Solo to Cape Cleveland (trip 8, day2)

The Red Baron biplane was a good alarm clock, they take off at the Western breakwall and it's amazing how they can land in a short space.

At anchor

Once the sun was well up and the wind was right, Teria was sailed off the anchor and out into a 15-20 knot Easterly on Cleveland Bay. Barely a cloud in the sky and thousands of scintilla shinning ahead. The new Bimini top worked as hoped and the cockpit is now a cool shady place to be.

The wind strengthened further offshore and the boat felt over-pressed, the lee rail was a few inches above water level,, it's a hard thing to push an investigators lee decks underwater. There's just enough space to get out from under the bimini over the hatch to reach the mast and reduce sail with a single reef in the main. There was allot of force and the small reefing line pully on the boom let go at one end, a 30 year old pop-rivet had finally died, so simply wrapped the reefing line around the boom at the gooseneck to take the load and sailed on about 4-5 knots.

Self steering to windward was good, a long starboard tack with a lashed helm gave us allowed for about about 10 nautical miles hands free sail to windward of Magnetic Island. Slowly clawed upwind of the Platypus shipping channel. Hardly any other craft out there except the regular ferries and a port survey vessell. Set the mackerel lure but didn't get any strikes.

Helm lashed, self steer to windward

Trolling

Coffee break

Orchid rocks point

Tacked to port and close hauled past a lone shipping navigation beacon painted bright yellow and black, not on my old chart but the harzard probably deep below.

Chart of Cleveland Bay

A few hours and 8-10 nm later open waters and stronger wind came up, still a few miles to leeward of the Cape and it's light house. Wasn't going to make it there today so held course for the lee side of the Capes mountain. Bullets of wind began to hit a few miles off, so dropped the number one jib and raised to smaller number 2 jib for the first time. Discovered that the shackles that fitted the number 1 jib cringles were too small for the heavier cloth and thicker cringled No2 jib, not the best spot to remedy that with a few trips aft to the spare bits box to find larger shackles. The bimini was till up and my bulky conventional life jacket was just a tad too big to allow easy movement under the bimini on a 20-30 degree heeled deck.

With the reduced sail Teria could still claw to windward for the remaining few miles and close on the coastline of Cape Cleveland. The bimini was dropped as it's windage was getting too much.

Sailed over shoal waters extending well off shore, the centerboard kicked up and i spun the boat around and sailed clear before becoming stuck there in that remote place. The tide was on the rise which was good.  The waves were small in the lee but the wind channeled through the hills and seemed to increase as bullets of wind came hurtling down almost knocking Teria way over at times. So furled the jib and dropped the mainsail a lay a hull for a rest, the boat still heeled about 10-20 degrees under bare poles in the strong conditions.  Hauled the kayak out onto the foredeck and lashed it down for the downwind leg. Plenty of excitement for an old fella for one day. A large Army Chinook helicopter flew by at low altitude on their way out to the lighthouse area on the tip of the exposed Cape.

It was time to run for it, and head for port. Tried Jib only at first which was comfortable in the 30 kn gusts near land.



As Teria got further away from the hills influence the wind setled down again so rounded up and raised the reefed mainsail for the 4-5 knot broad reach 8 nm back to Ross River.  Here's a  U-tube video  Sailing downwind

The bimini went back up under these more comfortable conditions, but was dropped again approaching the river. The quick stowing abiilty of the bimini is a must, usually the boom needs to be let way out to allow the biminis bow to rise up and over on dropping it..other way is to release the boom vang and lift the boom during the bimini drop.

The Sun was setting on arrival and the danger of the entrance breakwall was cleared before it got too dark. I did overshoot the de-rigging anchorage and grounded on a mud bank but turned ok and got away to anchor and phone call in with the Volunteer Coast guard to let them know the trip went well and sign off the trip sheet. (The radio base closes about 5 pm on Mondays, they hand over the radio listening watch to port authorities at night) It was a moonless time of night so slowly motored up river with spot light. Tried my first night haul out and it went ok under big floodlights at the ramp.

twilight sail 2 and Bimini test (Trip #8, Day1)

Around 2pm the Teria was launched at the old Barnicle street boat ramp ("national Park" ramp - it is the second ramp described in Fishing Townsville's post,  newer ramp has a steeper gradient.  The old gentler gradient ramp is the first ramp as you drive in,) It went well, thanks to the new sliding plastic on timber aft bilge crutches (aka "bunks"). A few shoves on the bow dislodged the hull from it's grip and she slid away smoothly after that, with a big long haul/hang on the painter line to stop 1 ton of boat and gear which generated a fair bit of inertia. Pulled Teria back in to hop aboard and start the engine ok, but the throttle was stuck at idle speed!! This was enough to reach the pontoon to tie up so the trailer could be parked. Then idled away along the estuary towards the river mouth. Once clear of things like moored boats, took the outboard cowl off to try and free the throttle,,quickest best i could do was to push the throttle linkage and gain a few revs which allowed a respectable 3 knots hull speed. Tho this was tiring and had to rest and idle away frequently. The thought of cancelling the entire trip crossed my mind, but Teria is primarily a sailboat and there was wind so kept going.

Once rigged up, motor-sailing was used to clear Ross river. Tacking in a confined channel about 50-60m wide as the wind was coming almost straight down the channel. The bimini top was also raised and quickly proved itself in the confined waters, no hindrance to working the boat while providing excellent shade. Once clear a 10 knot Easterly was enough to starboard tack to windward and clear the sugar loading terminals wharf which just out to seaward of the main breakwalls of the port.

Dropped the bimini then main-sail in the ship swing basin and made it to the  pontoon to pick up the family  on time. Rex, our terrier, needed a bit of a carry to get past the expanded mesh walkway and aboard, 9 kg's is a good size for a sea dog, easy to get them on or off a boat. For the next upwind motor the boat hook was employed to push the throttle linkage which was far easier to maintain, it probably didn't look too good to the casual observer but minutes later we were away,  minutes later we were reaching clear of the entrance under full sail.

The western break-wall was rounded ,  a few tacks on the smooth "Duckpond" (haven't seen any ducks yet!) were made before anchoring in the SE corner. Dusk was falling and a cool breeze swept the cockpit area, so half raised the bimini so it acted as a windshield (or dodger), so the cockpit became a fair bit more comfy for dinner with almost no windchill factor.

Townsville western break-wall harbor

Twilight western break-wall harbor

Sunday ended all too soon and time to get ashore. Instead of the pontoon landing we tried our first night-time beach landing as it wasn't far from where we were plus the outboard throttle problem remained. The nearest beach is "tiny beach" in the SE and windward corner of the duckpond.

A bright torch - spot light was very handy, also the tide had risen and covered tiny beach up so only rocks remained. With lookout on the bow and we navigated to the right spot, i swung under the bow rail and stood on the sand of tiny beach which was about 1 foot below the seas surface and held the bow. The wind was from the E-SE which blew the hull downwind away from the rocks. Everyone got ashore ok.

Port lights

Trailer work 2

Did a bit more trailer modification. The main aim of this was to lower the boat, secure it forward, increase stability and not get stuck on the trailer when launching. In the wylo shed  Teria was blocked up and the trailer pulled out using the same method as when the centerboard was restored. It didn't take long this time around with all the support gear on hand.

The 2nd front cross beam was cut off as the roller for this held the bow too high. Trailer brake wire Guide eyelets were cut off for this and then rewelded back on.

2nd front cross beam removed, new rear crutches

The aft bilge crutches were re-built using 3x2 pine wood with a 2" wide strips of red sliding plastic (from motor marine) fastened with counter sunk stainless screws. The aft bunk had to be lowered so cut off the adjustable support posts, lowered 2" and rewelded to the trailer frame. As they were now quite short the lateral bracing wasn't needed so this was all cut off and removed.

Rear crutch

The trailer was winched back under the keel and now the boat could be pulled further forward by about 4" and the bow now docked onto the winch roller.

winch and roller

The rear 2" web tie down strap needed anchor points. So weld two 8mm chain links onto the rear corners of the trailer, the tie down strap anchor hooks fit nicely.

The lowered keel roller support posts were projecting below the axle level, so cut these off for maximum ground clearance under the axle.

Finally adjusted the 4 bilge crutches to hold the hull bilges firmly and sprayed cold galvanizing on the new metal work.

Trailer road handling was improved. The boat sits about 2" lower and 4" further forward, more tow ball down force and lower center of gravity. Also the bow in the winch roller stopped any hobby horsing of the hull. There was no side sway.  For now my comfortable and safe tow speed is 80-90 km/hr on the highway, 85 being the best. My tow car is a 2.7 litre 4 cylinder Toyota workmate trayback utility with a 1.8 ton towing capacity. I could sit in top (5th) gear on the flats and sometimes went to 4th for small hills.

Cruising guide book - "Cruising the Coral coast"

A great cruising guide book is "Cruising the coral coast" by Alan Lucas. This is an authoritative cruisers' guide to the Queensland coast which first came out in 1968 has been reprinted many time since and can be found on the book shelves of many boating supply stores in Queensland.  Second hand copies still work ok for budget minded but best to get the latest edition.

It has many illustrations - maps of good anchorages, photos and practical descriptions about many things along the way. Alan sure knows his stuff from practical experience. There is priceless information that can save allot of money, avoid trouble or prepare for what's ahead.

My editions 1988, pretty old, but i will still use it awhile as Island geography etc doesn't change much over time, perhaps the then developed sailing centers have expanded further, the original facilities are often still there. I bought the guide to sail Pablo, an Endeavor 24 sloop, up the coast but only used pages 233- 292 on the Townsville to Port Douglas stretch in 1989, we sailed outside Hinchinbrook Island on that cruise.

Currently reading up on Hinchinbrook Channel, as thinking about sailing Teria there soon. An excerpt  .."the most scenic, calm waterway on the east coast of Australia having the spectacular peaks of Hinchinbrook Island to the east and the rugged Cardwell range to the west".."there are vast areas of wetlands which create a maze of secondary channels and creeks as well as dry land where shore access is possible". It's an almost uninhabited 26 nautical mile stretch of water between Cardwell and Port Lucinda.