Up a creek

It's been a while since our last blog update. We're now in Gladstone, more precisely we've anchored in the shallow and narrow Boyne River mouth a few miles south of Gladstone harbour. We left Pialba early morning on Tuesday last week and motored until out of the shallow water. The morning mist cleared and it became a beautiful sunny day. We sailed with a light wind behind us and it was most enjoyable with the sails up and the boat moving steadily along. Eight and a half hours later we sailed into the mouth of Burnett River and anchored off Port Bundaberg.   We were expecting a busy river shipping channel as this is the most popular Australian destination for boats crossing the Pacific as well as a sugar loading wharf for Bundaberg's main industry.  It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful and we enjoyed the comfortable anchorage, a tranquil spot that we shared with a family of pelicans and a lone fisherman.

The next day we puttered in the dinghy to Burnett Heads Marina and went ashore to stretch our legs and explore the area.  We saw a group of free ranging kangaroos just hopping about at the outskirts of the village. They were a bit camera shy and hopped off as we approached within a few meters.

A source of amusement for us is the drive thru bottle stores in Australia. No need to get out of your car - fast liquor much like fast food, place your order, collect and pay, and drive off. Robert used the opportunity to purchase a bottle of rum for which Bundaberg is renowned. I think Bundaberg Rum is an acquired taste.

The following Thursday morning was another early start for an estimated 10 hours to Round Hill Creek. 

Another gorgeous sunny day with light wind - a little too light and Robert successfully put up the spinnaker.  

A few boats going in the same direction were often within close sight and we enjoyed checking out the strange looking replica of a lanteen-rigged caravel of the era of Christopher Columbus.

We approached the sand barred entrance to Round Hill Creek too casually, made a basic mistake and the boat got stuck on a sandbar.  It's quite a tricky entrance as you can see from what it look like from above. But still, if we had been a bit more careful we would not have got stuck. Lessons were learned!

The tide was rising rapidly and after a few horrible moments we were pulled off the sandbar by Tony and Sandy with their boat Bulletproof from 1770 Creek 2 Reef Fishing Charters.  Once free, our engine started but would not engage in a gear, so Tony and Sandy towed us in and we anchored further upstream near a holiday camp site. We are very grateful to this couple who went out of their way to assist us.  The next morning Robert found that the driveshaft had pulled loose and after some effort and epoxy was able to refit it. News of our mishap had spread amongst the small village and when we went to the small campsite shop, the shopkeeper said "You're the boat people who got stuck on the sandbar".  Yeah, right, ha ha.

Round Hill Creek has a great holiday vibe and dozens of boats anchored about the shallow creek. The weather was sunny and the weekend visitors clearly had good fun with paddle boards and dinghys.

There are two amphibious craft who trundle about taking people across the creek and onto the sand banks. A strange sight to have the pink apparition with wheels coming past our boat and bumbling onto and over the sandbars and beaches.

The name of the town behind the beach is "Town of 1770". Cook landed here in 1770, his second landfall in Australia.

We decided to wait out a few days to allow further checks on the driveshaft and to wait for wind as we wanted to use less engine power on the first leg after Robert's repair. On Tuesday 25th we left Round Hill Creek crossing our fingers past the notorious sandbar and sailed to Pancake Creek. It was an easy sail in 10 knot following wind and took 4 hours. Pancake Creek is a scenic area with many unspoilt beaches and thick vegetation on surrounding hills.

After another early start and an uneventful day of sailing and motoring we pulled into where we are now in Gladstone.  

Things are not always as they seem

Our next destination was Kingfisher Bay Resort about 20 nautical miles north.  The route has many narrow shallow channels so we carefully followed the channel markers and constantly watched our depth gauge.  Overcast conditions made it difficult to spot the channel markers without binoculars. 

Red to port ...

Green to starboard ...

Marcelle steering in the drizzle, wearing a super goretex-type jacket which was paid for by contributions from kind colleagues at Quotient on her retirement. 

After motoring all the way, we anchored off Kingfisher Bay Resort and went ashore in the early evening.

Big mistake. Already in the dinghy I felt insect bites and by the time our quick 20 minute recce was over, I was itching all over. Initially we thought it was mosquitoes but as the dozens of bite marks developed into red itching welts we realized it was probably sandflies or midges. It looked like I had measles and needed liberal coatings of Anthisan to relieve the constant itching.  Robert seemed bite-free but when he went ashore the next day without me as their preferred victim, he too returned with souvenir bites. Five days later the red spots are still evident.

Kingfisher Bay Resort is somewhat seedy and matched the drab weather so we decided to move on to Scarness and Pialba via Urangan as we needed to top up our diesel and water.  Robert had researched the approach to the fuel jetty at Urangan Harbour but things are not always as they seem on Google and to our dismay, there was no place for the trimaran to moor alongside the fuel jetty and barely space to turn around.  Robert tried to turn the boat to back out in the limited space and as luck would have it, the engine cut out and would not restart as Robert desperately tried to get the engine going.  Pegasos drifted towards the other moored boats.

In situations like this, it always seems every other boat is hugely expensive and we are about to trash them. Luckily there were enough vigilant owners about to catch our ropes and pull Pegasos to an available mooring next to their boats as we leaned over pushing off the other boats as we came dangerously close. It was a close shave, very close I thought as I was being squished between another boat's bow sprit and our guardrail.

Robert refueled by carting the jerry cans up and down and with help to turn the boat off the temporary mooring, we moved out the Harbour and anchored off shore near Pialba pier. It was a comfortable anchorage and the next day we were able to go ashore for shopping and laundry at low tide. The tidal range in this part of the world is about 2 meters.  Reaching shore at low tide (or so we calculated), we dragged the dinghy as far as we could up the sand, quite a feat with a load of dirty laundry on my back and a gas bottle on Robert's back.  We estimated we had about two hours but a slight miscalculation meant we actually had less time. On return we saw the dinghy bobbing about in far more water than anticipated so Robert had to wade a distance to retrieve the dinghy, fortunately tied to a rock - now submerged.

Wading out to fetch the dinghy ...

Not his only tidal miscalculation. This was low tide three days earlier!

The Great Sandy Strait

The Great Sandy Strait is a narrow strip of marginally navigable channels, mangroves swamps, shifting sand banks and forested islands that separate mainland Australia from Fraser Island.

Entering into this calm wonderful wilderness area requires crossing the Wide Bay Bar, the scariest seaway on this side of the country. 

The combination of strong tides and stronger currents and a maze of sandbanks with big swells rolling in from the Pacific can make this two mile dash quite desperate.

This is how we did not want to do it ...
YouTube video of someone else having a rough time on the Wide Bay Bar

So we waited for perfect calm weather, plotted our route carefully, checked in with the local coast guard and conscientiously monitored our way on GPS and chart plotter. And it was a doddle.

That was on Tuesday. Since then we have been in the calm protected waters of the Great Sandy Strait. This place is a superb wilderness with stunningly beautiful anchorages, peaceful secluded little beaches,
pristine forests and plenty of wildlife. 

All along we've seen dozens of turtles, fish leaping about everywhere and we been regularly visited by
dolphins.

More Dolphins ...

 

Sailing with dolphins

While other mothers in the Southern Hemisphere were getting ready for Mother's Day lunch, this mother was making peanut butter sandwiches and a flask of tea for our sail from Mooloolaba to Noose Heads.  We set off at 9.00 am in overcast weather and with no wind to fill the sails we motored all the way in swells making Robert look distinctly green about the gills.  The only point of interest were 2 sets of shark fins passing by.

 We arrived 4 hours later, avoided the shark nets and anchored as close to the sheltered lee side as possible. Mother's Day festivities were in full swing at Noosa Heads and the sound of a running commentary on loudspeakers carried across the bay until dusk.

Eight hours behind, I received Mother's Day messages from Kristy and Jethro and even better, photos of the two together. I miss them so much and it was so good to see their photos.

After an uncomfortable night in rolling swells, we set off at 9.30 am in glorious sunny weather, again no wind. About 2 hours out of Noosa Heads a pod of dolphins appeared at our bow, leaping and keeping in front of the bow wave.  We were treated to this amazing spectacle for about 20 minutes.  The sea was so calm that we could sit in front of the foredeck and delight in the dolphin display about 2 feet away from us.  If I stretched my leg down, I could have touched them.  From time to time they reappeared around the boat until we anchored at Double Island Point in mid afternoon.  The bay was flat and calm and we watched the dolphins moving about the bay.

 
The sunset was the stuff of postcards.

The night was the stuff of nightmares as our calm anchorage turned into a rollercoaster of rocking swells, lifting the boat and dumping us into troughs. We barely slept as the boat tossed about and the sea slapped hard on the hulls. Morning brought calmer seas and sunshine and we could hardly wait to leave Double Island Point.

Guided Tour of Pegasos, a Jim Brown SeaRunner 37

Well it's stopped raining cats and dingos but it's still pretty miserable here on the "sunshine" coast.  

We took the dingy to the shore and from there a bus to a ritzy shopping mall where I found what I need to be able to access my photos.

That's our little runabout in the foreground and Pegasos anchored in Mooloolaba Bay behind us. 

Here's me driving the same runabout a few days back, delivering Jon and Clarissa to the shore. They're the previous owners of Pegasos who joined us on our first sail. It's the end of an era for them and they're quite sad here. They had owned and loved Pegasos for nearly seven years. It had been their only home for five of those years. 

Anyway, now that I have pics here goes the grand tour .... Non-boating types might get bored.


As you can see, Pegasos is a Trimaran, more specifically a Jim Brown designed SeaRunner Trimaran.

Note the big anchor sticking out the front. It's a Rocna 45, the latest and greatest in modern anchor design, a fancy and pricey New Zealand invention. As we are going to be anchored almost every night I'm thrilled to have this big brute hanging on the nose.


These boats have an enthusiastic cult following. There aren't many cruising Trimarans. Most modern sailing trimarans are stripped-out lightweight racing boats. Most modern cruising multi-hulls are catamarans, which generally offer more living comfort but at a cost of poorer sailing performance and less comfortable motion. But my budget doesn't extend to modern boats of any kind.
 
In the 1960's many yachts, especially experimental cruising multi-hull yachts, were home-built by
hippies and mavericks as the ultimate vehicle for dropping out and seeing the word. Many of these were badly made of cheap flat ply-wood panels and poor quality resins and have sunk or rotted away by now.


Towards the end of this period in Southern California, Jim Brown, a brilliant designer with World War II aircraft construction experience applied the then very new high quality WEST system of  using epoxy resins in fiberglass and composite structures and attempted to produce a design for the perfect vessel for a couple or single family for long term cruising. The SeaRunner trimarans were born.  Many enthusiasts believe that he did indeed create the ideal design. I haven't the experience or knowledge to really have a valid opinion on this, but I do like my boat.


People hardly ever build SeaRunners anymore. With the same effort and expense it is possible to build other boats that would command a higher market price today. I'm not going into the reasons for that. The bottom line is that SeaRunners are still really good boats and most of them are quite old.
 
Pegasos was built in 1979 in Southern California. And it was named Pegasos. And I'm keeping the name, with funny spelling variant.


Here's a side view...

The two side floats are called Amas. They are kept light and are largely empty. Well that's the theory.
In reality they provide heaps of storage space that soon fills with junk. The central float is called the Vaka. These names are Polynesian. The Vaka is the living space.

It's a cutter, (which means it has one mast, with two sails in front of the mast and another sail, the mainsail on the boom attached to the back of the mast.) It also means the mast is a bit further back than normal.  It also has a center cockpit, (the outside area under the brown awning where one steers and controls the sails is not right at the back of the boat but at the base of the mast).  This is not the most common arrangement, but it's not exactly obscure. It's an arrangement suitable for cruising with a small crew. With a center cockpit cutter the base of the mast is in the cockpit, which makes it much easier and safer to get to the mast and attend to tasks like lifting, dropping and reefing sails.


The Vaka, the central part is 37 foot long, divided into 9 segments, each segment is 3 foot long.


The foremost 3-foot segment holds the anchor on top and the electric-hydraulic mechanism of the anchor winch below. It is internally separated from the rest of the boat so that if we crash into something hard then only a small part of the boat will flood.

In this picture all the cockpit covers are rigged to make a tent-like enclosure, great for privacy at marinas and protection from bad weather. Also noticeable is the open hatch up front. This is over the toilet and shower area which occupies the second 3-foot segment. Washing is a bit basic, subject for another blog. The toilet is OK. It has an electric flush with macerator and the option of diverting waste to either a holding tank or directly overboard. The original Jim Brown recommendation is for a bucket. My crew would mutiny!        

The third 3-foot segment, now with standing headroom, is a dressing room with hand basin and a bench opposite and cupboards for clothing and toiletries. The toilet is behind the blue curtain.

The 4th 3-foot segment is the main bedroom. Behind the colourful  curtain is the dressing room.
On the left (port) is the main double bed. On the right (starboard) is a single bed. This view is from the central cockpit looking down and forwards.

Looking towards the starboard single bed

Looking towards the port side main double bed.

Note the steps in the foreground left leading up to the central cockpit.

The foot of the bed extends underneath the cockpit seats. This space is a bit tight. SeaRunners being such cult items are not simply sold from one owner to the next but are solemnly  passed on to successive caretakers. Part of this ritual is that one hands over the original drawings, formal old-style blue prints from the 1970's. Among the notes in these technical engineering drawings that pertain to the main double bed is Jim Brown's wry comment that "cruising couples are agile".  Indeed.

Moving aft and up into the cockpit....  Marcelle and Clarissa (feet only). 

In this photo all the covers are down, making the cockpit open and outdoors.

The steering wheel can be removed to make more space when at anchor. And when sailing, as we are here, the autopilot can be engaged to do the steering and no-one need hold the wheel.


Below, Clarissa in the same spot where Marcelle was in the previous picture. The opening in front of her leads into the bedroom area.

Jon and Clarissa in the cockpit. The cockpit occupies segments 5 and 6.

Jon giving me SeaRunner sailing lessons. Notice how much space there is to move around. 

Under the floor of the cockpit is the lifting centerboard,  a 3-cylinder 29Hp Yanmar Diesel engine, batteries and water storage. 


Jon was trained as a primary school teacher but even still I think he found it quite exhausting teaching me. Here he is taking a break in the far corner of the boat. There really is plenty of space on this deck.

Moving aft .... Here's Marcelle exiting from the kitchen and living space.

Behind her, on her right (starboard) is another bed, a spare double. Normally covered with junk but here specially tidied for the photo. Again the foot end of the bed extends underneath the cockpit seats.

Opposite this bed on the port side is the navigation table. Believe it or not but this has also been specially tidied for the photo.

 

Among the items visible here are the controller for the solar panels and wind generator, switches for lights and instruments, music system, a wifi router with cell-phone data link to the internet, battery selector
HF radio (which I'll never use), drinking water reserve and controls for the aircon. Yup we have aircon! And a petrol generator to power the thing.

The spare double bed (the head part anyway) and the nav table occupy the sixth 3-foot segment.

Looking towards the back (aft) from there is the kitchen and dining area. 

Segment 7, on the port side is the gas stove and oven.

On the starboard side is the kitchen sink.

In the last two 3-foot segments, numbers 8 and 9, is the dining table. This is looking forward from the dining area towards the cockpit.

Behind the dining table is a window with a great view out the back of the boat.  This was taken just a few hours ago while seated at the dining table. On top is one of the three solar panels. And behind is the still overcast skies of the "sunshine coast".