Start Loc: Mackay (21o 06.84'S, 149o 13.49'E)
Narrative: It was a hard fought 45nm to Curlew Island. We dropped the lines at Mackay at 8:35am and motored out of the marina and the harbour. We motored east to the south of Slade Island before setting sail. Seas were about 2.5m and the waves were close together, so it was nice and rough. The wind was blowing from 120 degrees magnetic (a bit north of SE) and at around 20kts. Curlew Island was on a bearing of 125 degrees magnetic; straight into wind. We knew from the outset it wasn't going to be a fun day.
We had to sail out to be clear of the mainland before we could sail south. We set two reefs in the main and the head sail reduced to 100% and sailed as close to the wind as we could and made 5.8kts over ground. We sailed on a compass heading of around 075 degrees with the apparent wind 40 degrees off the starboard bow (true wind about 45 degrees); close hauled for Seasprint. With a bit of leeway as well as the outgoing tide helping to push us north, our course made good averaged around 060 degrees magnetic; 60 degrees off the true wind.
At 11:00am we altered course and sailed south for an hour. We were sailing into the tide now, so speed over ground for this hour averaged only 4.1kts. At 12:00pm, we had been going for over three hours and only just made it back to same latitude as Mackay. We had sailed 17nm and all we had managed to do was get to a point 11nm due east of Mackay! Our destination was 45nm SE and we had to make some headway, so we put the sails away and motored into wind and waves for a bit. With the seas still around 2.5m and close together, our speed over ground was still only 3.5kts, but at least we were going in the right direction.
We looked at other anchorages but there was nothing suitable. I really didn't want to go back to Mackay or further north to St Bees and Keswick Islands. The tropical low well to our NE is dug in and not going away. We are keeping a close eye on it as it may become a small cyclone, but at the moment all it means for us is that for the next week we have SE winds around 20-25kts. We don't have the time to sit near Mackay for a week and wait for a weather window to continue south. We (read "I") decided we just had to bite the bullet and continue on to Curlew Island, even though we would be getting in well after dark.
At 2:30pm, well clear of all the shipping anchorages off Hay Point, we set sail again. The wind was still from 120 degrees at around 20kts, but seas were maybe a bit smaller at around 2.2m. We still had two reefs in the main and 100% head sail, sailing close hauled on a port tack. By 4:00pm the wind had moved more easterly and was blowing from 100 degrees, still around 20kts.
By 6:00pm we were right in close to the mainland near Cape Palmerston. We put the sails away just before it got dark and started motoring east towards Curlew Island. The wind was still blowing from 100 degrees, but had picked up to 25-30kts. We had apparent wind gusts to 35kts. We slogged into the strong winds and steep waves, averaging only 3.2kts over ground. We crossed Yaralla Shoal at a safe depth and the shape of Curlew Island slowly appeared against the night sky. Our heading was 10 degrees north of Curlew Island to counter the southerly run of the incoming tide, and then changed to south of Curlew once the tide turned and began its northerly run out.
Just north of Curlew Island, Tinonee Bank runs ENE to Hirst Islet. At the north west corner of Curlew, there is a deep but narrow passage between the rocks and the Tinonee bank. There are no navigation lights (the only light we could see was what appeared to be the mooring light of a yacht anchored at Curlew) so we weren't going to risk that passage in the dark. Instead we motored to the north of Tinonee Banks and crossed them between the drying patch and Hirst Islet. We had 4m of tide still and crossed in 4.5m of water. We could then motor back SE into the anchorage, and we dropped anchor at 10:18pm.
We had strong winds and rough seas all day. It was a long hard slog to get where we needed to go, and not our best day.
Note: At 7:00am on Thursday 22nd December, the tropical low was upgraded to Category 1 Tropical Cyclone Fina and was located 800km ENE of Mackay. It is expected to maintain a S/SW track for Thursday and weaken to a low again on Thursday night. We will remain in the shelter of Curlew Island for Thursday and see what she does.
End Loc: Curlew Island (21o 35.62'S, 149o 47.98'E)
Distance run: 65nm (cumulative: 2598nm)
Engine hours: 7 hr, 33 min (cumulative: 82 hr, 56 min)