Pelagian heading to Batemans Bay

[Ianb]

Rod M is moving Pelagian to Batemans Bay this week end, single handed. He sails out of Sydney Heads at 7am tomorrow, Saturday. He had problems with his Volvo diesel, and has bolted an outboard onto the transom.
Fair Winds Rod!

[Troppo]

All the best with the trip Rod.

Just be careful with that outboard. So much more power at the prop than the old volvo that you'll be up on the plane before ya realise it.

[Ianb]

Rod reports: 10km off Batemans Bay heads at 1100 hrs today. He has had some wild weather, and minor equipment issues, but totally fun!
Hope to read your full report when you have had some sleep Rod.

[RodM]

A bit of info about the solo trip from Sydney to Batemans Bay. I'd put a fair bit of effort into checking/replacing equipment since purchasing Pelagian - but hadn't planned for the old inboard diesel to spit the welch pplug out of he head 48 hours before departure. Werll, I headed to the pub to consider options but even before getting there a plan was in place. two days latewr Pelagian had a 5hp Hionda hanging off the back of a rapidly reinforced stern. Not perfect, but I headed off only 24hrs later than scheduled, with the forcast being for 10-15km N.E/S.E. winds, and the possibility of isolated thunderstorms nearer Batemans Bay.
Morning winds were fitful and I motorsailed out of Sydney Harbour. Once outside the heads things picked up well over the 10-15km. The new full battened main & near new headsail powered up and Pelagian took off.

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At one point I looked down ionto the cabin & could see water halfway up the side of the window. The gps recorded its fastest speed of 9.2 knots during this run - but I think that was a bit of an abberation - falling into a hole between a couple of swells. I did see 7.2 knots quite a few times. Something went bang and a bit of metal hit fibreglass. Couldsn't see what it was, all shrouds were sound & the boat powered on. I decided to stay the night at Jibbon & found beautiful peaceful anchorage at the head of the National Park. It was there I found the break - one of the headsail cars. I rigged up a backup in case it it gave up totally, but it wasn't needed. The average speed for that day was 4.5 knots - and my motor sailing had been slow cos I was running in a new OBM... Next I'll write about the overnight sail south.

[Phillip]

Good one Rod,

Your average speed is spot on from my experience, dispite your recorded 9.2 knots!

Well done.

[storm petrel]

Sound like a fun trip Rod, I look forward to the next episode. I am happy if I can average over 4 knots, so 4.5 over that distance is good sailing.

Cheers,
Mark
Storm Petrel

PS Is your boat a Mk1 or Mk11?

[RodM]

A few notes on boat bits before part two. My top Hat's a Mk 2. Interestingly Rod's Sea Monkey & my Pelagian both have the small mast base. No Harbour Bridge base and no evidence of sagging/fracturing cabin top...

I didn't like the mainsheet system which went from blocks, along boom, down mast, across cabin roof front, along cabin roof side to cleat under the Dodger. I've cut out a heap of rope & friction by inverting a couple of old blocks and having cleat located at the boom point. Yes, when on a broad reach the cleat's not always instantly released. If I need to depower rapidly I just let go the traveller. I learned about this option from my old Holland 30 & it works well. One benefit is that you've always got about 1.5 metres of clear sheet to let out - no tangles to catch in the cleat.

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Next is shot of the broken car. I thought... maybe ring the NRMA? Anyway I rigged an option in case it gave up totally - a sheet & pulley tied between two stauntions, altho I did worry about losing a stauntion.... Other option would have been to run the sheet round a rear mooring cleat then to the winch. Happpily I didn't have to try these backup options...

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And also, you know when something doesn't feel right and it takes a while to trace it? Started as an unusual noise, pretty random, it was only when I took over from the tiller pilot and felt the tilller was loose - and realised the big tillerbolt had lost one of its dome capped nuts and was about to fall out... I didn't have a replacement easily accessible (later found I didn't actually have one at all!) but grabbed it with the vise grips and slid down the shock cord which reduces tiller pilot dislocation to hold visegrips in place for the rest of the trip... Both sides have been replaced with locknuts.

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All in all, relatively minor problems for the first sea passage:)

[RodM]

Anyway, back to the journey. After a peaceful night at Jibbon I headed south. A little bit wiser, so I had the main part furled - it only has one furling point. It was a very pleasant sail south, a bit less adventurous than Day 1.

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Leaving at this time meant I got past all the ships outside Port Kembla by mid afternoon. There were about 5 of them, none registering on AIS.

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With the wind fron the SE to SSE at about 15km, I headed into the night on a course varying between @ 160-190 Degrees. I was loving it & not really fussed at where I was going. It was a moonless night & Pelagian headed roughly south, the average siince leaving Sydney still 4.3 knots. I set an Egg timer for 15 minutes and dosed in the cockpit between lookouts. Every tiime the alarm went I'd pressit twice to re-start it in case I dozed off while thinking I was alert. Morning came with a bit of sea mist and a fitful NE to SE breeze. I was a bit south of Ulladulla and about 50 NM out to sea. As morning progressed the average dropped back to 3.2 knots. The joys of wind power! I was heading towards the coast on a course varying between 270-300 Degrees, accepting that I was going to be late getting in. A few storm fronts came through. I didn't quite make it between a couple of storm cells and got caught up in a couple of hours of lightningm varying strong gusty wind, and messy sea wiht colliding waves. Pelagian happily handled all this with main fully furled and about 20% Headsail. Having the Dodger was great, giving me a lot of protection while being low enough not to restrict forward vision. I was having a great time but my daughters were less happy as they were hearing about the three fishermen missing then confrmed lost in St Georges Basin.

Not surprisingly, Batemans Bay is a bloody dark place to appproach on a moonless night. It got choppier as I approached the Bay entrance which caused the OBM to cavitate frequently. Not a tiime to have the motor drowned near the Tollgates, so I headed out to sea again and repeated tthe Egg Timer routine, mid-night the wind died totally so with all sails furled I drifted for the night & enjoyed a beautiful sunrise... about 2o NM off Batemans Bay again & near windless. The OBM and its qick fit were much happier without a choppy sea. the wind fiinallly came up so I motor-sailed the last bit into the Bay. It was low tide so I headed for Square Head - ocean side of the bar where ?Rod keeps Sea Monkey. great luck - he had just turned up and we rafted up, had a Top Hat Chat then we put my boat on a mooring and he cooked me dinner. I was back on Pelagian and dead to the world by 6.30PM. The next day Rod sailed past to try out the Windvane he'd jjust fitted, and I took Pelagian into her new Berth at the Batemans Bay Marina.

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I hope this hasn't been a too indulgent description... the notice board's been a bit quiet the past few days so I though a bit of waxing lyrical wouldn't go astray. It was a fantastic trip and I love my boat, and night sailing, and sailing solo or with others, and I want my inboard back! But thats another story....
Cheers, Rod

[Phillip]

Well Done Rod,

I'm well into my preparations for Tasmania so will see you and Sea Monkey early in the new year.

One thing I'm looking at is a dodger, noticed yours in the photos, is there any chance of you posting details/photos please.

[Dolphin]

Good report Rod, really enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.