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| Cape Cleveland lighthouse, after sunrise |
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| Lighthouse bay |
Up anchored at 9am and motored upwind into Redrock Bay nearby with furled main and jib stored below. The GPS chart allowed Teria to follow the "shoal line" which allowed minimal fetch resulting in easy small wavelets to punch through.
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| Motoring into a 25 knot SSEer |
Kept the water depth at 6 - 8 feet. It's a muddy sand nearly flat bottom for many miles, no coral bombies to hit. Its an expansive seagrass meadow which protected dugongs and green sea turtles feed on.
There were a few recreational fisho's camps and shacks dotted along the Cape Cleveland coast, tucked into sheltered bays with orange sandy beaches (the Cape is Granite rock, similar to Magnetic Island, so rounded headlands and hills between) Its extremely tidal and shallow at times of tide, so only for beach-able small boats of under 1 foot draft who can work the tides.
Put the mainsail up but soon dropped it again as the boat was totally unbalanced and unsteerable without a jib up as well in the fresh breeze. I hauled the centerplate up too fast and it got stuck up in the centercase and wouldn't drop down again (lift wire shackle jamed underwater), so even less hull/sail balance control. Resorted to the outboard which pushed us along nicely at 5 knots and the 25-30 knot winds had spray flying over the bow, but it was a nice cruise with the tillerpilot whirring away again as well. Plenty of time to enjoy the view of the Capes rugged hills slipping by for many miles.
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| Motoring west, still windy with spray flying. Cape Cleveland's hills. |
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| Running northwards, Cape Cleveland astern, drying out gear |
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| Downwind to Townsville (Galley and Ice boxes in cabin). |
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| Goosewinged run home, reduced sails. Bimini stowed. |
Reached the low lying isthmus which joins the Cape to the mainland. Ashore its mostly tidal saltflats and mangrove forests form the coastline. Inshore waters were also less exposed and easier to navagate.
Hoisted the #2 jib on the spinaker halyard and motor sailed on a close reach. Later turned downwind for Townsville. Did 3 knots with tillerpilot self-steering on, drying clothes out, navigating. Very relaxing after the wilder Cape waters.
Put the main up later to increase speed to 4 knots, even as the inshore winds weakened a bit.
Reached the Duckpond at 1.30pm. Then anchored very close to The Strand Beach (near Marina/sailing club house) Paid out anchor chain until it was 5 foot deep. Donned the stinger suit and dive gear, then dived under the keel with a sturdy dive knife in hand and levered the centerplate free. I was astounded that it was done on the first dive attempt. Wore my "crocs" boating shoes, so the squishy hardly visible muddy bottom was ok to stand on and brace against. Theres's potentialy dangerous sealife about (croc's, sharks, box-jellyfish) so was back aboard within a minute. It was my first snorkel dive in years, but its like riding a bicycle, you never forget.
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| At the Strand for diving, centerplate repairs. |
Quite happy about fixing the stuck plate so quickly in the water. It would've been a major multi-day drama at the shed ashore working against gravity and 1 ton of boat hanging above, something best avoided (see blogposts from that era).
The bilge had 2" of water in it, so pumped most of it out until a fallen wingnut got sucked up into the bilge pump intake tube rendering it useless (no strainer on it yet, oops). The backup sponge and bailers weren't required.
So it was time for a cuppa coffee, safely anchored in the Duckpond for awhile. emptied some unused fresh water containers on deck to wash it down and lighten the boats weight before motoring to the ramp for haul out.
While Teria was moored at the floating pontoon, and the ramp was quiet, i did a bit of trailer maintenance in the car park as it was easy to access without the boat on it. Oiled/CRC sprayed all the keel rollers, some had gotten sticky over the last few years. Then deflated my utes 4 tyres from 40psi to about 30 psi, so they would have better traction on the ramp.
A young fisho helped winch Teria up, with the tilt trailer helping. The tide was not too low but some slippery ramp slime was under back wheels still. This time the ute stayed put (it had done some scary ramp sliding last trip). The take-off did involve a little bit of ramp slime removing wheel spin but it was ok and the ramp will be easier to use for the next guy.
My ute is a rear wheel drive 2WD, utes are notoriously too lightweight at the rear end. I had readjusted the trailer towballs weight before the trip, back to 10% or about 120kgs which has helped the backwheels grip the ramp better as well.
Of course it would be far better to have a 4WD's traction and low-low gear selection (Then your also wouldn't need a small Invesigator 563, a 20 - 24 foot far more comfortable behemoth would also be towable. However budget constraints and ministers of finance wouldn't like it. A good 4WD costs 10 times more than my ute to buy and several times more to maintain/run.
It takes about an hour to de-rig. The young pontoon fisho was amazed how long it takes to de-rig a TS compared to a speed boat's retrieval. (and i'm likely slower than most TSer's) . It's not easy to explain some of the pro's and cons of sailing. Taking more time is often seen as a con in this fast-lane instant gratification world.
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| Derigging at Coast Guard ramp |
Fuel cost's are a pro for TS, i used 5 litres of ULP91 for this 4 day sail. TS's are also a bit less dependent on Australian volunteer Coast guard (AVCG) "tow home's" than single engined powerboaters are, as TS's have 2 major forms of propulsion backing each other up. Sails + motor. This was the case on this trip, when i couldn't sail the motor kept on chugging away, until conditions improved.
Usually the AVCG needs a donation to cover its towing costs, they are not a government agency but self-funded private volunteer organisation here in Queensland (i went on a 25mile tow rescue once, aboard 47 foot "Rotary Rescue" when i was a AVCG crewmember. It was a 50 nm round trip, which took a few hours. The skipper said it cost $700 in diesel fuel, wow. But the vessell did about 25knots outbound, gots there quickly, and towed the 20 ft powerboat back at 15 knots. They had anchored at an Island overnight after engine failure, ended up a 50 kms roadtrip from Rollingstone ramp where they had launched) Generally big rescue/tow boat running costs are about $250 - $500 per hour. So CG "marine assist" subscriptions of $100 per year per boat, are like a good value insurance policy, and its optional to also donate a bit of $ for towing costs. I've paid my CG subs for many years of Teria ownership and (touch wood) haven't required a big tow home. It's just good to know someone with a good rescue vessell standing by is always keeping a benevolent eye on you when you're out there.
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| The AVCG QF8 Base, Townsville, the VHF radio operations room is here. (Teria moored at CG ramp's floating pontoon.) |
Sailing is about the slow travel, a few challenges, plus the destinations (fishing and diving can be optional extras). It requires a completely different mind-set from "life in the fast lane" that is so common these days.
