Sunday 29th June - The Gugari Rip!!

Position at 18:00 - South 11*35'969 East 136*17'038

Today was a particularly exciting day.....We left Elizabeth Bay at 11:00am and headed out through the Malay Road pass in the The English Company Islands where we joined the convoy of 9 other boats including 'This Way up' all flying their spinnakers coming from Gove. We've been hearing about the 'Gugari Rip', known locally as 'The Hole in the wall', from our friend Jasper on board 'Antares' for as long as we can remember so that's where we were headed! The Hole in the wall is a very long narrow cut between two islands in the wessel group which is lined with large rock faces almost like a natural canal. One mistake in there and you end up plastered against the wall so we had to time our arrival perfectly with the slack high tide so we had either no current or just a little going with us. Of course as usual our timing was off and the first boats through were getting four knots of current against them at 4pm. We decided to hang around and wait a little longer but with a congestion building up we were almost pushed through by the crowd. Luckily all went well and it was a lot of fun even though we were almost run over in the process! We had about two knots of current against us and probably should have waited another hour.
Now we are anchored in Guruliya Bay on Raragala island and getting ready to head over for a celebratory BBQ on the catamaran s/v Makali Kai with all the great fish that everyone caught along the way today.

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Sat 28th June - We made it across the Gulf!!

Position at 18:00 ETC - South 11*54'327 East 136*34'052

We're currently very happily anchored in Elizabeth Bay on Cape Wilberforce just south of the Wessel islands and North West of Gove. Last night was great with the seas really calming down and the wind turning more to the South West so we were able to sail on a beam Reach (wind from the side instead of behind) and so a lot less rolly! We averaged around 5 knots and finally had no problems getting some much needed sleep. Jimmy even made popcorn and was able to watch a movie in the cockpit on his watch with out getting wet. Today was even better and our timing perfect as we sailed behind the reef and dropped the anchor just as the sun was setting. We lost Silene during the night as they raced off ahead of us and being so fast they made it in to anchor five hours ahead of us. Now we plan to get some warm food in our stomachs, watch a movie and have a lovely calm nights sleep as tomorrow is a big day..... Caroline.

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Day 2- Across the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Current Position at 19:00 EST - South 12*05'960 East 138*37'160

It's been a long day today and we've been averaging around 5 knots with 2 meter seas and roughly 15-20 knots of wind out of the South East. We're rolling around like crazy due to strange confused seas coming from two slightly different directions out of the East. Things have been flying around all over the place and we're having to wedge ourselves in just to get some sleep and trying to cook food has been very interesting. Last night was pretty eventful with a few wind changes meaning that we had to change our sail configuration each time in the pitch black which means as usual not a lot of sleep was had by either of us. We're now sailing with our head sail poled out on the port side and the main double reefed on the other but as the sun is setting it looks like we'll have to change them again to stay on course.....they joy of cruising!!

Our friends on 'Silene' are 10 miles ahead of us so we still have good radio contact although they're sailing much faster than us and will probably be well out of range in the morning. We're both pretty exhausted as it's been a while since we've done any night passages and we're completely out of practice! I think it's the first time Jimmy hasn't even been tempted to put a fishing line over the side since we've been in Australia so that's saying something!!

We still have 111 nautical miles to go but with any luck we hope to arrive in Elizabeth Bay on the Wessel islands before sunset tomorrow night. C.xx

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Day One- Underway across the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Position at 19:00 EST - South 12*32'257 East 140*48'730

We're finally underway and are 55 nautical miles out of Weipa with 15-20 knot winds and less than 3 foot seas. We pulled anchor this morning around 6:30 with clear sky's and perfect conditions so we're hoping our waiting finally paid off and it stays this way for the whole trip! We still have 243nm miles to go to the Wessel islands and making about 5-6 knots so should arrive in the next 45hrs. Our friends Eli and Joern onboard the yacht 'Silene' are sailing along side us and we're really happy as Jimmy's managed to get 'Heidi'(our wind steering unit) to sail the boat without us having to hand steer which makes for a much easier passage. Spoke to our friends on s/v Antares this morning on the SSB radio who left yesterday and it sounds like their having stronger winds and bigger seas than us so hopefully waiting the extra day helped. The Customs Coast Watch Plane flew over again today and asked us where we are going and a general check up and it sounds like we'll be getting visited by them everyday as they patrol the coast.

Well it's dark now and time for my watch the stars are really clear and beautiful, with any luck I'll be able to watch a movie in the cock pit to pass the time and make the night go by a little quicker!!....Caroline x

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Waiting in Weipa!

Position: South 12*40'182 East 141*51'168
We're currently anchored off the town of Weipa roughly 100nm south of Cape York waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf of Carpentaria. We've been here four days now and have been able to re-stock at the Woolworth's supermarket and fill up on water. Weipa is a small bauxite mining town with a large Aboriginal community, lots of red dirt and not much more! The locals have been really friendly and hitching a ride into town hasn't been a problem and definitely beats walking in the 31*C heat. It looks like we should be able to leave tomorrow with a forecast of 20knot winds and 6-10ft seas. The Gulf can get rough really quickly (as I experienced on my last crossing) so we're being really careful to pick a good window. Not sure where we'll hit land on the other side yet, either the town of Gove or some where in the Wessel islands, we'll decide underway depending on sea conditions. Now we just need to get the dinghy lashed down on deck and get everything put away so it doesn't fly at us underway!

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