the long and the short of it

A rather shaky groove

Position 0730 14th 3535 15023 trip 98, DMG 92. Monday entry still possible, keep em crossed.

Ferals - one recumbent drom, now over the hump and out of sight, one tiny ex flying fish on deck, one Virgin 737 heading south, lots of birds. Homo erectus and maybe even some sapiens in little boxes, all made of ticky-tacky all along the shore. 2 weary OF out here.

We cracked 15000 miles near Eden and we have 110 to South Head - a lot less than 1% of the journey. Looked a bit pearshaped yesterday when the old electric autopilot finally gave up the ghost in the rain - great job Udo! I'm surprised it lasted this long. But in the secret stash we have another one, a bit of a toy and also modified by Udo - yay Udo! - but it will get us home. Small panic when I set it up and it thought it was going south but then I read the instructions. Duh.

Another small sailing boat to seaward. Seems to be going faster so I wonder if there's a reverse EAC eddy here.

Dank, dark and dromedary

When you are rock snaggling 500 yards off the beach and pointy bits on a very dark slightly drizzly night wreathed in dromedary foetids it pays to be very careful. Eyeballs and GPS and 6th and 7th senses - which were jerked into adrenalin blast by a series of bright flashes - far brighter than Montague Island light out to starboard. Umm? A fireworks display, just for Berri and me, about 10 miles behind us. And there's a christmas tree on the eastern horizon - probably a fisho out of Eden.

The lights along the shore merge into the phosphorescence - lovely - no time for more.

(no subject)

Kettle crisps and Dr Cooper's prescription for laryngitis and just about everything - aaaaaaah!

5 miles south of Bermagui, motor sailing, rock hopping along the coast to stay inside the east Australian current. Too early to predict an ETA but we are making good progress at the mo. Fresh mussels to come. A great swirl of whitebait just off the bow, rounded up by tuna or someone else bigger and hungrier.

From here, we look straight up the starboard nostril of Cook's Dromedary. We will work our way around its hairy nose at Cape Dromedary and then look up its port nostril before getting the whole silhouette - head and hump. We will be looking at it for at least 24 hours. I'm actually surprised that Cook knew what a dromedary was - but perhaps it was one of the scientists who applied the template and gave Cook the name. It's a very good likeness.

Later: We have now passed Bermagui, Montague Island to starboad and the Dromedary's nose to port. I can smell his foetids.

Just pushing the old barge as fast as she will reasonably go, aiming for Monday morning at the next rusty hinge.

We'll see.

1042

Yesterday morning: A thousand plus the answer to everything and the highest barometric pressure reading I can remember ever seeing. I think there is a calibration error somewhere - the forecast was for 1038. Clear day, slight haze, big bushfire along the shore west of Mallacoota. Gabo Lighthouse lost in the haze against the hills behind Cape Howe but only 15 miles away. No mobile signal yet.

Today: Got into Eden around midnight. Eden a bit frantic - no diesel on the wharf any more, no phone signal on the wharf - Telstra 3G yet. By massive coincidence, I bumped into Chris H also on the dock and he organised his mate Peter to bring hie wheels and take me to the service station at the other end of town for 80 litres of diesel, and then Jen and Anne arrived to take us shopping and delivered hot muffins and it all got fixed and we left as soon as we were sorted - departed 1035. HUGE thanks to Chris, Peter, Jen and Ann - as with so much of this gig, we could not have done it without lots of help from lots of wonderful people. Jen, I'll send you back the muffin basket. Had intended to give the Eden Magnet our story but it all got too complicated. Kari's mob too - sorry but we just had to get on with it.

Earliest possible ETA now early Monday if absolutely everything works for us. Else later Monday or - most likely, early Tuesday for entry to suit whoever wants to come and meet us. We should be in mobile range most of the way. If anyone desperately wants to talk to us, 0418243600.

Watch this space! And cross em please.

Carol, plonk always used to be the cheapest red available and screech the equivalent white. The stuff you burnish copper with.
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slowly slowly

A time filler - a mental doodle across the vacuum of my mind

That has a Simon and Garfunkel feel to it.
We are 40 miles from Gabo and 69 from Eden. This bit of this journey always seems to take for ever - perhaps according to my modification of Parkinson's Law: The time for the final stage of a journey expands in the mind to exceed the time for all of the previous stages. Assuming, of course, that you are busting to arrive.
Gabo Island light marks the south eastern corner of mainland Australia yet it has a surprisingly short range - only 16 miles. Green Cape, around the corner, has 17. Tasman Island, at 276 metres above sea level, only 18 although we were seeing it at about 22 a few nights ago. Cape Tourville on Tasmania's east coast, at 21 miles, is one of Australia's most powerful. I suppose the governing factor for range is the need for a continuous chain of lights along a dangerous coastline and the cost of building lighthouses in the 19th century (here I should cite 'The Lighthouse Stephensons' but it is packed deep in the impenetrable fossilisation that is Berri's forepeak).
There are three ships between us and Gabo - it's not the English Channel but busy enough when you haven't seen many ships in nearly 6 months. I am surprised that there is no separation zone here. One of the ships, the Itajai Express, will arrive in Sydney tomorrow at 0930. He's doing 21 knots - I wonder how fast Groupama is going and whether they have made up their time. When we were rolled in 2007, AMSA diverted a Korean woodchip carrier to our position - I don't remember its name but I wonder where it is now. I wrote to thank the Captain afterwards and he replied wishing us well, so I have his contact details somewhere.
The VoA is back to Sydney tolerances.
We should be in mobile phone range in about 10 hours.

702 Interview podcast

The interview with Adam Spencer on ABC Radio a few days ago is here

An elastic ETA

As I write this, we are in almost exactly the spot where we were rolled and generally messed about in January 2007 the last time we sailed back from Hobart. SJ or Izz, if you have the link to that story, could you please attach?

edit: as requested, link to story here!

Later: Position 0630 12th 3815 14928, trip 92, DMG 90. Not looking good for Sydney any time soon - my latest grib file shows the north easterly gradient on the back of the high setting in on Sunday at 15 knots. With the sea breeze amplifying it, it will become savage by midday until very late. The high is moving very slowly, so we might be ducking for cover during the days and travelling at night. Eden, Bermagui, Batemans?, Ulladulla? Jervis Bay? Could be Tuesday at the earliest for Sydney. We will need to restock the medical supply as well as fuel and mussels in Eden.
Seems the Examiner is still out here.

Sunday too far away

A poke in the eye from the Examiner - we are not going to make an 0830 Sunday entrance into Sydney. Poo - and sorry to everyone who might have been making arrangements. Late Sunday is still possible if we get lucky up the coast but we will have to call into Eden for fuel whatever happens. ETA Eden around 2100 tomorrow. The good side of that from our point of view is that we will be able to pick up a sackful of fresh mussels and a box of screech to cook them in...

I think Monday for Sydney is more likely.

Chris H and Kari's mob in Eden and anyone at The Magnet - would be good to say G'day if you are reading this and around. Chris, I have your phone number, but not Kari's with me. We won't be there for long if conditions up the coast are still good.

Nothing in particular

Position 0730 11th 3943 14917, trip 117, DMG (25 hours) 114 so on track for some time on Sunday but probably afternoon or evening. Looks as if the North Easter will have set in again by the time we start up the NSW coast and that will completely clobber any chance even perhaps for Sunday. But I never make predictions and an Examinatorial southerly would be noice. Windless and slow at the mo.

An observation - we are not squeezing Bass Strait for our water supply but instead using the water from Berri's tank. We filled it in Falmouth with a little top up in Lisbon so it is mostly hard English water not soft, unadulterated Tasman Sea. When I rinse the soap off my face after my sporadic shaves using squeezed water, the soap seems to stick - the skin stays just that bit slippery slimy. With the Falmouth mix, (acidic?) it all goes with the first rinse - probably curdled as well. Just thought you'd like to know.

Ferals - two grey faced albatrosses with us until yesterday but haven't seen them this morning. Not enough wind probably. There were Storm Petrels too - I think Black Bellied. The original Boot ferals have stayed on after Hobart - dear little things! And we are carrying a couple of hundred flies and other insects so we must be getting close to something or other. Next, we'll see swimming sheep, deserting NZ for sunnier climes.

Scott, would be good to see you.
Woc - could the painting have been of James Clark Ross and Francis Crozier who were Captains of Erebus and Terror when they visited Hobart after Kerguelen in the early 1840s while Sir John and Lady Jane were in Government House.?
Bill W tks for East Coast Current - we'll try to stay west of it up the coast.
Wall - WMP! We shall be in touch.
Sue - EP scratchy but happy.

north by north east'ish

click to enlarge - anchor is Hobart, Sydney top right.

Breakfast of the long distance headbanger

Take one small frying pan, add a couple of spoonsful of olive oil and heat. Chop 3 cloves of garlic (in our case, brownish and dessicated - after all, they have come all the way from Lisbon)and slice about half a field mushroom. Add three slices of bacon and the garlic to the hot olive oil and bring to sizzle stage, then add the mushroom. Toss them all around a bit. When all looks aurifically loverly, remove from heat and keep hot. Carefully decant one dose of Dr Coopers throat elixir into a heavy tankard and administer as necessary. Put two slices of (almost) fresh bread into the remaining oil in the pan, return to heat and fry on one side (hard to do in the boat, so I just drop them into the pan), build up a sando of all the bits on one of them, cover with the other and allow the imagination to become riotous and the mind to boggle. Think Tabasco? Mmm! Open face and insert, lubricating with aforesaid elixir. Hedonistic, decadent, self indulgent gustatory bliss.

And rather better than a dry cracker with scrofules and crutch flakes.
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Iffy for am Sunday.

Position 0630 10th March 4133 14840, trip 87, DMG 57. Disappointing but not too bad considering we stopped and went backwards for about 6 hours. It dows mean that an early Sunday entry into Sydney is looking very unlikely. We would need to maintain 4.5 knots all the way, against the current.

But a lovely morning down here - the old familiar coastline south of St Helens purple in the dawn light.

Admin stuff

But first - we are unhoven and in semi hoon mode north east of Bicheno - the wind finally did what it was supposed to do and backed to the west and now SW. But it will slowly drop and we may have to motor across Bass Strait. Correction - the wind is dropping fast and the barometer is rising.

Aiming for 0830 arrival at Sydney Heads on Sunday - possible but I'd only give it evens at the mo.

Does anyone know what the east coast current is doing? I could not find the CSIRO web page while we were in Hobart.

Mark Dawson - sorry but I haven't got your email address on this computer or written down anywhere.
Steve J - likewise. I have given your mobile to Robyn Morton re arrival possibility.
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Aggro in extremis

Will no one rid me of this troublesome Examiner? Salted porridge for a week in a coal mine? Wrap around sound Vogon poetry and throw away the key to the loo? Anything to get her out of circulation for a few days. We are Old and Farty and this sort of aggravation is superfluous. OTT. Past its use by date.

We've been in the poo more or less since we left the Iron Pot - nothing unusual really for around here. At the mo. we are hove to in 30 - 50 kt NW - soapy green/blue milky water, froth everywhere being blown horizontally (the froth) with terminal force into the eyes, codpiece or whatever gets in the way. Position where we set it up, for the record 4200 14824 and we are fore reaching SE at about 1.8 kts. For the nautically challenged, heaving to is setting the boat up so that it is stopped and beam-on to the wind and waves and basically having a rest. Some boats sail forwards a bit when hove to and this is called fore reaching. This s a Good Idea as long as the waves are not too big and definitely not breaking. If either, then it's often better to sail the boat so as to minimise as far as possible the effects of the conditions. We will stay hereish until this nonsense abates, probably in about 12 hours. Absolutely no point in headbanging into it - better to preserve the boat, Consult with proper seriousness with the Doctor from Cork and get some sleep. Which (both) will be nice.

Malcom has corrected one of my earlier blogs in which I lamented the lack of Aboriginal place names. Tribaunna, the name of a fishing village not far from here is an Aboriginal name for a small bird. As is Berrimilla. and I've been to Triabunna so I should have remembered.

Carla - well done and to Rocket too. Was Lerizhan aboard? See above re enjoyment!

A rather scruffy albatross with a grey face.

More later.

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Creeping up the coast - 60 miles to St Helen's

One for Gordy and the Falmouth gang - next time you are on google earth, go to 42d 20.043 S 148d 19.854 E. It's between Cape Sonnerat and Cape Baudin on Schouten Island. Just sailed past it and took a photo which I'll post on the blog if the Examiner ever gets out of our faces and lets us get north to Sydney.

Ferals - there we were, once again under the Examiner's whip, all sorts of nastiness happening, ethereal albatrosses in the dusk, Stygianlike murkitude, NEaster blasting in, Turneresque cloud up near the Hippolytes yesterday evening. I look up and see big buzzy insect - no real feel for size or geometry but perhaps an inch at least in bodylength, flapping busily 2 miles out to sea. Must have done the full circle of the low pressure system or somehow got carried out to sea much earlier and getting a ride more or less towards Tasman Island. Hope it made it - otherwise a long cold flight to nowhere.

Dolphins - hundreds of them - some big and slow moving, a slow rolling glide, others frisky tails lapping and jumping all around Berri. I often wonder f they are really playing or just carrying on trying to say - Go Away, this is MY bit of ocean.

Coastlines - seen a few in the last umpteen thousand miles and Tasmania is up there with absolutely the most spectacular. Sir John Franklin, ex Governor of Tasmania, not long before he died up in the NW Passage in about 1850, named some islands in Peel Sound the Tasmanian Islands. Immediately obvious why when you see them - a poignant link to the mind of a ghost we were conscious of all the time up there.

If anyone's interested, we were interviewed on the ABC at 0635 this morning, 9th March. [Berri ground control note: the podcast will be here once it is uploaded. Likely overnight]

After the bashing

Position 0715 9th March 4230 14825, trip 97, DMG 93. A bit later than usual after being on the electric wireless breakfast radio thingy. Just - only just squeakily - in mobile range and got a text saying 'Anarchy Rules' so someone was listening. Tks J & S

Getting around Tasman Island in a north easter is about as bad as it gets and we had a rugged few hours headbanging wind, swell and rain and avoiding some serious rocks called the Hippolytes. The names down here reflect the European history of the place - Hobart, Gellibrand, Raoul, Tasman, Fortescue, Forestier, Maria, Schouten, Freycinet - Dutch, English and French but, sadly, as far as I can see on the chart, no reminders of the original owners.

The wind has backed to the west during a lovely dawn and as the sun rose, the cliffs on Schouten Island turned from grey gloom to gentle pink and now their normal rocky beige. We are due for a south westerly gale later today - should help us home just a bit!

Bacon sando and Dr Cooper's recommended emollient just demolished for breakfast. Noice, after dry biscuits...

Matt - Ames just an idea at this stage. I'll keep you posted.

Bleeeah!

We're just south east of Cape Raoul - Storm Bay having been its usual obstreperous self with blasts and holes and rain - the works. Should all blow away this evening. But no fun going to windward after all those months of the easy stuff.

There are dolphins around and a Black Browed Albatross - and lots of Gannety birds once again pretending to be albatrosses.

From here to Sydney I will use Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time which is UTC + 11. The laptop is set to this time as well - using the backup as the original seems to be a dead parrot.

We should round Tasman Island and turn north in a couple of hours, all going well. For the Sydneysiders and those who can get the abc.net.au internet stream, we might be on breakfast radio with Adam Spencer tomorrow - but at 0545 ish.

We're off again

We left the yacht club in Hobart at 0900 local this morning. Weather looks reasonable for a quickish trip up the coast to Sydney but who knows?
I'll keep you posted.

Dr Cooper is aboard again running an excellent dispensary ably supported by the good Dr. Gordon. All ok so far - we're still in the Derwent approaching Half Moon Bay.