The Steep Point Rollercoaster…

Our day of travel had arrived, but we needed to be patient. If the conditions are right it can be a quick (aka 18 – 20 hours!) trip to Steep Point and leaving too early can result in arriving in the dark – which is not really desirable.

We were waiting in the anchorage with a north easterly, which was not great as it meant that the sea state would be coming from that direction, even after the wind had died – and, of course, a north easterly direction was our rhumb line to Steep Point.

After a quiet morning of waiting for the right time, we said our goodbyes to the Eden crew and then at about 1245pm we departed Turtle Bay, heading north.

The forecast was for the north easterly to drop, which it was doing, and then for a period of light winds before going south at 10 – 15 knots, then increasing to 15 – 20 knots up to midnight. After midnight, it would swing south east and remain in the 15 – 20 knot range before decreasing in the morning. It all sounded so promising!

We had a good start and were getting along at about 8 knots with mainsail and jib, there being enough north in the wind to give us a good wind angle. About four hours into our passage, the wind started getting pretty fluky, as per the forecast, so we left the sails up and motored with one engine.

At 7.30pm, the predicted wind change arrived and we soon had a regular 20 – 23 knots of southerly. We were tracking along nicely and enjoying the ride. A few hours in, things started getting a bit gustier - up to 30 knots - so we put a reef in the mainsail and for a while just ran with this. We had been getting a little bit of rain – more of the drizzle type, but enough to wet everything down and make it a little miserable for whoever was on watch.

Pretty regular Steep Point stuff at this point, as always it was gustier than predicted, but whilst a little uncomfortable, all quite acceptable. We were taking rotating shifts, with one sleeping (usually with one eye open) and one on watch. There wasn’t really any other traffic in our vicinity, other than a fishing boat (most probably a trawler) that we had spotted on Marine Traffic. Annoyingly, the fishing boats generally don’t have their AIS on, so they can be tricky to spot.

At night, we reference radar, AIS, visual scanning, and if we have internet we look at the Marine Traffic app which does display the fishing boats – although the position is generally not 100% accurate – but at least you know they are located somewhere nearby.

Shift change at 5am and Nicky came to the helm. We had 23 knots of south east wind and were tracking along in the 7 – 9 knot range. All was pretty comfortable. At this point, we were about 20nm south of Steep Point, and, with the sun coming up soon, we were hoping conditions would remain as they were so we could enjoy the scenery of the cliffs.

It wasn’t long before Nicky was tapping me on the shoulder to tell me that the wind had suddenly jacked up. A look behind us revealed some ominous grey clouds and it looked like we had a squall cell approaching from behind. Within minutes, the wind was at 35 knots and gusting up into the forties. We quickly furled the jib and were running mainsail with a second reef in.

The sea state rose rapidly with the wind and soon we found ourselves surfing down waves at an alarming rate – we can live with the odd 12 or 13 knot surf, but when the boat is doing 15+knots then it is time to put the brakes on. Of course, during this time the noise level had increased dramatically; wind noise, the sound of foaming breakers coming onto the back of the boat, and the boat heaving and humming as it goes from a trough to free-surfing down a wave.

We knew it was time to get the mainsail down in order to slow ourselves or we were at risk of slewing sideways on a big roller. Unfortunately, the only way to achieve this is to turn into wind, which means going side on for a period until you get the bow of the boat around and facing into the oncoming wind/waves. It was too risky for anyone to go to the mast, so it would be a case of helming the boat into the wind, dropping the main into the bag by releasing the halyard, and then turning back downwind. All done in 35 knots of wind and a 3+ metre sea! We hadn’t had to do this in quite so a dramatic fashion before, so it was a little nerve wracking, to say the least!

Engines on and we held our collective breath as we turned Singularity into the wind. We had been on a starboard tack so it was a starboard turn into the weather. Waiting for the right sea state, around we went. Once into wind, it was a balance of maintaining enough momentum to hold course, with one hand on the helm and the other releasing the mainsail.

Poor old Singularity was pitching pretty strongly. One minute we were looking at the sky, the next minute down into a trough, as you look on and watch a decent roller approaching. Thankfully, the mainsail came down quickly and dropped perfectly into the sail bag! First job done, now we needed to turn back downwind which involved some side-on action across the seas once more. We nailed it and were soon back on course – no sails, but engines on to help maintain some control.

We were still consistently in the 7 knot range, but now had some control of the boat. If it looked like we were going to slew whilst surfing then we could cut the engines. Fortunately, this never occurred and whilst it was more comfortable, and definitely safer, we still had 17nm to go! Looking to our left, just off the port side appeared a rainbow. Things were looking up!

Crazily, the wind did not back down for the next four hours, so it seemed that the corner at Steep Point would never arrive. Eventually, however, we did arrive. We were thankful to get out of the swell, however our normal calm and inviting entrance into Steep Point was not so nice. The easterly wind that had caused us so much grief was still blowing 25+, but was now directly on our nose as we made our way the 2 or so miles up to the anchorage.

Eventually, we were anchored in Shelter Bay, along with the campers – who were all bunkered down, hiding from the wind. Singularity was a big, salty mess, and we were still a bit too pumped up on adrenaline to go to sleep, so a toasted sandwich and a cuppa were on order. We had a bit of a debrief and a laugh too (much easier to do once it’s all over and you’re safely anchored up) – the good old Steep Point run – always has something going on to keep you on your toes.

And, of course, after a well-earned sleep and a walk to stretch the legs, the day finished off with a complete glass off… not a single breath of wind!

Our friends on Chasing Eden had left the Abrolhos that morning, so we were praying that they didn’t cop what we just had – they have a smaller boat, and two small children on board which would not be fun in testing conditions. We followed their progress via text messages and Marine Traffic, overnight and into the morning, and were relieved when they sailed into Shark Bay shortly after we had sailed out.

Thank you Steep Point – another notch in the experience belt!