Fatty Knees sail on Ross River

A good weather window was happening so Took Fatty Knees "Jai Dee" out for a sail on Ross River on 14th Feb. It was very sheltered inside the River about 5-10 knots gusting 15 kn from the ENE. Barnicle st ramp was almost deserted with only a handfull of boat-trailers parked there and no one on the ramp.

I short and long tacked to windward heading for the bridge near the river mouth, about 2 km from the ramp. The dinghy tacks flawlessly in very tight spaces, so went in among the near deserted pile moorings and moored yachts on the south bank. But also sailed into the spots with good wind on the north bank.  Some small fishing boats 10-16 foot were anchored and having a go, Barramundi season is on.

The bridge pylons funneled wind from dead ahead, so allot of short tacks in a narrow pass but once free the wind strengthened and Jai Dee continued beating to windward in the smooth waters in the lee of the entrance sand bar.

Once clear of the protective sand bar the wind strengthened to about 15 knots, gusting 20 or so, and 1 foot waves started to buffet the Fatty knees, however she rose over these like a buoyant cork, sending spray peeling over into the cockpit. The Townsville port's southern breakwall was on our lee side, but never felt worried. We reached Trawler harbor, about a further 1 km from the bridge. The protective sand bars deepened and it got rougher and windier, maxing us out. Even a 16 foot fishing boat turned back here. It was as far as Jai Dee could go with its full sail up (a custom reefable rig would be needed to go further safely)

Reached into the New harbor which was flat calm, the entire Townsville trawler fleet moved in here , along with Ross Haven marina after the Port bridge went up. Ross Haven caters to large yachts and motor vessels now days. It is an open often wind-swept location compared to their previous sheltered base in the river.

The run back was fast. I got as low,  and far aft as possible in a recumbent position which kept the weight in the right place at the bottom of the hull. This makes Fatty Knees remarkably stable downwind in a blow. Two guys on racing sea kayaks slowly overhauled me, paddling hard.

The bridges sheltered lee has a nice sand beach, so stopped for a rest. Finally able to get the camera out safely too.

Calm harbor and beach in the Lee of the Port Bridge. The centerboard can be left in while beaching and still clears the boom.

Townsville Port Bridge, heavy traffic bypass across Ross River

Looking upriver to Mt Stuart. 

The Fatty Knees rig was dropped in seconds, the anchor went out and walked along the unlikely beach.

Didn't go too far, the mangroves ahead are good crocodile habitat.

 Put the rig back up and sailed upriver with the wind astern. Anchored in the old trawler pen bay, it's a good rest spot and place to open the snack box and water bottle, calm and mozzie free and the trees ashore act as a wind break.

The old trawler pen bay is at 5th Avenue, South Townsville. Goondi creek a small mangrove tributary opens into this man-made bay. The land to the north of this to 7th Ave is designated for the $25 million Townsville boat park, to be built over the next few years. (Rosshaven Marine and the trawler wharf moved from here). It's mostly for powerboats (and any sail boat that can quickly lower its rig height to less than 6m.)  Looks like there will be plenty of room with peace and quiet around Goondi creek for awhile though.

The good old trawler mooring wharf is empty. It is planned to be modified and used again as part of the  recreational boat park.

Headed back to the ramp, but the sun was setting so just had to keep sailing around in the calm waters - magic. Sailing right up to the ramp is improving, this time was able to round up and stop in a controlled manner. Found a new trick when the boat has drifted exactly into the right (calm) spot the daggerboard can be lowered to the bottom which holds the boat rock still like a parking brake. Gives time to tidy things up get sorted out and have a good look around before stepping out. I always step out on the shallow landward side of the dinghy, a hull-shield between you and a crocodile must be better than nothing and deeper water. Haven't heard any reports of the stealthy beasts being around Ross River but never take un-necessary chances, people are taken from time to time further north.

There was a deep haze to the west and the sun began to redden up, by the time we were on the road it was a large red ball still well above the horizon.

King Tide in Townsville

The King tide of kingtides at 0921 on 31st January was one of the highest ever recorded at 4.12 meters, locals had never seen it this high before. Category 2 Cyclone Dylan veered away from us the night before and everything was still in shut-down mode. Ferries and small vessels were all moored up and big ships left port. Business was closed including the volunteer coast guard. No-one was on the water yet. It was lucky the cyclone missed us with these king tides running at the same time. There was almost no wind and sea was unusually calm with very rare SW offshore winds (caused by the cyclone to the south of us)

Townsville coast guard ramps

Townsville coast guard base - QF8 Flotilla on slightly higher ground..

Ramp end sign and navigation beacon.

Navigation beacons, speed limit sign under

Ramp and pontoons. The top of ramp is just visible.

Magnetic Island ferry terminal, sea level just below the car park..

Ferry terminal walkways angling upwards.

Breakwater Marina, restaurant just clear,  Castle Hill background.

Breakwater marina berths. Red Baron float-plane strapped down.

Ross creek Yacht Club marina, the tide was slightly higher earlier on, the rock wall top is underwater on left side of photo.

Ross creek king tide just below road level

Ross creek - Dinghy landing wharf 30 cm clear.

Ross creek bridge moorings, might just squeeze a dinghy under the bridge..

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Minor flooding by extreme king tide at Flinders Street East - Night club area. Ross Creek yacht moorings.

Anchor gear - Main anchor

The main anchor gear needed an overhaul. Teria came with a large Danforth, 7m of 8 mm standard link chain and a long run of 10 mm white rope.

The first thing to go was the oversized danforth which wouldn't fit in the anchor locker. It was replaced with a 10 lb (4.5kg) CQR plough copy. This mostly fit into the locker but the shank stuck out by about 1" onto deck, so lashed this to the bow rail with 6mm starter cord.

It was hidden under the chain in the locker, the chain to anchor rope join was a "birdsnest", the rope on the hard eye had been chaffed through and a tangle of strange knotting had rope in direct contact with chain link. This was bad form, it could easily chafe through, part the anchor cable and the boat could drift off to it's demise. Also the 6 mm bow shackle was corroded shut.

So re-rigged the rope to chain join with a hard eye splice. The bowshackle pin's turn tab broke off, so grinder in to cut it off. Replaced with a new 6 mm bowshackle.

I thought the 8 mm chain was a bit of over-kill for our use. I hauled the anchor up on one trip and it was a handful, a long heavy lift. So replaced the original 8 mm chain with 7 m of lighter 6 mm standard link galvanized chain.

The anchor chain to rope join. Hard eye prevents shackle from chafing through rope, shackle pin is wired so it can't undo.

 It had been a long time since i did an eye-splice so a bit out of practice.. First learnt it at sea scouts ages ago, have books on rigging and knots and applied it to my boats in the 1990's.

The new chain had the added benefit of taking up less space (and weight) in the anchor locker when restowed. The anchor now fits completely into the locker!

I'm hoping this set up will suit most situations in our area. I may carry the old 8 mm chain down below and could add it to the 6 mm chain if needed.

Teria's stem head fitting - a small anchor roller,  anchor bitts, jib furler. Stainless gunwale protection plate is at front.

VHF Marine transceiver refitted

Teria came with a VHF radio . More precisely a GME Electrophone GX548 marine transceiver,  a 2 way ship-station. I removed it from under the electrical corner as this was too low too see and it obstructed leg movement in the bunk. I didn't know if it worked or not.

The recreational boaters guide (and maritime safety authority, MSA) recommends VHF as the number one communication tool when at sea. Range can be very good thanks to repeater stations. Distress calls are most likely to be picked up, either by coast guard, commercial ships, aircraft or other boats. Rescue response is also likely to be sure, swift and professional. A  base station unit is also likely to be connected to a good battery power source that will last for days. Hand held VHF units work but the battery life is short, power and range is low and they can be lost overboard easily.

The other option for a small recreational boat is a 27 Mhz marine radio base-station. It's cheaper to buy,  doesn't need a licence but has limited power, range is only about 5 miles or less and the users are limited in numbers and may not have advanced rescue skills. I had a 27 mhz on the Endeavor 24, it seemed to work only as you get within a few km of a port. Most of the time it seemed to be out of range of anyone.

A third option is a mobile phone. Its a very limited solution as it can only call one other phone and you need to know that number. Conversely, only people with your phone number can hail you. Battery life is short and it can be lost overboard, as i found out the hard way on sail #3 when my Samsung Galaxy mini fell out of a top pocket and sank slowly out of sight forever.

Re-installation

Once the 12 volt power was restored, i plugged the VHF unit back in and all the display lights, power lights channel numbers etc seemed to be working. The squelch worked too. The power fuse was already in the cable.

The original antenna was unfit for service, so bought a GME 1.8m fiberglass whip antenna from Bias boating for $70. This included the adjustable deck/transom mount, 5 m long coaxial cable and end plug.

In theory an antenna should be as high as practical or possible to increase the radios effective range. A mast head mount on a yacht gets the maximum range but it would be harder to fit up and need a long cable etc. For practical fitting reasons i wanted the antenna on the hull. To avoid fouling main sheet and jibsheets sails etc it had to be down aft. Not enough deck or coaming width for the base so looked at the transom. A small stainless plate was glued on port side transom, on removal it revealed old antenna mount holes.

So redrilled some holes and bedded the antenna mount down on silicone sealant. It is held on by 3 stainless through-hull nuts and bolts. The coaxial cable was lead through the starboard locker, through a hole already in the cabin bulkhead. The whip can be removed and adjusted with a simple thumb screw.

VHF radio antenna base - transom mounted

VHF radio antenna 

I remounted the VHF radio in the cabin. This time it was mounted in the cabin corner under the deck-head near the main hatch. It is angled about 45 degrees to the boats center-line. This is so the readout is at a good working level and the unit can be operated from the helm when underway or from the cabin. It's also protected from salt water and weather by the deck and hatch cover.

The power cable was long enough to go back to the port side switch board box, it looks like an earlier owner had the radio somewhere on starboard as some radio stickers were also here.

The power and antenna cables were tidied up. I used plastic self-adhesive cable guides from the hardware to hold the cables in place and out of the way.

You are supposed to have a marine radios operators licence to use a VHF transceiver, mostly because commercial ships also use the system and operators need to know the correct protocols and procedures as used by professional seafarers. Being my first VHF radio ever, i made an inquiry phone call to the Townsville volunteer coast guard. It's possible to do the exam online through the Australian Maritime College (AMC) website based in Hobart, or do a course locally at the coast guard. After downloading the PDF radio operators manual and studying it, i opted for the course.

It's possible to own a VHF radio unit without a licence, just listen in and can respond to distress calls or call for help,, but to get full use of it a licence is needed.

So visited the Coast Guard Headquarters at Ross Creek. The first thing was to become an associate coast guard member or rescue member. Yourself and one boat now costs $80 per year. I filled out the form with car and boat registration and contact details etc. Received my membership card , number and sticker.

The Townsville volunteer coast guard covers an area from Palm Island to Cape Cleveland and seaward to the outer reef around 60 km offshore. It's affiliated with Ingham coastguard which covers Hinchinbrook Island and Orpheus Islands in the Palm group. It's a bit like rescue insurance, rescue by the coast guard's launch is covered for members. (It cost's about $160/hr to run the rescue launch). Also members get priority and discounts for courses run at the coast guard.

I signed up for the next 2 day VHF/ radio course and licence. They are run 4 times a year, once every 3 months, and take up to 20 students each time. Received my MROCP (Marine Radio Operators Certificate of Proficiency) card by mail from AMC (Australia Maritime College) issued March 2014. It covers VHF and HF radios.

The first tip i got was the repeater station on channel 22 is located on Mt Stuart which is about 1,800 ft above sea level. This gives the VHF a very good range and power for coastal and reef boats. So one evening while finishing the radio off at home, i switched it on to channel 22, the antenna was stowed below but it was raining so left it there. At 1900 hours out of the blue, i was surprised to receive my first message something like this   "All Stations, All stations, All stations. This is Townsville coast guard...signing off, resuming operations at 0700 tomorrow, OUT".. Eureka, the VHF radio on Ch22  works even when antenna-less.

12 volt lighting restored

When the ship's 60 AH battery was installed, i connected the main black and red cables up but no  lights were working.

Well you can still day sail without electrics, so did this for a month or so until there was time to get around to it. We had clamp-on D sized battery powered navigation lights just in-case of a late return to port.

 I'm no electrical guru, but have a book about it called "The 12 V Bible" by Miner Brotherton for a bit of theory and background reading. (Also long ago.. , i'd wired up my Endeavor 24, it was fortunate that a fellow yachty at Coff's harbor marina designed and advised on this)

I had visions of having to rip out all the wiring, get a proper switch board and start again but this would probably need some paid outside help, more money and take time. Only one Marine electrician was listed at Nelly Bay on Magnetic Island to service the marina yachts there. Maybe the yacht club's slipway staff or a contractor could do it?

First decided to have a go myself first and see if it could be done at home. Took inventory of what was in the boat already.  There was a simple homemade switch board with fuses, a hard to access space of spagetti wires behind it with 2 bus bars?? then wires going off to navigation lights, cabin lights and a dangling cigarette lighter socket.

Behind the switchboard..fuses, wires and brass bus-bars

Plugged a 12v car emergency flouro into the 12 volt socket, it worked!! Artificial light shone aboard for the first time!, so power was getting through the switch board..

Switch board corner - first light! Note fire extinguisher..

For safety sake, while working on the wiring i disconnected the battery. Reconnected for each lights test.

Navigation lights were down. So unscrewed the port navigation lights covers and twiddled the bulb around backed up with CRC spray. It soon shone bright red again! Repeated same for the stern light with success but the starboard light refused to go. For me it's somehow easier to see into the spagetti mass at night with torchlight, maybe it's more focused? The sunto orienteering compasses mirror helped too. Noticed a loose black wire hidden among it. There were also 2 bus bars one with mostly red wires and another with mostly black wires. Assumed red was positive and black negative. I stuck the loose wire into the negative bus bar, nothing. so tried the other bus-bar and the starboard nav produced green rays again!

Port and starboard Navigation lights come alive. With fore-hatch open it looks a bit otherworldly.

Two navigation lights as seen from the bow with hatch closed. Probably less confusing to others at night.

The stern light shines bright. 

The switch board. All three navigation lights come on/off with the "Nav" switch. "Cabin" lights up the boats interior.

The cabin lights covers came off and got the bulb and CRC treatment, but no luck. So back to the switchboard traced the cabin light wire and found its end was dangling free.. So screwed it into one of the bus bars and cabin lights were restored! There's no describing the psychological advantage of a warmly glowing cabin interior.

Twin cabin lights on the bulkhead shed light on the interior. Each has a small switch on it so either one or two can be on.

There's a bit more to go but that should be enough to brave a dark night out there on the sea.  Rigged a a temporary anchor light, a $2 solar garden LED light on the pulshpit.   A bit of cloth tape holds it together and in place. It makes it through to dawn..just, but is better than nothing until a better system can be installed.

I attached the 12 volt cigarette lighter socket  to the quarter berth's plywood ceiling. This socket is good for anything with a 12 volt plug.  Such as car mobile phone chargers and our small inverter.

The inverter is  150 Watt,  "Powertech" brand  from Jaycar electronics, about $50.
It converts  12v DC power from the ships battery into 240 volt AC power through a household socket on the  inverter's control panel. This means that any small rechargable electronic device can be kept going at sea. Mobile phones, tablets, smartphones etc can be re-charged and kept running. This is important with smartphones as they seem to have gone backwards on battery life, only lasting about a day. Old style mobiles battery life was about 3 days.

Inverter - lighter socket plug or use Alligator clips direct onto any 12v car or boat battery

Inverter - Front has 3-pin 240v ac household socket, green on light and switch. Side has USB charging socket.

The inverter also has a USB device charger on the side. With the 3 forms of recharging now on the Teria - (12v plug, 240v and USB socket),  all forms of re-chargers for small electronic gadgets bought aboard by the crew can be used. Other gadgets we bring aboard are LED camp lantern,  LED rechargeable torch, FM SW radio, a battery charger (AAA and AA sized rechargeable batteries- for head torch and hand torch) and last but not least - digital cameras.

The inverter is designed for car use, so it can fit in a cars can-holder and used when on the road. On board it's kept dry in a sealed ziplock bag until it's needed.

The 3rd sail - ashore at Picnic Bay

Teria had passed the test-sails and the maintenance work had continued. So on Friday 3rd January 2014, the weather forecast was good so it was time to take the family out. 

My wife , daughter and Jack Russell terrier Rex are fairly new to sailing. I had taken them out on our Fatty Knees 8 dinghy to learn a few basics first. Fiona learnt how to steer the Fatty Knees and experienced beach launching. Also we had practiced paddling the 9 foot kayak on Ross River before the trip.

The aim was to reach Magnetic Island, about 10 km from Ross River, set foot on the Island then return. A check of the Chart showed that Picnic Bay is the nearest one and should be protected in the NW to NE winds forecast, winds tend to be from the northern sector in Summer. The anchorage may be more exposed in E, SE and S winds. It's possible for these to occur too, so i always check Willy weather's site for the detailed wind forecast before setting out.

We floated Teria off the trailer around 9 am at high tide and warped her along the floating pontoon to be tied up. Then scamp was launched and its painter tied to Terias stern cleat. I removed the mast crutch from the pintles in order to ship the rudder, then  lashed the folded mast crutch to the pulshpit, slightly offset and higher than before (this was to make mast raising easier) We cast the lines off and  motored out along Ross River for 2 km and passed under the low port bridge. Then anchored to raise mast and rig-up in the lee of Townsville port's southern rock wall. The mainsail went up, the anchor raised and we motor-sailed out of the River Entrance and on for Magnetic Island.

Seas were a bit lumpy but less than 2 ft high, coming from two directions due to some wind changes. Mal de mer struck Lin down, so throttled the engine off a to reduce speed and quieten the boats irregular motion. 

Picnic Bay gradually expanded ahead of us, we rounded the reef marker post and anchored off the old jetty. The Sun awning brought cool shade for lunch. Fiona went a bit greenish on the last bit of the trip, but came right again once in the calm of Picnic Bay. 

Teria at anchor, the reef end marker post is visible on left and a shipping chanel navigation post to right with Cape Cleveland Bay

We paddled the scamp in over coral beds and landed on the beach under the shady jetty. Felt like the eagle had landed once the sand was under foot.!

Scamp kayak under the jetty. The Picnic bay boat ramp is a good spot for small power boats to pull up.

Picnic Bay has a stinger net for swimmers run by the surf life savers. The enclosure has inflatable tubes at surface with nets hanging down to stop the potentially deadly "stingers" or box jellyfish from reaching swimmers. The jelly fish have venomous tentacles with stinging cells designed to paralyse fish but when they contact human skin they cause whip like welts, extreme pain and can affect the heart.  The enclosures are checked with hand nets for stingers each morning by the life guards - just in case one got in overnight. 

Behind the jetty the Stinger net protects swimmers. It's a clear sky day - Townsville is built around Castle Hill  and the Hervey ranges form a backdrop 10 km to the west of the city.

Like the name suggests there are plenty of picnic tables on the foreshore nicely shaded under giant fig trees. It was nice and quiet just a few people near the beach. We made use of a table with a great view and broke out the snacks and water.

Nice paths lead to many picnic tables

Large shady hanging figtrees

We headed back along the beach, checking out things washed up along the shore like cuttlle fish sketetons and seed pods. It's a very mellow place now that the main  ferry goes to Nelly Bay

The shadows were getting longer, so we headed back. Fiona was amazed how clear the water was and that we could see some fish and coral as we paddled the kayak out. When raising anchor i realized we were a bit too close in shore where there are coral heads to wrap the chain up on. (Later i checked Google Earth and its easy to see where the reefs are, also the fishing chart i have, although a scale which has limited detail does show where the reef is)

We sailed out into a much strengthened 15 knot NE breeze, which pushed us back at a good rate of knots. Fiona took the helm  for some of the broad reach, it was handy she could because the jib furler got stuck and i went forward to free it. She even took a few photos at the helm, multi-tasking already.

The scamp kayak towed well, except for the last bit where waves were bigger and it started surfing right into the back of the Teria with a bump. luckily the kayaks made of a softish moulded plastic which is resilient to that. We pulled the tow rope in short to stop it. Next time note - a longer tow rope needed or get the kayak on deck.

Magnetic Island slips astern

Rex liked the sail, but he stood on the gunwale a bit too fearlessly for my liking, so it was onto the short leash attached to the centerboard cleat for him. He took it easy most of the trip but became alert once land was near.

Rex senses land ahoy

Townsville port ahead

The crossing took about 50 minutes. The sail was nice and it's always good to reach the safe flat waters of Ross river again. Lin came on deck and nimble Rex got the run of the boat again. To anchor and derig before motoring up river, under the low port bridge, past the empty pile moorings and abandoned old wharves.. It's was all abandoned only a couple of years ago mainly due to the low port bridge completion which stopped most medium sized and virtually all sailing vessels (except us) from entering Ross River anymore. It's a pity because it's the best natural harbor in Townsville.

Fiona took the helm so i could tidy up some of the rig on the way. I forgot it was a spring low tide and we ran aground just off the Navy's bay. Stopped on a muddy bottom. Reversing didnt move us, but had the centerboard down so raised it and we could then scrape off backwards. That's the great thing about heavy swing down center-plates they act as a gentle handbrake in such situations and in our case stopped us before the keel ploughed itself in too deep and got stuck.  Then we noticed all the fishermen crawling past with their motors set on shallow tilt..more lessons learn't, one being to be more observant at low tides.

Back at the pontoon, I checked with a local bait netter where the end of the ramp may be, it was still deep enough.  It was not easy to back down the steep narrow ramp especially going "over the edge" when the trailer disappears for awhile.. Next time i will use the older refurbished ramp nearby which has a lesser gradient and gentler upper edge. Barnicle street is good in that there aren't many boats that use it, there are two ramp sites the older one with  4 joined lanes and a separate pontoon and the new steep one with 2 seperated lanes with a center finger pontoon. It's all very uncrowded and unrushed on weekdays (and still easy going on weekends public holidays with heaps of safe parking. (every low port bridge has it's upside). The ramp car park still lack toilets but there are some a few hundred meters away in council parkland.