North to Shark Bay
After our short stay at Turtle Bay, thoughts were on the passage north to Steep Point and then to cruising Shark Bay. The 140nm passage to Steep Point is a daunting one and, after a fair old beating last season, we were hoping for more favourable weather conditions. But in reality you can only be guided by the weather forecast and hope that it stays true.
SV Resolute and SV Solitaire were both on their first season north and as expected were nervous about the passage. We were all watching the weather and decided to depart for a Tuesday/Wednesday passage. Forecast was looking good – south / south easterly to 20 knots all day and overnight; swinging to an easterly 15knots in the early morning. Based on our experiences last year, we didn’t want any easterly offshore, but we also wanted at least 15 knots of south. There is nothing worse then 8 – 10 knots of breeze, as it tends to just be rolly and not enough to really sail well, particularly when there’s a bit of swell hanging around from the previous day’s blow.
Last year, our passage took us about 28 hours to cover the 140nm (direct line) and after looking at the forecast we decided we would leave Turtle Bay early in the morning and aim for a dawn arrival at Steep Point. Planning at 6 knots, 140nm is 23 hours, so leaving Turtle Bay about 8am would see us arriving first thing in the morning – with some room to move. If we were a lot slower then no big deal, as we had all of the day to make it in daylight; if we were going to arrive early, we could slow down and time it for dawn. Always easier to slow the boat down than speed it up!!
Tuesday morning arrived and a few boats were on the move. Resolute, being a Beneteau 37 monohull, who are a bit slower than Solitaire and us, departed just after 6am. Mitch and the boys were heading south to Pelseart and they headed off soon after. Ray and Jackie were trying to contain their nervous energy and had the sails up early and headed out at about 7.30. Pete was up early knocking up a chicken curry to put in our slow cooker thermos so we would have a nice hot dinner ready to eat tonight. Cooking on passage is not recommended, so a bit of preparation now would pay off tonight. Nicky’s attempt to whip up a lasagna on our first overnight passage didn’t get very far. Rooky error.
We held our nerve and just after 8am sailed out of Turtle Bay, heading north.
The forecast held true and we had some nice south easterly for the first 4 hours before it started to fade, pending the swing to the south. We were trying to keep our speed up and had the screecher flying, which meant we were doing quite a bit of zig zag across the rhumb line (direct line to destination) in order to keep the wind angle right.
By about four o’clock, we were back on the rhumb line and decided we would try going dead downwind. We still had a full main up and had it pushed as wide as we could to port and then put our jib out and sheeted it to starboard – effectively creating sail on both sides with the wind coming from directly behind. This was working well and we were achieving pretty constant speeds of 8 – 9 knots, with the occasional 10+ as we surfed down a swell.
Downwind sailing was an area we wanted to improve on – it is more difficult than it sounds – and we were happy with our current sail plan and speeds. Over the next two hours, however, the wind started to blow up into the low 20knot range which was increasing our speed and soon it was looking like we were going to arrive way too early if it stayed this way – bearing in mind, the forecast was for it to be ok until about 0300hrs. So we furled in the jib and put 1 reef in the mainsail, thus reducing how much sail we had out. This had the desired effect and dropped us back about 1 – 2 knots.
A few ships pass up the inside between Geraldton and the islands and we were soon playing tag with a cargo ship coming up our inside. AIS showed he was doing about 10.5knots and we were regularly hitting that speed so he was taking quite a while to catch and go past us. As darkness settled, he slid past us on the inside and crossed about 3 or 4 nm ahead of us.
It was soon dinner time and conditions were conducive to actually sitting at the table and eating our dinner like normal – who would have thought!! The chicken curry had slow cooked over the day and we quickly heated up some rice and had an awesome feed. Nothing like some warm comfort food to revive the spirits and make you feel good. Nice one, Pete!
A good feed, however, also makes you sleepy, so, in anticipation of a long night ahead, Pete was soon on the couch and Nicky at the helm, on watch. This lasted for about an hour until the wind cranked to about 27knots and the seas had grown considerably. We were now surfing at 11 – 13 knots, which we would have loved if we were continuing on further north, but watching the time of arrival interval decreasing very quickly, we were starting to worry we would be there at 3 in the morning!
We had been caught out enjoying the downwind sail and now we couldn’t put the second reef in the sail for the only way to really do this properly is to turn and face the wind so the sail is streaming straight out behind and drops cleanly. It was now a sustained 25knots+, the seas were big and it was dark, so turning the boat beam on would have been quite dangerous. We tried to go as straight downwind as we could and lower some sail – which was partially successful, but still left the mainsail draped across the spreaders and not secured down. Another learning experience to help us improve for next time :)
At this point, there was nothing we could do except hang on and hope that conditions would ease soon. The thing about weather is that you know it will pass and eventually abate – sometimes it just seems like a lifetime when you are in the dark, 30miles off the Zuytdorp Cliffs and surfing at 13 knots!! We always look at three or four different forecasting models and platforms and all had the wind going light easterly first thing in the morning – so we just had to believe it would happen. Worst case scenario that if it didn’t, we would sail the length of Dirk Hartog Island and come around the corner at Cape Inscription. Not ideal, but a get out of jail plan regardless.
Sure enough, after about 3 or 4 hours the wind started to abate, but it wasn’t until about 4am that we felt it had settled enough for us to turn the boat into wind and sort out the mainsail. So around we went – the seas were quite lumpy and the wind was swinging to the east – but we turned into wind and actually put the mainsail all the way back up. We knew the winds would now be light, but we also wanted to get the mainsail back in shape from our failed 2nd reefing attempt. Success, and finally somewhat happier, we turned back towards Steep Point. The wind change and our success in slowing the boat down (somewhat) had put us back on track for a dawn arrival at Steep Point.
Sitting at the helm in the early hours of the morning, you have plenty of time to sit and reflect on life. We had found out a few days earlier that Pete Tanham, a long time friend from the surf club and swimming community had passed away during the Busso Tri. Pete was one of the humblest people you would ever meet, but he was a tenacious athlete - more interested in pushing his own personal limits than winning - he had become something of a legend in Perth. We would see him regularly at Challenge when we were still swimming with Rick and in recent times running along the path on West Coast Drive. A great guy and will be missed. Pete also learnt of the passing of an old police colleague, Mick Scanlon, who had lived and worked in Albany for many years. Mick was a mentor to Pete during his first years as a District Training Officer (Kimberley) and they had enjoyed many a memorable trip to Perth with Mick looking after training in the Great Southern. Another very humble man, a gentleman with a very very funny sense of humour. Mick had been retired for many years and passed peacefully on his couch at home. It is important to take the time to reflect on the impact that people have on your own life and, sadly, it is often not until they leave us that we truly appreciate this. A few words to the heavens and then back to checking course and speed!
Finally, dawn came and we arrived at Steep Point just before the sun rose over the cliffs. It is such an intimidating place – hard to describe the feeling as the sea here feels and seems so powerful with big swells coming through and refracting off the cliff faces like standing waves and creating crazy currents. It is 90 metres deep so you feel safe from that aspect, but very humbling. Ahead, we see south passage, the entry point to safe harbour; Shelter Bay, and as you look across you can see the spray coming off the waves on the northern side. As we turn more to the east, and into protection of the headland, we can see calm waters ahead and the silhouettes of fishermen on the cliffs balloon fishing.
We pass Monkey Rock and have arrived into South Passage with about 2nm to the anchorage at Shelter Bay. It really is quite a feeling of relief and emotion after a long night knowing that you are safe and have just completed the toughest part of cruising WA’s north.
Once we are in the familiar waters of Shelter Bay, we put the anchor down in about 4metres of water. A friendly wave to a couple of other yachts in the anchorage, both of which had left Turtle Bay in the days preceding us and then put Singularity to bed. Once again, she has seen us through some testing conditions and we love her all the more for it.
Our plan is to await the arrival of Solitaire to help celebrate their first Steep Point and overnight passage before getting a few hours kip and heading the 10nm up to the Dirk Hartog Homestead. We don’t have to wait too long before Ray and Jackie on Solitaire arrive and we cheer them in. A quick debrief on the phone and then it is time for a well-earned nap.