The Escape River

Well I've moved on from Horn Island and had an OK day getting here. 44 miles I covered and had a bit of everything in the way of conditions. The wind was fairly calm in the morning and I was able to get out into the open water and put my repaired headsail back up, then as I rounded Horn Island the current was with me as the sea was short and sloppy from the run out tide. The wind came up quickly and stayed all day around 15-20 as predicted, but before the sea could build too much I was in the lee
of Albany passage, a strait between the mainland and an island just south of Cape York.

After a nice calm run down the narrow strait I could see the whitecaps waiting for me at the other end. After pushing into 2 knots of current below Horn and through the strait, at least the twenty miles to the Escape river was sped up with 2 knots flowing with me. With the wind right up on 20 knots the trip was pretty rough and I had two or three hard bangs as a wave would force itself over the deck. The Escape river is uninhabited, save for a large pearl farm which takes up any possible anchoring
spot for three miles at the head of the river. There are a few fishing trawlers at anchor here with me.

A lovely sight yesterday afternoon was several flocks of magpie geese flying and turning. (I think)

With the same forecast for the next few days, then increasing, the prospect of doing the seventy miles down to Cape Grenville in such a sea is not inviting.

So with a sense of frustration I have to accept that I am going to be in this river a while....

Cape York - Thursday Island

A nice deep sleep at anchor last night. I arrived at the anchorage off Horn Island, opposite Thursday Island. The last two had some difficult weather with very strong easterly or south-easterly winds. It was very pleasant to see the islands emerge on the horizon and feel the sea flatten as I ran in between the islands.

I was dismayed to find my mobile phone doesn't work here. Telstra? With a money matter to deal with I caught the ferry across to Thursday I to find virtually everything closed due to a show holiday. So no Internet access. I found a payphone and with help from my brother Ross fixed up what I needed to do.

I need to get fuel here and hopefully can do that on Monday.

Cape York - Thursday Island

A nice deep sleep at anchor last night. I arrived at the anchorage off Horn Island, opposite Thursday Island. The last two had some difficult weather with very strong easterly or south-easterly winds. It was very pleasant to see the islands emerge on the horizon and feel the sea flatten as I ran in between the islands.

I was dismayed to find my mobile phone doesn't work here. Telstra? With a money matter to deal with I caught the ferry across to Thursday I to find virtually everything closed due to a show holiday. So no Internet access. I found a payphone and with help from my brother Ross fixed up what I needed to do.

I need to get fuel here and hopefully can do that on Monday.

A great start into the Gulf

This morning I woke to a calm morning. This was the first time since I arrived in the Wessels that the wind was below 15knots.

The forecast is for 15/20 E-SE but heading East tomorrow, so with the calm I decided to give it a go. I motored up and and over the Cape and out into the gulf heading ESE. I was pleasantly surprised that the seas were quite calm and the wind stayed off all morning. Back in 2002 when we sailed from Cape York to Gove the last 10 hours as we approached Gove were terrible, with the swell and sea really confused.

This time - easy!

After lunch the wind came up and stayed around 12 knots from the SE and with a calm sea I've cruised along at 5-6 knots and almost on a direct course for Thursday Island.

Yesterday afternoon a plane crashed at Phuket. Being a Sunday afternoon flight I was concerned that one of the staff or students from the school may have been aboard, as many people on the island go to Bangkok for the weekend. Liz emailed today to say that there was no-one we knew aboard. Still a tragedy no less.

CREW WANTED - NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.
I am totally sick of my own company!! If anyone would like to join me please contact me aboard using this email address: dl1ght at winlink dot org

The Wessel Islands

Arrived here lunchtime yesterday and the sensation of quiet and calm is very enjoyable. I've logged 650 miles from Darwin over ten days, and generally the trip has been OK with moderate winds and reasonable seas. The last three days have been non stop from Malay Bay, so last night's unbroken sleep was very enjoyable.

If you look on the satellite view of the Wessel Island on the Position Reports, you see that I'm at the tip of a long string of islands. They are low and have light scrub on them and the shoreline is 80% beach. It is very beautiful in a harsh barren way. There is no development here and probably one of the most remote spots in Australia. There are no other boats here and apart from the Coast Watch airplane each day, I am on my own.

The next two days will be spent resting up and doing a few jobs and then the next leg 320 miles across the the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cape York, but as the wind is blowing straight at me I expect this to be a bit of slog and take a while.

Slow progress in the Arafura Sea

Since my last post I have been day-sailing eastward along the coast. The weather has been OK with 10knots of South East of a morning then a short calm and then the North East sea breeze comes in and varies in strength up to 20 knots.

All the wind directions has the word "east" in them, so I am tacking to gain the maximum direction east each day. The day before yesterday a catamaran called 'Playground' came up and overtook me in a the strait between the mainland and let me know where they would anchor that night. I was making for the same bay and found another cat, TwoJ's there as well. We all met up that evening and had a nice chat we I really enjoyed, not having seen another person for a week. They are both from WA and bound
for Brisbane.

With different speed capabilities and itineraries we won't sail together but have kept in touch on the radio and will no doubt meet up again.

With no convenient anchorages I am now sailing straight to the Wessel Islands about 200 miles away. From there the jump across the Gulf of Carpentaria starts to Cape York.

Now for a short winge. It's just not real safe up here! So far I have hauled in four fish and all of them were sharks! The only thing I've seen in the water was a snake which I assume was a sea snake, but had a real adder look to it. When I anchored with the catamarans I would've paddled over on on the ski to visit but the threat of crocodiles is very real.

No toes in the water for Col!

PS: I post position reports more often than blog entries.

Leaving the Van Diemen gulf and Darwin behind

And hopefully the bloody sharks!

I left the anchorage off the sailing club two days ago and both days I caught a shark with my fishing line. The first one indirectly cost me the lure as it wrapped the line around itself and chaffed the line through while I pried the lure out of it's mouth. I was sailing and when the lure fell into the water, I failed the MOB test and lost sight of it after two unsuccessful passes.

The second one was larger at 1.5 metres and I had to play game-fisherman for far too long to get the thing to the boat. This one mercifully threw the lure out when I lifted it up.

The weather is ideal with light E-SE in the morning and Northerly sea breezes in the afternoon. I am now coming up to Cape Don and will continue to head east until the E-SE picks up again. So far the forecast gives me two-three days. Working the tides is important here and am now motorsailing at 10knots to get past Cape Don before the tide turns.

Life as a solo sailor is OK, so far. From a safety point of view I live in my inflatable lifejacket/harness, keep the saftey line attached, and pre plan any actions much more than with the family aboard.

Love to hear from... well anybody really!
post a comment and I receive it on board.

Starting to move again

It's now two weeks since Liz, COurtney and Anna flew back to Phuket. They are settled back into life there. Liz is teaching in a different section of the school (year 3/4) and is enjoying the change. Anna and Courtney seem pretty happy to be back and seeing friends etc.

For me, the two weeks have been spent doing a few boat jobs, chasing up any work opportunities and catching up on Aussie TV. On the work front there was the promise of some temp work but two expected starts fell through. The marina costs were too high to stay any longer without money coming in, so I came out of the marina today and am at anchor in Fannie Bay off the sailing club.

So tomorrow, or the next day, I will start to move east. The plan is to day hop up for the next few days.

Now I'm on the move, position reports will be sent regularly. A link on the right column on this page takes you there.

Colin