RUNNING AWAY FROM WINTER

Running Away from Winter - Part 1

It was always the plan to return to Queensland. We bought Vellamo, our Catalina 470, in November 2020 and, running the gauntlet of COVID 2020 lockdowns, we sailed her back to Adelaide to enjoy summer and some Kangaroo Island/West Coast cruising before turning her around again to sail back north and escape winter 2021. We left Adelaide on June 12, just Matthew and myself. Friends and fellow Club member Sam Gaylard and his wife Julie Height together with sons William and Oscar had departed on Allusive III a few months earlier and we hoped to find them along the way. We sailed straight through to Portland and all I can say is that it was cold, very cold, with Ugg boots and warm quilts mandatory on night watch. Vellamo is set up with a furling main so we can sail her with ease from the cockpit. Unlike racing boats she also has a full dodger to bimini cover and clears on both sides to protect the cockpit. After one night in Portland we made the long dash across Bass Strait to Refuge Bay. This is a familiar anchorage for us but nevertheless a very spooky one to negotiate late on a dark moonless night. After another night’s sleep it was around the corner to Eden where we pulled into another favourite place away from the town in a sheltered spot behind the Navy wharf. We were hearing from friends by this time that there was hint of another COVID outbreak in New South Wales so we decided not to go ashore at Eden but push on next day to Bermagui and reprovision there. Bermagui is a great little town with a tiny sheltered marina. You can always get a hot shower, great fish and chips, Asian food and a good barista coffee at the shops along the wharf. Wandering the docks we recognised a familiar 40.7 at the fuel wharf, it was Andrew Saies’ True North which, as Helsal 4, was on her way from Hobart to her new owner in Sydney. We spent a few days in Bermagui as a front rolled through then left at the earliest opportunity. By this stage we were hearing more about a new COVID outbreak and our plans were in a state of flux. We chose not to stop at Jervis Bay but to continue on to Pittwater hoping to see Craig and Julie Evans at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. No sooner had we left Bermagui than the text came through from Crackles “I suspect lockdown, you may be better slogging it out for another night and go on to Newcastle”. Slog it out we did but with the air and sea temperatures rising and a lovely breeze on our quarter we sailed up the coast revelling in some wonderful Humpback Whale sightings along the way. We continued straight past Sydney, Pittwater and Newcastle on to Port Stephens. With COVID now an urgent issue we thought it best to stay on the boat, grab a good night’s sleep and push on straight through to Southport the next morning. Fearing the worst we also went online and snagged a Queensland border pass. That leg is still a blur to me. One minute we were in Port Stephens, the next, we’re crossing the bar at the Southport Seaway. We had all our paperwork in order and were happy to get the all clear from MSQ on arrival. Others arriving by yacht not long after us were not as lucky. Time to relax! We dropped the pick in Bum’s Bay and met up with local friends for a few days. It was mandatory masks in the Gold Coast. After stocking the boat to the gunnels with food and beverages of all types we headed off through the Broadwater to take the inland waterway to Moreton Bay. We knew it was a tad risky to negotiate this collection of shallow passages in a 2.4m draft boat but we did it anyway. Tide is an important factor and the local fishermen at Cabbage Tree Point didn’t even raise an eyebrow when we ended up coming to a halt in the middle of the channel when our keel managed to find a shifting sandbar. We only had to wait 20 minutes though before the rising tide had us on our way again. After negotiating overhead powerlines we took advice from our friends on Allusive lll who had recently been through and pulled into Canaipa Point, a lovely anchorage at the end of Russel Island. This was a great place to rest and soak up the solitude in a lovely tranquil river bend. Next we were off across Moreton Bay and galloping north again. We could see Allusive III further up the coast heading to Double Island Point, this being the ‘holding stop’ for boats waiting to cross the infamous Wide Bay Bar. We sailed through the night and at dawn we saw Allusive lll just ahead of us along the east coast of Fraser Island. Both of us chose to take the route around the island rather than inside via Wide Bay Bar, a passage we had taken before on Take That Too with

Peter Donovan last year. An epic sail around the never-ending island and it’s sand bar to the north saw plenty of whale action with Vellamo and Allusive lll dropping anchor in Rooney Point late that evening. From there we sailed down to Kingfisher for a few nights with our mates before leaving them heading to Urangan as we went to check out the river anchorage at Burnett Heads near Bundaberg. The marina here was small but lovely with Wally, the bus driver, happy to pick you up in the IGA Supermarket bus and help you load up provisions ready for that trip out to the Reef. First stop, Lady Musgrave Island!

Traci Ayris

Sandy Higgins and Matt Richards enjoy a Sundowner My favourite spot