Travesty cruising ...

[Lexx]

Well the long awaited adventure is about to begin. The crew arrived yesterday and both Mark and Pete are settling in. We move the yachts into the marina this morning so we can complete final preparations and provision.

We still have room aboard for one or two adventurous people, if anyone wants to join at this late stage.

Seems like the 'To Do' list never goes away, there is still a lot to get done and time is getting short. Thank goodness all the essentials are completed and behind us, now its just a matter of tidying up the odds and ends. I suppose some things can get done after we leave here at various anchorages.

We all want the adventure to begin, monday afternoon can't come fast enough for us yet is coming too fast from the point of view of completing scheduled tasks.

Thats life and we are enjoying ... I will update when I can as we travel north depending on internet connection availability.

Lexx

[haiqu]

I'm not going, that's the real Travesty. ;-]

Have fun Lex.

[Lexx]

Hi Rob ... Every day you are getting closer to going cruising yourself.

All the little jobs are complete. Pick up some meat and fresh veges tomorrow morning, take off the shade tarps and cast off sometime between noon and 2pm.

Probably wont have internet reception once we cast off but the first few days anchorages will be ...

Snapper Island, Hope Island, Foresters Reef and Lizard Island ... then onwards cruising up the coast, relaxing, fishing and exploring.

Lexx

[redbopeep]

Have a grand adventure, Lex.

[Lexx]

We are at Lochart River, just refuelled and enjoying a sundowner, So far we have had some very string winds... 35 knots plus ... some calm days and generally a lot of fun. The crew have meshed well and area all enjoying the relaxed cruising. We have caught plenty of fish and drunk lots of beer,,, wonder if we have enough on board till we can resupply ...

It has been a blast of a trip so far and we are looking forward to what tomorrow brings ...

Lex

[Auzzee]

Hey Lex,
Does the supply barge still visit Portland Roads? It's a protected anchorage, although a weedy bottom which can be difficult to pierce with an anchor, there are some strange (but kindly) people living there in the bush and the barge carries all manner of supplies for both the locals and the fishing fleet.
Sounds like a great adventure.
Cheers.

[Lexx]

Hi Auzzee,

The barge now is either in Lochart River or behind Lloyd Island in Lloyd Bay that the Lochart River flows into, depending on the wind direction. The barge is the Temple Bay and is operated by Seaswift out of Cairns. You contact Seaswift and reserve what fuel you may want, give them your card numbers etc... or pay cash on the barge. Anchoring behind Lloyd Island is fantastic and I rate it highly as an anchorage. I am writing this after having spent the night here last night. Really beautiful and calm from most angles of the compass.

The barge doesnt carry anything but fuel, but Seaswift will bring stuff up for you to pick up from them so you need to order ahead. The Seaswift supply vessel the MV Endeavour leaves Cairns every second Friday and runs to Thursday Island and back stopping where it has to servicing trawlers and dropping off ordered goods.

I have been to Portland Roads a couple ofttimes and yeah I agree its a pretty good anchorage... there is now a shop there that makes pizza on order so we are thinking of trying that out tonight.

We are going to visit with David on Restitution Island for an hour or two today ... he is an old guy who has the lease of the island and is a nice guy who likes the company of yachties dropping by, he is very welcoming. Well worth anyone stopping and visiting him. Its only about 5 miles from there to Portland Roads and pizza ... yummy.

I will update this when I have connection again ...

Pete and Mark are both doing well and loving the trip ... Pete is exploring with the boat and sails to his hearts content but its either calm conditions or blowing its tits off out there so its interesting ...

Lexx

[Lexx]

We are now at Seisia/Bamaga and going over to the Fishing Club for dinner and a drink. We rounded Cape York yesterday and cracked a bottle of Jack to celebrate the occasion. Off towards Weipa in the morning. Pete Winning says hi to everyone and is loving it.

Anyone going north needs to drop in and visit with David on Restitution Island, just before you get to Portland Roads. He is a really cool old guy and very welcoming. Just bring him a fish or something... We took him a 15 pound tuna we caught just around the corner and he did make us work for a while but it was well worth while. We intended to drop in for an hour and stayed the whole day including a BBQ dinner in the evening.

The trip so far has not been without its problems but its been really enjoyable and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

Lexx

[Lexx]

Just arrived in Weipa after a pleasant if balmy couple of days working down the gulf coast. Time to take on some stores and fuel for the gulf crossing.

We will be staying here in Weipa till Thursday morning when we will leave for the Gulf crossing, heading for Gove... should take about 3 days or so. Looks like we have a full moon and 10 to 15 knots of ESE wind which will make it a pleasant crossing at about 5 knots for us.

I will be online till wednesday evening at odd times during the day.

Lexx

[Lexx]

In Gove now ... arrived at midnight last night after a gruelling 64 hour sail from Weipa covering 330 nautical miles. The weather was crap and the wind totally wrong for us, blew out the bottom of the headsail and seas could only be described as washing machine rough with waves coming from both quarters resulting in a corkscrew morion that was anything but comfortable.

Visited Gove yacht club... cool place , met a couple of interesting locals. got some good local advice and will get fuel in the morning and I think we will be out of here Tuesday morning ...

[redbopeep]

Thanks for the update! Been there, done that with the washing machine--gets old fast. Been there, done that with the headsail (clew) blowout, too. Hope yours was also just the clew as that's a repair you can likely do onboard by hand--rather than the bottom panel, ouch! gotta sewing machine aboard? You must have a spare headsail otherwise.

Enjoy the location and we'll keep fingers crossed for an improved seaway for you.

[Auzzee]

Are you going through the 'hole in the wall'? It can be a challenge. Last time I went through that area, I missed Gove and headed for Cape Wessel. Jensen's Bay and Two Island Bay are as good as anything on offer in the Pacific.
Best wishes.

[Lexx]

From Gove we intend to sail to Elizabeth Bay then on to Wigram Island. Met Ken who owns the lease on Wigram Island at the Gove Yacht club yesterday afternoon, nice guy.

From there we will be going through the hole in the wall and anchoring for the night just after going through. Then on to Elcho Island and basically coast hop again with normal schedule till we get into Darwin.

Lexx

[haiqu]

Envious of you guys, hope you keep having fun!!

[anilkumar]

enjoy your voyage dudes.. i hope that it becomes a memorable one

[Lexx]

Laughs ... its become memorable for sure ... last Saturday the head sail blew out totally in an unexpected squall, shredded like confetti, was a sight to see. An hour later the gearbox produced some funny sounds and we were dead in the water. The boat wouldn't sail under main alone so tied the dinghy along side to act as a tug... I got knocked around in the swell being the guy in the dinghy then Mark took over and we managed to get to relative safety in a bay on Howard Island. There is a deserted Aboriginal community there with ... get this, a working public phone... go Telstra.

Spent a few days there not making much headway because of the crappy communications and finally managed to arrange a tow over to Elcho Island yesterday and are now on the way to fixing the gearbox and rigging up a head sail. I just had a new furled fitted and unfortunately only one head sail has the furler bead sewn into it and that one blew out.

We will be okay and I am sure we will get going again in the next week or 10 days, meanwhile people here are friendly and the mechanic is worth his weight in gold.

[haiqu]

Wild adventure there Lex. These are the sorts of things that scare the bejabbers out of me as a solo adventurer. There may be a case for taking some company after all.

[Lexx]

Its all good Rob, a little coast hopping by yourself should be okay...maybe take someone along until you gain a little more experience. Its always handy to have someone else on board when things don't quite go as planned.

Unfortunately I am getting a bit old to be sailing this boat by myself... she is a hand full and my back aint getting any younger... will have to think about down sizing one of there days or maybe buying a stink boat as I know I still have many years on the water left in me ...

Lexx