LWH – Week 17 – Gove - Seisia

Sat 27 Oct - Gove
Happy Birthday Simone
We finally got our part around 10.30am and the skipper had it installed in around 15 minutes and we should have left straight away but that would have meant being in the Gulf of Carpentaria for three nights. Instead we did a water run, did a final wash and joined Bob and Gordon at the Boat Club for dinner. There was supposed to be a band but no one turned up so Ron the manager did it himself. Apparently he used to have a band down south and he was exceptionally good. A lovely evening. We left at 8pm and put Bob and Freddy aboard.

Sun 28 Oct – Day/night 1 Gulf Crossing
We left just before 6am and headed out in the calmest sea – so hard to believe what it had been like two weeks previously. Had lots of calls and texts for the crew’s birthday including the two lovely gentlemen off Sometime. We motor sailed all day doing up to 7 knots but settling pretty much to 5.5. The seas were fairly calm which was a lovely surprise. The skipper saw some dolphins and a booby bird kept trying to land but kept trying to land in the middle of the sail and finally landed on the water. We had been keeping a careful eye on him. The skipper cooked a lovely birthday meal of silverside with white sauce and potato and greens washed down with a glass of Kyle’s lovely white wine. A lovely evening. We had a full moon and it was so bright it was beautiful. At 1am we had dolphins all around the boat. They seemed huge. At one point a dozen of them surfaced all together, just off the bow of the boat. They frisked around the boat surfacing right beside the cockpit and they kept me amused for quite some time.

Mon 29 Oct – Day/night 2 Gulf Crossing
Have checked the gribs and it is going to be a near run thing to make it before the big winds come in so we are heading for the closest possible landfall. We passed halfway in the morning then the seas came up though there wasn’t a lot of wind and we found ourselves in 3m seas. One of the earlier boats reported the same thing when they crossed. We think it is to do with the currents etc and not a lot to do with the weather. Anyway suffice to say it was a horrible horrible day and very uncomfortable. During the evening the wind dropped right off, the seas calmed with just a slight swell and had that calm oily look about it and we had our full moon and it was quite lovely. Around midnight the skies got very dark so checked the radar and sure enough there were storm clouds ahead. Funnily enough just right at the spot we had to go through the clouds had almost cleared left and right and left us a little channel! We copped about 30 seconds of rain and then we were through and it joined up behind us again. Around 2am the wind picked up and the seas picked up and it was sooooo uncomfortable. At 4am the autopilot stopped working (cant tell you what an important part of the boat this is!) and the skipper rudder steered for two hours.

Tues 30 Oct – Day 3 Gulf Crossing
12⁰20.253S / 141⁰40.655E
At 6am we started half hour shifts of rudder steering. Every time we hit a big wave we almost stopped and we were really doing it tough. Then about 10am the seas started calming and the skies were clear and it turned into a lovely day. The half hour shifts worked well so it wasn’t too wearing and we dozed in between but by late afternoon we were pretty tired not having much sleep the night before as it had been too rough. We saw a yellow sea snake floating on the surface and also a floating turtle with a bird sitting on its back. At 14 miles out the skipper could see land and at 9 miles out the crew could see land so we just headed for the coast and it seemed to take forever. We dropped anchor in 8m a few hundred metres from a lovely deserted white sandy beach. We had a lovely bucket shower (our camp showers have long since given up the ghost) and a lovely steak washed down with a glass of Kyle’s wine and fell into bed.
Miles: 304 TTT: 2,764

Wed 31 Oct – coastal anchorage, Qld
11⁰59.575S / 141⁰50.183E
We slept really well and awoke to a lovely beach. The wind had dropped off and it was really calm. At last now it is starting to feel like we are coming home. This feels like Australia! That was our last crossing. From now on it is day hopping and only doing over nighters if we choose to. The skipper got out the two other broken autopilots and managed to make one good one out of them so we again have an autopilot. He then changed the fuel filters and we upanchored at 11.30am and had a lovely sail up the coast. The wind was a bit gusty and we did between 3 and 7 knots and sailed all the way. We pulled into the coast again before the Wenlock River and dropped anchor at 5pm. The last hour or so had been very windy. Its a beautiful coastline of just continual beach. Saw a couple of isolated huts but nothing else. A lovely day.

Miles: 24 TTT: 2,788
Thurs 1 Nov – coastal anchorage, Qld
11⁰11.403S / 142⁰08.113E
We left at 6.30am and sailed with just the headsail out. We had to go a long way out to get around the Wenlock River as it was shallow. The wind came up and it is amazing how quickly the waves and chop can build in such a short distance from the shore. It was blowing hard and gusting 25+ knots which really heeled the boat right over. The crew is not a fan of heeling so far and it was not a nice day. Though we sailed up to 7.5knots. It was so windy and wavy and we came into the coast between two points and went into 300 metres from shore so the waves dropped off and anchored in 6.5 metres. It was a wonderful anchorage and the wind dropped right off for the night.
Miles: 53 TTT: 2,841

Fri 2 Nov – Seisia, Qld
10⁰50.856S / 142⁰21.799E
We left at 4.50am to beat the strong wind and to catch the rising tide. It was very calm as we motored the ten miles across to the channel through the shallow water into the Endeavour Strait. We put the headsail out and must have had current with us as we were doing 7 knots. Saw a huge black and white snake floating past. The wind came up on the nose around 8am but it wasn’t too bad. - We could see another yacht coming in from the opposite direction. We followed the leads in and anchored off the township of Seisia at 11.45am in 6.5m. At 1pm we put Bob in and took our jerries ashore to the service station (about 500 metres). The lovely lady at the servo drove us back to the boat ramp with our jerries. We did another trip and she drove us back again. Then we went to the supermarket. The fruit and veges were really cheap. Only $4 for a kilo of tomatoes as against $10 a kilo in Gove! On the way back to the boat we called over to say hullo to Easy Rider. They have been here a week. One boat headed south but Easy Rider decided to come back when they saw the weather forecast. Said hullo to Caspar who have also been here a little while. There are five of us boats here now all waiting on a weather window to go south. Seisia has a much nicer feel to it than Gove – more free and easy maybe or more equality - don’t know. We are glad to finally be here but there is heavy weather on the way so we will stay hunkered down here for a while as it is quite sheltered in this little anchorage. We phoned the boys off Sometime and they had their motor fixed and had just left Gove heading across the Gulf. We really hope they get in before the weather changes. We had a good trip up the Endeavour Strait but the others in here had a nightmare trip of it. Guess we finally won one!! A lovely calm night.
Miles: 38 TTT: 2,879

Getting closer – when we get the window we will go for it but it may not be until Wednesday or Thursday. Rosie’s birthday is on Monday 5th November and she will be 13. Happy birthday little one.
Love to all.
Calm Seas and Fair Winds (I don’t think thats an Australian water saying!!!)
Dell and Peter