Start Loc: Hunter Island, Duke Islands (21o 58.95'S, 150o 08.66'E)
Narrative: Fortunately Santa found us on Saturday night, and there were plenty of presents under the tree on Sunday morning. The kids (who have proclaimed themselves non-believers) woke us up just after 6:30am, and after making a brew we tackled the presents. It was a good haul all round.
The swell picked up considerably at one point on the night of Christmas Eve but it wasn't until it happened again late Christmas morning that I realised it was because of tidal disturbance with the high tide. At about 11:00am on Christmas Day, it was a bit too rolly and we decided we would move. We ended up dropping anchor on the west side of Marble Island below Homestead Bay. It was a lot calmer, and full of turtles. We enjoyed our Christmas lunch (well done Heather) in the cockpit, with a gentle breeze to keep us cool and a magic view of island beaches and hills. We logged a total of one hour and one minute on the engine.
We kicked off Boxing Day discussing the sporting events we would miss, before raising the anchor at 8:12am and motoring south. We passed through the significant tidal disturbance between the south end of Marble Island and Danger Island and set course for Cape Townshend on the way to Island Head Creek. The winds were variable (all over the shop) at less than 5kts, so we motored for a few hours. By 11:00am it had steadied from the NE at around 6kts. Our SE heading allowed us to raise full sail and motor sail on a close reach. At 1800rpm we were able to keep the sails full and make 5kts over ground.
By midday the wind had strengthened to around 10kts. With an apparent wind strength of 12kts, full sail and a bit of tidal assistance we made 6kts over ground. We sailed past Cape Townshend and continued towards Island Head.
By 1:30pm the wind had swung N dropping our apparent wind strength on our SE heading. With full sail we were able to maintain 5.5kts through the water and 7.5kts over ground with the tidal assistance. As we were approaching Island Head we decided that as we had made pretty good time we would continue another 12nm or so to Port Clinton rather than stop at Island Head Creek. Unfortunately the wind then dropped to 8kts giving us an apparent strength of about 6kts. We put the main and head sails away and at 2:30pm sailed past the mouth of Island Head Creek under spinnaker, at 5.5kts over ground.
As we approached Split and Dome Islands off Pearl Bay, we put the dinghy in the water. Cameron and I left Heather and Haydee to sail the boat, while we did some circle work and took some photos of Seasprint sailing under spinnaker. It was quite an effort getting the dinghy in the water and putting the outboard on while making way, but the photos were worth it. At the bottom of Pearl Bay we put the spinnaker away and, towing the dinghy, motored past Entrance Island towards Round Island.
We were virtually right on low tide and the waves were breaking over the shallows north of the entrance to Port Clinton. Unfortunately, they were also breaking over the shallows on our entrance route, denying us access. We dropped anchor in the lee of Round Island and had a family meeting to discussed our options.
I wanted to use the 2-3kt ebb tide to assist us going south, rather than go against a 2-3kt flood tide which runs north. That meant we had the option of waiting for the tide to start coming in to settle things down and then enter Port Clinton, spend the night and sail the ebb tide from 11:00am the 40nm or so south to Rosslyn Bay. The second option was to not bother entering Port Clinton, sit tight where we were for five hours or so, and sail south on the ebb tide tonight from 10:30pm.
We decided on option two. With NE/NW winds at 15-20kts forecast overnight, it has potential to ba a good sail. We had dinner and started preparing for a night sail.
End Loc: Port Clinton (22o 31.07'S, 150o 46.07'E)
Distance run: 49nm (cumulative: 2690nm)
Engine hours: 5 hr, 18 min (cumulative: 95 hr, 52 min)