My first solo voyage

On Wednesday the 14Th of September after allot of planning and acquiring of provisions I left my mooring in Garden Island and set sail for maybe up to 2 weeks of exploring St Vincent's gulf, mostly the upper gulf as I had never been there before. It was 7.44 am when I left, I had to motor as usual down Barker Inlet but as soon as I was abeam of the StKilda entrance beacon I set all sail which included my new second hand fully battened main sail. I was excited about the trip mostly as i was sailing solo for the first time and i did have a few butter fly s kicking around as well .The weather forecast called for n/nw winds 10-15 kts and that is exactly what i had and once i rounded the black pole i set course for my first destination which was Black Point the run across was about 40 n/m and it was a beam reach across ,there was a half to a metre of swell and we made 6,5 kts sailing at times it got a bit lumpy but nothing to write home about and the auto pilot didn't mind either .Since this was the first time at Black Point i was reading up on the bay in my pilot book and as with most ports in this Gulf holding is only marginal with sand over a limestone base and the bay it self hasn't that much protection from winds of any quarter except East of course .I anchored about 250m off shore and in 3m of water i put out 40 m of chain and by this time 3.40 pm the wind had dropped to 5 kts and for the rest of the day i kicked back and fished for squid of which i caught 2! .After having some tea and sitting on deck star gazing i felt tired after a full day of sailing and so i retired to my bunk where i slept like a log .
Thursday 15 September
It was with some reluctance i crawled out of bed but i wanted to be moving because as nice as Black Point is, it has no facilities and not much in the way of protection and i needed some fuel so at 7.40 am, i am making my way to Ardrossan another port i have never been and as with Black Point it offers little in the way of protection from winds from almost any quarter but the forecast is for light winds from the n/e for the next 24 hrs and that is the reason that i have no sail set ,the wind which is almost non existent is on the nose so iam motoring at 5kts and i was rewarded for trailing my snook line with a nice snook about 6oomm long -yum at around 10 o'clock an escort of dolphins stayed with me for half an hour entertaining me with there antics -amazing creatures! i finally arrived at Ardrossan at 12.30 and because of the poor holding i set two anchors 45 degrees of the bow and reversed well to dig them in as best as i could.After having a bite to eat i lowered the dingy and motored over to the boat ramp with my jerry cans ,it was around this time i realised that i had left my sack truck in the car shit !or something like that i said ,now i would have to carry 2x jerry cans half a kilometre full of fuel back to the boat ramp .These were the thoughts that were running threw my mind as i motored over to the pontoon ,after tying up and locking the dingy i was walking up the ramp when i met i bloke at the top of the ramp he said, '' g;day mate nice looking tri you got there are ya going to the servo want a lift'' ? i excepted and thanked him, he could only take me there not come back that's fine i said and i thanked him again as he drove off .I only filled the jerry cans 3/4 each because my back is stuffed already i don't need to make it worse and bugger me i had only just left the servo and a couple in a ute stopped and asked if that was my boat in the harbour and did i need a lift back to the boat ramp to say i was blown away by country hospitality would be an understatement how nice to see that there are still honest ,nice people out there .After returning to the boat i spent the day relaxing and reading a novel and just kicking back
Friday the 16 th September
I woke at 3.13 am to a change in the boats motion an unpredicted wind change swept threw the anchorage it amazes me how you get attuned to your boat and all the little sounds she makes i got up and we had swung around facing e/ne both anchors were holding well and after a while i felt confident that we weren't going anywhere so i went back to bed (i always set the anchor drag alarm on my GPS when ever i anchor).I woke at 7am and after a shower and breakfast i pulled both anchors and made my way to a fishing spot given to my wife Tina by her manager at work ,as this spot was on the way to Port Clinton my objective today i gave it a try ,This fishing spot was for snapper and as the water was 16m deep i thought i might be lucky ,but as is usual with me and fishing i caught nothing but in my defence there were 3 snapper long line boat raping the area and i heard when i got back that they took 200 tonnes of snapper in one week alone!,any way after an hour or so a nice s/e breeze came up so i gave fishing a miss and took advantage of the breeze and soon enough i was cruising along at 5kts and made Port Clinton at 2.30 pm .I anchored about 300m off shore in 2.5m of water i put out 40 m of chain and backed down on it to set it and once that was done i fished for a while but didn't catch any thing .I sat on deck reading a book and just taking in that i was finally near the top of St Vincents Gulf i could see the entrance beacon to Port Wakefield from where i was and i could also see the entrance to Price these were my destinations in the next few days ,i stayed on deck and watched the sun set and the sunset was all purple and orange and it was truly beautiful.After the sun had set i had dinner and went on the lap top to check on what the weather was up to and the weather service was predicting a n/e wind change later the next day 20-25kts ,i thought that tomorrow i will get up early and go into Port Wakefield and tie up at the wharf out of the wind .At 10.30 i went to bed and slept well
Saturday 17th September
I woke with a start at 3.20 am one of my halyards was tapping away and the boat was moving up &down slightly i tried to go back to sleep but the tapping was getting louder so i got dressed and went on deck and the wind was blowing from the n/e at about 8-12kts i retied the halyard and with the breeze blowing in my face i felt the first feeling of dread uncoiling in my stomach is the change coming early? will it hold off till daylight when i can make for Port Wakefield ? i went back inside and put the kettle on and made a cup of tea .I sat by the steering position and drank my tea the wind had increased a little but seemed to be holding i waited another 15minutes and decided to go lay back in bed i took one step down the set of steps and the dreaded anchor drag alarm went off SHIT i said i turned the key on the outboard and she fired first pop i pulled on my balaclava and turned off the anchor drag alarm and i watched the numbers from the long &lat and the numbers were changing as i watched i was waiting to see if the anchor would re-set itself but no the numbers kept changing ,i went outside to lift the anchor and to get the second one ready as well .With my foot on the deck switch the anchor winch pulled up its load and i also noticed now that the wind had increased substantially was this the change coming threw early ? Finally the anchor appeared in the darkness a huge mound of ribbon weed and sand i quickly cleaned off the weed and released the main anchor as we went back wards with the wind i threw the second anchor over as well both anchors bit and i rushed inside to check the GPS DAM we were still dragging i pulled both anchors up to find they were both covered with a huge mound of weed and sand ,i cleaned them off and tried again by this time the wind had really picked up and i was in no doubt that this was indeed the predicted weather change i tried cleaning and resetting the anchor time and time again but to no avail and all through this was the persistent banging of the dingy which i had left down the previous night there was nothing i could do about it at the moment .After the last attempt to set the anchor i gave up and considered my options do i make a run for Port Wakefield or Price or do i run with the storm? i decided to try and make for wakefield i checked the tides there would be enough to get in there so i went for it ,the waves were almost head on and in the space of 35 minutes they had grown considerately,they were a metre and a half tall and very close together ,remembering how shallow it was, explained the size of these waves poor TRI_N_ESCAPE bucked and pounded her way through the waves they were hitting the front windows with a lot of force ,an event that had never happened before, sure we have had spry hit our windows but never wave tops .The outboard cavitated when the propeller lost its bite in the water and roared its anger at the storm that had now engulfed us ,pots and pans flew from the galley a kettle half full took off from the stove top and landed in the saloon something that has never happened in 8years of sailing her ,food burst out of the pantry and landed on the floor ,a bigger wave than normal burst on deck blotting out my visibility ,that was the last straw, i turned and ran with the storm ,immediately the ride improved we were still rocking around but at least we weren't beating our brains out i put on the auto pilot and watched it for a few minutes to make sure it could handle the conditions ,i took my wind speed indicator on deck and it registered 30 kts sustained ,i expected more wind speed than that from the previous ride i had but i put it down to the shallow water .It was with a big relief that i noticed pre dawn on the eastern sky line and as i watched the new day be born , it was such a relief to see that golden orb light the sky, funny how things don't seem that bad in the light of a new day ! Now that things had settled down i looked at the chart and decided that Ardrossan was out of the question as it is too exposed for these conditions so i decided on Black Point as my destination Port Vincent was the best choice but it was along way and i didnt feel up to such a long sail as my back had started to give me grief .As i had a following sea i set my head sail and shut down the outboard we were actually going faster under sail 7kts and while the auto pilot sailed me further south i released the dingy from the side of Tri-n-Escape and set it on a 6m painter where it couldn't bash any more paint of the top sides ,i made a vowel to myself that stormy night to never leave a dingy in the water over night again -ever.With the dingy riding along on its painter i watched it rise over the waves and then surf down the face looking that at any minute that it was about to crash into the stern of Tri-N-Escape before being plucked forward as if by a great hand ,i watched the dingy ride of ups and downs for a while to make sure all was ok it was then i put the galley and saloon back into some semblance of order and what else do you do in a crisis.....why have a cup of tea naturally !! .The wind didnt let up for a few hours and then it moderated slightly down to 20-25 kts and i made Black Point soon after, as i furled the head sail and started the outboard and i made my way into the anchorage the waves were still quite big and i questioned my decision on comming here but i was exhausted and i needed to anchor and rest i positioned myself about 250 offshore and the waves were .5 metre- i put her in the wind and dropped anchor i let 20m out and as the boat was being driven back towards shore i braked the anchor winch to slow the flow of chain overboard at 30 m i stopped the chain and the bow swung into the wind but something wasn't right incredibly we were dragging again!!!in disbelief i pulled up the anchor and as before it had a great ball of weed and sand on it after cleaning it off i had drifted too close to shore for my liking so i motored out a bit and tried again this time the anchor didnt bite at all and we dragged and the boats bow swung down wind i started pulling up the anchor chain again but we were still racing towards the beach the chain arcing under the starboard float all of a sudden the chain stalled out and i heard the outboard stall oh no it didn;t did it? i raced to the stern and hit the tilt button on the out board and there coiled like a great serpent was my anchor bouy marker line coiled tightly around the propellor i stared at it with disbeliefe before i sprung into action i raced to the galley and grabbed the biggest carving knife in the galley set and i attacked the tightly wound rope in a frenzy knowing that we were on a head long collision with the beach which could be only seconds away ,the nylon rope came away slowly at first then bigger pieces came away then it was clear i hit the trim button to lower the outboard leg and ran to the helm position i hit the starter and bless that motor she fired first pop i swung the wheel hard to port and slammed the throttle lever to the stops Tri-N -Escape leapt up and seemed to know the urgency she shouldered the next wave away like a wrestler topples a lesser aponante and pointed her bows to the open sea i reduced the throttle as i was still dragging 20 m of chain ,as i went to the anchor winch i glanced over the side and saw that we were in very shallow water how close we came to disaster made me shudder.i managed to recover the remaining chain and decided then and there that Black Point could go to hell and i set a course for Port Vincent but first i had to bash back through the same seas that i rode in on to go around the spit marker on Point Alfred ,20 minutes of bashing into seas till i could round the marker and set a course for Vincent.Once around on this new course i reset the head sail and shut off the engine.I finally arrived at Port Vincent at 3.30 pm almost 12 hours at sea and i was exhausted i motored into the bay to see a large sailing cat on the beach but my concern was in picking up a mooring which i found, and was able to grab it on my second attempt i shut down the engine and let out a huge sigh of relief that night i slept like a baby
Sunday 17 th September
I woke to sun light streaming in through the over head hatch in our cabin i boiled the kettle and made a cuppa i was going to have a lazy day today but i did need to go into town so i grabed the jerry cans to top up with and jumped in the dingy and motored over to the warf area as i was motoring across i saw the owner of the cat see me and jump in his car and he met me at the warf he helped me tie up to the warf he introduced himself as Kevin Lane and then i saw his cats name Tearaway and it rung a bell he turned out to be a writer for multihull world and what a top bloke,he offered me the use of his car but i declined so he offered to drive me to the servo i said that first that i needed to go to an ATM to get some cash but the pub where the ATM was wasn;t open yet thats ok says kevin i;ll pay for it and you can fix me up later but as it turned out the servo was closed so kevin says lets get a coffee! i said i cant as i have no cash he says no worries my shout what a bloke how generous! we had a good chin wag and when we went back to the servo they did cash out any way!.Later that day Kevin said he was doing some painting on his cat and i offered to help so after lunch i went back to the beach in the dingy and we painted two stripes on the top sides of Kevins cat .Later that afternoon i retired to my boat for a siesta and following that i had an early tea and an early night.
Monday 18th September
Monday mornings dawn brought strong wind and thick rainy squally weather i ventured on deck with my wind gauge and measured 32kts across the deck the mooring line was like a tight rope walkers line and my thoughts turned to i wonder how good this mooring really is ?.A little after 10 Kevin from Tearaway came over for a visit and a look through Tri-N-Escape and a few cups of tea i explained to Kevin that i might head back tomorrow he said that it will be very rough and it might pay to wait i said i would wait for the forecast in the morning .Later after Kevin had left i cooked an early tea and watched a DVD and had an early night.
Tuesday 19th September
Last night a neighbour of mine rang to say that he thought that there was an intruder in our yard i immediately rang my son and with my wife they checked it out but there was no one there so after saying good night to my wife i set my alarm for 5.15am so i could get the latest weather forecast for the metro waters so next thing i know my alarm is going off and i stumble out of bed and i boot up my lap top and the forecast is not to bad it will be lumpy but i am ready to go home .I put the kettle on for my cuppa and its not long before iam motoring ,i went past kevins boat but it was still early so i set course for home there was a fairly big swell running and we surfed down the wave fronts and i made the Orontes beacon by 7.37am and the rest of the crossing was a breeze i finally tied up at my mooring at 2.45 pm it was a first for me going solo and i would do it again no worries but it is much better with your first and best mate with you cheers andy

easter getaway

This easter we thought we would just hang around locally as the forecast was for very light northerly winds and since the ban on anchoring in the Port river had been lifted we thought we would anchor at one of our old haunts the quarantine anchorage.This anchorage is in the port river out of the main shipping channel and protected from waves from strong winds ,we used to anchor here alot when we lived aboard just to have a break from our marina-any way we left our club at 2.30pm and motored against the tide to the cutting (a narrow channel which seperates the Port river from Barker inlet)and as this channel can only be crossed at high tide which for us was at 5.30pm but because we only draw .5 of a metre we thought we would give it a go ,if we bottomed out it was a making tide anyway so we would float off anyhow, but i needent have worried we made it thru with less than 100mm under our keel ,the bottom was sand so it wouldnt have done any damage if we had of touched bottom anyway we motored over to our anchorage which was only a mile or so away .We first anchored next to the jetty and unfortunately the bottom here was slushy mud and because we didnt back down on the anchor hard enough we dragged,so we upped anchor and we moved a few hundred metres away and in 4m of water i let out 30m of chain and we reverse and set the anchor properly as usual i set the anchor drag on the GPS but we didnt have a problem and we spent the next 2 nights there reading ,fishing watching the odd dvd and playing cards ,i have to mention it as it has never happened before i won the coverated champion of cards honour for the week end !all in all it was a really relaxing weekend break i still would like to cut our mooring lines and sail off into the sunset but its not possible with our current situation but little adventures like this one keep me going-thats it for now fair winds &smooth seas