by Kristin Kool-Clarke.
When Kelly and Evan invited Jeremy and me to help them bring Sanctum back to MHYC from Hobart, I have to admit that I was apprehensive. I have never done an overnight passage, let alone a 60-hour passage across Bass Strait! The fact that Jeremy had done this trip way back in 1997 after the Sydney to Hobart race and that Kelly and Evan had done it twice before did give me some confidence.
With no time constraints to get back to Sydney, we found we were able to really enjoy Hobart. This was made even easier with Sanctum tied up at Constitution dock on our arrival. We wandered around the Salamanca markets and then Jeremy and I immersed ourselves in Mona, a very eclectic museum to say the least.
We then got back together and enjoyed cocktails at The Glasshouse and a crayfish dinner at the Customs House Pub before we set off to Woolies to provision Sanctum for 10 days. Later, Kelly and I were very proud of the fact that we had judged our meal requirements very well for our trip back home, only needing to top up some basics when we arrived at Eden.
Leaving Constitution Dock on a glorious sunny winter’s day 20 degrees, we motor sailed to Killora Bay, Bruny Island for a game of Finska on the beach with Greg and Judy, friends of Kelly and Evan. What a fun game!
We then continued south down the D’Entrecasteaux Channel to Barnes Bay and tucked ourselves up in Quarantine Bay for the night. The next morning, we walked up from the jetty to the Bruny Island Quarantine Station and read about how the Tasmanians dealt with the early 20th century pandemic after WW1. Afterwards, we made our way over to Kettering marina for the night.
From Kettering we started early on our passage into Storm Bay. It was still, calm and cold out on the water and from here on wearing thermals was a must. We sailed east with a northerly averaging about 7-8 knots. It was a thrill coming round the bottom of Tasmania and then motor sailed between the mainland and Tasman Island in a bit of a swell. A beautiful vista as we sailed past the towering dolerite sea cliffs, a really stunning, craggy coastline.
We then turned north towards Fortescue Bay, then into Canoe Bay where we dropped the anchor behind an old wreck, quite close to shore. We had the whole bay to ourselves and spotted a couple of seals. Despite the pristine conditions, with no WiFi in the bay, we decided to spend just one night before continuing on our way.
With westerly winds building, gusts of 35-40 knots and averaging 7-9 knots we proceeded north up Mercury Passage, only turning the motor on as we approached Prosser Bay. We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow spanning the mainland over to Maria Island. Prosser Bay has 2 public moorings positioned amongst many private ones.
While in Prosser Bay Jeremy and I ventured out in the dinghy to explore, giving Kelly and Evan a quiet time to get some work done. We checked out the small township of Orford before venturing up the Prosser River to the convict wall, the old convict road and the ruins of the Paradise Probation Station. This station was one of 18 convict probation stations scattered throughout Tasmania. Apparently, the first European explorer to see this part of the east coast was Abel Tasman in 1642.
The next day the decision was made to head out from Prosser that evening to commence our crossing, expecting it to take around 60 hours, when the worst of the Low would then be behind us, or so all our weather apps predicted.
After Jeremy cooked a delicious roast lamb dinner we left at 6 pm and headed north in a 14 knot southerly. By 10.30 however, with the swell building to around three metres and the winds unexpectedly picking up to over 45 knots it was very intense and uncomfortable out there and the decision was made to abandon our journey and head for Wine Glass Bay. We arrived there at 1 am anchoring in 5 metres with 50 metres of chain, joining two other vessels that had also sought shelter.
Quoting Evan, “welcome to cruising. Make a plan and then change it”!
We had a slow start the next day. Jeremy and Evan created a more effective “preventer” that could be accessed more easily from the cockpit, and we left Wine Glass Bay intending to go to Bicheno. Then the AIS stopped working, as did the autohelm. It was a daunting prospect to think that we might have to tackle the Bass Strait crossing without the autohelm. Evan undertook some investigations, and we were all relieved when he managed to get it all working again.
We all took shifts at the helm through the night and then welcomed the new day with a hearty Happy Birthday to Kelly. The southwesterly winds continued to reduce and the spinnaker was hoisted for a few hours until there was virtually no wind. After this, there were more problems with the navigation system. AIS, autopilot and the wind gear all died despite concerted efforts on Evan’s part to fix. Luckily Jeremy had Navionics on his iPad, which was handy for pilotage.
From then on there was no option but to hand steer. All of us took turns using the compass and chart plotter for guidance. As evening approached, we settled into a routine, each of us on the helm for 20 minutes followed by 1 hour off to catch some sleep or be on standby in the cockpit. This was how we got through the night. Steering by compass proved to be a challenge, especially for me.
At one point I managed to turn the boat completely around and we started heading back to Tassie. This happened so fast and was very unsettling. Luckily Kelly hung around on deck long enough to keep an eye on me and we continued around another 180 degrees back to heading north. It also amazed me how fast your body can adjust to falling asleep so quickly when you have to!
After a very pretty sunrise, we were visited by a large pod of dolphins, passed a very large flock of floating gannets and sited land around 5.30 am. Yah ! Now we had somewhere to steer to. It turned out to be another beautiful sunny day. With temperatures rising we began stripping off layers of clothes.
By 7 pm, May 31st we arrived into Twofold Bay, Eden and anchored. We were then able to celebrate Kelly’s birthday, and our 60-hour crossing with champagne. Then we had a good, long, and well-earned sleep. Sanctum was then moved to the Snug Bay Cove wharf ($25 per night) the next morning where we refuelled and topped the water up.
It was a glorious sunny winter’s day as we continued heading north the next day with virtually no wind and no swell. We passed one pretty beach after another as we headed to Bermagui. We also started seeing humpback whales and even an albino one that we think may have been Migaloo.
After securing Sanctum on the T-arm at the Bermagui marina ($50per night) we walked up to the Bermagui Pub for a very enjoyable dinner. This is a great pub with sweeping views over the bay. Definitely worth visiting again, either by boat or car.
We left at 5 am the following morning for the 90+nm to Jervis Bay in light winds. Motor sailing most of the day we averaged around 6.5 to 7 knots and arrived into Hole-in-the-Wall around 7 pm. We were so happy to be back in Jervis Bay, not having been in the bay since January 2020 during the ghastly bushfires, when the air was so thick with smoke you could almost cut it with a knife and burnt leaves were landing on our boats.
As we were in no rush to get back to Sydney we spent the next day in JB. Kelly and Evan managed to get some work done while Jeremy and I spent a few hours going for a walk and hanging out on the beach.
One of the highlights of our trip for me was seeing a diverse range of wildlife, especially birdlife. Albatross, petrels, kelp gulls, oystercatchers, gannets, cormorants, various types of plovers to name a few. The most bizarre creatures we came across were the mysterious foot long luminous, glowing green rectangles that we passed one evening just below the surface. Turned out that these were squid!
As we enjoyed early sundowners on our last night together we reflected on how much fun we four had had over the previous couple of weeks together on Sanctum. Spending quality time out on the water in a comfortable boat with good friends, that’s what cruising is all about. And now I am very proud of myself for having crossed Bass Strait!
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