Author: mtashby

Current Position: 10 35.560’S 142.14.585’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 5 kt; TWD: 002; Distance to Waypoint (Wyborn Reef): At anchor ; Total Miles Sailed: 8820 nm; Engine Hours: 193; Estimate Fuel: 49+12+50;
Comments: The author Hellewell claims the passage into the waters that separate Thursday Island and Horn Island are more complicated to navigate than the crossing of the GBR. I have been studying the charts for days and I might agree. There is a complicated set of obstacles in those waters. I have uploaded 18 waypoints into a route from Wyborn to Horn Island, and that is not even enough detail. I will be hugging my iPhone running Navionics to identify the dangers. My plan is to weigh anchor at 5:00 and sail the 27 nm to the beginning of the passage in the waters that separate Horn and Wednesday Islands, then drop the sails and motor the remaining 7 nm so. The idea is to arrive at the passage about 10:30, high/slack tide, then arrive at the anchorage around noon, before the afternoon winds kick up the waves. I’d motor sail, but cannot run the risk of the wind picking up and not having enough room to round up and drop the sails. Because of the reputation of the water at Thursday, most yachts anchor at Horn. Taking a dinghy back and forth can be dicey, especially in the afternoon. The thought of my small dingy full of water and fuel jugs is thought-provoking. My plan is to take the ferry from Horn to Thursday while I am there, the move the boat to Thursday just before I leave to move supplies to the boat. I have noticed today that the ride has become a lot rougher at Wyborn as the day wore on. I will need to get everything I can here, because it may be quite some time before I see a store again, certainly not before Christmas Island. I’ll need to fill the fuel tanks, propane tanks, and stores. At 3:15, I noted the boat was pointed in exactly the opposite direction of the wind, suggesting the current was in the opposite direction. Low tide was at 2:38. So the tide has begun to come in. It looks like the current will be against me as I sail to the passage and then will presumably be with me. I woke up to my alarm at 4:30. I had only woken up twice during the night, slept deeply, and had trouble waking up. I brewed some tea. It is 4:50. There is a cargo ship 16 nm S of me doing 10 kt. I need to get out ahead of it as the first part of my route is in the shipping channel. Will have to have my tea later. I am ready to weigh anchor at 5, but the switch has stopped working on the windlass again. Kicking myself for not going to the chain locker yesterday to inspect it. Well, bad news. I shorted out the switch and there is nothing wrong with it. I swapped the cables to the solenoids and the “up” switch uses the “down” solenoid to lower the chain, so neither the up switch or solenoid are bad. I checked the voltage at the switch. It is 13.52, the same as the batteries under the V-berth. The batteries are fully charged. I put a clamp amp meter on the negative of the solenoid and shorted out the switches. They show the same current, 2.5 Ah, so there is current flowing when the up switch is activated. I put the clamp amp meter on the negative of the motor. Shorting the “down” switch produces 100+ amps. Shorting the “up” switch produces none. This is the problem. I switch the two positive leads on the motor. The chain goes up when the switch is shorted. I measure the voltage on the positive/high amp side of the control box when the switches are shorted out. The “down” produced voltage and the “up” did not. I have a bad “up” solenoid on the high-amp side. My short-term solution is to switch the motor’s wires to be able to raise the chain. I will drop the chain manually. This is one more problem that is going to make life more challenging. I need to either find a replacement box or find a marine solenoid that has capacity to handle the windless and splice it in. It looks like I am going to Darwin anyways. It is now 6:30. I am going to practice dropping the anchor here, rather than experiment at Horn. It is 7:00 and I am underway. The ship I was worried about is now ahead of me and I see no other worrisome traffic. I am motor sailing to try to make up some time … making 5.4 kt boat speed but 6.5 with the current behind me with the Yankee and 1400 rpm. First waypoint is about an hour away, near the lighthouse at Cape York. In about 2-3h I will be out of the shipping lanes. This is another reason I am motor sailing. I finally had the tea I made at 4:45, 2.5h later. Thank goodness for Yeti cups. Made the first waypoint (H2) at 7:51. 3 nm to H3. Making 7 kt SOG, but ai imagine I am going to get shadowed after I turn the point … another reason to motor sail. I have a 2.1 kt current off my port quarter pushing me sideways. Heading is 298, but COG is 318. Made H3 at 8:17 with boat doing 8.5 kt in 2.8 kt current. H4 is 5.1 nm away. I am now on a beam reach. I will be out of the shipping lanes after H4. There is a yacht (Greij) 4.8 nm ahead of me, apparently anchored. I noticed it was there all night. Looks like I will pass within 1 nm of it in about 30m. I see the lighthouse at Bay Point, which it the furthest point N on the York Peninsula. I left the shipping lanes at 8:50. The wind direction is changing as I round the point. I reached H4 at 9:00. Greij (a sailboat) will be relieved I changed course as I was headed straight for her … 10m away. H5 is 2.5 nm away. I wanted to be at the entrance of the passage about 10:30, just before slack/ high tide. It is 9:00 and I am about 12 nm away and doing about 7 kt. It looks like I have made up most of the time I lost. I can see Horn Island ahead in the distance. I reached H5 at 9:22. H6 is 9.5 nm away. I was in the shadows of the cape for a bit, but the wind is blowing strong again, albeit in a different. The depth has been pretty consistent at 70’ so far. High tide at Palou Point, just outside the passage, will be at 9:52. The high tide at Thursday Island is 10:52. I think I am going to be at the passage between Horn and Wednesday a little after 11:00. The current has decreased to 1.3 and the SOG to 6.4. It is 10:30, 2.5 nm to go to H6, the 1 kt current has swung around to the starboard beam, slowing the SOG to 5.5 kt. This decrease in current speed and change in direction is consistent with the slack tide that was predicted to be about 10:00 near Palou Point. The wind has largely disappeared, so the wind vane is not operating well. At 10:50 the jib was slatting, so rounded up and furled it. It became increasingly difficult to furl I went forward and found the halyard tight again. I loosened it and the sail furled easily. I reached H6 at 11:07. H7 is 2.5 nm away. After that the waypoints are closely spaced to avoid hazards. There is almost no wind and the current, which is still on the beam, has decreased to 0.8 kt. H7 was reached at 11:32 with 0.4 kt current to the starboard quarter. H8 was reached at 11:40 with a 0.3 kt current to my stern. H9 at 11:55. The wind reappeared. H10 at 12:06. H11 at 12:15. At this point I slowed down to 3 kt to maneuver through a slot in the reef. The remaining waypoints were not critical and I used Navionics to make my way to the anchorage. I was anchored in 31’ of water by 13:00. I have been keeping an eye on the conditions of the water between here and TI, and they are glassy smooth. However, there are on 5 kts of wind. Not sure what it would be like with 23. In any case, I will plan to take my dinghy there in the morning.

Current Position: 10 47.964’S 142.43.956’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 13 kt; TWD: 153; Distance to Waypoint (Wyborn Reef): At anchor ; Total Miles Sailed: 8783 nm; Engine Hours: 189; Estimate Fuel: 52+10+50;
Comments: The boat anchored at Collette was a 66’ fishing boat called El Torito. After dark, it left the anchorage (according to AIS), presumably to fish. At 20:00 I downloaded long-range AIS data and was pleased to see there was no commercial traffic in the shipping lanes. There was one cargo ship on the other side of the York peninsula that could be headed my way, but rush was it. I noticed Lani, the catamaran that hailed me in the middle of the passage had arrived at Thursday Island. About 2h from now (22:30) I will have cleared the last obstacle. I’ll have about 25 nm, maybe 5h, of sailing to get to Wyborn. I should be able to take hour naps then. After I anchor, I can catch up with my rest. It is 21:20 and I am about 45m from moving past the last obstacle in the GBR. Since I hope to sleep some during the 4-5h to Wyborn, I just downloaded a new long-range AIS map. There are two cargo ships in my path. However, my course only crosses the shipping lanes once I am very close to Wyborn, and I expect both ships will have past that point by then. I am getting ready to get some sleep. There are two cargo ships, one about 10 nm from where we’d cross paths and the other maybe 22 nm. Since they usually travel about 17 kt, they should be gone by the time I get there. I am about 25 nm from the anchorage and have slowed to 4.5 kt, mainly because I have a current against me rather than with me as before. It should take 5-6h to get there. At 22:30, the first of the two cargo ships showed up on AIS 23 nm away. It appeared to be headed for me, but that is just because it has not yet negotiated the turn S, as required by the shipping lanes. 30m later both ships appeared and had turned S. At 1:00 there was a yacht (Stormbird) heading N. We might be in conflict in 1h. The Wyborn reef runs NW to SE m. I needed to come around the E side to the S entrance of the horseshoe-shaped reef, and I was headed too far S to do that under sail, so I adjusted the windvane to head further N, which is hard because I am nearly running. I could tack, but I’d just have the same problem from the other tack … where I want to go is directly downwind. I am about 12 nm away. At 2:00 it became apparent that I was not making enough N. I also had a crossing conflict with the 62’ Stormbird (that was moving twice my speed), so I tacked for 30m. A squall came in at 2:30 with rain. I am 7 nm away from furling the jib. Had to adjust the windvane because the storm (temporarily) changed the wind direction. Stormbird passed in front of me. It is 3:15, I am 4 nm from the anchorage, and a cargo ship has just entered the channel. It looks like it will pass me just before I need to cut across to the reef. I am going to pass the reef in about 45m, start the engine, round up, and furl the jib. I will be working against the current. The ship is supposed to pass me in 30m. As soon as the ship passed, I changed course for the S end of Wyborn, about 1 nm away. I once again struggled to get the last part of the jib furled. There is something wrong with the furler. The line on the drum is not tangled. Perhaps it has something to do with when I removed the sail in Vanuatu to turn the sheets around. Now about 1.5 nm downwind, I motored to the waypoint and dropped the anchor in about 30’ of water. It held immediately, bringing the boat to a halt in the combination of 20 kt wind and current. It was 5:00. I opened a beer and tried to relax. I was asleep by 6:00. I woke at 10:00. The lighting here is strange. Drizzle comes and goes several times an hour. The land masses come fade into the grey as the visibility changes. It is very disorienting. The winds and the currents are frequently running in different directions, so the boat at anchor is not always pointed upwind. Right now, it is 90 degrees to the wind and the wind-generated waves are hitting the starboard beam. I was slow to get to work … still tired and punchy. I have a punch list of things to do while at anchor here. First, I had a look at the furler. It seems I had the halyard too tight. The pressure was causing the bearings to bind and that apparently got worse as the sail was furled. At least, I’m hoping that is all it is. I probably tightened it too much when I raised the jib in Vanuatu. The bearings need to be flushed with fresh water. I am supposed to use a water hose, but I don’t have that and fresh water is precious. So, I flushed a couple of cups of water through using a syringe. I have begun planning my move to Horn Island tomorrow. High (slack) tide is at 10:54 and low tide is at 16:24. I want to be at the entrance of the passage by 10:30. It is about 28 nm to get there, probably 5-6h. I should weigh anchor about 5:00.

Current Position: 11 09.754’S 143 18.155’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 5.0 kt COG: 317; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 142; Distance to Waypoint (Thursday Island): 85 nm; Total Miles Sailed: 8744 nm; Engine Hours: 187 Estimate Fuel: 52+12+50
Comments: After the ordeal placing the anchor, I did not have a lot of confidence in it. I had 250’ of chain and the bridal out in 65’ of water. The wind howled all night 20-25 kt and the crashing waves on the reef did not add any comfort. I used the CORTEX system to set an anchor watch and monitored it for over 2h. There was no evidence of dragging. I have decided to sail to Pearson tomorrow. I will sail there in the morning. Note the tide is rising in the afternoon, which could afford me access to the lagoon at Pearson. As the crow flies, it is 25 nm, but it is 31 with four jibes to take advantage of the prevailing wind and to avoid obstacles. I will note that the route chosen by PW would have brought me in contact with obstacles. I set the anchor watch alarm but otherwise no other alarms and went to sleep at 21:30. It is 4:40. The boat has not moved an inch. The wind and current directions have not changed, so it is glued to this spot. This is the strangest anchorage I have ever been at. It is like being anchored in a river with the water rushing by. It feels like you are sailing. And the sound of the wind and the crashing waves add to the sound of the rushing water to give you that feeling. It is 5:10 and I’m not going back to sleep. Sunrise will be at 6:44 and sunset at 18:15. I a tempted to keep my schedule and sail to Collette, but I am also reluctant as Hellewell discussed his troubles anchoring there. I’d need to get there early enough to be able to see the coral heads. I have a feeling that I am going to be able to sail with the jib alone as the prevailing wind and currents are in the direction of the waypoint. For some reason the furler is not making the last few turns. I thought it was because I didn’t put enough raps on the drum last night when I tried to untangle it, which is not the case. Also, I noted that in was unusually hard to furl it in yesterday, even though I had headed up to unload it. I am concerned something may be bent. I have 6 nm to play with it in this reef to see if I can figure out what is going on. It is 6:10 and still dark. A squall has hit and it is raining. Should have expected it with these winds. I am readying the boat … draining some water out of the fuel line, preparing the cabin for jibing, etc. Of course, raising the anchor also proved to be a problem. First the deck switch didn’t seem to work. When I did get it to work the anchor was clearly snagged on something. The water was clear enough that I could see the rock 70’ down. The rock was both a blessing and a curse. It is what finally allowed the anchor to hold last night, but it was giving me problems unhooking. I powered forward and it broke free … I was off. I unfurled half the Yankee and was doing 4.7 kt in the 20 kt wind and 5.5 in the 25 kt gusts. Most importantly, I could run with it, allowing me to go in the direction I need to. I unfurled a little more and trimmed making 4.8 in 17 and close to 6 in the gusts. It is 20 nm to Pearson and 50 nm to Collette. It is 8:20 and I won’t make Collette before dark at this speed. I could raise the main, but I’m not sure I’d make that much more speed on as I would need to sail 45 degrees from where I need to go. I could be in the shipping lanes in 70 nm. While there are a lot of reefs, there are actually relatively few obstacles that are shallow enough to be a problem. In the relatively clear weather, I was able to see the tower on Raine Island from across the GDR. At 9:59 (an hour from now) it will be low tide (+2.4’). High tide will be 16:52 (+5.8’). There were substantial wind-driven waves coming out of the W end of the GDR. It is 10:00 and I just passed through another reef system. There is nothing to see … navigation is via charts, the first one after the deep channel that separated the GDR from shoal waters (50-100’) that I will follow over the main reef. The fact is, it does not matter whether it is day or night. I have about 60 nm to go before I am through the GBR. Beyond that are the shipping lanes, a different challenge. I might make Collette by dusk, but I’d probably end up anchoring in the dark again, and there are supposed to be even more hazards there. I will probably press on. Once in the shipping lanes I can doze. I could probably slow the boat down to arrive at Wyborn at dawn tomorrow or press on to arrive at Thursday Island on Saturday. A squall has arrived to help me make up my mind. It is 11:20 and I will pass Pearson by noon. I have no real interest in stopping. I am making about 5 kt on the jib alone. I am about 35 nm from Collette, at least 7h, which means at best I will arrive there right at dusk. I won’t be able to see the bottom, and I have no interest to dropping the hook randomly with the hopes of not getting wrapped around a coral head. Ditto for the anchorage that is 53 nm away. Wyborn is about 80 nm away. In 11h I can be across the reef and out of danger, about 22:30. Wyborn sounds like it is easy to anchor at in 25’ of water and is supposed to offer outstanding protection. That is 16h away, 4:00. In all likelihood I would arrive there by dawn (Saturday). This is looking like the most attractive option. As I passed Pearson at noon, I saw no evidence in the surface from 1 nm away. The bearing to Wyborn is 307, and you can travel there practically in a straight line. However, you pass through many shoal areas, including some less than the draft of Aegir-Ran (6’). Two are on a bearing of 307 from Pearson, about 3 and 10 nm away. I motor sailed out of the GDR, in part to charge the batteries. But the fact is I have averaged 5.2 kt since with the jib alone, perhaps only 0.5 kt slower than when I was using the engine. The one thing though is there’s a lot of roll, and the roll is reduced significantly at higher speeds … the 0.5 kt makes a difference. A small squall arrived with rain at 12:20. I passed the feature 10 nm from Pearson, Indefatigable Reef, and spotted water breaking over it. Upon inspection with the binoculars, there was a good-sized piece of sandy land exposed that was not on the charts. Because of the direction of the wind, if I continue on the port tack, I will enter a region that is uncharted. I am going to tack in a bit so I am able to pass N of Collette and not S. It is 14:00 and I am now on a starboard tack to a 100’ deep channel just S of Collette that is flanked by shoal water. The channel is about 15 nm long 0.5-1 nm wide and happens to be at the correct angle for a port tack. There are a couple of obstacles downwind from there, but it is comparatively clear to the shipping channels relative to what I face between here and Collette. In other words, I will be through the worse of it during the daylight hours today. It is 17:00. I am 5.5 nm from Collette and averaging 5.6 kt. As predicted, I would have arrived there right at sunset. I have no interest in repeating the events of last night, so I will keep going. Today’s sailing has been the most complicated of the passage … finding a path through the reefs and negotiating the boat through them under sail. I feel confident that I will be able to perform these tasks after dark. There really are only two more obstacles after Collette between me and the shipping channels. Once I was safely in the channel to Collette, I went below and made a proper meal, while watching Navionics to make sure I stayed on course. Sure enough, while scrambling the last of my eggs for a burrito, a control line popped off the windvane. At 17:45 I saw a powerboat S of me anchored at Collette. 15n later I was visited by a large pod of dolphins. These were the first I had seen since Fiji. In about 4h, I will be out of the GBR, and while not technically in the shipping lanes (I will be avoiding them as much as I can), there will be no natural objects in the way. I am 45 nm from Wyborn and 60 nm from York Island. If I keep going, I’d likely end up at York Island about dawn. York Island is only about 25 nm from Thursday Island, which I would probably reach late tomorrow morning if I chose to do that. The idea of not stoping again is appealing. I received an e-mail that I am to report to the Australian Border Force (ABF) office at 10:30 on Monday.

Current Position: 11 44.550’S 144 03.375’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 141; Distance to Waypoint: at anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 8683 nm; Engine Hours: 183 Estimate Fuel: 53+13+50
Comments: Sailing started off well following my last report. By 17:00 I had a 1 kt current directly to my stern and was making over 7 kt SOG in 19 kt of wind from 143 directly towards R1. I noted that sunset was at 18:05. It remained relatively light until 17:30. The sunset at Raine Island tomorrow is scheduled for 18:16. It is 20:00 and there are 105 nm to R1. I have averaged 6.6 kt the past 5h. It is 3:00 and I was waken up by a 23 kt gusts from 150 that was causing the boat to surf. Only 62 nm remaining to R1, so the boat has done 138-62=76 nm in the last 12h, 76/12=6.3 kt avg. I still have 0.5 kt current to my stern, but I will loose that soon as the current is expected to come from due S until I reach R1. I woke up at 5:50, about an hour before dawn, to a small squall with light rain. The current is now nearly perpendicular to the port side. The boat was averaging 6.3 kt. When it became light I discovered I was surrounded by a half dozen squalls. All appeared to be low-energy. Even before my tea this morning, I went forward to sort out the chain. It was not as badly tangled as it is sometimes after a passage. Every 30m-1h, the weather was changing from almost cloudless to squally and back again. It is 9:30 and the boat has been averaging 5.6 kt since dawn toward R1, which is now due W (260). The head is about 252, but a 1 kt current from the S is keeping the course 260. The ETA for arriving at R1 is 15:00, when I usually submit this report, but I will wait until I am at anchor at R2 (The Great Detached Reef). Since I have time, I will motor into the reef and anchor in the shallower water. It began raining about noon when a very big squall passed my stern. It largely missed me but the boat is affected by changing winds. It is 13:00 and I am 8 nm from R1 and perhaps 14 nm from dropping my sails there are more big squalls on the horizon. Hopefully I can time my arrival (or at least dropping the sails) when it is not storming. I won’t have time to fix dinner until after I anchor, so I am eating a bowl of noodles to tie me over. I just picked my first AIS shore station … 86 nm away. A squall hit me about 13:30 with 23 kt winds, about 5 nm from R1. The boat speed increased to 7 kt. The wind backed to 105. I hand steered to keep the boat on course. Unfortunately, the rainfall masked any landmarks, including the tower on Raine Island. R1 sits on a line that comes very close to the E coasts of Raine Island and the GDR. That line does not run N/S because the GDR is further E. 2.5 nm From the lineThe distance between them is roughly 5 nm. Finally, the squall let up and at 2:05 I spotted the tower on Raine Island. Up to now the island was covered in rain. As I crossed the line at 2:30, the GDR was about the same distance off my port, but I could not see breaking waves, perhaps because I was effectively on he leeward side of the reef. Except for the tower, I could not make out either feature due to the poor visibility. I might just as well come in at night. I did notice however that the direction of the waves changed. Defracted waves began coming from the S, on my port beam, and frequently entered the cockpit. Some of the waves seemed bigger than I had seen all day and inconsistent with the speed of the wind. The sea was giving me a farewell. The wind speed fell to 12 kt (backed to 95) and the boat slowed to less than 5 kt after the squall had passed. However, as expected after some time the wind speeds were back up to 16 at 125 and the boat was making better speed. As I passed due S of the island, I could see the land below the tower, probably just a few feet above sea level. There was a very large squall behind me, which built up the wind. I was hoping to take advantage of the wind only, and not the rain with its reduced visibility. All the time that ticked away as I watched the distance to R1 decrease, it was now in my rear. There is a large 115’ deep shelf E of the reef on which the GDR is built. That shelf extends out past the reef partway to the island, the the depth suddenly drops to 1600’. I sailed just beyond the shelf in deep water. At R1, I am about 6 nm from the entrance to the GDR, the point where I will drop my sails. The sails have been in the same config, a full Yankee drummed for downwind and a double-reefed main that is sheeted to avoid creating a shadow for the jib, for the better part of a week. R1 is about an hour away from the passage into the horseshoe-shaped GDR and I am hand-steering to make it as the windvane is not reliable under these fluid conditions. Besides, I can only trust the charts so much. My eyes are darting back and forth between the horizon and the depth gauge. I hadn’t created a set if waypoint from R1 to R2 because I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the wind and seas so I just used Navionics and hand steered to the passage. Once there I could steer towards R2. It is 14:35, just 5m after passing R1, and it has begun raining again. I can no longer see the tower. The rain is the heaviest yet. The TWD again backs to 100. The boat speed increases to 7.5 kt. At this speed I am about 40m from dropping the sails, hopefully just as the squall passes. The calming of the seas was gradual. I suddenly noticed the boat wasn’t rolling as much about a nm past R1. I had considered motor sailing into the anchorage, but R2 is exactly upwind from the passage into the reef. The squalls are coming in every 30m. I’m just going to have to suck it up. It is 13:00 and I am about 0.5 nm from the reef and 1 nm from the passage. I can now just make out the waves breaking over the reef. The water is much smoother now. I hardly notice the boat is moving along at 8 kt (2faster than hull speed without surfing!), driven in part by a 1 kt current behind me. I arrived at R2 about 16 :30. It took eight attempts to set an anchor that didn’t drag. It was 19:00 before I finally got one to hold … 2 1/2h. The last two attempts were done entirely in the dark. The current was so strong that by the time I got the chain in, I had drifted nearly 0.4 nm each time. I am waiting until after I get something to eat before I put the bridle on in case it drags again. I don’t know what I finally hooked on, but I sure hope I can get the anchor up in the morning. I am right up against the reef, so there is not much room to maneuver and the idea of diving in this current is not at all appealing, especially as the anchor is 70’ down. I didn’t have time to comment on the way in, but the fetch of the “lagoon” of the reef is over 6 nm, so there are significant waves on the leeward end, which is why people motor in the 5 nm to the windward side. If I had to do this over, I would have kept going in the dark to the next anchorage 25 nm away, which it supposed to be perfect. My plan was to get up at 5:30 to make sure I made it to Collette Reef, but I am exhausted after this ordeal. I am thinking about just moving the 25 nm to Pearson Reef tomorrow. Relax a bit … maybe dive, and move on Shive’s Reef on Saturday. Then, rather than go to Wyborn, I could continue to York Island on Sunday, then cruise the remaining 20 nm to Thursday Island on Monday morning. Full disclosure, one of the reasons I had trouble setting the anchor is because I had a small piece of the jib flying because the furler was jammed up (which happens sometimes when I have been flying only part of the jib for a long time), and this was causing the bow of the boat to point downwind when I was trying to set the anchor. It should have set anyway, but it didn’t. I cleared the jam, finished furling the jib, and the anchor set after two tries. After a beer and the last of the split pea soup, I decided the anchor was going to hold, and put the bridle on.

Current Position: 11 32.831’S 146 24.312’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 5.6 kt COG: 267; TWS: 16 kt; TWD: 137; Distance to Waypoint (R1, Raine Passage, 262): 138; Total Miles Sailed: 8521 nm; Engine Hours: 173 Estimate Fuel: 54+12+50
Comments: I noted in a previous entry that …. Easterlies = dry/light winds. Southeasterlies = wet/strong winds. Yesterday (the 15th) was the first day in a while I wasn’t hit by a squall. The winds were also lighter and blowing more easterly. Unfortunately, that meant I could not keep my 261 course towards R1. It also meant sailing at a near run and reduced SOG. Sunset was at 18:00. At 19:45 I was about to step in the cockpit when I saw something moving. I turned on the cockpit lights. It was a seabird (brown feathers, silver cap, dark brown bill, and dark brown/black tipped wings and tail) having a rest. He didn’t seem to be anxious to leave, so I left him to his business. It is 20:00 and I have only made 25 nm towards R1 (5.4 kt average speed, but on a course of 250). I downloaded a new GRIB at 20:30. It is not looking promising for an arrival at R1 on Thursday. At 1:00 I am still averaging 5 kt on, although I am drifting N driven in part by the current, which is now from the S. The bird is still in the well of the cockpit, making a mess. I tried to shush it off, but it seems determined to spend the night. By 2:30, the wind had veered and strengthen and I was doing 6.0 kt towards R1. I got up at 6:00. The bird had been there all night. I realized that even though the cockpit well was only 14” high, the bird couldn’t get the lift and/or was confused how to get out from underneath the bimini. I picked it up – it did not seem at all concerned – placed it on the toe rail. It paused a minute, then flew off. It was drizzling. I had noticed that too several hours earlier. It did not feel like a squall. The wind has become more southerly but was not stronger. It is 7:30 and I have 180 nm to go to R1. It will be sunset at 6:15 tomorrow, so I have 35h. I would need to average 5.3 the rest of the way to be able to anchor before dark. Eggs were “on sale” so I made myself a breakfast burrito. I had purchased two dozen eggs at the supermarket the day I left Port Vila. They were placed in two separate plastic egg crates (I learned my lesson from a previous accident). One crate was kept in the cupboard at room temperature and the other was put in the fridge. I was surprised to find the ones in the cupboard were moldy. I had never seen that before. Eggs might go bad after a few months at room temperature, but I have never had them grow mold, especially after less than two weeks. I am left with 3 eggs. I have been studying Ken Hellewell’s book “Torres Straight Passage Guide.” It is his course through the GBR that I intend to follow. The author suggests it is not particularly challenging to navigate the course at night. I have studied the course from R1 to the anchorage inside the Great Detached Reef. The course does not come within 4-5 miles of any obstacle until the passage into the horseshoe-shaped reef, which is nearly 2 nm wide. It is possible to drop the anchor just inside the reef in 100’ of water or motor 5 nm to a shoal on the E side and drop the hook in 48’. Even if I were to arrive after dark, it might be safer to be out of the waves and current inside the anchorage. The stormy weather this morning may actually be a godsend as the boat is moving briskly, currently over 6 kt towards R1. In a few hours, for the remainder of the passage, I will have a 0.25-1 kt current behind me. I am once more optimistic that I will make the anchorage by dusk tomorrow. Another consideration is Biosecurity is open M-F 8:00-16:00. Ideally, I would arrive at Thursday Island Sunday. This is a possible schedule: Current to Great Detached Reef Thursday, to Collette Reef (50 nm) Friday, to Wyborn Reef (50 nm) Saturday, then to Thursday Island (35 nm) Sunday. This would allow me to navigate all the reefs and commercial channels in the daylight. It would also give me plenty of time to negotiate the complicated route into Thursday Island. The distance sailed towards R1 in the last 24h was 267-138=129 nm, which is better than I expected. The total distance sailed was 8521-8383=138 nm (129/24=5.8 kt avg.). If I have another 26h at least as good as the past, I would be at the Great Detached Reef tomorrow night.

Current Position: 11 36.304’S 148 37.304’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 5.1 kt COG: 250; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 107; Distance to Waypoint (R1, Raine Passage, 263): 267; Total Miles Sailed: 8383 nm; Engine Hours: 177 Estimate Fuel: 55+12+50
Comments: I downloaded a new GRIB and weather plan at 19:00. The forecast now is for strong wind the rest of the week. However, the recommended course is a jibe at midnight all the way to the P/NG mainland followed by a straight line to R1. This path follows more wing and favorably uses/avoids the currents. It adds 45 nm to the distance. I went to sleep right after dusk, tired from last night’s activities. At 21:00, after a 2h alarm, I found the wind had shifted to 115 (from 148), so I adjusted the windvane to head 260 and set a 1h alarm. It is midnight and I have averaged 6.7 kt since the check-in, added in part by a favorable current and relatively smooth seas. However, that favorable current is about to change for 150 nm while I have a cross-current. I expect to drift S for the next 75 nm stretch, then N for second 75 stretch. I don’t intend to fight it but rather go for maximum speed. At 1:00 I downloaded a new GRIB. For the first time the weather plan does not have me jibing N but in fact follows the plan I just laid out, aided by a jibe in the middle when the currents shift from S to N. About 2:00 the wind has backed to 115 and the current has begun swinging around to the starboard beam. The boat began rolling much more. The swell isn’t bigger. I think it has something to do with the current which once combined with W- and E-bound currents N of me, vortexes S. I hope to be through this early afternoon. Rala, the boat that crossed paths with me a few days ago, took a northerly route around Tagula and is now 40 nm N of me and about 1.5d from Port Moresby (P/NG). They’re only moving at 3 kt. They probably figured they’re not getting there today and have slowed their roll so as no not arrive at night. I may need to do the same thing tomorrow. Sunrise is was about 6:20. The seas are very confused … hence the roll. The weather is the same as it has been for days, partly cloudy with darker clouds on the horizon. I need to cook today but the seas will make that difficult. It’s a good day for the pressure cooker. I have half a bag of split peas, small can of smoked ham, can of carrots, and an onion to make split pea soup. Lots of seabirds this morning …. perhaps not surprising as I am only 60 nm from the coast of P/NG. With sunrise the wind has veered a bit to 120-125, giving me a better TWA of 150 and an average speed of 5.8 kt, helped in part by a 1 kt current off the starboard quarter. The veering wind also seemed to help with the chop and rolling. With 310 nm to R1, I will need to average at least 5.2 kt in the next 60h to get there before dusk. The latest forecast suggests I can do it. It is 8:00 and the 1.2 kt current is now perpendicular to the starboard side of the boat. It has proven to be possible to maintain the course towards R1, primarily because the wind veered to 125. By 9:30 the boat speed had fallen to 5.2, largely because I was more than half way across the current vortex and current was now against me. The short, win-driven chop had been replaced by deep, well-spaced swell, and the ride was much better. It is almost noon and the sky looks clear upwind for a change. Unfortunately, the wind backed to 105 and the wind died down in the afternoon. I could not maintain a course towards R1. However, on a positive note, the current began to contribute to the SOG after 14:00. The distance sailed towards R1 in the last 24h was 408-267=141 nm. The total distance sailed was 8383-8235=148 nm (148/24=6.1 kt avg.). While the progress the last 24h has been solid, this afternoon has been disappointing, both in terms of course and speed. Unless I make at least 135 nm in the next 24h, it is unlikely that I will reach R1 in time to anchor before dark. I will make a decision tomorrow whether to try for it or back off and plan on reaching R1 Friday morning. If the latter, I will not anchor at the Great Detached Reef but rather press on another 25 nm to Pearson’s Reef. From there, I would likely go to Shives Reef on Saturday, Wyborn Reef or York Island on Sunday, then arrive at Thursday Island Monday morning.

Current Position: 11 26.314’S 151 00.180’E; Local Timezone: UTC+20 SOG: 6.0 kt COG: 274; TWS: 19 kt; TWD: 148; Distance to Waypoint (R1, Raine Passage, 261): 408; Total Miles Sailed: 8235 nm; Engine Hours: 175 Estimate Fuel: 55+14+50
Comments: Note that beginning with this entry, the time zone will be UTC+20 (NE Australia) and will be made at UTC 5:00 (24h from the entry yesterday). It is 16:00 and ever since arriving at/leaving Tagula Island (a.k.a, Sudest Island) about 9:00, I have been pounded by squalls. I had to run the engine twice to charge the batteries and cool the fridge, 30m in the morning and afternoon. I am going to have to worry about the traffic in the N/S shipping lanes as soon as I clear the islands SE of P/BG, about 19:00, so I’m going to try to get some sleep now. The reef is 4 nm N of me, so I am setting 30m intervals. I couldn’t sleep. There were 30 kt gusts that kept causing the boat to round up. Sunset was 17:40. I am averaging close to 7 kt due E. But, there is a new squall coming in every 30m that wreaks havoc with the windvane. The wind direction changes 30 degrees and the strength of the wind increases 30%. There is a bottleneck for the N/S shipping lanes, two reefs only a few nm apart that is located about 30 nm north of my course, the ships to a certain extent fan out before and after the bottleneck. PW would have my sail up towards the bottleneck, but the idea of sailing around the reefs in the dark dodging cargo ships is not appealing. At my latitude the “fan” is about 30 nm wide and usually has 4-6 ships at my latitude. In other words, I will have to in principle negotiate 4-6 crossing situations. In the 4-6h it will take me to sail across the lanes … one ship an hour. It looks to me like I will be awake midnight to 6:00. I slept 20:00 to 21:00 as the first ship of the night passed 20 nm away going S. At 23:30, three more passed 11, 15, and 22 nm going S. A fifth going S. I started loosing count as the first one N appeared roughly 2.5h away (Shen Hua 801). It communicated with one going S and they agreed to pass one another port to port. The 801 and I may have a crossing situation. It seems I will cross its bow. My boat has been consistent for the past four hours, 6.5 kt on a course of 270. At 23:30 I downloaded new long-range AIS data. It seems if I get past 801 I will be in the clear. Only one vessel to the N is within range and it will cross my bow. Besides the 801, only one vessel to my S is within range and I should cross its bow. Unfortunately, after passing two other cargo ships, 801 changed its course from 005 to 352, putting itself in conflict with me. At 23:45, we are still 90m from resolving that. At 1:30 801 passed my stern by 2 nm. Two other cargo ships are following 901, at 17 and 22 nm. I set an alarm for 1h. By 3:00 the two ships had passed my stern by 2-2.5 nm. I downloaded a new long-range AIS map and found no additional threats from shipping. Sunrise was going to be in 3h. Since the windvane had worked flawlessly all night, I was well-past the reefs, and there was no threat from shipping or apparently weather, I set an alarm for 3h and went to sleep. At 4:20 I woke and checked the AIS. One of the boats N of me had changed course and was headed for me, the Erato. It was doing 11 kt and was 14 kt from me. I changed the alarm for an hour. At 5:20, Ertos was going to pass my bow by over 2 nm in 15m. Another boat had broken out of the pack and was following a course similar to Ertos, Kamaxitha, a 161’ yacht. However, it looked like it was going to pass my stern by some distance in 90m. If it maintains its course, I see no other threats. At 7:00 I downloaded a new GRIB (not much change), AIS data (no additional long-range threats), and Ocean Data. I downloaded the Ocean Data to try to understand the currents. I am currently bucking a westerly 1.3 kt current. PW would have me go N several times to find more favorable currents, but at the cost of adding 55 nm (450 vs 555). The map of currents does predict the present current, but overall I do not see an advantage of sailing the extra 55 nm. I am presently making 5.5 kt SOG even with the westerly current, and it seems unlikely I’d make up the time traveling N. My present heading is about 270 (waypoint at 262), so I am in fact making some ground N, but my logic in doing that is the present TWD of 133 is supposed to back a bit and the wind speed will diminish, to I can use my northerly progress to get some boat speed by moving to a more acute TWA (more of a beam reach). The skies have once more begun partly cloudy with a little bit of sun, but I can already see the clouds/squalls building. It will be another day without much solar energy production. At 7:50 I unfurled all of the Yankee, increasing the SOG from 5.5 to 5.9. I believe there is a 50:50 chance I will make R1 before dusk on Thursday. If I don’t, I will have a difficult decision that will need to be made early. Either I commit to coming into the anchorage after dark or I heave to offshore. The problems with the former are obvious. Although I have good waypoints and the Navionics charts look good, I won’t be able to see coral heads or boulders when placing the anchor. The problem with the latter is there are prevailing 2 kt currents and winds that can drive me into the reef. I might very well do 3 kt with bare poles. This would require that I heave to at least 50 nm E of the reef, a decision that would have to be made Thursday morning. On a positive note, strong winds and favorable currents are predicted Thursday. Sunrise will be 6:45 and sunset 6:15 at Raine Island on Thursday, which means I’ll have almost 12h of daylight. I will need at least 90m to motor sail from R1 to the anchorage in the Great Detached Reef. This means I will have 10h of daylight to sail Thursday. I can reasonably expect to make at least 5.5 kt on. So, if I am within 55 nm of R1 at sunrise on Thursday, I will go for R1. If I am significantly further away, I may sail a bit S to counter the currents and wind and with heave to. Like I did in Tahiti, if I start going too far downwind/current, I will compensate by sailing Friday night so as to arrive at R1 during daylight hours. The first squall of the day hit at 11:00 with light rain and an increase in wind speed from 20 to 25 kt. The distance sailed towards R1 in the last 24h was 545-408=137 nm. The total distance sailed was 8235-8088=147 nm (147/24=6.1 kt avg.).

Current Position: 11 48.577’S 153 23.304’E; Local Timezone: UTC+21; SOG: 6.5 kt COG: 266; TWS: 25 kt; TWD: 135; Distance to Waypoint (R1, Raine Passage, 262): 545; Total Miles Sailed: 8087 nm; Engine Hours: 174 Estimate Fuel: 59+10+50
Comments: It is 17:00 and I am about 125 nm from Tagula Island. The forecast suggests I should reach the SE corner of the island about noon tomorrow. Further, I expect to pass within 12 nm of the island, so I will likely turn StarLink on, at least for a few minutes. I want to research any rules there might be about anchoring in the GBR. Interestingly, I will be about 6h ahead of where I would be if I had taken the route to the N that was recommended by PW. In the end, I expect to save about half a day sailing my route. The significance of that is I hope to reach the anchorage at the Great Detached Reef Thursday afternoon, rather than after the following midnight as predicted for the PW course. The reason is simple. My route is 65 less nm and have been able to keep up the same average boat speed. Sunset was about 18:05. The skies were relatively clear, at least more so than they had been since first thing in the morning. Winds were 23-28 from 133 and the boat was moving along smartly 6.5-7 kt towards Tagula. Starting tomorrow evening between 159-153E, there are major N/S shipping lanes with dozens of cargo ships and tankers. I’ll need a good night’s sleep because tomorrow during the day I will be busy with the islands and tomorrow night is likely to be busy with commercial shipping. The boat performed well today after the second reef was put in the main, so I don’t expect any weather tonight that will be a problem. A little after midnight, 62 nm from Tagula, I decided I was headed too far N and adjusted the windvane. A cargo ship appeared on AIS AT 3:30 but will safely pass my stern. I woke at 4:45 and the wind had shifted from 130 to 135, apparently influenced by Rossel Island. I adjusted the windvane again. I am 35 nm from Tagula and am expected to arrive about 10:30. Sunrise is expected about 7:00 (UTC+21). I will note that Tagula is UTC+20, same as the NE coast of Australia, but I won’t change the time in my log until tomorrow, when the entire report will be in that time zone. It is 7:00, dawn, and the sky is mostly clear. I have travelled 100 nm since the last check-in, averaging 6.2 nm/h towards R1, which is now 596 nm away. There is still a decent chance I can arrive at R1 before dusk on Thursday, but I do expect the wind to wane starting tonight. After clearing Tagula, I am going to try to drift N as that is where the renting wind will be. The will also give me a better angle on the wind for the remainder of the passage to R1. I was going to enjoy my tea in the cockpit, but got a rude awakening when a wave breached the port. The sea is still big. It is 8:15 and I am about 20 nm from the eastern end of Tagula. The wind has started to wrap around it and the boat is being directed to the S side of the island. I wasn’t paying attention but Rossel Island is clearly visible off the starboard. It is surprisingly tall. At 9:00 I can barely make out Tagula. It is covered in clouds. As I approached Tagula, I saw breaking waves. Navionics did not show the island’s barrier reef until I was almost upon it. I quickly took control of the helm, less than half a mile from the reef, and directed the boat away from the reef. In the daylight it was easy enough to see the barrier reef, but it is very unsettling that I was unaware it was there. Furthermore, within minutes of realizing there was a barrier reef, a squall hit, reducing visibility and with the higher winds making it more difficult to head up and tack south. Two more squalls hit soon thereafter. I followed the reef around to the S side of the island, observing the breaking surf and following the approximate 300’ contour. Examining the chart W of the island, I felt uncomfortable trying to make any distance N, so I set the windvane for due E, essentially R1. It looks to me that I have about 50 nm before the N/S shipping lanes. I should reach it early evening, perhaps 20:00. The lane is approximately 70 nm wide, so I will be dealing with commercial shipping all night. The distance sailed towards R1 in the last 24h was 696-545=151 nm. The total distance sailed was 8087-7929=158 nm (158/24=6.6 kt avg.). Note, beginning tomorrow the report will be in the UTC+20 time zone and will be made at UTC 5:00 (24h from now).

Current Position: 11 53.408’S 155 58.758’E; Local Timezone: UTC+21; SOG: 6.0 kt COG: 285; TWS: 25 kt; TWD: 137; Distance to Waypoint (R1, Raine Passage, 262): 696; Total Miles Sailed: 7829 nm; Engine Hours: 173 Estimate Fuel: 59+11+50
Comments: I tried to download an updated long-range AIS map and instead of giving me everything within a 300 nm range, it only gave me the cargo ship that just passed me. I tried again later and got the same thing. The wind has picked up and veer. I have noted the cooler, more southerly winds bring the squalls and rain showers. It has been sunny all day with winds 18-20 from 110. Now I am seeing gusts in the mid-20s from 125 and the sky has filled with dark clouds. Easterlies = dry/light winds. Southeasterlies = wet/strong winds. It is 16:00 and it has started to rain. I decided to bring my fishing line in for the night. I could see why I didn’t get any bites. My favorite lure is missing its skirt. It either fell off or something ate it. I must have caught a half dozen big fish with that lure. Will have to try a different one tomorrow. I am keeping the shirtless lure because my Marquesan friend taught me how to make skirts out of fish skin. He even gave me some to try. I have been fighting a 1.1 kt current from the SW, so there is a discrepancy between my boat speed and the SOG. At 18:00 I was finally able to download the long-range AIS data. The only significant development is a string of trawlers 30 nm W and 5 nm S of me. They seem to be headed S. The problem is my boat tends to drift S when it heads up in gusts. I should reach the longitude of the trawlers in 5h and at that time will have to determine if action is needed. At 21:20 I sailed past a “navigational buoy” 10 nm to my S. It was part of the trawler fishing system. I spent some time in the cockpit at 1:00. The full moon had risen early, about sunset. It was eerily orange then casting a strange color on the water. But now it was bright white and it almost seemed like daylight. As predicted, the wind had veered to 125 and was blowing consistently stronger, but unlike when it was coming from 110, the course towards R1 was easily managed, and in fact the boat had made progress N. It is 5:30 and I got the best nights sleep in days. I did not have to adjust the windvane or sails even once last night. I was able to set 2h intervals. I have averaged 6.2 kt over the past 14h, directly towards R1. I am on track for another 140-150 nm day. It is 6:20, almost dawn, and the wind is blowing consistently from 130-135, as predicted. I can afford to adjust the windvane to a broad reach, decreasing the flagging of the jib in the waves and increasing the boat’s speed (6.4 kt avg.), and still make some distance N. The southern tip of Tagula Island is at 11 40’S and 185 nm away. I should reach it by dusk tomorrow. The latitude of Tagula is almost exactly that of Raine Island. I am currently at 12 01’S. My main reason for trying to stay as far N as possible after Tagula is because that is where the wind will be. I am going to see some 28 kt gusts today. I am showing about 75% of the Yankee and have one reef in the main. It may be necessary to put a second reef in. The morning looks nice. There are very few clouds and the full moon is still high in the sky. While it started out sunny, by 8:00 the storm clouds had moved in. I will be hit by a squall soon. It started to rain at 8:15. I see three distinct squalls around me. At 9:00 I was hit by an intense squall with 30 kt winds from 100. I had to hand-steer for about 20m. During the squall I also landed a small yellowfin tuna. When the winds dropped to the low 20s, I put a second reef in the main and the boat regained control. I was hit by another 30 kt squall at 11:30, but the boat handled it much better under reduced sail. I put the waypoints into the chart plotter for the anchorages I am considering on the way to Thursday Island. They are spaced approximately 20 nm apart so I can move slowly through the reef during daylight hours if I find that necessary.
Great Detached Reef: 11 44.569S 144 03.379E Pearson (Topaz) Reef: 11 33.586S 143 42.857E Collette Reef: 11 13.480S 143 21.328E (Shives) Reef: 11 03.200S 143 04.081E Wyborn Reef: 10 47.980S 142 43.980E York Island: 19 40.800S 142 31.630E
The distance sailed towards R1 in the last 24h was 842-696=146 nm. The total distance sailed was 7929-7777=152 nm (152/24=6.3 kt avg.).