Passage North

Date: 14th January 2025

Location: 15 miles north of Coffs Harbour.

Well, we're continuing our way up the 400 miles north from Sydney back to Scarborough via Southport at Gold Coast.

Yesterday we left Port Macquarie and appeared to be flying along. But that was because the south going current was holding us back with the water swishing past us. So much so that while we were rushing through the water at 6.5 knots we were only truly making our way north at around 1.5 knots. Not ideal. But all bad things come to an end and now 20 hours later we are motor sailing north at 6 knots in warm sunshine and a relatively flat sea. Just 200 miles left to go now to Southport on the Gold Coast.

We always knew this was going to be a hard slog back. You don't get a 3 to 4 knot current with you in one direction and nothing against you coming back. It's not quite as bad as it might be though because the trick going south is to head several miles out to catch the maximum southgoing current. Coming back north though you are advised to get so close in to shore that you can spit on the beach! There the current is theoretically less but even then it veers into the beach on occasion and all you can do is make the best of things and push on. Thinking about it now of course it's also full moon. This makes the currents even worse as although night sailing becomes much more enjoyable it also creates the biggest tides of the month.

Big current makes shoreline - ugh.

Date: 14th January 2025

Location: Wave Breaker anchorage, Southport

So it's been a hard slog with little sailing but this morning we arrived at the entrance to this inland sea and called Marine Rescue Seaway Tower for two things. Firstly to let them know we had arrived and secondly to check the state of the shallow bar at the entrance. "All good" the nice man said so in we surfed with narry a problem.

Date: 18th January 2025

Location: Home! Scarborough Marina

Well, we managed to beat the big waves (5.5m where we had been 24 hours previously) and gale force winds and made it back to Scarborough in one piece. But at this time of year it's a hard passage. "The East coast is challenging" two of our local friends told us. "Brutal" was Gill's description though looking back that's probably a bit of an over reaction.

There's not much to tell about a passage like this. The engine drones on, the watches pass by, another 8-12 miles completed every two hours. Squalls come, squalls go, the moon comes up, the moon goes down. 1,900 revs and you're off in your little world for hour after hour. Maybe a few dolphins swim by to make you smile.

A few events to break the monotony.

1. I noticed the raw water filter wasn't filling. That meant not enough cooling water was getting to the engine (bad) even though it wasn't overheating (good). At Port Macquarie we tied up to a mooring ball. The current passing the ball was so great it looked more like a swimming dog, the ball being pulled beneath the surface. We hooked it first time though - success. I disconnected the inlet hose and proved there was no blockage. This is always a stressful exercise as it has the potential to sink the boat! All good and no blockage. Next up check the impellor that drives the water round the system. Ah. That's it. Three blades instead of eight. I replaced it knowing I would have to find the missing blades later. Back in Scarborough I tracked them down to the entrance of the oil cooler heat exchanger. All now good in that area too. It could have been much worse if the engine had overheated. We were lucky.

The old and the new.

Friends reunited.

2. We were using so much fuel battling against the current that we decided to pop in to Coffs Harbour for some extra litres. Dawn broke as we quickly tied to another ball to get refuelling kit and mooring lines assembled. Into the harbour, refueled, out and back into the rocky ocean. All completed in 70 minutes. Very pleased with ourselves we continued northwards.

Dawn exit from Coffs Harbour.

3. As we finally approached Southport the aft heads (toilets) stopped working. Yesterday I spent the day cleaning the pipework, removing the toilet, disposing of the resulting brown sludge and rebuilding it all. It works. I did cut myself twice though during the work. Gill warned against tetanus as cuts, sewage and tetanus apparently make great bedfellows. More savlon please.

Possibly one of my less favourite tasks.

Macerator inspection.

So that's about it for now. In less than a week we fly to New Zealand for seven weeks holiday (yes I know). Flights booked and travel documents organised. I'm not sure what to do about this blog for that period as we'll just be doing the normal touristy stuff there. Three weeks on North Island and four in South Island. I'll see how it goes.

Oh yes, I forgot to say. At this time of year now that we are back in Queensland and further north. It is HOT and HUMID.