Timelines and Cruising

One of the things we were warned about whilst researching this whole cruising thing, as well as hearing countless horror stories over sunset drinks on our ‘cruising buddies’ boats, was the subject of having to be in a particular place at a particular time when cruising.

Of course, despite all of these warnings, we thought that we would put ourselves exactly into that position during our recent six weeks in and around Exmouth. Whilst we love having family and friends come and stay, we have learnt a valuable lesson in setting ‘dates for guests’ and what this can mean in terms of logistics and fitting in with Mother Nature and all her glorious moods. Of course, the opportunity to share some incredible experiences with our nearest and dearest is priceless, but there are definitely some things we will do differently next time, now that we’re somewhat wiser and a little more experienced.

North West Cape now has a particular place in our heart having sailed around it on no less than six occasions in six weeks. The cape itself is less than 5 miles across - from North West Cape in the west to Point Murat (aka the Old Navy Pier) in the east. But boy, this can be the longest 5 miles of your life as this is a place where tide, swell and wind all meet, and often all coming from different directions.

A sail around North West Cape can go from the sublime to the ridiculous! On a calm day it can mean a favourable 3 or 4 knots pushing you along to the Gulf; on a not so favourable day it can mean short standing waves, horrible chop and buckets of ocean crashing up over the front of the boat.

And, so it was that we found ourselves once again getting beaten up because we had to get to where we needed to be, regardless of sailing conditions. Plenty of time to reflect and soak in the error of your ways as you hear all of the contents of your cupboards being bounced around and watch as your possessions in the saloon try to take wings and fly! …… a first world problem of course and whilst not unsafe, just damn uncomfortable and a lot of strain on Singularity. Check out the footage under the ‘Sailing’ tab in our ‘Videos’ section.

The great thing about the human psyche, however, is that this is of course all forgotten pretty quickly as we get on with our re-provisioning and then excitedly welcome our next guests….. but next year we are going to do it differently!!