- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 10,104
- Location
- Australia
- Vessel Name
- Now boatless - sold 6/2018
- Vessel Make
- Had a Clipper (CHB) 34
Delfin look away now...the rest of you might find this mildly interesting....
Today, New Years day, 2013, we, (my wife and I) returned to our dock after finally doing something we had wanted to do for quite a while - that is/was to travel down to the Gold Coast, go out the Seaway on favourable tide, then travel up the outside of the encircling Moreton Bay Islands, (ie open ocean), in at the top around cape Moreton, Moreton Bay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and then back to home base down the inside of the Bay - which is where we usually stay, as it's quite a hike for us to get outside - it's a big Bay. Even got an EPIRB last Xmas for it, then had to cancel because of dying cyclonic swells making conditions unfavourable.
This time we struck a good weather window, also ideal tide to cross the bar at the Gold Coast Seaway, and travel up to Cape Moreton, some 70 Nm. No biggie you might say - well for us it was, (11 hrs non-stop, and no Auto pilot - can understand why one does without if seldom used enough to justify the cost, (like me), but still can't understand Marin pulling a working one out, but thereyago), and as luck would have it, after rounding the cape and getting back into the bay, the weather deteriorated quite a bit faster than the forecast had predicted. We had a rather rocky night at Tangalooma, due to swells coming round the top, then the next day we reached Myora through the Rous channel, (another first for us), Map of Rous Channel in Queensland - Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia
and anchored at Myora. That is where the fun began. The wind honked up to 30-40 kn that night, and next day as well. Many boats dragged and had to set and re-set their anchors, and sorry guys, but all of them had CQRs. Thankfully our Sarca stuck firm - so much so in fact I had some trouble extracting it from the bottom Monday morning. The event that really interested me however, (Eric take note), was the boat next to us was a Mainship 45, and they had rafted up with another vessel, which although it had its anchor out as well it may as well not, as it was clearly not under tension, so doing nothing. Anyway, I was impressed at how they survived the night, and was wondering what kind of tackle they were using, when during the next afternoon, when the wind peaked to about 40kn, suddenly their anchor let go, and in a rather startlingly short time, they ended up instead of in line with us to our port, they were where they are in the first photo. They quickly reacted and attempted to separate and re-anchor, but they must have dropped part of their bridle, and it snagged across the Mainship's anchor fluke, and each time he tried to raise it fully it was being pulled back against the bow. Fortunately a fellow nearby with dinghy in the water raced over and disentangled it, and with a bit of smart seamanship both vessels were finally re-anchored. I noted during this that the Mainship was using a Manson Supreme, which if not holding two boats would have been fine I'm sure, as he re-anchored quite quickly. The other vessel took 3 attempts and was using a CQR type. Needless to say, they did not raft up again.
It was this same anchorage where I failed to get a CQR to set after about 7 attempts in much lighter weather than this, as it has quite a weedy bottom, the incident prompting me to research anchors carefully, and I ended up with the Sarca. I watched a Riviera 35 make 6 attempts to re-anchor using a CQR type just after the above events, and I was able to sympathize fully.
The next couple of shots show the sort of conditions prevailing, though they never look so bad in a pic as when you are there.....pics 2 and 3.....
That evening the wind died down for a bit, so we had quite a nice sunset...pic 4. Then it honked up again until dropping somewhat next day, when we were prepared to head south. Our final night, new Years Eve, at Canaipa Point anchorage was much better and we had a really nice sunset...pic 5.
Today, New Years day, 2013, we, (my wife and I) returned to our dock after finally doing something we had wanted to do for quite a while - that is/was to travel down to the Gold Coast, go out the Seaway on favourable tide, then travel up the outside of the encircling Moreton Bay Islands, (ie open ocean), in at the top around cape Moreton, Moreton Bay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and then back to home base down the inside of the Bay - which is where we usually stay, as it's quite a hike for us to get outside - it's a big Bay. Even got an EPIRB last Xmas for it, then had to cancel because of dying cyclonic swells making conditions unfavourable.
This time we struck a good weather window, also ideal tide to cross the bar at the Gold Coast Seaway, and travel up to Cape Moreton, some 70 Nm. No biggie you might say - well for us it was, (11 hrs non-stop, and no Auto pilot - can understand why one does without if seldom used enough to justify the cost, (like me), but still can't understand Marin pulling a working one out, but thereyago), and as luck would have it, after rounding the cape and getting back into the bay, the weather deteriorated quite a bit faster than the forecast had predicted. We had a rather rocky night at Tangalooma, due to swells coming round the top, then the next day we reached Myora through the Rous channel, (another first for us), Map of Rous Channel in Queensland - Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia
and anchored at Myora. That is where the fun began. The wind honked up to 30-40 kn that night, and next day as well. Many boats dragged and had to set and re-set their anchors, and sorry guys, but all of them had CQRs. Thankfully our Sarca stuck firm - so much so in fact I had some trouble extracting it from the bottom Monday morning. The event that really interested me however, (Eric take note), was the boat next to us was a Mainship 45, and they had rafted up with another vessel, which although it had its anchor out as well it may as well not, as it was clearly not under tension, so doing nothing. Anyway, I was impressed at how they survived the night, and was wondering what kind of tackle they were using, when during the next afternoon, when the wind peaked to about 40kn, suddenly their anchor let go, and in a rather startlingly short time, they ended up instead of in line with us to our port, they were where they are in the first photo. They quickly reacted and attempted to separate and re-anchor, but they must have dropped part of their bridle, and it snagged across the Mainship's anchor fluke, and each time he tried to raise it fully it was being pulled back against the bow. Fortunately a fellow nearby with dinghy in the water raced over and disentangled it, and with a bit of smart seamanship both vessels were finally re-anchored. I noted during this that the Mainship was using a Manson Supreme, which if not holding two boats would have been fine I'm sure, as he re-anchored quite quickly. The other vessel took 3 attempts and was using a CQR type. Needless to say, they did not raft up again.
It was this same anchorage where I failed to get a CQR to set after about 7 attempts in much lighter weather than this, as it has quite a weedy bottom, the incident prompting me to research anchors carefully, and I ended up with the Sarca. I watched a Riviera 35 make 6 attempts to re-anchor using a CQR type just after the above events, and I was able to sympathize fully.
The next couple of shots show the sort of conditions prevailing, though they never look so bad in a pic as when you are there.....pics 2 and 3.....
That evening the wind died down for a bit, so we had quite a nice sunset...pic 4. Then it honked up again until dropping somewhat next day, when we were prepared to head south. Our final night, new Years Eve, at Canaipa Point anchorage was much better and we had a really nice sunset...pic 5.
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