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
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.
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 post wet/floods etc. Also perhaps not the usual volume of boat launchings since the Iran vs USA + Israel war began on 28th Feburary 2025, which has resulted in a liquid fuel crisis/shortage here in Australia.
The 2026 fuel crisis in Australia (and the world)
Unleaded Petrol 91 Fuel prices were A$1.65/ litre pre-war, peaked around A$2.50/L then dropped below $2/L after the federal govt stepped in, removed fuel tax and negotiated/underwrote more tanker shipments etc. My ute and many outboards run on ULP91. (The diesel price is worse it peaked at A$3.20/litre, below $3/L recently!)
The fuel shortage is because Iran hasn't surrendered despite an absolute shellacking, blocked all ship traffic in the Straight of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman. 700 ships are trapped inside the gulf, and none can enter, so about 20% of the world's crude/fuel/LNG supplies are cut off from global markets. It's the worst crisis since the 1970's (also caused by middle Eastern wars).
SE Asia (oil refineries) has been hardest hit, as most of their crude oil came though the SOHormuz. Australia shut down most of it's refinery's over the last 20years, imports 80% of fuel and relies heavily on SE Asian refineries.
Australia also only had onshore fuel stockpiles of 30 days pre-war. This led to fuel-hoarding, fuel shortages and huge price rises. Most of our freight transport is diesel powered. The prices are being passed on to consumers, food and everything's more expensive. There seems to be plenty of recreational toys (boats, RV's, camping) for sale cheaper than ever. New battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales have grown exponentially since Feb. Foreign-fuelled travel isn't looking so good here right now.
My trip to the ramp was about 10km (so 20km return) still not too bad on budget in the ole ute (13L/100km). It might restrict longer road trips this year though.
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.
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 about 100m away.
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)
No comments:
Post a Comment