Rottnest to Pelseart
We returned to Rottnest, post our five weeks on the mainland and eased straight back into boat life in Longreach. A few familiar faces were still in the bay; Gary, on Sandie Rabbit, and Rake on his yacht (whose name eludes me!). It was April school holidays and the anchorage was relatively, and quite surprisingly, quiet.
One of the jobs we didn’t do when we were on the hardstand was to run out the anchor chain and give it a once over and tidy up. The first twenty or so metres had been in the water for four months and then sitting back in the chain locker for a month whilst we were in Perth. Once we started to let some chain out to set the anchor, It became apparent pretty quickly that oxidation had set in rapidly and even a cursory glance was enough to suggest that it wasn’t up to the standard that we wanted or needed.
After some expletives and exasperation (and a little self-berating on our behalf for not checking it), we needed a fairly urgent plan of action.
1. Book mooring ball in Longreach so we can remove the old chain and attach the new chain – which we can’t do when on anchor… … move and
secure on mooring.
2. Source some 8mm galvanised anchor chain … … Yacht Grot Fremantle.
3. Book a ferry ticket to Fremantle and return with enough time to walk to Yacht Grot, get the chain and return – leaving in the next hour or so,,,
Sealink over, Rottnest Express back… have 40 minutes to get off the boat and to the ferry.
4. Get to the ferry and, on the way, find a milk crate to put the chain in to bring it back to the island… … brisk walk to the settlement, crate located
.at the back of ‘The Lane’ cafe
5. Make the ferry with five minutes to spare, buying a ticket on board as too late to book online… … bit stressful now!
6. Hit Fremantle – 10 minute walk to Yacht Grot. Get 40 metres of chain and deposit it in the milk crate; purchase chain joiner link. Hhmm..
milk crate almost too heavy to lift!
7. Uber to Northport, Rottnest Express to get return ferry home to Rotto.
8. Sweet talk 60kgs of anchor chain onto a luggage crate!
9. Arrive back at Rotto… … organise luggage crew to pick up and drop off chain to Longreach – careful fellas its heavy!!
10. Walk back to Longreach – await chain arrival.
11. Lug the chain to the dinghy and then back to Singularity – you try passing 60kg of chain from a dinghy onto the back of a yacht!!
12. Hacksaw off the first 30metres of the old chain and put it in a big plastic bucket for disposal later.
13. Using the chain link joiner, attach the new chain... … uh oh … … can’t get enough purchase with my hammer to close the joiner without
smashing our boat, so a plan B required!
14. Await for the easterly wind to die off enough so that we can dock alongside the fuel jetty in Thompson Bay and use the steel rail on the jetty as a
base to smash the joiner with the hammer!
15. Make our way to Thompson Bay – feeling nervous as we have no anchor, so really up s%$t creek if our engines stop!
16. Get alongside – still just enough easterly to make it tricky. Whilst Nicky is fending the boat off the pylons, I am smashing the link with the
hammer – and it works!!
17. Leave the fuel jetty and go out into Thompson Bay – hook up to a mooring and wind in 40 metres of newly attached chain. Attach and Loctite
the chain to the anchor.
18. Return to Longreach and anchor… … all as if we have just been going about our usual day.
Ah… boat life – where the simple is never simple!
We were awaiting the arrival of our mates Beau and Casey and their young crew (Hux 4 years, Reggie 6 months!) on their cat, Chasing Eden. They were sailing up from Busselton, where they live. We had spent three or so months last year with these guys and loved it, so we were teaming up for the first part of our trip to show them around the Abrolhos before we continued northwards.
They arrived late in the arvo and we had a full two days before a good weather window was shaping up for a Saturday departure. The plan was to move around to South Thompson on the Friday afternoon which would allow us an easier pre-dawn departure north to the Abrolhos.
There was some build-up of clouds going on so I called an early move sensing that things might get a bit funky if a thunderstorm arrives. We made our way around to South Thompson and had literally been on anchor for fifteen minutes when it got funky alright. The wind went from a 3 knot southerly to a 25 knot north westerly in the space of five minutes (see Seabreeze screenshot below) and that nor wester sustained for about three hours. We were glad we were out of Longreach, but we were still in uncomfortable ground copping a wind and rain lashing – albeit the rain was very minimal! Our plans for a leisurely afternoon to discuss our upcoming passage over beer and nibblies went out the window quickly, so a quick phone chat was all that we managed. Five am anchors up!
Nicky and I were starting to wonder if the Rotto gods were sending us another message prior to our departure? Seems every time we’re scheduled to leave, the weather fires up and goes all awry on us. After a lumpy night, the sound of the alarm awaking us was the sign to get ready for our first passage of the season. The forecast looked okay; some north easterlies initially before a few quiet hours and then a 15 – 20 knot southerly.
We set off and were making some good ground early on running the main and jib. Once the easterly settled a little, we replaced the jib with the screecher and we were sitting between 8 and 9 knots and very comfortable.
Our plan was to sail overnight and then see where we were located before making a decision about going straight to Pelseart or diverting into Port Denison or Geraldton. Winds were forecast to be a little fickle from the South east for the morning, so we would need to be flexible.
We had a good sail overnight, often sitting with a boat speed of 10knots plus; the wind was a bit gusty, but coming from behind so quite manageable. Always hard to describe the feeling of this sort of sailing – wind noise, boat movement, spray, periods of heavy acceleration as you surf down waves, and sometimes a little bit on edge with the gustiness. Never unsafe, but sometimes on the edge of your comfort zone, that is for sure!
Dawn arrived, as did Macca on a Sunday morning, and we made the decision to run straight to Pelseart. Nicky crunched the numbers and gave us some different variations of time, speed and distance so we could calculate when we would arrive. We needed to be there in daylight and once you enter the group it is still another 6 or so miles down the channel to the anchorage.
Of course, the wind never really filled in, so we had the iron sails going, as well as the mainsail up with a projected arrival time of mid-afternoon. Chasing Eden were a fair way behind us and were heading to Geraldton to drop off an extra crew member they had on board helping out for the first big passage with two kids.
We eventually sighted the islands and after making our way around the appropriately named ‘Coral Patches’ we sailed past Post Office Island before turning south again and heading down into the lagoon. Naturally, the southerly arrived and we had 16knots on the nose! Ah well, the number crunching skills are still up to par and, as a result, we were almost tucked up on anchor in the beautiful Pelsaert lagoon.
As we were entering the channel, however, I was sensing something wasn’t quite right with the steering. We had been travelling downwind virtually the whole passage, so not much pressure had been put on the steering, but now it felt like it was very stiff and making some unnerving noises. Never a great feeling when you’re negotiating your way into an anchorage which is surrounded by reef!
We made it to the anchorage, dropped anchor within the vicinity of half a dozen other yachts (quite a crowd for the Abrolhos), and had a post passage beer to celebrate our safe arrival.
We were back in Pelseart and looking forward to some diving, maybe a surf, catching up with some cruising buddies and generally being back in the swing of cruising life.
