Day 6: Garry’s Anchorage – Urangan - Flingtime
Main menu:
- Background
- Day Zero, Day-1: Jacob's Well - Wellington Point
- Day2: Wellington Point - Pumicestone Passage (Bribie Island-South)
- Day-3: Pumicestone Passage - Mooloolaba
- Day 4: Mooloolaba - Double Island Point
- Day 5: Double Island Point – Garry’s Anchorage, Gt.( Sandy Straights)
- Day 6: Garry’s Anchorage – Urangan
- Day 7: Urangan – Burnett Heads (Bundaberg)
- Day 8: Burnett Heads – Pancake Creek
- Day 9: Pancake Creek – Hummocky Island (via Cape Capricorn)
- Day 10: Hummocky Island – Rosslyn Bay (via Lisa Jane Shoals) – Great Keppel Island
- Day 11,12: Great Keppel Island (Leeke’s Beach)
- Day 13: Great Keppel Island – Rosslyn Bay
- Day 14: Rosslyn Bay – Pearl Bay
- Days 15,16,17 - Pearl Bay....
- Day 18: Pearl Bay – Hexham Island
- Day 19: Hexham Island – Curlew Island
- Day 20: Curlew Island - Mackay
- Day 21: Mackay
- Day 22: Mackay – Goldsmith Is.
- Day 23: Goldsmith Is. – Hamilton Is. - Sawmill Bay
- Day 24: Sawmill Bay - Blue Perl Bay – Hook Is., Stonehaven Bay
- Day 25: Stonehaven Bay - Nara Inlet
- Day 26: Nara Inlet –via Whitsunday Passage/Molle Group – Hamilton Is
- Day 27: Hamilton Is – Shag Islet (Passage Is.) in Gloucester Passage
- Day 28: Gloucester Passage - Cape Upstart
- Day 29: Cape Upstart - Townsville
- Day 30: Townsville – Horseshoe Bay (Magnetic Is.)
- Day 31: Horseshoe Bay (Magnetic Is.) at anchor
- Day 32: Magnetic Is. – Orpheus Is. (Palm Group)
- Day 33: Orpheus Is. – Dunk Is.
- Day 34: Dunk Is.- Etty Bay – Johnstone River (Innisfail)
- Day 35: Innisfail – Fitzroy Is.
- Day 36: Fitzroy Is. – Vlasoff Cay – Michaelmas Cay
- Day 37: Michaelmas Cay – Yorkey’s Knob (Half Moon Bay Marina)
Day 6: Garry’s Anchorage – Urangan
Sunday, 19-May-2013
Last night, navigatrix gave the skipper some strict 'marching orders'. The tides flood at Boonbye Point from both ends (Cruising the Coral coast p60). Turkey Island is the shallower part of the channel and the section between Moonboom and Turkey is best in the 2nd or 3rd hour after full tide. Winds were expected to light so the tidal flow was the most important factor. HW at Boonbye Pt was 2.75M at 04:08
05:30 we were up and preparing for departure. For this tropicalized crew it was bloody cold at 7.6C.
06:08 we set off under motor after taking a few pictures in the beautiful soft pastel light of dawn. There was no breeze.
At 06:25 we logged on to SSCG with a note to log on to Hervey Bay CG past McKenzies Point.
As we passed the West cardinal mark off Dream Is heading 346M towards Kingfisher Resort, the adverse current was strong. I could still not measure currents properly as the Airmar paddle wheel to Raymarine instruments via iTC-5 was the one calibration process which had eluded me to date despite detailed manual reading and internet searches. It was under reading by 20% andfixing it remains on the TO-DO list.
07:40 SSCG weather indicated winds were expected to be S-SW at 10-15Knots
08:05 We were north of Boonbye Pt. The ebb tidal flow was now with us and a light but steady 7knot SSW breeze had sprung up so we set the spinnaker.
SOG was 4.1 knots with a TWS of 7 and it was all very silent. Depth was 3.7m under the keels.
We had to avoid a yacht on starboard tack although it was motorsailing, we could easily hear the motor.
10:25 arrived Kingfisher which is not ideal for SW winds so decided to continue on to Urangan. The wind was strengthening with gusts above 15 knots so we doused the spinnaker and hoisted main (on 1st reef) and jib.
10:55 Logged on to VMR 466 Hervey Bay and booked a berth at the Gt Sandy Straits Marina.
SOG was a reasonable 5.7kts.
In the early afternoon, past Woody Is. the winds were gusting to27kts with choppy seas. SOG
6.1kts. We sailed through a mixed group of yachts apparently racing and avoided one ferry.
13:30 heading 172M SOG 7.2kts and much smoother sailing.
14:00 Sails down, motored into the marina after a most interesting and varied day of sailing.
We took on 50 litres of fuel but decided to not completely fill the tank/bladder as it appeared to have a micro sized leak if fully filled to bulging. It was filled to the top edge of the solid support shelf. On occasion we could smell the fuel but could not find any leak. Inspecting the partially filled bladder was near impossible due to the large number of ties and its weight. The fuel line and filter all appeared OK.
Engine hours since setting out were (207.9-187.8) say 20, and estimated fuel used was 60 litres, so average estimated consumption was 3 litres/hour at (typically) 3,800 RPM. Pretty good; so
the indicated range motoring in fair/good conditions is 300NM without using the emergency 25L portable tank and the last ditch 10L dinghy fuel container.
Dinner was at the Bistro Aubergine, recommended by a local friend who joined us. Navigatrix (who maintained the detailed journal) dined on Lamb Loin in glazed beetroot, roasted garlic, parsnip mash; followed by flourless chocolate cake with a creamy chocolate sauce and ice cream. All good. and we could BYO if not on their wine list. Chef Geoff was very affible and had worked in the Whitsundays for many years.
After catching up on the laundry we slept like logs.
PS: A note on stretching the classic spinnaker to its limits.
The number of times on this voyage that we wished we had a screacher was more than our fingers could count. The present spinnaker is a lightweight and colourful classic cut, not asymmetric, but with fully rigged with dual sheets and guys, we found it easy to gybe and still viable in a broad reach and even doable in a close reach in good conditions. However stretching its use to reaching requires a temporary line to the windward guy to more or less convert it to a leeward guy. We used the mainsail downhaul block and tackle for this purpose and it is attached to the starboard bow in the picture. These pictures were taken at nearly the same time to demonstrate the possibilities.
When only two of us are onboard we douse the spinnaker if sustined true windspeed is >15 knots. On this trip we lifted this to 20+ knots. It was clear that we would require a heavy weather screacher which could thrive in 25+ knot winds.
Spinnaker downhaul attached to the starboard 'bow chain plate' adapted from a design first found on Maxing Out web site. The upper end slides on the spinnaker guy line to apply tension to the leading edge of the sail. A classical spinnaker was never designed to do this but experimentation proved that it was quite effective in this mode. In light airs from down wind to broad reaching the spinnaker might be better than a more heavily constructed screacher. Time will tell.
