Trip 22, day 2. A short day sail from Townsville

 Thurs 23rd April,

A cool gentle SSE land breeze made for calm idyllic conditions as Sunrise broke through rain clouds on the horizon. 

Sun breaking through - Port of Townsville

Sunbeams

Sunrise clouds at Duckpond

Magnetic Island Car ferry enters port

Setup the 40W solar panel down aft to trickle a few amps back into the 12v system.

Around 8.30am, called Coast Guard on VHF radio to start a trip-log. Then set course North Eastwards, close reaching at 5 knots under reduced sail (#2 jib and a reef in main) as the wind increased to a strong 20-25knot SE'er. There was a huge very dark rain squall ahead, (which can have winds 40% stronger than forecast) so decided to turn back about 2 nautical miles out and get back to port.

leaving Townsville

Tillerpilot steering

Castle Hill astern

The squall began to overtake Teria. now on another more spirited close reach with spray flying off the bow and over the decks and cabin top. The wind got stronger, so hove-to (with jib backed to windward, tiller lashed to leeward) dropped and furled the mainsail. Set off again under the #2 jib alone, still doing 4-5 knots but in a much more manageable, safer and sedate manner.

Motored the final upwind approach into the Duckpond, past moored and anchored vessells and  anchored in the shallow area.   The wind was still howling through the rigging but it was safe flat waters again. Dried out sailing gear and logged off with CG via VHF around 10am. 

Had a lunch of pre-made bread rolls while charging devices up, as 1 amp of solar power trickled in through the grey cloud cover. 

The wind abated but it was a "squally day". Two more rain squalls passed through, one at 2pm and another at 3.50pm. Battened hatches down each time mostly to keep rain out in the 25 knot plus squalls which lasted only 10-15 minutes each. 

A large warship entered port, tug boats turned her around and put her into a snug berth. It was HMAS "Choules" a logistics/supply ship. 

Thought about hauling out and driving home for awhile, but spent another night anchored instead. Learnt a bit more about weather. The BOM "rain" radar on my mobile phone app showed the squalls coming through. On land they are referred to as "occasional showers" by BOM and don't raise an eyebrow, but at sea they are rain squalls with strong winds that could knock a small boat over if not handled well. 

First sail 2026 dry season (Trip 22)

 Pre-launch - post wet season

It was a good wet season this year. It was hot, extremely humid and muggy, lots of heavy rain and squalls, so Teria was laid-up since October 2025 under her tarp. In december she was moved away from tall trees as cyclones developed and passed nearby. All fabric items and allot of equipment was removed and stored inside the airconditioned house.

Some maintenance on the trailer and boat was carried out.

In Mid April 2026 the season began to change a bit for the better. So cleaned everything inside, a bit of mould had formed but not much, as a small 240v electric fan kept the dank air moving  in the cabin and open hatches under the big tarp allowed for good ventilation. Setup the fan and battery charger on a powersocket timer - it came on daily at 7am and off at 5pm, (while the house's rooftop solar was producing 16-24kw of electrical power each day)

Put everything in dry storage back aboard, tested equipment (eg test tank ran the outboard). Revictualled using a check-list, so as not to forget anything.

Trip 22, Wed 22nd April 2026

Teria wet season storage area

Teria rolled out for provisioning

Final food loading and preps were done in the morning. Got away about 2.30pm, navigated the 10km of roads to the Coast Guard ramp, Ross Creek (near the Ferry Terminals and Port of Townsville ship berths). (Have used this ramp only once previously, on the first sail in 2013, 13 years ago) The small roundabout at the Strand was ok and easier than first imagined.

This ramp in Townsville is usually extremely popular with power-boats, recreational fishermen mostly (which outnumber trailer sailers 99 to 1 up here). On weekends, public holidays and gentle breeze mornings, it is absolutely jam-packed full, there is never a spare trailer park space remaining. (The fishers usually launch early mornings eg 2am-5am and return as the daily seabreeze increases around 8am-1pm) (In Addition, many trailer park spaces are often used by some non-boating Magnetic Island ferry passengers as well..)

So the secret is to use this ramp when the crowds don't want to. Monday-Friday afternoons are best. Usually the seabreeze has piped up by then and any powerboaters have already retreived and gone home.

Rigging up

Positioned Teria head to wind in the open carpark. Had to test raise the mainsail and also run a new, longer, 8mm reefing rope through the reef cringles and boom blocks..Went slowly to make sure every component of the rig looked sound, and to plod through every rig-up procedure after 6 months of seagoing memory fade ashore.

The half tide was ok, and the tilt-trailer helped slide Teria off with a rush at 5pm. There was allot of slippery mud on the ramp after wet season floods etc. Maybe there is less boat ramp traffic to clean the mud off, due to recent fuel price hikes ?

Tied up at Coast guard ramp pontoon

At Coast Guard ramp pontoon - Ross Creek channel

Anchored at the Duckpond

Motored a fairly short distance around to the Duckpond, anchoring in the shallows, away from larger boats. The sounder and tide tables allow for precise depth-planning, so she won't bottom out at the lowest predicted tide.

Anchored at Duckpond

Route from ramp to Duckpond

The best thing about the Coast Guard ramp/Duckpond setup (in off-peak periods) is convenience and safety. Trailer sailers can be fully rigged-up on land. The Coast guards VHF room is only about 30m from the ramp, and their rescue boats are moored nearby.

It's also very sheltered and the tidal current flows don't affect the ramp pontoon tie-up area. The ramps gradient is fairly moderate, not steep. In a strong South Easterly, the Townsville Port's breakwall's, large shed's and large ships sides, act as wind-breaks. They also shelter the area just outside the ports entrance.  There are good breakwalls around 3 sides of the Duckpond, which makes for a flat water, non-rolling anchorage. (However the SE trade-wind can still howl through)

Galley setup - boiling water on Trangia 25

After dark, unpacked the galley box, boiled the kettle and re-heated dinner while listening to local FM radio. 

Had the hatch secured as the strong SE'er persisted well into the night. The halyards and rigging wires moaned during strong wind gusts, while the sounds of the brightly lit port rumbled in the background.  The heavy anchor on all chain rode was secure in soft mud below. Watched the fishfinder, a few fish were below (and the keel had a few feet of clearance at low tide later on)