My little piece of peace

He carries so much I doubt he has bothered to fill since leaving Brisbane.

 

Hi All,
Fuel capacity is about 1100 litres (about a tonne - 1000kg) - I did not start with that much but I still have some 240 litres forward and 220 litres midships and 50 litres in the "day-tanks"... I burn about 1 litre per 2 miles doing 2500 rpm and 7+ knots - - - - so something in the vicinity of 1020 NMiles...

I missed the weather for the next 3 days between Bowen and Townsville... If someone could post in text, tor wind direction and strength for the next 3 days between Bowen and Townsville - - Sun 23, Mon 24, and Tue 25 Sept 2012 I will read it at about 05:00 tomorrow morning, Sunday, before I depart to regions with no coverage... THANKS....

 

Is all OK I got it - - - BUGGER, Mostly 'on-the-nose' and bloody messy, short and just a pain in the ***.........

"Tropical Waters, Cardwell to Bowen:

Saturday until midnight: Winds: E to NE 5 to 10 knots. Inshore NE sea breezes 10 to 15 knots. Seas: 0.7 to 1.2 metres. Swell: Less than 1.5 metres.

Sunday: Winds: N to NE 5 to 10 knots. Inshore afternoon and evening NE sea breezes 10 to 15 knots. Seas: 0.7 to 1.2 metres. Swell: Less than 1.5 metres.

Monday: Winds: N to NE 5 to 10 knots. Inshore afternoon NE sea breezes 10 to 15 knots.

Tuesday: Winds: NE 5 to 10 knots with inshore afternoon NE sea breezes 10 to 15 knots."

From : http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/northern_qld_coastal_waters.shtml

 

Mas, when we get that sort of forecast up here in cairns, the weather is bloody beautiful on the water... Those light NE wind forecasts are the ones we get when the water is totally glassed out like mill pond... i think youll be pleasantly surprised

See you when you arrive in cairns, we shall have a beer, my shout

 

Springtime down under. Enjoy.

 

Hi All,
Anchored up at "Picnic Bay" - Magnetic Island looking over the water towards Townsville and Castle Hill... Water temp is 27deg Celsius air temp is 33.5dec C at 44% relative humidity and the boat is gently rocked as a small portion of the easing swell wraps around the point... Did somebody mention BREEZE ??? nothing over 5 kts all day... The day started with a head on slop which slowed me down but in the end I averaged 7kt for the 67NMi from Cape Upstart to here... I opened the throttles just a couple of hundred rpm and paid the penalty. . . . . Around 1.4 miles per litre A long run and I wanted to be there around 3pm - Thems are the costs of "timliness"...

James, or groper, - last chance - about 3 days to Cairns... Call me on 0408262234 ASAP if you want to wet your sealegs and I will hold departure one day - else I depart here at 05:00 tomorrow Tuesday 25th Sept... I could get across to Townsvill-side to pick you up... - - - - Otherwise I should be in Cairns Fri PM assuming Lucinda Tue PM, Cardwell Wed PM, Dunk I ? -? -, Mourilyan Thur PM and see you all Friday of thereafter - Is there anywhere around Cairns where I can get fairly cheap hard-stand and lift out back - as that is the best option to prepare for the next leg........

 

Well done mass keep you arse to the wall in Cairns . Ive heard some funny things about that place.

Are you still heading for coconut Island

 

By "coconut Island" I presume you mean, Milne Bay Province and other opportunities that may arise in Papua New Guinea - - Yes if I can save up for the visa, more fuel and other oncosts for that voyage, AND find a crew for the 480 mile Open Ocean" passage from Cairns to Samarai...

480 N. Miles at 7knots is about 69 hours or almost 3 days - It would be nice to go under "captains favour" to be deposited from the slings before entering port to be cleared by customs - or - some similar ride as deck cargo for the better part of the trip across...

Or if someone buys my boat - one of the residents on the western tip of Cape Upstart knows a friend "turtle", in Cairns who is seeking a bigger boat to do some extended voyaging... He apparently has a smaller sail cat and felt mine would be "just about right" for him... Here is hoping...

I spoke with "groper" and I feel it may be best for me to park for a day at YORKIES KNOB just to the N along the coast from Cairns town/airport...

so I can retire to blissful ignorance as a pauper in a "high care nursing home", for the 'senile-dementia-afflicted', or what-ever they call it now, - - where silly old fuddy duddies who have lost their marbles are sent... It is quie scarey - and is a heriditary complaint, where confidence and short term memory gradually deteriorates and leaves one in a sorry state of mental-incompetance... Mum is that way now... Easily hold casual conversation but regularly forget names, words, what one was talking about, too easily distracted from completing a simple task like sweeping the floors, or cooking a simple feed...

It is a sad way to go... I imagine mum spends her days "living in her mind", to be brought back to "reality" to eat a meal that you do not want, go to the toilet and have a shower, to get back onto bed and return to life in your mind... Wondering if the long awaited death will be the start of another adventure - or likely the oblivion of "nothing", any more....
165362

 

http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/northern_qld_coastal_waters.shtml
North Tropical Waters, Cooktown to Cardwell:

Monday until midnight: Winds: North of Cape Tribulation: E to SE 10 to 15 knots. South of Cape Tribulation: SE to NE 5 to 10 knots, with inshore afternoon and evening NE sea breezes 10 to 15 knots. Seas: 0.7 to 1.2 metres. Swell: Less than 1.5 metres.

Tuesday: Winds: North of Cape Tribulation: E to SE 10 to 15 knots, reaching 15 to 20 knots at times in the evening. South of Cape Tribulation: SE to NE 5 to 10 knots, with inshore afternoon and evening NE sea breezes 10 to 15 knots. Seas: 0.7 to 1.2 metres, reaching 1.7 metres outside the reef north of Cape Tribulation in the evening. Swell: Less than 1.5 metres.

Wednesday: Winds: SE 10 to 15 knots, reaching 15 to 20 knots at times north of Cairns.

Thursday: Winds: E to SE 10 to 15 knots, increasing to 15 to 20 knots during the afternoon.
http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/northern_qld_coastal_waters.shtml

 

I would interpret the current synoptic chart as follows;
looks like you will have light winds and quite benign / calm sea conditions for tomorrow and the next day, with gradually increasing SE'ly tail winds as you near toward cairns on thursday - friday. Quite a comfortable trip really, i like to plot my courses close behind the inside reefs and let the reef break any remaining swells for the calmest waters possible - that and your never very far from any potential fishing spot or anchorage behind a suitable reef i would avoid the coast until your ready to port in cairns, so many nice islands to see on the way... shame your doing it so quickly!

 

Hi groper,
Your forecast concurs with mine as well as present observations - the sea is decidedly "oily" and the wind at a halt - The swell seems to have a southerly set so I intend to take advantage of the minor assist from the waves as even 2ft can give a noticable boost to vmg as well as the tidal current this morning seems to be adding to my average speed at the present...

I left Picnic Bay at 05:50 and am motoring at 6.9kt and about half way along the west channel behind Maggie and Cape Palarenda... I will go along the lea of Palm, and on to Orpheus Island, thence veer out to round the loooooong jetty at Lucinda (sugar loading for Ingham region canefarms), and thence up behind Hinchenbrook Island (the resort is said to be closed, compliments of the GEC and cyclone Yasi and others...

 

Hinchinbrook channel is quite shallow in places, and watch out for the wayward Dugong you might see along the way thru there

Please take lots of pics through this passage also, i find Hincho a most picturesque place and could easily spend a week down there alone...

And theres nothing much to see at the port hinchinbrook resort, bit of a white elephant if you ask me...

 

http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/14874/dugong

 

Hi Groper, Hoyt and welcome to 'latestarter',
Firstly Latestarter, thanks for your nice PM... Occasionalloy the "black-dog" of uncertainty and other ails grabs my mind... I guess it was the realisation that my project to "Go and work in PNG" may be forestalled, but by lateralising my options... (a step sideways to pause, think, and view the scenery, - often has an enlightening effect), and on the next day I was full of hope and new ideas to pursue...

On the passage behind hinchenbrook...
I draw 3 feet and could almost have gone where I felt the mood... Most of the chqannel is 30 to 50 ft deep and a local advised me "Go north on the rising tide and south on the falling", - - but the southern entrance (alongside the loooooooong sugar terminal jetty), is strewn with shifting sandbars and muddy waters that hide the sandbars - go easy, watch your depthsounder and local knowledge penciled in over a paper chart as that data changes regularly...

Dugong? - Crocodiles get hungry and there are LOTS of crocodiles and the water is nice and "murkey" so they cannot be seen lurking on the bottom under where you might go for a swim... - one night in Ingham I counted no less than 11 but shooting is banned.... All native fawna and flora is "PROTECTED"...

By th way, water temperature is now 26 deg Celsius (78.8F for those out of touch with modern trends)... Ambient emp is a pleasant 26.3 deg C, water depth is 29 feet, (in some things I feel mor comfortable with the 'old ways), and I am cruising at 7.5kt at about 2500rpm...

Sky is fully overcast, lower tufts of 'cotton wool for decoration', partially hiding higher cold air and the typical pattern found on tidal sand patches indicating the cold air and stuff in between including the early summer smog from controlled burning-off, cane harvesting, and a lack of wind to blow it all away....

I took quite a few images but was mostly watching the course and enjoying a 2+kt boost over most of the passage... More images will be posted if I can be tolerated at James place whilst I access wired internet as this wireless stuff is soooo bloody slow and to use the larger keyboard on my linux machine makes life lots easier (most images will have to be resized to post on boatdesign.net)... I have quite a few images in the camera and already downloaded awaiting my review and selection for posting...

I have lived at Ingham and Townsville and appreciate the scenery, but it is not what I am looking for and feel time is short and precious so am keen to search for opportinities in improving self-sustainability with minimal dependance on this western collapsing economic system that is sadly corrupt, manipulated and fulol or blind sheeple... The remote Melanesian Islands seem to be the most likely place still...

6 miles offshore a third of the way to Dunk Island (Coonanglebah), and I hope this internet access is still working...
165845

 

Hi All,
Weather is "in the Doldrums", 7.3 ~ 7.7kt progress Northwards, where is the variability coming from? NO wind and the tide should be as close as to the LOW point at 12:45 so southerly current seeking warmer weather? - ambient is 33.1 deg C and water is registering 28 on the depth sounder (at the front of the boat not aft of the engine coolant out as you may suggest... (that is almost baby bath tepid ) - - This is what it is like in the Milne Bay region, except the water is 32deg C (89.6 deg F)...

DUNK Island is CLOSED and shuttered - GEC crisis is adversley impacting around the world and at last Australia is feeling UNPROTECTED against the greed and manipulation of the "Wall St Traders"... Many sheeple here are afraid and not sure whom or what to blame?, although many are quietly very aware of how dire and uncertain the future is...

It is NOT the rioting in the streets, or other forms many seem to imagine the situation may become but a total lack of the basic necesities from any "convenience store" as the USA will shut down all forms or "plastic transactions", ATM's and bank cash withdrawls and bulk fuel and farmers produce is usually a 'cash' transaction at the wholesale level if not 'presold', so food and deliveries stop... Tinned stuff will only last so long as fresh is needed to keep one healthy...

The basics are fruit (surplus is home preserved), nuts in season, berries in season (both will also keep for longer periods) meat (poultry, goat, sheep), a couple cows or goats for milk and of course eggs from the poultry, then a vegetable patch to provide what can be grown seasonally - and some of this stores nicely too (cooked or uncooked)

My intention on going to Melanesia is that in the warmer climes, (above 25deg C), coconut oil does not solidify and works nicely on most of the "non-high-tech" diesel engines like Kubota 700cc and 900cc 20 hp will deliver ample power for a few cieling fans, fridges and freezers and such like for several families... When one thinks about it, domestically, not much power is needed when Aircon and electric stoves and similar toys are removed from the agenda)...