Arrived at our final destination, Brisbane, Australia on Thursday, after a rather horrid trip.
It took us a whole eleven days, a bit more than anticipated... It could have been a lot worse without fourth crew-member, my dad, our committed weather man and coordinator.
What happened was that the 'fresh breeze' I saw on the forecast before our departure from New Caledonia turned into a trough with 40 knots and more of wind and 4-5 metre swells. The kind of thing you want to avoid...
Fortunately with my dad's insight we could alter course early enough to go down South-East - back towards New Zealand - and have the core of the system pass us in the North. Like that we got away with 25 knots of wind, which we tackled with triple-reefed main and jib, zooming at over six knots for hours.
We thought we'd made it then but it wasn't over yet. We now had to make our make our way back West-North-West in light winds with the next strong northerly winds coming up on Thursday. We cranked up the engine and motorsailed from then on. It all looked good until we discovered the 'East Australian Current' setting South. At a second look I found the far too small writing in my old paper-chart 'up to 4 knots'. That made it hard to get up North, the wind being more westerly than expected didn't help either. For a while it looked like we wouldn't make it around Cape Moreton and I started looking into and considering 'South Passage' a very narrow and dodgy alternative entrance to Moreton Bay which 'should not be entered without local knowledge', with the prospect of otherwise having to tack up along the shore against up to 4 knots of current and 30 knots of northerly winds coming up. Once more dad was consulted in the middle of the night and info about South Passage was gathered.
In the end the current let up a bit and we just made it - by a matter of half a mile - around the cape early on Thursday. Coming in at high tide we took a shortcut into the 'North East Channel' which saved us hours. While in Moreton Bay the wind picked up but going downwind enabled us to make it a quick rest of the journey down and up the Brisbane River to the custom's boarding dock, where we got cleared this same afternoon. It all went smooth and afterwards we treated ourselves to well-deserved burgers and beers.
Next day we proceeded up the river and got the last free mooring in the heart of the city in front of the Botanical Gardens, the perfect spot. Enjoying some big-city life now, it's about time!
Cheers, Pa!
Bin liners - the new wet weather fashion
Tuna!
Early morning shift
We saw LOADS of dolphins on the crossing
Team Barracuda arrive in Brisbane!
