Port Davies-Port Lincoln March 2015

Posn 42. 34 S 144. 33 E Sun 22 1930 hrs EDT

We got away at 0530 this morning heading towards the western end of Kangaroo Island 600 miles away. ETA off Kangaroo Island on Wednesday. Depending on conditions we will continue on into the bight or stop at Port Lincoln. Not much wind today. Had a very pleasant sail for a few hours this morning but motoring over a grey oily sea heaving under a 2-3 metre swell, spellbound by the gracefully soaring albatrosses following our wake in their forever vigilant search for tasty squid tidbit. Morgan has spent most of the day in his bunk watching videos (no schoolwork on passage) but has emerged from his cocoon to spend some time with Trish in the cockpit. Trish and I have taken advantage of the calm conditions to complete a number of little tasks and prepare for heavier weather over the next couple of days. This is a big thing for us – our first long passage without crew – will be interesting to see how we go. Morgan takes quite a bit of attention in addition to the normal boat things.

Posn 40. 54 S 141. 17 E Mon 23 2010 hrs EDT

What a miserable night and day – wind up and down and from north and south during a pitch black night with steady rain – reefs in, reefs out, tack and motor. However by 1000 hrs we were across the trough and associated low into icy cold Force 7 to Force 8 (28-35 kn)winds from the SSW building into a big sea. Neither Morgan or Trish feeling that great. Any way the decks have had a good wash and the new hatches a good test. Wind and sea now moderating (15 – 25 kn)but still from the south. Should have a less eventful night but weather forecasts tell us to expect another bashing as we approach the south western end of Kangaroo Island. Taking it easy and sailing very conservatively with a triple reefed main and half furled headsail- “this is not a race” as I’m so often told! Anyway, my body is getting to old to be thrown around the way it used to be. 360 mile to go to Kangaroo Is.

Posn 39..04 S 139.017 E Tues 24 1930 hrs EADT

Well, we are out of the roaring forties. Water temperature is up from 12 to 13 degrees and didn’t wear my thermals today. Light to moderate winds all day slowly veering towards the NW – a precursor for the next frontal system which will give us another day of foul weather tomorrow, but followed by a big fat high which should give us a few days respite. Current thinking is we will stop off at Port Lincoln for a day or 2 – adds 60 miles to the passage but gives us a nice little break. We start crossing shipping lanes tonight, but so far we have been a lonely light in a lonely ocean with only albatrosses and petrels for company- not much traffic to the west of Tasmania! Just a vast abyssal plain lying 4-5 kilometres below us. On that note,

Cheers

Posn 35 08 S 136 40 E Thurs 26 2000 hrs EADT

Wednesday is a day we would prefer to forget. Tasmania wasn’t going to let us go without a parting gift of southern weather. We sailed a little free on a building northwester in anticipation of a southwesterly change in the early afternoon having already made the decision that we were not going to make the western end of Kangaroo Island, but would instead instead run off to the eastern end and sail to Port Lincoln across the gulf of St Vincent and Spencer, largely in the lee of the island. However the change never came until late afternoon after we had had to tack off a lee shore in 30 knot NW’les. The change came with a vengance and blew a solid 30 knots all night, increasing to 35-40 knots under the frequent rain squalls. So much for the 20-25 kn GRIB weather files! We had no option to heave to or run off but instead sailed our course initially in horribly confused seas under a triple reefed main. Not good for boat, body or soul and no one got a great deal of sleep. It was a relief to sail into the lee of the island as we entered the Gulf of St Vincent via the Back Stairs Passage at daybreak. We’ve enjoyed a great day’s sail in moderating wind which had eased from very squally to a steady 15-20 kn breeze, admittedly well forward of the beam but in flat water until we approached Cape Spencer where a heavy but regular SW swell rolled in. We were able to crack off for the passage across Spencer Gulf and should make Port Lincoln about 0400 hrs this morning, just as Morgan finds his sea legs. He has been very stoic, wanting to lie flat for the first few days in his bunk (watching videos). He becomes quite wan and listless but was only sick once. During last night I would check on him to find him lying there wide awake – woken by all the banging and crashing and violent motion of the boat, but with nary a complaint. He said he wasn’t scared, but didn’t like it! This afternoon he is up and about and has eaten more than he has in the previous 3 days. Anyway, all is well. Two intense frontal systems in two days but some nice sailing in between. The only thing not to survive intact was a frame of the bimini (“the clears”) which collapsed when the solid one was thrown against it at one stage last night. We will repair damage and refuel in Port Lincoln and head off on the next high in a couple of days time.

Port Lincoln Sun 29 0915 hrs CADT

We dropped anchor off the Port Lincoln marina at 0300 hrs Friday morning after a magic sail in the early hours of the morning slipping along at 5 knots in a gentle breeze over dead flat water. Trish and I had a little tot to celebrate successful completion of the passage before crashing into bed, not that I seemed to sleep too well – too still and and a damp sticky feeling after 5 days at sea on a damp boat! Called a friend of a friend when we woke up and moved into the marina into a berth arranged by him gratis. Good guy with the same design yacht to that on which I sailed in the Sydney Hobart at Christmas. Met the crew yesterday after their Saturday around the buoys racing – nice bunch of people who were most entertained by Morgan (especially his climbing prowess – he can now scurry up the shrouds to the first spreaders, toes curled around the wire like a monkey). Friday was largely lost to phone calls and emails while Trish and Morgan found a laundry, but we relaxed over a huge 3 course meal at the marina hotel that night – Coffin Bay oysters, eye fillet steak and deserts – while Morgan played with a new found friend in the restaurant. Yesterday was boat repairs, filling gas bottles and provisioning followed by the mandatory 2 hour stint in a playground with Morgan where he was fortunate to fall in with a bunch of similar aged boys playing tag with a ball. That evening back at the hotel after drinks with our racing neighbours, Morgan was befriended by 2 older girls who entertained him for the rest of the evening while we enjoyed dinner – hunger assuaged the night before, our meal was more modest – before joining the 3 dark haired damsels who had also enjoyed their dinner while Morgan entertained their daughters. All three ladies were teachers, 2 of Japanese. One had married a Japanese man and lived in Japan for 24 years and the other was about to take a bunch of school kids to Japan on a study tour. You wonder why it is that Port Lincoln (pop. 14,000)needs 2 teachers of Japanese, until you realise how strong the connection with Japan is through the fishing industry, with Japan the only significant market for blue fin tuna on which the fortunes of the town are founded. The third teacher had worked in remote aboriginal communities for a number of years. They joined us for coffee on the boat before going home and were most interesting company. Port Lincoln is first and foremost a fishing port, arguably one of the most salubrious in the world with tuna boats, prawners and trawlers neatly berthed stern-to in long arrays along the docks within the modern marina excavated from swamp land and now surrounded by luxury homes and apartments. However the wealth of 15 years ago is not so apparent now, with tuna prices falling from a high of $120/kg to $17-18/kg. Many tuna fishermen/farmers struggle, with those down on their luck gobbled up by the Sarin family who now control over 50% of Australia’s tuna quota as well as the marina and its surrounds and much of Port Lincoln. I must say I find it difficult to agree with concentration of ownership of natural resource quotas in so few few hands even if its meant to be the most logical and efficient outcome of unregulated free market enterprise. And despite the wealth little is invested in the marina facilities – in fact they are non existent for visiting boaties such a ourselves – we have to pay $4.50 each for a shower at the local pool (part of the marina complex and controlled by the Sarins)and use a council owned public toilet up the road! All this leaves one a little ambivalent towards Port Lincoln, but the people we have met are friendly, all services are available and it is at the centre of a wonderful boating and fishing recreational area in addition to it’s industry.