Sailing North 2018
Set off from Bermagui with the wind behind me at 6:30am in the
morning with a 12 knot southerly. Was it great to start an
expidition with the wind aft of the beam? The trip along the coast was
just great and I arrived off Ulladulla with a strong wind warning and
not good sea so I called it a day and turned towards Ulladulla
harbour. I came alongside a trawler about three out and secured
myself after quite a rock and roll passage. Now to sleep.
Next day I cast off and headed out. The sea was down and the wind
had completely gone so it was motoring.... was this the start of
something? Dropped anchor on the northern shore of Jervis Bay just
after noon and set
about securing all the things that had shifted during the previous days.
Up early as the sun was rising and passed Point Perpendicular in the
grey dawn with not much wind. This continued all the way to
Wollangong Harbour where I went along side and then moved to the
courtesy meering. A fishing boat had sunk while alongside the
reason they think was some youngsters had been below and damaged some
pipes and the water started to flow in then cascaded in as it listed to
starboard. A large crane was called in to put two slings around
it and lift it out which they did crushing the vessel. They then
dropped it onto some blocks at the bow and stern and broke its
back. Well, job completed but bugger what happend to the vessel.
Short visit from Nick and the family for dinner then off north with a
strong wind off the land almost to Sydney where it dropped and had to
motor into the Basin in Pittwater just before dark. Rose early
and
set off towards Coffs Harbour for an overnighter. The wind was
again from the west and expected to rise. Off Port Stephens the wind
was about 25 knots and Malua was handleing the conditions well with one
reef and a well rolled up genoa. I may have forgotten just how
well Malua handles these conditions because the next thing I knew was
she was rounding up, the off course alarm was going off and all hell
broke loose.
I disconnected the autopilot and turned the small wheel - with
difficulty to get back on course. Pressed the autopilot button to
seer and the situation repeated itself. Well I must have too much
sail up so furled the genoa and again set the course but the autopilot
would not respond.
Decisions, decisions. I cant continue north up the coast in this
wind and sea so it must be Port Stephens. I have never been in
here so I drop the main and head for the middle of the entrance.
I cant go below to look at the chart or adjust the magnification
because I am struggling to keep a course hand steering. I was
abeam of the entrance and about to turn south around the headland when
I notice the water surface change ahead of me. There was a slight
over-fall which I immediately recognised as water flowing over a
shallow shoal into deeper water. Hard to starboard and stop the
engine. Now I have to go below to look at the chart. Well,
well, there is a shallow sand bank running from the south headland
almost across the entrance with the channel further north with some
leads. OK pick up the leads and follow them in and I am now in
smooth water and the pressure is off. The challenges of single
handed sailing.
Now to find a place to anchor and discover what is causing the
autopilot to not perform. In Port Stephens that is an easy
decision so I steered south from the entrance and dropped the anchor in
sand off the Shoal Bay Forest Reserve.
Now the investigation. On previous occasions some years ago it
was a poor connection in the power to the unit or the amount of current
being drawn. All of those I had rectified but as in all boats -
go over the obvious. I could find nothing that was wrong so I had
to go deeper – that meant getting to the Autopilot unit itself.
Now I had accessed it just before shipping Malua to Europe so I knew
the problems and the effort required but being a few years older and
one may say wiser I did not want to do that again so I took my saw and
cut the bottom out of the lazerette locker to which the autopilot was
attached and bingo I now have the unit in the cockpit ready for a
dismantle.
But first I had to find a more secure anchorage so started up the bay
towards Salamander Bay and a mooring. Which I attached to in
preparation of going ashore. Barlows was the place I had sourced
most of my Lumar and Whitlock part but they had closed down so no luck
calling the new distributor for a spare electric clutch which I thought
was the problem but my contact list gave up the name of the person who
had assisted me during Malua’s fit out. I ask did he know of
anyone who had this item and Yes he did and he gave me the
number. Hello from New Zealand. Do you have this part? Yes
I will HDL it to you this afternoon what address? No DHL dont
deliver to a mooring so I gave them the local chandlery. Four
days later it arrived and I was back reassembling the autopilot.
Did it work? No unfortunately it failed at the next test due to the
incorrect shims being inserted in the clutch. Being a single
sailor you can not afford to loose your autopilot while sailing across
the ocean so I had to implement Plan B. A hydraulic ram autopilot
from Coursemaster. They dispatched overnight a Hydrive Hydraulic
steering Unit which would integrate into my Simrad system. All I
had to do was fit the ram and motor to a bulkhead and then connect the
ram to the steering arm of the quadrant.
I have on Malua a folding bike I purchased in New York so out that came
and a long ride to Bunnings to purchase the parts which included a
quarter sheet of marine ply. Now that is fine to slip into the
back of a VW Caddy or ute but on a bike it was a completely different
story but having cycled through the snow to collect supplies in the USA
I had done it before and come equipped with the ropes and clamps to
attach it to the bike and ride back to the RIB and Malua. I slept
well that evening.
With some sawing, cutting and bolting I had the Hydrive secured to a
bulkhead along with the pump. I extended the control wires from
the Whitlock in such a way that I could reconnect it in the event the
hydraulic system failed. Now to reinstall the Whitlock unit again
in the lazerette. This was quite easy but I made an executive
decision not to fiberglass the plywood into the surrounding bulkhead
just in-case I had to remove it in the near future. The outcome
was that the lazerette was not waterproof from waves sloshing along the
deck but from experience I knew that did not happen very often and the
volume of water was not great BUT I had overlooked the gaz breather
hole which exited to the stern scoop. Well above the waterline
under normal condition but I was to enter some abnormal storm
conditions after leaving Coffs Harbour on the way to New Cal.
That is a story in itself which I will tell in a later chapter…
Up early after a few days R&R and out the heads northwards towards
Coffs Harbour. An easy uneventful sail and dropped anchor in the
harbour before taking up a mooring to the north of the pier.
Now to wait for a weather window and to stock up on some extras for the
passage. I have fond memories of this locations as it was my
second time as a landfall from passages across the Pacific although the
first time I had spent 10 days in a trawler berth waiting for a East
Coast low to pass. Was that a sign to be careful of these
systems?
After the low passed I set off for the crossing
here...
Follow Malua.
