15 - 18 November
The Passage Home
Friday morning started early with me leaving home at 4.30 for the train to Sydney airport. My job today was to get to the boat early and get her prepared for departure this evening. My brother Stuart and old sailing friend Mark will be arriving around 6pm. Before then I'll be doing a food shop at the nearby Australia Fair shopping centre, filling water and fuel tanks, buying a bit of extra safety gear, settling my accounts with the marina and stowing everything ready for sea.
It's been about six weeks since I left the boat and returned to Sydney. Being back feels wonderful, really like returning Home, and I'm looking forward to three days back out at sea. The weather forecast is reasonably benign for now, although there's the possibility of something unpleasant blowing up down the NSW coast. No matter, just the usual process of keeping an eye on things and adjusting plans accordingly. We have many choices if we need to hide from the weather, including pulling in at Yamba, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie or Port Stephens.
I was kept busy all day. With the onset of dusk and with Mark and Stuart on their way from Coolangatta airport, the last job for me was to buy our take away dinner from the Thai restaurant at the head of the marina.
We were away at about 8pm. The weather conditions over the following 24 hours established the pattern for the entire trip south. Overnight saw light nor'westerlies - sometimes strong enough to push us along under sail alone but most of the time requiring the engine to maintain a decent 6 knots. Saturday and Sunday mornings, around 10am, brought mild southerly squalls that initially had us put a reef into the main and then motorsail quite comfortably into the moderate southerly seas. Other than the almost constant engine noise it was an easy cruise and we settled into an easy routine.
One thing deserving of note related to the fact that NSW was in the early grips of its catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season. Saturday morning saw us about 15 miles off Yamba. When I came up on deck, even at that distance, I saw that we were surrounded by thick smoke. Visibility was down to 100 metres and the taste of smoke in my mouth was palpable. Obviously this was the result of the westerly winds we'd had overnight, but it also showed just how bad the fires were. Since visibility was so poor, my mind immediately turned to the risk of hitting something. This risk began to dissipate shortly after as the winds started turning back around to the south.
I've already noted the wind patterns we saw this last homeward passage. What was most pleasing to confirm was that, while the Gypsy doesn't really like sailing upwind in any sort of waves, she was quite happy and comfortable motorsailing in those same conditions with the genoa furled, pointing about 30-40 degrees off the wind.
With the very strong southerly front being forecast for the weekend, there was initially doubt as to whether we'd make it even as far as Coffs, but that concern soon lifted. By Saturday evening it was looking like it would hit us Sunday morning. So, we altered our course to head inshore for Port Macquarie as fast as reasonably possible, where we'd ride out the winds for a few hours before continuing south later that day. It's worth noting that I'd stayed well offshore up to this point, looking for a boost from the southerly current off Australia's east coast. In reality, it didn't seem to be doing much for us, but it was still disappointing to have to abandon that advantage to head for port.
By around 3am Sunday the outlook changed again, and it now looked like the front was still another 12 or more hours away. The prospect of having to negotiate Port Macquarie's bar, simply to sit out most of the day, now became unattractive. We changed plans again to head for Broughton Island, just off Port Stephens, where I thought we'd be safe.
We reached Broughton Island by mid afternoon, returning to what had been the first of Gypsy's anchorages on this cruise way back in May. This time it was planned as a refuge from the coming storm. However as the clock ticked on, and the BoM continued to insist that we should be in the middle of a 30+ knot southerly, actual conditions never deviated from the mild weather evident in these photos. This nevertheless proved to be a welcome break for us all. The chance to relax at anchor for a few hours, to rest, cook and enjoy a nice hot meal after two days continually on the go was great. It was clear that there was no storm coming at us and that the remainder of the trip would be a routine trip down the coast. We emptied the two jerry cans of diesel fuel into the boat's tank, cleaned everything away and set out for the last leg.
The passage from Broughton Island to Pittwater is an unremarkable one. Yachts make that trip every day without much effort. It was therefore a quiet and unassuming way to return home after such an extraordinary odyssey. We cleared Barrenjoey Point at 10.30 am, signing off from Marine Rescue radio for the very last time, and bringing Gypsy Princess into her pen at the RPAYC marina an hour later. 18 November 2019.
It's been about six weeks since I left the boat and returned to Sydney. Being back feels wonderful, really like returning Home, and I'm looking forward to three days back out at sea. The weather forecast is reasonably benign for now, although there's the possibility of something unpleasant blowing up down the NSW coast. No matter, just the usual process of keeping an eye on things and adjusting plans accordingly. We have many choices if we need to hide from the weather, including pulling in at Yamba, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie or Port Stephens.
I was kept busy all day. With the onset of dusk and with Mark and Stuart on their way from Coolangatta airport, the last job for me was to buy our take away dinner from the Thai restaurant at the head of the marina.
We were away at about 8pm. The weather conditions over the following 24 hours established the pattern for the entire trip south. Overnight saw light nor'westerlies - sometimes strong enough to push us along under sail alone but most of the time requiring the engine to maintain a decent 6 knots. Saturday and Sunday mornings, around 10am, brought mild southerly squalls that initially had us put a reef into the main and then motorsail quite comfortably into the moderate southerly seas. Other than the almost constant engine noise it was an easy cruise and we settled into an easy routine.
 |
| Stuart and Mark showing how easy it is |
One thing deserving of note related to the fact that NSW was in the early grips of its catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season. Saturday morning saw us about 15 miles off Yamba. When I came up on deck, even at that distance, I saw that we were surrounded by thick smoke. Visibility was down to 100 metres and the taste of smoke in my mouth was palpable. Obviously this was the result of the westerly winds we'd had overnight, but it also showed just how bad the fires were. Since visibility was so poor, my mind immediately turned to the risk of hitting something. This risk began to dissipate shortly after as the winds started turning back around to the south.
I've already noted the wind patterns we saw this last homeward passage. What was most pleasing to confirm was that, while the Gypsy doesn't really like sailing upwind in any sort of waves, she was quite happy and comfortable motorsailing in those same conditions with the genoa furled, pointing about 30-40 degrees off the wind.
With the very strong southerly front being forecast for the weekend, there was initially doubt as to whether we'd make it even as far as Coffs, but that concern soon lifted. By Saturday evening it was looking like it would hit us Sunday morning. So, we altered our course to head inshore for Port Macquarie as fast as reasonably possible, where we'd ride out the winds for a few hours before continuing south later that day. It's worth noting that I'd stayed well offshore up to this point, looking for a boost from the southerly current off Australia's east coast. In reality, it didn't seem to be doing much for us, but it was still disappointing to have to abandon that advantage to head for port.
By around 3am Sunday the outlook changed again, and it now looked like the front was still another 12 or more hours away. The prospect of having to negotiate Port Macquarie's bar, simply to sit out most of the day, now became unattractive. We changed plans again to head for Broughton Island, just off Port Stephens, where I thought we'd be safe.
 |
| Our brief Broughton Island stoppover |
We reached Broughton Island by mid afternoon, returning to what had been the first of Gypsy's anchorages on this cruise way back in May. This time it was planned as a refuge from the coming storm. However as the clock ticked on, and the BoM continued to insist that we should be in the middle of a 30+ knot southerly, actual conditions never deviated from the mild weather evident in these photos. This nevertheless proved to be a welcome break for us all. The chance to relax at anchor for a few hours, to rest, cook and enjoy a nice hot meal after two days continually on the go was great. It was clear that there was no storm coming at us and that the remainder of the trip would be a routine trip down the coast. We emptied the two jerry cans of diesel fuel into the boat's tank, cleaned everything away and set out for the last leg.
The passage from Broughton Island to Pittwater is an unremarkable one. Yachts make that trip every day without much effort. It was therefore a quiet and unassuming way to return home after such an extraordinary odyssey. We cleared Barrenjoey Point at 10.30 am, signing off from Marine Rescue radio for the very last time, and bringing Gypsy Princess into her pen at the RPAYC marina an hour later. 18 November 2019.
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| The last sunrise from amongst so many |
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| Barrenjoey Point - the watchkeeper of Pittwater |
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| The entrance to Pittwater, Home and the end of the cruise |
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| Looking aft as we enter Pittwater - the Barrier Reef is out and to the left |
