My alarm went off a six thirty, but neither of us wanted to
get up as we were both still tired. Eventually we got up and Putu made some
really nice conge for breakfast.
I raised the main while still on anchor and just as I was
about to pull the anchor, we noticed this huge barracouta circling the boat. This
fish was about one and a half metres long and must be fed by fishermen when
they slab off. I have seen these old fellas hanging around anchorages many times
and they are good to have a snorkel with, but unfortunately, we didn’t have
time, so we pulled the anchor and headed off.
As we rounded the south eastern end of Serrurier Island we
had about twenty knots and a one and a half metre sea right on the noise. This
was probably the worst conditions we have experienced so far.
It was imperative that we made good progress as we have to
me Sarah in Dampier Tuesday morning which is still over one hundred and sixty
miles away. I tried everything to sail but it was impossible. I think there was
a one to two knot current against us as well.
I ended up having to motor sail with both engines to make
any progress. At times we were only doing three to four knots and were getting
smashed.
The outboard was still on the tender which I normally remove
for passages and rough conditions and as the sea was so steep, the outboard leg
was digging in every time we were in the trough of a large wave.
This was placing a large force on the tender and also
spraying water into the dingy. I didn’t notice at the time that the tender was
becoming loose and was filling with a large volume of water and by the time I
realised one of the davits had come loose and the other was slightly bent.
I had to stop the boat and lash both davits back into position,
preposition the tender and drain the water. I will have to repair it using
longer screws or beef it up with bolts right through the transom.
I was exhausted by the time I got things back under control.
Once again, the wind started to die off and by the afternoon the wind was zero
and the sea flattened out.
We passed many small well head mono-pods and oil storage
tanks on some of the small Islands. There is a lot of oil activity in this area
and not many Islands offering good anchorages. There are lots of reefs, shallow
water and a strong north south current to deal with too.
After the rough conditions in the past two days and lack of
good anchorages, I decided to make good progress while the wind was light and
motor sail all through the night direct to Dampier. I might be able to make the
necessary repairs to the davits before Sarah arrives to maximise her holiday
fun time.
While in the Mary Anne passage, we speeded along with a two-knot
current and were motor sailing along at over nine knots and with the engine only
doing 2800 RPM.
Some of the infrastructure
on the various Islands
We passed Barrow Island around 19:00 and even though the
wind was only six knots, there was an annoying swell rolling directly in our
course making for uncomfortable conditions.
The Far Skimmer, a rig tug also headed for Dampier has been
following us for a while and getting closer, so I have been tracking him on my
radar and AIS as it is black as hell outside.
Several hours later a full moon rose and lit up the whole
ocean and the wind dropped even further and I had to roll up the genoa.
There was a really annoying swell rolling through right on
the nose making the ride uncomfortable and I had to change course several times
to avoid shallow reef.
Around 22:30 Putu came out to say I had several missed calls
and she had just got off the phone with Sarah. I didn’t even know we had phone
reception and I couldn’t hear it being outside and with the engine running.
It turns out Sarah flight is tomorrow and not Tuesday, so
she is very lucky that I decided to go straight through to Dampier tonight.
Around 2 AM the high temperature alarm went off on the port
engine and I immediately shut it down before damaging the plastic water
muffler.
This was the same engine I had the water pump rebuilt in
Carnarvon and it was the last thing I needed to go wrong now. I started the
starboard engine and woke Putu to take watch while I opened the port engine
compartment. After a bit of looking around I found the problem, the pulley wheel
on the raw water pump had come loose on the shaft causing the belt to slip.
For some reason the nut holding the pulley wheel had come loose,
so I had to dangle by my legs and undo the two nuts holding on the water pump
so I could remove it far enough to get a spanner onto the nut while I held the
pulley wheel in place with vice grips.
Finally, I had the nut tight and then I had to mess around
to get the belt back on and then preposition the pump, get the two nuts back on
and re-tension the belt before tightening the nuts. It’s such a prick of a job,
but I’m getting faster at doing it now.
I started the engine and then ran outside with a torch to
see if it was pumping okay. It looked fine, so I gradually increased the revs
until 2800 and all looked good, so I shut down the starboard engine and washed
the grease off my aching hands.
As we approached Cape Preston in the early hours of the
morning there were iron ore tankers, tug boats and other ships everywhere. I
had to work out which vessels were at anchor and which vessels were on the move
and in what direction using both AIS and radar.
I had to take evasive action as a 900-foot x 189-foot iron ore
tanking was crossing our path coming in to dock. We came within several hundred
meters of it and it was an impressive sight even at night. I felt like asking
him to change his course as he has to give way to a sailing vessel, but I
thought it best to give way to him.
Further along there was another iron ore tanker anchored on
our path and I had to go around it. It is amazing how much new oil & gas
and iron ore infrastructure there is in the Pilbara since I left in 2004.
At around 05:30 I turned into Mermaid Strait for the home
ward run into Dampier. I timed it just perfect and the sun started to come up
just as we were approaching the port and it was a magnificent sun rise.
We passed several massive iron ore tankers being loaded and
also a salt tanker. There were six iron ore tankers being loaded at Hamersley
Iron alone. It’s unbelievable how much iron ore is being shipped out these
days, somebodies getting rich.
We dropped the pick in Hampton Harbour at 07:30 and quickly
make the boat ship shape. At 08:00 Sarah called to say her plane had just
landed, so we put the tender in the water and headed over to the yacht club to
wait for Sarah’s taxi to arrive.
She arrived around 08:30 and it was great to see her again.
We all headed back out to Sirocco for a lovely big breakfast of bacon and eggs.
And then later we went into Dampier to do some shopping and to have a look
around. Dampier hasn’t changed at all since the 1970’s. You would think with
all the money being made from iron ore that some of it could flow back into the
community.
When we got back to the boat the wind was blowing eighteen
knots and rather sitting in the harbour, I decided to head out and sit behind
Malus Island so we could go beach walking on a lee shore. We settled on
whaler’s cove and had a nice long beach walk where Sarah went nuts picking up
lots of shells.
I threw a few poppers around and never got a touch – AGAIN.
The tide fell quite a bit while we were having fun and caught
us out when it was time to leave and we had to walk the boat out through the
coral quite a way before we found water deep enough to start the outboard.
Another half an hour and we would have been stuck there for quite some time.
That evening was magnificent, breathless and silent as the
boat drifted around in circles. The full moon was beautiful and we chatted till
late into the evening.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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