Start Loc: Cape Townshend (22o 12.88'S, 150o 28.14'E)
Narrative: After a lazy start to the day, including bacon and eggs for breakfast, the kids and I went ashore. I think they realised they had it pretty good when I pointed out that their mates had been in class for an hour as we were getting ready to go to the beach!
While we were ashore, Heather sorted the pantry. Having been out for a little over a week (and having not put as much thought into our last shop as we should have) we are starting to run out of fresh food and only have five more main meals including the packet/tinned stuff. Given we are looking at another eight days or so before we get to Mackay, we need to restock some stuff. Hence, after lunch, Heather radioed (VHF channel 81) the Plum Tree Store at Thirsty Sound (run by Maree and Bevan) and put in an order. They do a run to Rockhampton for supplies on Tuesdays and Fridays, so we have arranged to pick up our stuff first thing Wednesday morning.
Having sorted the provisions, we decided to move closer to Thirsty Sound and see if we could pick up mobile and internet reception. We departed Cape Townshend at 2:10pm for Collins Island in the Cannibal Group. The wind was an easterly at about 18kts, so having motored clear of Cape Island and a couple of shoals, we turned west and ran under 110% genoa at 5kts. The first couple of miles were great, but as we came west of the Ripple Islands to cross North Channel, we encountered a tidal set and drift of north at about 3kts. This meant two things for us. Firstly with seas of about 1.5m heading west on the easterly wind, a swell of about 1.5m coming from the north, and a tide going north at 3kts, it all got a bit rough. Secondly, after allowing for the tidal set and drift, the course to steer to maintain the course made good of where I wanted to go, varied by about 20 degrees – a lot more than encountered on Moreton Bay.
As we got near the anchorage on the north side of Collins Island, we realised that it didn’t have the protection we would have liked from the seas and swell. Instead we decided to give the west side of Lingham Island a go, coming in to anchor a little after 5:00pm. We tried dropping a stern anchor as we came in but the bow anchor then didn’t take hold first go, so the angles ended up all wrong. We decided that securing the main anchor at the bow first, then backing up to place a stern anchor is the best way to go. An alternative is to get the main anchor set and then use the dinghy to drop the stern anchor. Either way, we have decided we will stick with doing the main anchor first in future. Anyway, the wind has dropped and the tide and swell have changed, so we will be rolling around a bit again tonight.
We will head for Thirsty Sound when the tide is right tomorrow and spend the night anchored there. First thing Wednesday morning we will move up to Plum Tree, take the dinghy to the shop to get our provisions, and then set sail for the Duke Islands.
End Loc: Lingham Island (22o 13.57'S, 150o 15.60'E)
Distance run: 17 nm (cumulative: 602nm)
Engine hours: 1 hr, 34 min (cumulative: 65 hr 00 min)