Bringing 'Crosswind' home



Not having sailed for 27 years I was very apprehensive about sailing my new boat from Mooloolaba to Brisbane (110nm) through Morton Bay. A work colleague introduced me to Bruce who volunteered to accompany me. Bruce has owned a few boats and has many years of sailing experience.

The boat went back in the water on a Thursday (09 September 2011) but the forecast was not favourable for a first voyage. Checking the seven day forecast on Seabreeze.com.au (see links) it seemed the weather would moderate over the next week and the following weekend would have light wind and calmer seas.

I picked up Bruce the next Friday after work and we drove to Mooloolaba to prepare for an early Saturday departure. The forecast had changed from light winds (5-10 kts) to no wind (less than 5 kts) so the first order of business was to check the how much fuel was in the tanks in case it became necessary to motor part of the way (only had 2 days as I was working Monday). The level in the tanks did not register on the dipstick so a quick trip to the fuel dock (less than 100m) and $300.00 (196l/58g) gave confidence that we had enough fuel for the voyage plus contingencies. Next item on the agenda was people fuel, so a quick trip to the supermarket solved that and with three bags of ice cubes (lack of local knowledge meant I didn't know where to buy block ice) we were ready to go.

Woke early and prepared to leave at first light. Logged on with the Coastguard, warmed up the engine and at 6:00am we were off.  First lesson - Crosswind does not like going astern, I'm sure I'll learn the tricks of reversing her in time, but that first lesson put me on notice. It was just before low tide and we stuck to the middle of the canal with the depth gauge showing around 1 meter (3ft) of water under the keel. Once into the river the depth increased to 6+ meters (20+ ft) with markers defining the channel. At 2,000 rpm we were making a little over 5 knots and had a line of power boats behind us waiting to clear the harbour entrance. As soon as we cleared the last marker they were off creating so much wake turbulence that I thought I was in a washing machine.

With the wind gauge indicating 6-7 kts it was time to go sailing. In minutes with the main up and both head sails unfurled Crosswind was making close to 3 kts.  Not a record, but this was my 'new' boat doing what she was purchased for - I could not get the grin off my face.

Three hours abeam Caloundra the wind, and my grin were gone and it was time for the iron sail. There was also a dense haze on shore which we later found out were bush fires along the entire hinterland.  Motored at about 5 kts from Caloundra to about 10 nm from Scarborough (our overnight stop) when the breeze strengthened to between 6-8 kts. Off with the motor and up with the sails and we were off on a broad reach.


About 5 nm from shore we were joined/overtaken by the local Saturday racing fleet on their last leg back to Scarborough which made navigating in easy. Bruce was a member at the club and had arranged a berth for the night at the bargain price of $10. It was a big night at the club which was also playing host to an offshore powerboat regatta.  At some point during the night during a break for the band the conversation turned to boats and fuel consumption. There was general laughter at my expense when after telling them how much it cost to put fuel in Crosswind the previous night, I was informed by one of the power boat racers that it cost him $750 to fill his boat and that lasted only 1.5 hours at racing speed. I left them to it at around 10:30 with the band still going strong, as we wanted to leave early the next morning for home.

6:30am saw us departing Scarborough for Brisbane and Crosswind's new home at Dockside in the Brisbane river. There was no wind and the only ripple on the water was that generated by our wake as we motored along. Relied heavily on the GPS today as the coastline was enveloped in a smoke haze from the bush fires that continued to burn.

The wind speed never got above 3kts all morning and at around 10:00am the port area of Brisbane came into view. It took 2 hours to motor up the river, under the twin Gateway bridges and finally to Dockside. Coming into the berth I was greeted by 3 of the people from nearby yachts ready to take my mooring lines and welcome me to their community.

Crosswind was home!

I have not forgotten Bruce, without whose help I would not have had such an easy first voyage. He knew I had doubts about being able to sail after such a long break and just let me get on with it, offering encouragement when needed. He also navigated, taking that pressure off and letting me get to know the boat. Thank you Bruce.