Ramp finding

 It good to know information about boat ramps before setting out for a new area. 

I usually use Google Earth and Google maps to checkout ramps before going there. (Also the access roads and parking spaces, facilities. public reviews)

A Google search (and AI response) should identify your local ramps and give detailed information as well.

There are some fishing websites that also have ramp finder webpages. For example

Boat Ramp finder Australia

For an Invesigator with its "deep" 2ft draft heavy keel, only a few ramps in any one area are suitable. (Most ramps are designed for small very shallow draft lightweight powerboats). What i look for (sailing solo) are floating finger pontoons, "deep" calm creek water, parking spaces and resonable or all tide access. 

 If you have crew to hold the boat, then lack of a floating pontoon may be ok. If your TS is very shallow draft (eg 1ft, 30cm) it opens up allot more possibilities.

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T23, day 7. Head home.

 Monday 25/5/26 Day7

Welcome swallow on the bow rail

It was a flat calm morning. Got rid of spare water (to reduce ramp haulup weight) and stowed the jib. waited for a big ship to depart port,  then motored around to CG ramp pontoon by 9.30am (Half tide falling). Logged off my CoastGuard QF8 trip sheet with a VHF call.

A shoal draft traditional ex-reef fishing vessell and deep keel ketch behind.

A Swanson 28 yacht

The trailer tilt/winch up and ute haulup went ok. The de-rig time was about 35minutes, a bit faster than usual. The ramp was moderately busy but it was still ok with some tinnie fisho's and jetski pilots making the most of the calm morning conditions

Tide tables for the trip, helps with trip planning, navigation  and avoiding groundings.

The road trip home took about 15-20 minutes, this time I tried a new route. Turned left off Flinders st east (Tsv night club area, quiet by day). Drove past our Rugby league football Stadium, then turned right onto Boundary st (the V8 super car straight for 1 week per year), left onto Charters Towers road and right onto straight medium sized Bayswater rd in Hermit Park for an easy run home.  It seems to be a good route with less traffic. Late morning Monday is a lower traffic time as well. 

Anyway it was good to get home after a long trip, wash the salt off everything, dry out in the sun and have flat land to walk on again. 

Back home for washdown, remove gear and storage

This whole trip was to test the boats' equipment and systems, get a bit more skipper training done before heading further a field. 

T23 Day 6. Day sail to Red Rock bay, (Cape Cleveland)

 Sunday 24/5/26

Had to sort out jib halyard, it got caught up in a spreader somehow. I was able to stand up on the boom and reach the spreader to free it, the joys of a small boat.

Traditional wooden schooner anchored at Duckpond, Townsville.

It was a flat calm so motored off at 10.30am heading ESE. Crossed the ferry and shipping channel ok.

 However it was "Mayhem"crossing the Ross river channel entrance. At least 10 tinnies/powerboats all going full speed (20-30 knots) coming in or going out were counted. My course was beam on to all of them also at full throttle (5.6 knots), fortunately they were all fully aware and avoided slow boat Teria.

Flat calm motoring towards Cape Cleveland (Cape Palleranda and Magnetic Island astern)

After that it was a nice cruise at 1/3 throttle doing 5 knots for over an hour with tiller-pilot on. I stayed inshore and followed the 2m depth contour on the gps chart (which was about 12 ft depth on the sounder with tide up)

At 12.20pm the seabreeze began. Sailed at 4 knots on course for Cape Cleveland. 

The wind picked up at 12.30pm so hand steered. A spirited starboard beat to windward.

Anchored in Red Rock Bay at 1.45pm in 5 ft depth on a rising tide. It's the second bay in from Cape Cleveland. It's less windy and more sheltered than further offshore at the Cape. 

The red rock of Red Rock bay

Beach at Cape Cleveland

After lunch, it was time to reduce sail at anchor for the expected stronger afternoon seabreeze. The VHF's "offshore test" went well, Tsv Coast Guard was loud and clear on Channel 22.

Cape Clevelands' rugged coast and shoal waters.

Departed at 3pm and sailed hard at 5 knots back along the Capes' coastline. The wind blew offshore at about 15-20 knots. Kept the depth around 10 ft deep so as to stay near shore and avoid the wave action further to leeward offshore..

Cape Cleveland coast

At 3.30pm bore away towards Townsville, away from the Capes' hills and shallows. The wind eased off (as it does here when inshore near the south Townsville coast) so tiller-pilot steered and did a lazy 3 knots running downwind.

"George" helming on a broad reach

At 3.50pm we were becalmed, so motored onwards at 4-5 knots. 

An ESE 11 knot wind (vhf CG weather report) came in at 4.15pm, so shook out the reef in the mainsail and sailed at 4-5 knots with tillerpilot "George" helming. Played Jean Michel Jarre's "Oxygen" at sunset on the Ryobi 18v workshop speaker (bluetoothed to mobile phone with spotify app). The speakers' 5Amp swapable lithium battery lasted for the whole trip (no recharging aboard, it has a 240v AC to DC charger at home)

Got back to the duckpond after dark at 6.20pm. navigated into the anchor area (with help from a waypoint on my GPS), also knew where most of the anchored yachts were, however not all boats there have anchor lights on. One big expensive powerboat going to the marina had no nav lights on at all.. 

Tempoary LED lamp decklight hanging off boom

As usual I frapped the halyards to the stays (to prevent wind induced halyard mast slap noise) and setup the 12v anchor light (led lantern below boom helped). The good thing about Teria is it is a quiet boat at anchor which makes for a better night's sleep.

The trip was a good test of Teria's electrical system. All the tiller-piloting, nav, radio etc had drained the 12V battery down to about 50% or 12.0 volts, too low for comfort. The Coleman LED lantern was a good backup night-light in this situation. In future i will need to bring more solar charging capability along (100w fold out solar blanket) and try to reduce some power draw as well. The main 12v battery is 3 years old which is nearing it's useful lifespan. Its at about 80% of new capacity, about 80ah, so only 30ah to play with but still hoping it can last the rest of this years sailing season (few more months).

T23 Day 5. Sail to West Point. Cooking and navigation.

 Saturday 23/5/26

Another calm morning so got up later and continued "cooking class" with 5 sausages to fry and a 3 egg omellete. Coleman 20cm frypan on the Trangia25 spirit burner.

Boiled 2L fairly quickly on the Optimus 111T for a warm midday bucket bath.  It runs on kerosene and has a noisy "roarer" burner outputing about 3kw. To start, it is preheated with methylated spirits.  (The optimus was made in Sweden in the 1980's and was originally used on Antarctic expeditions from an Australian base)

The brass pressure fuel tank folds out for use. 

The "T" designation means it's triple-fuel capable. Kero, alcohol (meths) or white spirits. This one is jetted for kero. (jets are changed for other fuels, but i don't have those) Kero is the most energy dense fuel of the 3 types, so it packs more punch per tankful.

The Optimus 111T stove folded away in it's stowage compartment. 

Then tested the gas burner on the T25 to boil it's 0.9L kettle in 4 minutes flat (Spirit takes 12-13 minutes).  The spirit is better for slower heating/ ok for bacon and eggs etc. Cooking speed isn't all that important when sailing solo. The methylated spirits fuel is cheaper/safer than gas (It about A$6/ litre vs A$12 for a 460g isopropane gas bottle) 

Trangia 25 gas burner

The daily NE -E  seabreeze began about midday. So set full sail for West Point about 10nm from the Duckpond. Took the helm as it was a fresh 15-20 knot breeze. The first waypoint was the west marker of middle reef. 

Middle reef west marker

West point, Magnetic Island ahead.

It was a nice broad reach in the 20ft deep channel near the reef flat. Magnetic Islands hills offer a fair bit of shelter and alter the conditions. The wind swung astern, weakened to a nice breeze and the waves reduced to wavelets. The tiller-pilot could easily handle it as we glided along effortlessly, arriving at Westpoint beach around 3.30pm. 

The tide was high so anchored in close to the beach in 7ft of water for an easy sail change. Dropped the jib and put up the smaller #2 jib and furled it. Took a reef in the mainsail.

This was a bit of a navigation/piloting learning lesson. It takes about 2 hours or more to sail this leg one way. The note taken: Leave more time for this trip, at least 6-8 hours return. (It doesn't matter if the trip over is pure motoring on flat calm) Also the GPS chart and sounder allowed me to stay in the deeper channel away from reef flats. 

It was only a 30 minute stay before the return leg.  Motored off at 4pm at 5.5 knots (hullspeed) upwind skirting the reef flat but staying in the islands deep channel. Once clear of the windshadow, sailed on a beam reach for west marker of middle reef at a sedate 4 knots. Then hardened up on the wind for a close haul to the Duckpond by 5.30pm (motor assisted last mile)

Cooked up the last of the bacon, on bread with tomatoes, pickes and cheese. The ice finally all melted, 5 days of ice was pretty good. 

Another nice sunset at 5.44pm.

The LED lantern lights up a dark cockpit at night.

T23, day4. A sail off Nelly Bay's coastline.

Day4. Friday 22/5/26

Duckpond sunrise

A dead calm persisted all morning, so remained anchored in the Duckpond and re-heated an dined on the last of the iceboxs' pre-cooked food. 

A light seabreeze bagan at noon, so raised sail and ghosted away. Ran downwind along the Strand beach to the rockpool area at 3-4 knots, then gybed and set course for Picnic Bay. The tillerpilot steered in these easy conditions. The route was clear of the Islands ferry lanes for about 5 nm.

Melton and Stanton hills, Townsville Strand. Mt Stuart.

The Strand, Townsville

Castle Hill and Aquarius hotel, Townsville.

On the way over the wind freshened up to 10-15 knots SSE, so hand-steered. Sailed close to Hawkings point then altered course to cut across the ferry lanes (Nelly Bay port) on a fast reach. A Coast Guard securite message on the VHF came through, warning all ships to avoid an inbound bulk carrier in the Platypus channel. So kept clear while the ship, assisted by tug boats navigated through. 

Shipping channel marker and Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island.

After it was safe, Teria kept close reaching into increasing winds (15-20kts) and seas of 1m. Teria is fairly heavy displacement for its size with all the crusiing kit and water bottle ballast in the keel as well. So she's fairly stiff under sail and just ploughs solidly through the waves at 5 knots, there was little spray over the bow, fairly dry at the helm.

Crossed the shipping channel and headed towards a 40ft yacht motoring into the wind with a partly-raised mainsail, (reducing sail/reefing?) but eventually they set sail for Horseshoe bay. Passed a couple of drifting/trolling fisho's as well. 

The wind increased to over 25 knots further offshore. Which is about the absolute safe/comfortable limit for Teria with full sail up. So did a U-turn and raced back towards Picnic Bay. Re-crossed the ship channel, bore away to a breoad reach and quickly crossed the ferry lanes .  (The 4 ferries were going gangbusters, busy times for them)

Picnic Bay was a total "Lee Shore" so kept going, then beat to windward on port tack towards the Strand. It was a brisk sail and the apparent wind over the bow seemed stronger than before. Was able to close with the duckpond on a single tack.

It's always 'fun' trying to slow down/control the boat when approaching anchored yachts in strong winds when solo. Furled the jib first up which slowed Teria to about 4 knots (no slot effect so about half-power). Once in the calmer lee of the breakwall and about 100m downwind of the anchored yachts Teria was "hove-to" and drifted sideways slowly (Helm impeder holds tiller over), so i could drop the mainsail and furl it tightly. Then it was easy to motor upwind, safely past the yachts and anchor.

Teria's cabin, Coleman LED lantern for extra light.

Cooked up an omelete and fried meat roll with rice. 

It was a Friday which is usually the busiest day of the week in Townsville. The traffic is twice as much as usual, allot of traffic etc (so a good reason the anchor out a night rather than haul out and drive home through it). The "Ardo" hotel had a big loud party on until late, but it was 500m downwind so ok. 

The Ville and Ardo hotels, Castle hill, Townsville from Duckpond anchorage.

Duckpond sunset

T23 day3. Huntingfield bay to Duckpond

 Sailed/motored out of Horseshoe Bay at 9am. Broadreached at 3 knots to "white rock", then motored along the north coast of Magnetic Island to Huntingfield bay.

Stern anchor out, just clear of shore break

Dropped the main anchor onto a 15ft deep sandy bottom. Removed the rudder for it's own protection (not a kickup type). Put a stern anchor out up the beach, and adjusted the anchor chain and stern rode to keep Teria just clear of the shore break. It was about waist deep water to go ashore. 

It was the first time to anchor at this absolutely beautiful pristine location. It's part of the National park which covers over half of Magnetic Island. 

Huntingfield Bay

Norfolk pines around a steep gully on hill

Beach's end

Granite beach boulders

It was good to be able to chill out away from civilization for awhile. There is no mobile signal on Maggy's north coast and there were no people within kilometers or even any sign of passing boats or watercraft. So wore the belt bag containing a VHF radio and PLB (Personal locator beacon) ashore. 

Low tide oysters exposed

The tide was fairly low, and rock oysters were exposed and the sea looked crystal clear. There was a small lagoon/creek behind the beach dune. Rugged vegetated unpassable steep granite boulder hills rose all around the bay. I don't think there is any land track in. There were no other footprints below the high tide mark and only a small stone firepit indicated that some people had been here quite some time before. 

Coastal she-oak tree

Pandanus tree

Beach dune (creek lagoon behind it)

Spinifex on dune

Pumice and flotsam at spring high tide area. 

The beach dune had some hardy vegetation. The she-oak and pandanus trees, some spiky spinifex and other succulents which can survive on minimal water. The pumice flotsam probably originated thousands of kilometers away, from the pacific "ring of fire". A place where moving plate boundaries separate, grind against each other or subduct which results in vulcanism, which is often subsea but also on isolated island chains. It's a rock but it is full of gas bubbles, so floats on the seas surface,  and gets carried by the winds and currents to eventually wash up on beaches like this one. 

Around 1pm  a light wind began to blow in from the north. So up anchored and motored along the coastline, past Liver Point and Rollingstone Bay. 

The wind increased to 10-15 knots from the NNW, so raised full sail and raced along at a good clip on starboard tack. This wind wasn't forecast but was more than welcome. Teria soon passed Bay Rock, a few miles off Maggy Island. We kept going with the bow pointed towards Rattlesnake Island in the distance. This was the furthest north i'd ever sailed out of Townsville.

Bay Rock East side, sailing north. Mainland in distance.

However the time was mid afternoon, so gybed about and headed back for Townsville about 3 hours away. It was a good run downwind to Cape Palleranda. Had to stay clear of the Capes' northern shoals and avoid Magnetic Islands' wind shadow zone as well.

Bay Rock, west side beach, sailing south. Magnetic Island in distance.

Sailed in near Palleranda beach, then the wind changed direction from ~ NW to ~ NE. This may be due to Magnetic Islands geography, bending the winds around opposing coastlines. Teria close reached on port tack and anchored at the Duckpond, Townsville in time for a golden red sunset.

T23, day 2. Anchored at Horseshoe bay (waiting out strong wind warning) - Testing new equipment

 A strong wind warming was issued, so stayed in Horseshoe bay another 24 hours.

Figured out why my VHF didn't connect. The "AUS" button wasn't on. It sets the frequencies from "International" to "Australia". (without it on, i could hear incoming calls but they couldn't hear my return transmissions)

Setup the boom awning, it was a bit tricky in the 15 knot plus S- SE er coming off the land. Eventhough the bays waters were still pretty flat. It shaded the cabin well and protects the furled mainsail.  But maybe only the bimini would be enough in future during tropical "winter" dry season sailing. The boom awning weighs about 12kgs with its strong wooden battens and takes up a bit of stowage space inside below the cockpit. 

Boom awning shade

This was the first trip with the I-SUP. It stows well in its carry bag, in the starboard bunks quarter foot area. It is lightweight and its very nice to have the foredeck/half cabin top free of the hard kayak. (The cabin poptop, bimini can be operated anytime now). However it was too windy to learn how to use it.

Some interesting boats were in the bay

Clansman 30 going for a sail

40-50ft bridgedeck catamarrans, shallow draft

A big Wharram Cat

Keelers, Trawlers and a large cat

The Catamarrans, centerboard monohulls Teria are shoal draft, so tend to anchor near the beach. Deeper keelers, large vessels and trawlers tend to be further out. Small tenders (dinghys) ferried the crews ashore.

Learning how to "cook" with the Trangia 25 as well. Tried the gas burner (in the cockpit) the heat output far easier to control. However, for reheating a pot of food the spirit burner does the job easily and the fuel is far cheaper to buy, It's also very simple and easy to operate, safer inside the enclosed cabin.

Tested some new equipment. Coleman LED lantern, Kings LED worklight, handpump shower, Optimus 111T hiker, "Carac" handbearing compass. 

There was a specacular clear sky sunset and overnight minimum of 15C not too bad for early "winter".