Up early for a cuppa, then sailed off quietly across Horseshoe Bay and headed westward along the North coast of Magnetic Island.
This coast is nearly all National Park, there were no boats or people to be seen and mobile signal was cut off. It seemed a world away so nick-named it "The far side" (more like the far side of the moon where radio signals are lost, not the cartoon) . I've never really explored this coast before, just sailed past a few times at a distance so the Investigator was living up to its name at last.
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| Sailing out of Horseshoe Bay |
Broad reached before a strong SSE then rounded the first headland, to be met by calms and strong bullets of headwind. So furled the jib, motored into Maud Bay on a high tide to temporarily anchor in order to reef the sails down. One slab reef in the main and change to the smaller No 2 jib. Expected strong headwinds on the final leg to Townsville, but being solo it's better to reduce sail area early in a nice calm bay rather than out in rough conditions later on.
Motored off in the sheltered lee of the tall hills. Norris bay was moderately exposed and had a fair shore break happening, fair weather place only.
Continued on and anchored in Wilson Bay. It's very small with rocky headlands each side and had a 90 m long nice sandy beach (but looks allot smaller than that!). It was much better protected from swells, so had lunch and admired the scenery. The shore break was small, a good place to go ashore.
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| Wilson Bay |
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| Wilson Bay (Maud and Norris bays behind) |
Huntingfeild Bay was a bit like Norris bay, more open and exposed so more shore break at the beach. The eastern end of the beach was calmest. It's the last bay in the Northern coast bays (and beaches) of the Island.
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| Home made tiller brake |
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| Huntingfield Bay |
Rounded "Liver Point" which stands out having a different smoother rocktype that hardly supports any vegetation. (Most of the Island is a Granite which weathers into large well rounded boulders, allowing plenty of spaces for trees to take root)
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| Liver point |
Rollingstone Bay takes up most of the 1 nautical mile of the NW coast, the shore is a rugged rocky one without any beaches. A few small aluminium "tinnies" were anchored there for rod-fishing in it's calm lee. Approaching West Point, I spotted a Hartley TS16 sailing around from Townsville. It was the only other trailer sailer i saw in 4 days. I think they knew how to avoid difficult seas by going clockwise around the Island. Sail down wind with the strong SE'er in the semi-sheltered waters of the channel (1-2' waves) then motor eastwards along the sheltered far-side to Horseshoe Bay perhaps was their plan.
I usually go anti-clockwise around Magnetic Island, with the idea to get plenty of wind across the open windward east shore..but its often quite rough up to 6-7' waves out that side on a 25 knot wind day. Might try the Hartley's route next trip if the winds are strong. Their boat was a very nice traditional wooden one with a seagull outboard, varnished wooden cabin and a red ensign on a small flag pole aft. It's allot lighter weight than an Investigator with a steel center-plate and crew weight is needed to hold it upright. Shallow draft makes it easy to beach and get ashore.
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| Hartley TS 16 |
Rounding west point, the 20-25 knot SE'er hit hard on the nose. I soon anchored off the beach there, to distribute some heavy weight further aft for the windward bash home. Moved the heavy anchor and chain from the anchor locker, right aft to the cockpit transom area. Also moved a couple of 10 litre water containers to the aft end of the cabin. With the bow much lighter and buoyant Teria was better at lifting over and parting the relentless seas in the strong head wind. Donned full wet weather gear and adapter-cap on as the spray was soon flying sub-horizontally back into the cockpit.
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| Weight aft to lift bow |
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| Adapter cap |
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| strong headwind motoring inside channel |
The trusty Tohatsu sailpro 6 pushed Teria into it at 2.5 to 2.8 knots, a comfortable speed in the conditions. Stayed close to the reef flat as the wave height was reduced by this barrier. Had the centerboard down for depth sounding. just as well, as it started hitting the coral/sand bottom so slowed down, did a 90 degree turn and went out to deeper water before resuming course.
Motored into it for what seemed like ages before setting course for the Casino (landmark for the Duckpond) Passed the western navigation beacon pole of middle reef to port. Finally gained enough upwind ground under motor, so unfurled sails and could lay the Marina end of strand close hauled on port tack . It was a hard pressed sail across the bay, eased the main and luffed up a bit in gusts.
Motor-sailed into the Duckpond (jib furled) mid afternoon, to drop anchor and main. Was a bit weary after that heavy bash, so rested and had a nice cuppa coffee water and food sustenance. Some sea water had leaked below, no-where as bad as the last time i bashed into 25-30 knot headwinds, as allot of windows etc had been silicone sealed since then. but suspect some got under the unsealed hatch coamings but only the windward side bunk and gear got wet. So had a few things out drying in the sun and breeze..(Put allot of items into zip-lock plastic bags, also makes a difference if hatches leak)
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| Drying out and resting at Duckpond |
Revived by 4 pm so sailed on tacking upwind for Ross River, the wind still 20-25 knots with knarly 2' seas. Less spray flies over when sailing compared to motoring, as the heeling raises the windward gunwale and free board allot. Spray just shoots over the bow and foredecks.
One yacht came out for the Yacht clubs Wednesday night social race. Followed them for awhile, a 30-35 ft modern design with mylar mainsail. They had no competition but a nice sail.
Tacked and could lay Ross River Entrance on port tack. This leg took about 2 hours (compared with a 20 minute calm morning motor) but it was satisfying sailing it.
Kept about 100m to windward of the Ross River channel rockwall, close to the red port Nav beacons (no need for road rules, no other boats, too rough) Had an incoming tidal flow, which flattened the waves and helped speed, so could broad reach in under the reefed mainsail and anchor in the flat water behind the sand spit just as the sun was setting.
A hot cuppa, before derigging the mast and washing the decks with excess water (took 38 litres out and used half up).
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| Mast down.. |
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| ..to get under this bridge |
Motored back to the Boat Park after dark but safe in sheltered waters with plenty of shore lights and nav lights around. Tied up at the well lit pontoon around 7.30 pm.
The Haulout onto the "new trailer" was a breeze. Teria floated about 1/2 way on and an easy angle to winch up about 2.5 m without tilt function. The modified trailer is it's a great improvement on the original setup.
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| Track around Magnetic Island. (Blue = day 1, Red = day 2, Yellow = day 4) |
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