We were also in the potential path of cyclone Debbie, forecast as a Category 4 (winds over 200 km/hr). To prepare for this everything was stripped off Terias decks, mast, rigging, shackled on fittings, the bimini, solar panel, anchor gear etc and the loose items stowed in safe places (In the cabin, house and under house). Finally fitted the shock-cord cockpit hatch tie downs and roped the main hatch down.
Debbie missed Townsville by 50 km (only a few hours of rain and 20-30 kn SW winds) but hit Bowen, Whitsundays and Mackay, then ex-Debbie flooded the coast and inland of Queensland, Brisbane, Northern New South Wales and even crossed the Tasman to flood parts of New Zealand, like Bay of Plenty! caused allot of damage in it's wake, it was one of the most powerful ever and certainly had allot of stamina when over land)
Once the first signs of the tropical Autumn began (nights down to 24C, winds turning Easterly) it was time to prepare for sailing again. Everything had to be reattached to the deck, raised the mast and rigged up the sails, fitted the rudder, engine etc in the back yard to make sure it was all there. The engine was tank-tested, replaced a leaking fuel filter cover and made sure the cooling system was working. These things were done in spare time a week to days ahead of the trip.
Day 1 - Night 1 - Ross River
Launched late in the day at Ross River ramp, soon the sun was setting so anchored across river from the boat park with mast down. It was propped up on the mast crutch aft, enough so the pop-top could be half raised. The river was smooth, sheltered from 20 knot winds and rough waters outside. Hardly any sandflies or mosquitoes mid stream and the mozzie coils kept them out without screening.
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| Hatch board table |
Day 2. Ross River - Cape Cleveland...
The next morning was calm and serene.
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| Boiling the billy for breakfast in Ross River. Trangia stove. |
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Ross River. Removable anchor light on lowered mast.
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A strong out going spring tide helped speed Teria through the channel and onto Cleveland Bay. Motor sailing with a cool 2-3 knot SW land breeze, enabled Teria to lay Cape Cleveland light and do 6 knots over the ground in the nearly flat waters.
Navigation was now aided by my old Garmin GPS76s. It's around 2006 era and still working well. I used it for mineral exploration work in Australia and Vietnam years ago but it was stored in Thailand until recently. It started up no problems and the accessories were still there, 12v recharger cable and adjustable bean-bag dashboard mount.
It's map was very basic but enough to make a waypoint near the destination, get info like ETA and speed made good, time to destination and also a fluxgate compass with pointer arrow.
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| GPS navigation |
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| GPS with course line page on chart. |
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| Motor sailing across a flat sea towards the Cape. |
On the way a large brown creature surfaced and dived - a Dugong, or sea-cow, a vegetarian sea mamal, probably about 2m long, they feed on the sea grass meadows below. The waters across here are very shallow generally less than 10 meters..
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| Cape Cleveland ahead |
Anchored in Red Rock Bay. It's shallow sand bottom and sheltered by headlands.
The Cape Cleveland light-house is a historical one built in 1879. It's now automated and solar powered and not open to the general public. It can be visited through tours run by Sealink in Townsville. The barge was ashore and a tour helicopter flew in, landed and took off.
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| Cape Cleveland light house |
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| The mountains along the Cape, the coast is very shallow and tidal. |
After lunch the sea-breeze picked up, so hoisted sail and raised anchor and bore away. Now in a good windward position Teria sailed at around 5 knots broad reaching to a leeward Magnetic Island. The seas rose to over 1 meter, trimmed the centerboard back to help ease the weather helm.
Two large ships were anchored well off shore, both were floating high, waiting. Teria passed astern of Larus a few miles off Magnetic Island.
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| Bulk carrier Larus |
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