ALLUSIVE SAILING ADVENTURES

The last instalment of Allusive Sailing saw us replace pretty much the only items that we did not upgrade, modify or service before we left Adelaide. It’s always a balance when planning a trip like this as to how much to replace or upgrade versus available money for actual cruising. With the confirmation that sailing is the most expensive way to get anywhere for ‘free’, we now move into the next 12 months before having to return to Adelaide. Part 3 outlined how we made our way back south after spending some time in Cairns. The cyclone season was approaching and many of our friends had to move quickly back south due to insurance stipulations forcing them to be below a relatively arbitrary point on a map to avoid cyclones. I will just send a shout out to the CYCSA insurance scheme and Marsh Insurance who trust members to have enough seamanship to make their own decisions about where they will be in the given weather. This meant that we were not under any time pressure and it was a real eye opener watching countless boats sail south to be below Gladstone by November. This was right into the region of the coast that was being smashed by severe thunderstorms. We know of several boats being struck by lightning resulting in extensive damage only to find out that their insurance only covers up to 10% of total value in the event of a lightning strike. Many sailors’ cruising dreams end right there. Meanwhile we were lazily cruising south in the picture-perfect weather avoiding these storms. I think the commonly held belief that northerlies blow between November through to March is a fallacy as we saw perhaps a day of northerlies once every two weeks with south easterlies dominating. Notwithstanding, heading south was lovely. We got to the reef when we could and sailed leisurely when the northerlies showed up, arriving into Moreton Bay mid to late December. We moored Allusive at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron and rummaged through the boat to find our Covid masks and flew home to Adelaide for Christmas with the family. This was a relatively quiet period as Covid was running rampant after borders opened so we were careful to avoid large crowds and just spent time with the family and friends. It was a quick trip and in less than a week we were back at the boat. Slipping the lines we started to explore Moreton Bay. There are several gems very close to Brisbane but with a large boating population the sheer number of boats at some anchorages made for interesting anchoring and people watching. We spent our time moving between Moreton Bay anchorages including Peel Island and a place called Sandhills (for obvious reasons) and then into the Brisbane River when the weather turned nasty. This allowed us to explore Brisbane, not pay for marinas and still enjoy the good weather. Highlights over this period were skurfing (waterskiing with a surfboard) behind the dinghy and trying out foiling. We had to rescue a jet skier who had capsized his ski and waterlogged the engine (please carry a few flares in your dinghy!), had some family stay with us and we even sat through a remarkably uneventful tsunami. Thus far we had managed to avoid the majority of bad weather with only small, isolated thunderstorms. This was one part good management and two parts good luck but if you do this caper for long enough then you’re bound to cop something sooner or later. We had ventured out to Lady Musgrave Island with a couple of other kid boats. The weather was perfect with

glass outs every night and we spent the days after schoolwork spearfishing and snorkelling and each evening watching turtles hatch, crawl out of the sand and make their mad dash across the sand and into the water. We were careful to watch the CAPE values in the weather forecasts to know if a storm would develop and pretty soon the values started to skyrocket. We were on a mooring inside the lagoon so we were not worried about wind springing up but with the tallest mast in the lagoon we were worried about lightning. Our procedure is to turn off all the electronics at the isolator switches and the inverter at the safety switch and being an aluminium boat we felt as good as could be in our faraday cage. At about midnight the storm hit us like it aimed for the lagoon. I have never seen such an intense storm. We were lying in our v-berth and the sky was like a strobe light through the overhead hatch. The sound of some of the lightning was deafening and each time a massive boom occurred I was waiting for sparks or noises for some indication that we had been hit. It lasted less than an hour but felt like a day. Once it passed we crossed our fingers as we turned our batteries back on and with a sigh of relief found them all to be working fine. We poked out heads out of the boat in the early morning only to see a catamaran high and dry on the large bombie behind us. As we were scratching our heads as to how they got themselves there (the bombie is marked on the chart), our friends who were in a large catamaran on the mooring 50m to the left of us came over saying that they had been struck by lightning with their VHF antenna raining down onto the cabins in a shower of sparks. They had lost one engine, all instruments and their inverter. He had done the right thing in turning everything off but didn’t know about a hidden isolator switch to his inverter. After a quick debrief with them over a coffee we were then quickly joined by other friends on the mooring to the right of us who also said they had been hit but their steel boat had no damage. They were later told by another boat in the anchorage very close to us all who videoed their boat being stuck at least three times. With our mast being taller than both of theirs and the three of us being less than 200m from each other it does make me wonder about the relatively random nature of lightning strikes, or perhaps we had been hit as well and just had no damage. We helped as much as we could and managed to get his second motor working and some of his instruments (depth the most important!). I lent him our emergency VHF antenna and we sailed with him the 40nm to Pancake Creek while he talked with his insurance company about the best location to undertake repairs. Here we enjoyed some time on the beach with some sundowners for my 44th birthday. However, having barely rehydrated, we watched the CAPE values start climbing again and buckled in for another whopper. This one was just as intense and came with lots of rain. Fortunately this time everyone came out unscathed and it just shows that no matter how much planning you do, if you sail for long enough, you will not be able to avoid them all. We sailed in company with our friends to Gladstone Marina and with very cheap marina rates and awesome facilities we made this a base for a month or so to do some work to pay the bills. This was also the idea for many family boats and very quickly the kids had taken over the common room or were skateboarding around the buildings en-masse. While in Gladstone we watched the end of the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race seeing some of the insane boats arrive including the ORMA 60, Rex, which looks like a lot of fun in flat water. It also gave me opportunity to catch up with a few ex-South Australian sailing crew for a beer. Not long after we left Gladstone and headed north relatively quickly. Knowing that we had a lot of miles to cover to get to Indonesia we didn’t stop at too many places for more than a day or so. This suited the weather with the strong trade winds coming quite early in the season pushing us north at a very quick rate with a couple of new high scores for Allusive’s boat speed (16.2 knots!). We stopped at Mackay for new antifoul and then went quickly through the Whitsundays, Magnetic Island and Cairns. We spent some time in Cairns to provision the boat before leaving for the Cape where small regional communities often lack some food items or can be extremely expensive, especially the beer. Stocking up in Cairns we made our way north again in the relentless 20-25 knot south-easterlies. We stopped at Cooktown to shelter from the wind which

topped out at 47 knots for five days straight and enjoyed our stay in this unique town. Once the wind dropped to a more manageable 25 knots we left Cooktown and bounced between islands including Morris and Night Islands. Swimming and snorkelling has become a large part of our life along the Great Barrier Reef so we had been asking around Cooktown about snorkelling this stretch of coast and the general reply was that is was okay at the reef or islands offshore but to keep an eye out for crocs. Morris Island was the first stop offshore and is a little island about 10 miles offshore with clear water and no mangroves so we figured we should be fine. We did the right thing and sent the kids to the island to have a look around before getting in the water and they came back quite quickly with video of two fresh crocodile slides on the sand… no diving here!! With limited spearfishing opportunities we were running one or two trolling rods as we sailed to try to get some fresh fish for dinner. This stretch of water is sparsely inhabited and frequently windy so recreational fishing pressure is low. This showed, with frequent large hook-ups with the TLD25 reel screaming even with the drag on maximum. Our eldest son, Will, often trolls with his spinning rod and this was soon screaming with everyone jumping to their roles to try to land the fish. Looking back behind the boat we saw a small (~1.5m) marlin jump clear of the water numerous times having clearly taken a fancy to Will’s lure. Unfortunately the line on his spinning rod was not up to the task and we lost this fish which was probably a blessing as we had managed to score three good sized Spanish Mackerels so Julie promptly said rods away, the freezer is full. Nonetheless, a very good problem to have. Onto the Flinders Group near Princess Charlotte Bay to see fascinating cave paintings, shell middens and artifacts showing habitation over 3000 years ago. We travelled further north through Portland Roads, Margaret Bay and Escape River and on to Cape York. There we anchored in the little bay on the western side of the Cape and dinghied to shore for the obligatory photo at the northernmost mainland point in Australia. Once this was ticked off the checklist and admiring the sudden change in habitats from white/grey sand and mud to red clays, we moved about five miles to the west where we had heard rumours of a pub in the middle of nowhere. Anchoring in front of the only shed we could see we dinghied to shore keen on some food that wasn’t Spanish Mackerel and was cooked by someone else. This was a fantastic pub and obviously something well known to the 4WD community with live music, a pool and plenty of cold beer. The next day, keen to keep moving, we sailed a short distance to Seisia, a small community on the western Cape York coast. The people there were very friendly but the rubbish on the beach and foreshore was very disappointing to see. This wasn’t the plastic fishing waste that we had become accustomed to seeing on the offshore islands but domestic waste scattered across the foreshore even though the bins provided were relatively empty. I told the kids that we need to get used to seeing this when we get to Indonesia but it was a little different for me as in Australia, we have waste management somewhat provided by councils and government and in this case it was just not being used which was very disappointing. At this point our dream sailing run came to a halt as we had to point the boat south into the relentless south easterly winds. This was something long forgotten after leaving South Australia with almost no close-hauled sailing for 6000nm. After a tough passage south for 160 nm we are currently sitting in Weipa waiting for a few spare parts before our Gulf of Carpentaria crossing to get to Gove. From there it will be decision time, whether to spring to Indonesia directly or to head to Darwin then to Indonesia….

Sam, Julie, Will and Oscar Allusive