about 2-3m from shore, of course he could swim well! After awhile he tested the shallows then swam out to us, Hooray Rex, well done.

Rex's first sea swim, and the kayak that was lost on the way back

It was a nice sail back, jets flew out overhead and the stars came out. Suddenly i realized scamp the trusty kayak was gone!! We usually tow it behind on a rope. It had been gone for 5-30 minutes and its amazing how you don't register a towed tenders absence. A half moon provided little light to see it even if we backtracked. Scamp was lost, with that sinking feeling we would never see her again.

Back at port, the family went home and i anchored aboard Teria overnight behind the western break-wall.

Checked through camera photos and phoned my wife to check her mobile videos and photos. Like detectives, we established the time and place scamp disappeared. I added the wind direction and speed at the time and soon had a search and rescue plan for first light. It was likely to have blown ashore somewhere near Cape Palleranda about 5 miles from the overnight anchorage.