We got up at 05:30
and were underway by 06:00 just as the sun was coming up. The plan was to get
to Cape Leveque and then decide if conditions permit to carry on around Sunday
Island and onto Sygnet Bay for a couple of nights.
As we motor sailed
out of Beagle Bay, the lights were still out on Fonster who were going to depart
around 07:00. In the Bay the wind was only sixteen knots, but I decided to
throw in a second reef in the main as I expect the wind to get quite strong latter on this
morning.
Outside of Beagle
Bay the wind got up to around twenty knots and steadily increased and while
crossing Pender Bay it had risen to over twenty-four knots and I was glad I put
that second reef in.
The sea state was
rough with about a one-meter swell but we sliced through it doing over eight
knots for most of the day. It was a little uncomfortable, but a fast run and by
the time Fonster got away there was no way he was going to catch up to us
today.
The coast line
changed from eroded red cliffs to long sandy beaches.
A helicopter flew overhead
full of rig pigs taking the two-and-a-half-hour flight out to my rig and I gave
them a royal salute hoping they might just be able to see my white arse from
three and a half thousand feet.
We passed a few
olive sea snakes but no other vessels. We arrived at Cape Leveque around 11:00
which seemed like a really fast sail and we were keen to keep on going.
As we rounded Ball
Rock the sea stood up really high. The swell must have been five meters and for
a while it was a bit daunting. I guessed the swell; the wind and a strong tide
must have been acting together causing these conditions around the shallow point.
Once around Cape
Leveque the swell and the wind was right on the nose so right away I had to
roll up the jib and motor sail. Our speed was only about four and a half knots, so
I knew there must have been a two to three knot current against us. (I regret
not plugging my current paddle wheel back in before loading all the spare diesel
on top of it back in Perth)
I was so keen to
keep going as it was still so early, but the tide was against us and after consulting
the tide predictions and the charts of Escape passage it was pointless to
continue.
At peak tide, the
tidal stream through Escape passage can reach ten knots, so we would have been
going backwards. Low water was around five o’clock which would mean we wouldn’t
get to Sygnet bay until way after dark, not an ideal situation considering I haven’t
been there before, so I reluctantly decided to spend the night at Cape Leveque
which doesn’t have a good reputation as an anchorage.
I headed several
miles past Cape Leveque and tucked in really close to shore as its going to
blow hard tonight and I want the best protection I can find. I dropped the pick
in six meters a couple of hundred meters off the beach and surrounded by reef.
There is a six-meter
tide here and after consulting the tide predictor we should be fine. There was
a bit of swell getting over the reef at high tide, but it should be very well
protected at low tide.
Fonster arrived
about 13:30 and anchored not far away from us. We had a bit of patchy mobile
phone signal but it was more of an annoyance as it was so intermittent.
I was really
knackered and so I laid down and had a nice two-hour nanny nap.
The plan is to get
up early again and to attempt the Escape passage after low tide around 05:00. The
wind will probably be right on the nose so we will have to motor sail for the
first ten miles until we turn into King Sound and head for Sygnet Bay a further
ten miles away.
Our anchorage was
very dark with an occasional roll with the sound of breaking waves all around
us and I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Track Sirocco’s progress
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