Category Archives: Ocean Passages

Posts about ocean passages with S.V. Sunny Spells. These can go on a bit, so have a glass of your favourite muscle relaxant close at hand…

Coffs Harbour to Southport (27 to 28 May 2009)

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Thomas jumped ship at Coffs yesterday as it was beginning to look a bit doubtful that we’d be able to get him back to Sydney for his return flight to Germany if he stayed on. After refuelling and picking up coffees and bacon & egg rolls we headed out again around 9am.

There was still very little wind and we motor-sailed, staying close in-shore to try and dodge the (Austrailan East Coast) current. After an overnight sail that saw us just off Cape Byron at day break, we pulled into Southport this afternoon. We received a warm welcome from Rooster and the crew at Marina Mirage and they gave us a great berth, just off the boardwalk.

It felt like we motored a lot between Coffs Harbour and Southport, but I found this video clip which seems to indicate we had a bit of breeze early evening on Wednesday… We were fairly hard on the wind, but that’s what Sunny Spells was designed to do best!

Broken Bay to Coffs Harbour

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With the heads repaired, we set off Monday and motor sailed for a large part of the day. After we passed Port Stephens we managed to sail for the occasional thee-hour stretch, but we still motored for 18 hours out of the first 24. I was very grateful for the new soundproofing I had recently installed as it made a vast difference to comfort aboard.

Pascale enjoying night watch treats

The crew were coping remarkably well with the offshore conditions. Only Pascale had done any real offshore sailing before and, at the other end of the scale, Melissa had never been on a sailboat before. Melissa struggled a bit with seasickness initially, but boy she recovered quickly after vomiting, always returning with a big smile and infectious enthusiasm.

The watch system was easy on everyone, with a 6 hours off, 3 hours on schedule giving everyone adequate rest. I took Melissa on my watch, being the least experienced sailor, and Helen and Pascale, who were by far the two better helmsmen and had more experience than the others, led the other two watches. The crew kept log and wrote short stories in a notebook, some of which (like Melissa’s “Dolfie the Dolphin” story) had us in fits.

Melissa having a ball on the helm

By the time we reached Coffs Harbour early on Wednesday 27 May, everyone had settled in and there was much relief at being able to go for a hot shower.

The Story of Dolphy the Dolphin

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The story of Dolphy the Dolphin, written by Melissa 2xOeufs et Bacon while on nightwatch between Sydney and Coffs Harbour, 26 May 2009.

By: the French-Canadian who has a grade 6 grammar in English and has a hard time with all the weird accents around her 🙂 She can put it up with it.

Dolphy the dolphin was living somewhere in Australia at 28°04.339’S/153°32.214’E. One day, he decided to be adventurous and see the world. During his voyage, he arived at an Island where a sail boat was ankored and a man was swimming. He decided to have fun with him because he felt lonely like the bucket.

The man said: “wait here, I will go pick up a ball so we can have fun.”.

Poor Dolphy, the dolphin… He didn’t know that the skipper was a bad man.

Instead of a ball, he came back with is golf club and decided to knockrd Dolphy like Canadian cub seals.

While Dolphy was unconcious, THE BAD SKIPPER decided to drug him and attached him to his boat.

During the time he was under drugs the skipper conviced him that they were best friends and theywill stay like this happily forever.

Dolphy, the dolphin woke up in this state of mind. He was happy he could help out his best friend, the Skipper.

The Skiper will used the doplhin to increase his speed by 3,274 knots which is good if you are on a calm ocean like today. Also, like Mongolian with their horses, the Skipper will cut Dolphy when he’s hungry to have a little steak on the barbecue. He would also darn Dolphy so he could swim again and pushed the boat. Usually he would marinated the steak for about 24 hours with garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, soya sauce and a little bit of Peri Peri. Hmmm Delicious!!!

They lived like this happily forever.

Moral of the story

DON’T DO DRUGS
give it to a dolphin, it will increase your boat speed without being financially demanding and is environmentally friendly. It is also a great source of protein and omega 3 for a healthy life style.


THE
END

The Sailor and the Albatross

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A short story with a nautical theme by Helen Dudley to entertain Pascale + Peter during their night watch.

Helen admiring Cape Byron at sunset after a long watch.

Once upon a time there was a sailor who, while at sea shot + killed an albatross. For his crime he was condemned to remain at sea never putting foot to shore for the next 10 yrs.

When he learnt his fate he cursed the day he saw the albatross and wept for the life ashore that was now lost to him. For 10 long years he sailed the oceans counting down the days til he could return to the land + pining for his home.

At long last the great day came – the curse was lifted and he sailed into port + finally left the boat to stand on dry land. But everything had changed. The land seemed to move in a strange way making him feel sick. After the fresh air of the sea the smell of the land + people + pollution was overpowering. People + buildings semed to crowd around him. So he turned and returned to his boat + set back out to sea.