Fi & Adrian

Sailing & Other Adventures

Month: June 2020

Coffs Harbour to Yamba

June 28, 2020 /

By Adrian

We decided on Yamba as our next destination as it could be sailed mostly in the daylight and provides a large river system to explore if we are stuck there with border closures. Yamba has the usual bar crossing so we needed to align arrival times with the tide and weather. After 2 or 3 possible dates were discarded as the weather forecast changed, we settled on a day with sailing winds for most of the day and low swells.

We had met up with some former work colleagues a few days earlier and Howard, one of the founders of our last company decided he would join us for the trip. He stayed overnight on the boat the night before to get oriented and ensure we got an early start.

We left an hour before dawn under motor, dodging a few fishing vessels around the harbour entrance. Its usual to hug the coast to avoid the East Australian current which flows south in this area. However, our forecast recommended heading out into the current to get better wind. As we passed South Solitary Island with its lighthouse and old buildings, the wind arrived and we raised the sails.

Howard quickly picked up the knack of tiller helming replacing our trusty autohelm and saving a few amps. Shortly after taking the helm we had a whale surface just ahead of us to check us out.

The calm conditions even allowed us to diagnose our engine compartment leak. Its completely dry on flat water but on coastal passages we can have half a bucket of water in 12 hours. Fi spotted a small fountain coming out around the base of the rudder stock. It may be that the rudder stock used to be enclosed in fibreglass all the way to the deck and at some time this was removed for a steering wheel or autopilot installation that didn’t happen. Next job is to enclose the rudder stock somehow to keep the water on the outside.

As we got closer to Yamba and the coast our whale sightings got more frequent with pods passing us every few minutes on their way north. Its difficult to time your photo when whales could breach anywhere around the boat at any distance, but Fi managed this whale shot shortly before we got to Yamba. Hmmmm…

We motor sailed the last hour into Yamba to make sure we arrived before dark in a dying breeze. The seas had been getting calmer all day and we decided to sneak across the bar on the southern side against Marine Rescue advice, but in such benign conditions it turned out to be an easy crossing with no breaking waves. Dolphins arrived to guide us up the river and a short motor saw us docking at Yamba Marina at dusk for an arrival beer after an awesome days sail.

We’ll likely spend a few days checking out Yamba, and then we’re keen to head across to Iluka and then further up the Clarence River. We hear the prawns are second to none, and there are pubs and cute towns all up the river so watch this space! We’re so happy to be here!

Exploring the Coffs Coast

June 24, 2020 /

By Fi

We arrived in Coffs Harbour International Marina on the 22nd of May, and as of writing this a month later, we’re still enjoying the atmosphere and the weather here in Coffs. We’re in no hurry to move, as the borders are still closed, and we’re waiting for the perfect weather window to head north to Yamba. Both Adrian and I have spent time on the Coffs Coast in the past. Me as a toddler learning how to swim and ride my bike, staying at my grandparents house in Toormina, and Adrian as a young adult training for the Canoe Polo team, and working a part time job when his parents lived near here. We were both keen to see some of the places we knew and loved.

But first, friends! With COVID19 restrictions relaxing a little, we had a welcome visit from some friends! We spent one day with some friends having little boat tours, eating some yummy burgers at the local chargrilled burger place called “Attitude”, and soaking up the warm winter weather with an icecream and going for a walk’along the jetty and foreshores discovering the history of the place. Then another day more friends and more boat tours! Was so great to see people!

“Coffs” was “discovered” by Europeans, namely John Korff, originally as a safe haven in 1847. Soon after, its proximity to fine timber was realised, and given the troubles of getting large logs onto large ships off the beach, a jetty was proposed. The jetty here was completed in 1893 (after a few set backs given the NSW coast’s ability to pick up the waves and winds and storm down on these settlements). Soon after this the walls of the harbour were also constructed, evolving into the marina and harbour we now see. There’s a load more history and well worth the trip here.

We hired some bikes, and took a loop ride around Coffs Creek which was gorgeous, and the next day did the 20km round trip to Boambee Creek, where I spent idealic summers learning to swim, discovering the crabs and fish, going for explorations with my cousins over the railway bridge and out to the scary surf beach. It all seemed a lot smaller now I’m grown. Bernie ran next to Adrian the whole way, and had a swim with us at Boambee Creek, and was still wanting more when we got back to the boat.

The next day we left for a quick trip to Sydney to see family, and on our way back north we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to visit Scotts Head. This is very close to where Adrian’s family lived and we got to catch up with more friends! The beach is off leash and so the doggies had a great time eating sand and chasing balls. We also took Bernie out to visit Eungai Creek Buffalo farm for lunch. Well worth the trip. We had their persian fetta, buffalo lasagne, and a buffalo curry for lunch, and took home some milk (which is delightfully creamy), extra feta and some steaks. So freaking yummy.

So then we were back in comfy warm Coffs, settling in to a routine of dog walking, boat jobs and making some yummy food with our haul from Sydney and the Buffalo farm. Here’s Bernie and I enjoying the off leash area at Coffs Creek. We still have his floating fetch things (“bumpers”) from when we were trying to teach him to be a proper gun dog. Given we all failed at gun dog stuff, the bumpers make great fetch toys. The Sunday marina markets here are excellent and we’ve loved the fresh veges, macadamia nut spread, pickled garlic, cured meats, bananas and avos. Adrian’s also taken some time to connect our AIS (the system that means we can see other boats and they can see us) to our old, but big VHF antenna, make the outside speakers work with the VHF radio and also install me a new magnet board so I can collect magnets because I love it, and I don’t know why – but every place we go I get a magnet, for years now. I have hundreds and just started a new board for our cruise.

After all the land based travelling, both of us were keen to get out on to the water again, and so we planned a nice day to sail out to South Solitary Island to do a loop and take a look. The island, whilst not overly “remote” (you can see it from land easily) would have been a harsh place to live when people were occupying it. The shore is basically sheer cliffs all around, and to get people and goods onto the island, they had to pick calm seas and also build a large crane, the remnants of which still remain. Now, if there is work to be done, or the rare tourist is booked to visit the island, a helicopter is used. The island has a lighthouse, and it is the lighthouse keeper and their families that occupied this island for almost 100 years up until 1975 when the lighthouse was automated. It is a very special marine sanctuary as well, and given how it is fed from the East Coast Australian Current, contains a variety of temperate, sub tropical and tropical species. We saw a green sea turtle and numerous whales and birds on our quick trip.

Speaking of protect marine areas, the Coffs Harbour Marina is also a protected area, and there are strict rules on fishing and pollution in the marina. These rules have meant that on our little walks out of the marina we have seen an abundance of marine life in the clear marina waters. We have seen spotted eagle rays, mullet, bream, mangrove jacks, flathead, dolphins and a bunch of colourful tropical looking fish that I wouldn’t hazard a guess of the name. Apparently wobbegong sharks also frequent the marina. We never could get a good photo, so here is a beautiful sunset.

We also took time out to visit the botanic gardens. Once a dilapidated landfill site, the place has been transformed into a wonderland of landscaped gardens and plants from all over the world. I was particularly in love with the super healthy roses, and Adrian took this fantastic picture of an upturned tree. There was even a family connection as John Wriggly (Adrian’s mothers cousin) created the original design for the botanic gardens in 1979.

Every day we are planning our trip to Yamba by checking the weather in PredictWind (our weather program). It will be a longish day – about 12 hours, and we need to time it perfectly to get through the Yamba bar at the best time of tide, which is 3 hours after low tide. This is when the waters are at their best to navigate over the sand bar, and into the Clarence river. Coffs has treated us so well, and I can see why we so easily spent a whole month here!

Guess the anchor location?

June 12, 2020 /

By Adrian

I snapped this photo of the chart plotter after 24 hours anchored at Broughton Island. It shows how the boat moved as the wind changed direction. Any guesses where the anchor is?

If you look closely you can see where we came in checking the depth and looking for a sandy spot to drop the anchor, and then looped back with anchor ready.

Over the next 24 hours the wind swung around the compass and we stayed up watching the anchor and the conditions.

When we drop the anchor we reverse against it to make sure it digs in. But what happens when the wind or tide spins us in the opposite direction like this? A good anchor (hopefully the new one we have installed) will pull up and then reset in the new direction. But there are examples where they don’t reset with very messy consequences. Anchors drag along the ground, taking the boat with them, potentially into neighbouring boats, or onto ground.

In this case we started 160m off the beach with 30m to the anchor. The wind was blowing from the south, which means if the anchor was to drag, we would drag out towards the sea which is the safest option. So when the wind blew us round 180 degrees (which we were expecting and ready for) we would end up 100m from the beach if the anchor stayed stationary. This is a lee shore and its not ideal.

We watched closely for any anchor drag. As best we can tell the anchor moved less than 10m as we spun around and it dug in again. A good result and hopefully it work as well in mud and other substances.

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