Indian Ocean was as good as we could make it. All that was left was the usual last
minute tying down of things both on deck and below, get the dinghy up on the
davits, outboard motor onto the back rail, take on fuel and water and go.
With Darwin’s 20ft tides and our relatively deep keel we made sure we’d have enough
water for the zig zag approach to the fuel dock outside the lock gates of Cullen Marina.
We radioed ahead and crept in an hour before low tide, only to find a trawler type boat
had got in before us and there was no way we were going to be able to squeeze into the
space ahead of him. The approach prevents you from seeing the dock until you’re in the
small turning basin area.
For some reason our depth sounder flashes when we need it most in really shallow water.
It’s an indication that it isn’t getting a clear sounding even though I went over the side and
cleaned the transducer the day before. It was a very fast die with images of crocs and sharks
going through my mind! So with fingers crossed we prop walked the boat in a tight circle
hoping we wouldn’t touch bottom until the trawler left.
Once we were at the dock it took about 45 minutes to fill all the tanks and clear the dock,
right on the bottom of the tide. We managed to pick our way back out without touching,
even though there would have only been inches to spare.
With the tide now incoming we had to motor against it back to the entrance to Fannie Bay
where we anchored for an hour to send off last minute emails, update blogs etc before losing
our Aussie wifi.
Common sense would have had us wait for the tide to turn again, but we were keen to get going and technically the 24 hours they give us to depart was just about up, so we battled out against
the tide at 3 knots. With tanks full of duty free diesel and a downhill run in S.E. trades
for the next 2 weeks we felt we could be a bit extravagant.
Well those S.E. trades missed their appointment! We motored with the sails up for the next
4 days, just in case the wind turned up for work. In fact the first 10 days were hopeless.
To preserve fuel we decided to meander along at 3 knots and motor again only when we dropped to less.
But we had our moments of excitement too, like noticing the housing for the roller furling main sail had sheared its bolts and pulled away from the mast. This is major and we carefully furled the main and lashed the housing to the mast. So, no main sail all the way to the Cocos Islands, just when we need every bit of sail up we can get. On the plus side, a lot more damage would have been done if we’d been sailing in strong wind.
The reality is there is almost no chance that we will be able to get it repaired at Cocos Islands, so we will probably be without a main all the way to Mauritius.
But that wasn’t our only bit of excitement. Sandy caught a couple of barracuda which we threw back. In the Caribbean cicatera is a major problem and we’re not sure of the situation here. She also caught a couple of cuttlefish, so the boat is now sporting a tattoo. I do hope the ink doesn’t stain permanently. She hooked something big one evening and was reeling it in when a shark came and took the lot. I’m assured the shark was at least the length of the boat!
We passed Ashmore Reef at night but approaching it we had a sunset close passing of an Aussie patrol vessel, the Tamworth I think. Then the next evening it was Storm Bay. On both occasions
it was just radio contact across half a mile of water, but on the morning after we’d passed the reef we noticed a patrol boat closing in on us, fast. The next thing we knew they’d launched a high speed rubber duckie and were coming straight for us, with 8 men in full battle fatigue, armed, helmets... quite intimidating.
As they pulled up along side the ‘leader’ took his helmet off and said “We’ve got all your information already, but we thought you might like some breakfast!” They then passed over two covered platters with boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, and bacon. They chatted about Wind Wanderer and where we were going, then bid us fair winds and returned to their mother ship. What an
unexpected and pleasant surprise.
With the mainsail out of action we started using the rabbit sail by day. It’s a huge, light weight asymmetric spinnaker. Unfortunately the fabric blows everywhere and we snagged it and had to do instant repairs before we mastered its idiosyncrasies. Once up we were able to sit on 4 -6 knots most of the day, but couldn’t risk using it by night because if the wind did get up the up front
dance with the devil in the dark is too tricky.
It’s a powerful sail and we haven’t used it often. As I unclipped the tack at the tip of the bowsprit I discovered the ring it attaches to had failed. Either metal fatigue, corrosion, or both.
With so little wind and no main sail we really needed the rabbit, so I made up a fitting with stainless steel cable, eyes and swages. I then spent half an hour sitting with my legs dangling over
the end of the bobbing bowsprit while I fitted it in place.
It’s amazing how careful and deliberate every movement is when you know that anything dropped is going to keep going for 4000 meters. In fact it was when that thought crossed my mind I realized I could never be perched out there 4000 meters above the ground! But throw in 4000 meters of water that wouldn’t support me for very long anyway and I was ok.
Talk about mind games. I was very happy to make my way back to the deck!
As I got back into the cockpit the wind started picking up so we decided not to launch the rabbit until we knew what we were dealing with.
It was 9 am on the 13th day out and the trade winds had arrived. Our 14 – 16 day estimate was now 20 days but at least we were doing 4-5 knots in 15-20 knots of wind without a main sail. The yankee and stays’l are doing most of the work with 50% mizzen giving a good balance. Any more mizzen and the back is over powered making the auto pilot work way too hard.
The pity is that with the wind has come big seas so our comfortable idling along has been replaced with a rodeo ride, but it’s good to be sailing again.
I wrote this on the way to the islands with the full intention of keeping on top of the game, but here we are at Cocos, a little paradise in which to tackle a load of work before we can continue, and I haven’t even written up the balance of the trip. Maybe it was just too traumatic! We literally had a moment when we thought we may be losing the boat.
But I will, soon, when I get a break from everything else on our plate.
But being in such a beautiful spot is great therapy.
Until next time...