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…

Scawfell to Curlew Island, 7/09/2008

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The south-easterlies are persisting, making life rather tedious. We tacked into it all day today, making up our destination as we went along! In the end the breeze swung around to the east as the day wore (literally) on and I made for the shelter of Curlew Island. I was pleased with this. We nearly ended up at Middle Percy, not a bad spot, but I’ve been there and I was keen to see something different.

Snacking as we approach Curlew Island

As it happened, Curlew Island has turned out to be a great choice. The anchorage is better protected in a south-easter than Middle Percy would be and it has a stunning long white beach, flanked by imposing peaks on both ends.

Mackay to Scawfell Island, 06/09/2008

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Yvonne and Anna arrived late on 5 September and we went off to town to do a bit more provisioning.

We couldn’t get everything though, so this morning I did another trip into Mackay. My greatest need was for another ice box to carry extra ice as we could be out off port for up to 7 days. I also needed some swimwear – left at home!

I was up early and fitted the liferaft to the foredeck (an ill-advised decision, I later realized).

I returned around 11AM with my purchases. Yvonne and Anna had filled the diesel tanks and jerry cans and we set off before noon, fully stocked with food, drink, water, diesel and ice.

Anna on the helm soon after leaving Mackay

I was initially going to head south-east, but a lot of factors mitigated against this:

  • we only had half a day left and both girls were looking a bit green as soon as we got out the marina;
  • the wind was blowing from the south-east, so it would be hard work; and
  • we only had half a day of sunlight left and an overnight sail on the first day with two sea-sick crew seemed a bit cruel…

So, we made for Scawfell Island, an anchorage I knew from our previous stay there would be protected in a south-easterly breeze. Everyone was relieved once the pick was set and we were just in time to enjoy happy hour with some whales blowing in the distance.

Happy hour at Scawfell Island

Airlie Beach to Mackay 05/09/2008

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I arrived in Airlie Beach yesterday, flying into Proserpine and renting a car – it was cheaper than a taxi and I had to provision the boat.

Despite my regular nightmares about Sunny Spells sitting on the mooring unattended, she was just fine! Les Reumer ran me out to her in his dinghy and the engine started on the first try. I motored into the berth at Abel Point Marina where Les took my lines.

My berth was just a couple down from Les’s. After my shopping expedition that evening I took a bottle of his favourite rum over and we shared drinks and laughs for a couple of hours before I went back to stow all the food and stuff.

I left early this morning to make best use of the tide (it floods south in this area so I left the marina about an hour before low tide. By the time I hit the Whitsunday Passage I had almost 2 knots from behind. Just as well, because there was absolutely no wind! It was a full day of motoring, but I was able to sort lots of little things out AND have a hot shower on deck as the solar shower had been baked to a very toasty temperature.

Planning the return passage

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I’ve now turned my thoughts to the return passage. I’d love to have Sunny Spells back in Sydney by the end of September. There’s all that summer twilight racing to do, not to mention lazy summer days just pottering around…

From a weather perspective, the probability of favourable winds improve after August, although we are really looking for windows in the prevailing south-easterlies to avoid having to beat to windward for day on end… Gentlemen don’t sail to windward…

Getting from Airlie Beach to Tin Can Bay will once again be the chilled-out, cruising part of the passage. I don’t think one can do anything other than day sail when you’re amongst the Whitsunday Islands, so we’ll be sailing from one (lovely) anchorage to the next, spending the evenings at anchor. I’d also like to stop at different islands to those visited on the way north and, if the weather is nice, explore a bit. Linne Island is a nice short sail from Airlie Beach, so that could be a first stop, and then Pine Peak Island seems to be another easy day sail away.

It would be great to return to Lady Musgrave Island (weather permitting) for some diving, so I might do an overnight 36 hour sail from Pine Peak Island to Lady Musgrave and then anchor there for a night or two. The diving is great at Lady Musgrave, being the most southern part of the Great Barrier Reef, so if the weather is good and it’s sunny, this would be a great spot for the scuba gear.

Lady Musgrave Island

From Lady Musgrave we might do another overnight sail (about 20 hours) to the marina at Urangan where we can re-provision and, maybe, overnight in the marina. From there we would do the inside passage via the Great Sandy Strait (inside Fraser Island) to get to Tin Can Bay, where one can, apparently, swim with the dolphins.

Getting from Airlie Beach to Southport

Once we leave Tin Can Bay at Double Island Point, the hard work will commence. I think an initial 36 hour leg to Southport (routing outside Cape Morton) is probably the best bet.

If I have a full, experienced crew, I might then continue direct to Sydney from Southport, a passage that should be possible in three to five days, depending on the wind. If I’m shorthanded, however, it might have to be 36 hour legs (Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Port Stephens are all potential overnight stopovers).