Good sailing north of the border to Noosa

10/12/2010

Truansea's best sailing experiences to date have with out doubt been immediately after crossing the border from NSW. Sorry cockroaches but seems your sailing weather this time was on par with your State of Origin efforts in recent times. Our entry into Southport under sail was as delightful as the few miles sailed further on to the top of North Stradbroke Is. Old memories of Moreton Bay resurfaced as we moved on up to Tangalooma Point on on Moreton Is where the dolphins welcomed us to our anchorage inside the Dring Banks. A little rain the following morning washed off any remnants of salt spray as we sailed over to Scarborough marina where we spent the week. Truansea being twice the width of monohulls of her length gave the scalpers at Scarborough marina the opportunity to fleece me for two monohull berths claiming that was all they had available. Naturally after meeting their extortive expectations it became apparent that there were several single berthing opportunities for Truansea, wiser next time. The convenience of berthing there to catch up with family and friends was worth the extra. There were several overseas yachts moored at Scarborough as it is a port of entry.

By Wednesday Truansea could wait no longer to head to Noosa to see for herself if all that I had told her along the way about her new life would be true. Sailing again was all that could be expected. Across Deception Bay and around Skirmish Point at the bottom of Bribie Is was like a Sunday sail. Then as the wind increased a few knots Truansea lifted her skirt and paralleled the shipping channel until near enough to Caloundra Head to slip between the extending reef and the fairway beacon. Three large carriers passed us as we ran up beside Bribie Island and there were several more standing off the Caloundra to Point Cartwright stretch. The contingency plan to head into Mooloolaba for the night if the wind was light went by the board when, off Point Cartwright at 14:30, Truansea sighted Noosa Head and would not be turned in early especially as she had a steady 15 knot easterly filling her sails and a fair current.

As each Sunshine Coast icon fell astern my phone rang as we were abeam Sunrise Beach. The lovely Lyn all Xmas shopped out, after dropping Bevan off at Scarborough earlier in the morning for the final leg, was driving home and decided to head into the coast at Peregian Beach. There are a few opportunities which we regularly take advantage of when driving between Coolum and Noosa to take in the ocean vista and see if there are any sails or whales to watch. On this day to her delight something special caught her eye; several sails out to sea, seven we had counted heading south. The object of her delight was closer inshore and she soon confirmed it was Truansea. Lyn watched from her vantage point until we passed and remarked how good it was to see us this far up the coast already. Advising her that we would spend the night anchored off First Point in front of Main Beach at Noosa she was off home for the camera and managed a couple of photos as we passed the Boiling Pot. Securely anchored about 100m out from First Point and with a million dollar view of Main Beach and no doubt providing some interest for those ashore we were suddenly surrounded by 20 odd surf ski's ripping out from the beach before returning to do it all again several times in the pursuit of fitness and whatever else it does for them. Logging off with the Coast Guard and advising them of our intention to cross the bar on the high tide in the morning we prepared for dinner just as old Sol took his rest for the day.

Meat and vegies doesn't sound all that creative when your just a couple of hundred metres from some of the best restaurants in the country but what it lacked in originality was made up for by the location and serenity of it all. Any rate lamb chops, potato, carrot, cauliflower, zucchini and egg cooked on the BBQ isn't all that shabby for an untrained bait layer after a days sail. Did I mention the fluid, Jupiter Hill Cab Sav Merlot 2007, wouldn't want to risk something sticking on the way down! Just gets tougher doesn't it.

Thursday, 9th December at 0900 Truansea weighs her anchor after receiving a call  from the real salts of the family Don and Agnes Reed advising that they have sounded a route in through the tricky parts of the mouth of the Noosa River for us. 0930 at the entrance and with the Noosa Coast Guard using the power of the jets on the "John Waddams", their premier rescue vessel, to flatten the chop we crossed the bar with only one small wave of no consequence breaking astern and washing under us. We were inside within minutes much to the satisfaction of Lyn, Jake, Pam and other unknown observers on the rock wall. Anchored in Woods Bay we ferried gear ashore and handed Bevan back to Laraine in good order none the worse for his adventure with many thanks for being available to provide the assurance of company along the way from Yamba.

Jake has checked Truansea over thoroughly, no nook or cranny escaped his attention. He will be able to sail his dinghy around the anchorage here during the school holidays and sleep on board. Lyn, Emma and Danny and Jake will come aboard shortly for sundowners. Emma, always the culinary upstager, has procured prawns, moreton bay bugs and a suitable bottle of bubbles to accompany my meager wafers, cheese and dips.

Visiting a gravely ill relative, jobs around the home and preparing for Xmas are at the top of my to do list now.

The 750 nautical miles from Sydney on this delivery trip has been a well rounded experience with all sorts of weather and sea conditions bar the extreme. Truansea is all she was expected to be and then some. I am very pleased with the decision to go with a Seawind 1000XL  and have no regrets. The joy and delightful times ahead will brighten more than a few lives for family and friends. Many thanks to all my family, friends,  especially Mars and Jupiter and work colleagues who have shared the experience so far and hope you are all delighted by what is to come.

Fair winds and a merry Xmas to all,  Brian and Lyn

Next move

06/12/10

Sitting here at Scarborough marina reflecting on a nice lunch at Moreton Bay Boat Club and afternoon spent with work colleagues yesterday. I hope they enjoyed the time as well and all seemed pleased that Truansea presented herself well and that she has the attributes to maintain my motivation and ensure safe passage on the adventure ahead. The weather Gods relented and with the exception of one brief shower, just to reaffirm who actually is in charge, provided us with a fairly pleasant day.

A lovely dinner at Denise's with Dave and Zena before settling down to watch a very interesting National Geographics doco on the largest cave in the world  Son Doong in Vietnam. Not for me that caving stunt but very interesting. 

Thanks for the call Glenn pleased to hear your going to spend some time with Maria after spending most of the year aboard the Pink Shrimp. Maybe the prospective purchaser will relocate her from Sardinia back to Italy and you will be closer to home.

If the trough forming off the coast from Fraser Island south doesn't deepen into one of those nasty lows by Wednesday Lyn will bring Bevan back down and we will move on up to Mooloolaba  and spend the night there before an early start on Thursday to catch the high tide at Noosa Bar at 10:00ish in the morning. Noosa bar has a formidable reputation but with a high tide, sun behind us and swell not expected to exceed 1.2m combined with local knowledge should see us in safely. Truansea can then have time to acquaint herself with her home base while I attend to some minor house maintenance tasks Lyn has been patiently expecting me to attend to. Then there is family and friends, our favourite coffee spots and mal sliding around the points and kayaking on the river and fishing. Will I have time for all this and Santa just around the corner. I've heard it said that retirement can be a busy time of life....

Fair winds,  Brian

    

28/11/2010

Departing Yamba with a reasonable forecast for the leg to Southport Seaway we entered the Clarence River through the hole in the wall and found ourselves in the middle of a combined Water Police and Volunteer Marine Rescue training exercise. Helicopters, police boats, VMR boats and VHF radio traffic were the order of the day. Where the Clarence meets the sea was a far different place to when Lyn and I arrived, just some small green speed humps to denote the crossing. 

The sum of rhumb line distances a safe distance of headlands and hard bits from Yamba to Southport Seaway is 97nm so reckoning on a bit of adverse current and a steady breeze 19-20 hours of sailing should see the job done. That is until Mr Murphy's law is applied to the calculation. His arithmetic is a little different to mine and generally the more accurate. The only difference really is like the old maths books where you had to go to the end of the book (voyage in this case) to get the correct answer which turned out to be 153nm.

How can this be? Simple really as always. Variable winds + periods of no wind + EAC x 3kts = Mr Murphy's constant. An earlier employer of mine estimated time to do a job with unknowns by averaging three guesses then doubling the answer and adding two. He was related to Murphy.

Slight seas are good Lyn, glassy ones even better. We had these for most of the passage as Lyn predicts this for times when she isn't aboard. Trawlers, up to twenty were counted within a mile of our position during the night mostly off Evans Head and Point Byron where the most easterly light house shines on all who sail within  it's range. How hard those fisherman work in poor conditions and how they tolerate the current is a credit to them. Prawns are cheap. The gloom of the lights from other trawlers working even further out to sea would indicate another twenty. A keen eye kept us clear of them with only one coming close to my safety radius.

All through the night we sailed when there was enough wind and motored when there wasn't finally seeing old Sol rise up as we passed Brunswick Heads. Huey the wind God was completely exhausted from his efforts to scare the lovely Lyn and many others off sailing over the past several weeks. All that fuss and water and waves he was kicking about finally settled down into almost a mirror like surface as we motored past my first SCUBA diving site, Cook Is off Fingal Head. Turtles and rays came to the surface close by as we passed between Fingal and Cook Is and had our first glimpse of Queensland and the start of that most famous of recreational strips named the Gold Coast. The Queensland wind being a much nicer affair than it's southern counterpart set up a particularly pleasant broad reach for us along the coast line about a mile off shore. Old Sol lit up the beach strip and high rise buildings like a postcard photo as we closed on the Southport Seaway.

Entering the seaway across the infamous Southport bar was a pretty benign affair sailing under full main and jib about 100m behind a monohull who chose to motor in ahead of us. We gybed the sails across as we turned north and held the one sail set all the way up the Broadwater along the inside of South Stradbroke Island until the last 2 miles before the "Bedroom" at the northern tip of the island near Jumpinpin. (It is a lovely place thank you Arlette. We had been here several times before in another life.) That wonderful BBQ produced another great steak, egg, zucchini, potato and carrot dinner washed down with a rum. Naturally. A Pacific black duck swum up to the transom shortly after we anchored and stepped aboard up the steps like he lived here all his life and stayed for at least ten minutes. I told you it was a good life.

After a night here we left earlyish back to my old habit of going just a bit further before stopping for breakfast.  We motored up to another old favourite anchorage where the old sand mining jetty used to be on North Stradbroke Island across from Caniapa Point. Cornflakes consumed we motored out past Macleay Island and hoisted sail finding the going much to our liking. Past Coochiemudlo Island, then Peel Island then St Helena Is off to port we passed several other catamarans and monohulls on our way to Tangalooma Point on Moreton Island just south of the resort. Finding a quiet place to anchor 300m of the beach in very clear water we dropped all sail and secured a good grip on the bottom with the anchor for the night. A small pod of dolphins welcomed us one leaping out equally as happy as us to be here.

Tomorrow we will head across to Scarborough where Truansea will spend a few days before the final leg of the trip home to Noosa. Bevan and I will return home from here by car with one of his old girlfriends. I'll have a chance to catch up with friends and relatives who have indicated a desire to take a look over the little ship when I return to Truansea on Saturday. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Fair winds, Brian.