I'm having a wonderful sail now, 100 n.ml. NE of Flinders Island, across the Bass Strait from Shellharbour marina, S of Sydney - where the amazing New Year fireworks were watched from Athol Bay.
I'm on passage to Tasmania to cruise a little, do some boat work and enjoy the Wooden Boat Festival in early February.
I'm on passage to Tasmania to cruise a little, do some boat work and enjoy the Wooden Boat Festival in early February.
I'm out of phone range and my Starlink is stubbornly telling me 'No Internet' ..... but my HF/SSB radio still works to send a blog to my website and to email friends - so this is being sent the 'old-fashioned' way - but my radio works when the 'new stuff' does not!!
I expect to make landfall sometime late Sunday on the 'Tassie' E. coast somewhere (when Internet will be available again) and I'm looking forward the beautiful, peaceful anchorages and often dramatic scenery of Tasmania.
I expected strong conditions on this crossing (which may yet arrive before landfall!) but so far we've been gliding along at good speed, albeit in rolly but well-spaced 1.5m/5ft swell - much pleasanter and bearable than the rough conditions of the first two days. Last evening, we lost the fabulous, south-flowing, East Australia current that gave us SOG (speed over the ground) of over 10 kt for quite a time yesterday! It was good to see the brightly-lit 'Queen Elizabeth' pass by on its way to Sydney on my first night out.
all's well on board except for one plotter that has a 'frozen' display and so is useless, a strong smell of diesel (and a bilge pump which keeps coming on) and no comms options other than my radio - but it's a lovely sunny, if hazy, day and it's very peaceful out here....
all's well on board except for one plotter that has a 'frozen' display and so is useless, a strong smell of diesel (and a bilge pump which keeps coming on) and no comms options other than my radio - but it's a lovely sunny, if hazy, day and it's very peaceful out here....
(My track, using my Data Hub, should always be showing on my Predictwind.com tracker page and my AIS is transmitting my position also).
Sunday 3pm - seas have been rather rough and winds up around 20kt - but from astern, so much easier t cpe with. Slow going now after gybimg too soon - if I'd left it a bit longer, angle on the wind now would have been better - but wind is forecast to back nito N ater - just don't know when exactly! Expecting landfall overnight in Wineglass Bay - was going to pass it by but winds are expected from SE tomorrow and possibly calm just before, so anchoring in this otherwise exposed bay in NE winds looks tenable. If this arrives. it will be via my HF/SSB radio since radio is still my only means of communicating just now. (I spoke to Coast Radio Hobart yesterday to get weather info and made an excellent contact with a Scottish 'ham' in Valencia, Spain, during my evening - his morning! Beautifully clear signals both ways meant we were able to have quite a good chat.
Sunday 3pm - seas have been rather rough and winds up around 20kt - but from astern, so much easier t cpe with. Slow going now after gybimg too soon - if I'd left it a bit longer, angle on the wind now would have been better - but wind is forecast to back nito N ater - just don't know when exactly! Expecting landfall overnight in Wineglass Bay - was going to pass it by but winds are expected from SE tomorrow and possibly calm just before, so anchoring in this otherwise exposed bay in NE winds looks tenable. If this arrives. it will be via my HF/SSB radio since radio is still my only means of communicating just now. (I spoke to Coast Radio Hobart yesterday to get weather info and made an excellent contact with a Scottish 'ham' in Valencia, Spain, during my evening - his morning! Beautifully clear signals both ways meant we were able to have quite a good chat.