Coastal Cruising on a Magnum – Rosslyn Bay to Airlie Beach - Sep, Oct ‘09
As our Magnum surfed at great speed toward the rock wall only 50 metres away, the thought crossed my mind that this could end in tears … and splintered fiberglass. It would not be a good way to start our 250 nautical mile cruise up the coast of North Queensland.
There are many inland waterways, lakes and rivers that we can cruise on our Magnums. It is, after all, a trailable yacht so it would be a shame to stick to one cruising ground when the whole point of this class is the ease of access to many remote and beautiful areas. Yes, there are some disadvantages: the long distance tow can be daunting (fix that trailer first); and the unknowns of sailing in a new area can also be a bit worrying (what is the ramp like?). With good preparation and a sense of adventure, a trip to a new cruising ground almost always turns out to be much easier than you may have initially thought.
Coastal cruising, however, is something that we usually associate with keel boats and often consider to be off limits for trailable yachts. In lots of areas this is definitely the case but there are many fantastic parts of the Australian coastline that are just waiting to be explored safely on a well planned Magnum cruise. In September and October last year (2009) we sailed (or motored) well over 400 nautical miles on our cruise from Rosslyn Bay to Airlie Beach. It was an excellent trip in every way and we highly recommend this stretch of coastline.
For each of the last three years our planned Whitsundays trip had been postponed for various family reasons so 2009 had to be the year … or else! After careful study of weather bureau information such as wind roses [1] and historical data [2] as well as cruising guides [3], September and October were chosen as the best months to go. The South East Trades would be weakening by then and Northerlies should not be too much of a problem. Rather than just launch at the Whitsundays we decided to sail the last 250 miles, with Rosslyn Bay as our starting point. I had made contact with Ray Arthur (Excalibur) who lives not far out of Rockhampton and who had not only given us heaps of good advice about the area but had also offered to join us on a cruise of Keppel Bay.
The 2000 km tow spread over 4 days was relatively easy but it was great to finally get to Rockhampton. After a quiet night at the Capricorn Palms caravan park 2km south of Rosslyn Bay, we launched the boat at the Marina (excellent ramp with pontoon), bought supplies at the big Yeppoon shopping centre and then headed out to a BBQ at Ray’s place. He and his friends had printed out very useful weather forecasts, tides and maps. Real country hospitality … including a night in their guest house and the care of our trailer while we were away!
After a day to set the boat up for our 3 week cruise we left the Marina along with Ray and his friend John on Excalibur and Shayne Harth on Moonshine for an excellent 32 mile, SE sail to Yellow Patch on the north east cape of Curtis Island [see maps below]. The entrance to this stunning inlet was not well defined so it was great to follow Shayne over the (relatively calm) bar and through the winding channel to the anchorage that is at the base of a huge orange sand dune … it should really be called ‘Orange Patch’. Evening drinks on Ray’s boat (Bundy Gold rum is the go) meant that we slept very soundly that night. The next day we motored in our dinghies to the entrance of the inlet and then walked across the peninsular to the eastern, ocean beach where Ray demonstrated the art of catching 1 metre long sand worms with his fingers. Unfortunately the sand worms were wasted on my pathetic attempts at fishing when we got back to the yachts. We gave up and dinghied over to explore the 100 metre high sand dune before heading over to Shayne’s boat for happy hour.
We left the inlet on an early high tide for 25 nm the sail NE to Great Keppel Island and the beautiful Monkey Beach where we snorkeling in very clear water. With the wind increasing from the north, we moved around the corner to Long Beach for the night. The next day we had a hard beat into the northerly to reach North Keppel Island and its outlier, Pumpkin Island, for lunch. Shayne headed back to Rosslyn Bay and Ray had gone further north west to Corio Bay on the mainland for the night. With the northerly once again rising we decided to make the run back to the marina. The Magnum didn’t really like the following short seas and north facing marina entrance gave us the only real fright of the whole trip. It was of course low tide so the waves stood up and surfed us toward the rock sea-wall. This is when the vision of a splintered Magnum came to my mind. Luckily the Magnum responded well to the rudder, allowing us to make the hard turn to port to slip through the gap into the calm marina.
The four days on Keppel Bay with Excalibur and Moonshine had been a good shakedown cruise before our big voyage north to Mackay. We put 70 litres of fuel on board for the 250 mile trip and also replaced our faulty handheld VHF with a new Icom M35. A new antenna was purchased for our main VHF unit. We were going to be a long way from Coastguard stations so we wanted our communications setup to be perfect: two VHF sets, two 27Mhz sets and a high gain antenna for our NextG broadband modem … plus 3 mobile phones! Oh, and two laptop computers, one handheld computer, three GPS units, two 406 EPIRBS and an HF radio receiver. A bit of overkill - we could have circumnavigated the world (or gone to the moon) with that gear! The two 40 Watt solar panels mounted on the bimini kept the whole thing buzzing and the beer cold in our fridge.
Leaving Rosslyn Bay at 6am on the 25th of September we did a couple of circles to calibrate the ST1000 autohelm (the best bit of technology on the boat) that I had finally wired up the day before. With hardly any wind we motored for the first half of the 46nm passage northward. A pair of very large whales put on a show for us as we headed in to Delcomyn Bay for a late lunch and a swim in the clear water. This would have been a great place to stay except that it was a bit exposed to the SE, so we rounded the headland and traveled another mile north to Pearl Bay, an extremely beautiful and very safe place to overnight. The 100 mile stretch of coast that we had entered was virtually uninhabited. Pristine beaches, rocky headlands and densely forested hills dominated the area.
The Coastguard coverage and service in Nth Qld is excellent and we would log-in and log-off at the start and end of each day’s voyage. We could still reach Rosslyn Bay CG and Keppel Sands CG (these two provide the service on alternate days), even with my new handheld VHF, on channel 16 over a distance of about 45 miles. The weather forecasts were excellent and gave us great peace of mind. Another great reason to cruise this fantastic region!
On the 26th, with the arrival of a front predicted for the next day, we left Pearl Bay for Island Head Creek, about 10nm further north and saw more whales along the way. This inlet is about half the size of Sydney Harbor, with many protected anchorages which we shared with a few other boats. We could just pick up the Grand Final coverage on ABC radio and had a few beers while listening to Geelong get the better of St. Kilda at the very end. The following day we woke to the smell of smoke and soon saw bushfires on the horizon. The smoke thickened and laid down a brown coating on our boat. We set off to explore the inlet and to search for internet reception that seemed to be indicated on a Telstra NextG coverage map [4] of the area. Sure enough, as Lyn steered the boat toward the spot, I was down below watching the little green reception bars appear on the laptop screen. It was good to check our email and the BoM website.
Island Head Creek was our last mainland anchorage until we reached Mackay, 110 miles to the north west so at 9am on the 28th we set off from the coast toward Hexham Island which was, at 27nm away, below the horizon. It was interesting to head offshore in our Magnum toward a destination that we couldn’t see. Once again we saw a huge whale which kept leaping out of the water, creating walls of spray. Hexham is a small island with a north facing bay. We had the whole island to ourselves and went ashore in the dinghy to explore. The dinghy was always stowed inflated on the cabin top during passages so that we didn’t lose speed towing it. The main halyard was used to winch it on and off the boat.
After a rolly night at Hexham we headed off for the 23nm trip to the Percy Islands. This time a whale almost came aboard! Mum and Dad whale couldn’t control their baby and the little fella (twice the weight of our boat) decided to show off by leaping out of the water about 10m behind us. If you look at our track (Google Earth file is on the Magnum website, also a video of the whales) you can see the detour that we made while watching these whales. We anchored with a few other cruising boats in West Bay, Middle Percy Island and met up with their crews for an evening drink in the famous A-frame hut which is crammed full of items from boats that have visited in the past. The small inlet that opens across the beach could be entered by a Magnum with everything up but we just had a look around in our dinghy.
The weather had been excellent since we had arrived in Queensland and the next day was no exception … warm with a light breeze. So we motor-sailed the 25nm westward to Curlew Island. We could now just see the mainland some 20 miles away to the west. Curlew has a wide, north facing bay that is protected by an offshore sandbar (except at high tide). Anchored in the channel between the sandbar and the beach, we decided not to go for a swim because of the swift current. The shark that came to check out the rudder might have influenced this decision too. A couple of Bavarias arrived to spend the night … which became a little bit rolly at high tide. The next day, the 1st of October, we had a good sail to the Digby group, just 10nm to the NE. This was a very pretty anchorage between three islands and we had it to ourselves. After sampling the delicious oysters on the rocks, we went snorkeling and saw some good patches of coral with some interesting fish and a large turtle. As always, we watched the sun go down, helped along by a couple of gin and tonics.
With fuel and water starting to get a bit low, the huge Mackay marina was our next destination, 45nm to the north west. For the last few miles we had to wind our way through the lines of at least 50 coal ships at anchor, waiting for cargo. We called the marina for our berth number but by the time we found it (we were told the yellow row rather than the orange row), tied up and walked to the shore gate, we were locked in! And the marina office had just closed at 4:30. Not happy! Luckily we met up with a cruising couple who let us out so we could shower, and who later joined us for dinner at the yacht club. I had a Greyhound bus to catch at 1:00am to get back to Rockhampton so at midnight I left Lyn with the boat and climbed onto the roof of the gangway to get out of the marina (no key!). A $10 taxi into Mackay, a $25 bus ride to Rocky and then a local bus to Rosslyn Bay to get the car. I was at Ray’s place at 9:00am to pick up the trailer. Ray helped me convert a leaking oil-filled trailer hub to a greased setup … just for piece of mind. A 4 hour drive got me back at the Mackay marina by mid afternoon and made me realize that we had covered quite a distance by sea in the Magnum. Meanwhile Lyn had found a caravan park to store the car and trailer ($30 per week) and had gone into Mackay on the marina shuttle bus to stock up on supplies. The next day we pulled the boat out of the water for half an hour so I could change the gearbox oil (it was leaking) and after putting it back in we re-fuelled and headed off toward Scawfell Island 26nm to the north east. An hour out the motor started playing up and with wind against tide, we decided to go back to the marina for the night.
The following day, the 5th of October, we successfully reached Scawfell Island, with some excitement along the way when we crossed a tidal overfall just off St Bees Island. Scafwell was one of the most beautiful anchorages of the whole trip with fantastic beaches and good snorkeling. Just before we poured our g&t’s, a Marine Parks boat came over and thoroughly checked all our safety gear. They were happy with our preparation but pointed out that our inflatable PFD’s had not been serviced within the last year! I suppose they had to find something but they were very nice about it. Unfortunately in the morning we had to leave this great spot to get back to Mackay so we could pick up our friend Sue from the Mackay airport the following day.
With Sue aboard we headed 27nm north to Goldsmith Island, yet another beautiful paradise which we explored with the dinghy and snorkeling gear. The next day we sailed 10nm north to Thomas Island but the VHF weather forecast had warned of 20kt easterlies so we couldn’t stay at this anchorage. An 8nm boisterous sail got us into the lee of Shaw island although we were still being hit by 30kt bullets coming over the island. There were many other boats also sheltering there and we could see the lights of Lindeman just to the north. Our times of near deserted anchorages had sadly come to an end as we neared the Whitsundays. Everything also became so much closer, with a sail of only 13nm north to the spectacular Whitehaven beach the next day. We didn’t go into Hill Inlet due to low tide but we picked up a mooring (this was a new experience after anchoring everywhere else) in the very next bay and walked over the headland to the viewing platform overlooking the Inlet. Spectacular!
We woke on the 12th to the sound of the anchor chains of a couple of 3 masted cruise boats bringing lots of tourists to view Hill Inlet. This was our last full day in the islands so we headed north to Border Island and snorkeled in the best coral so far at Mantaray Bay. Then around to Butterfly Bay for lunch and on to Stonehaven for our last night. The next morning we sailed across to Airlie beach and got a 4 hour berth in the marina so I could jump on a bus to Mackay and bring the car and trailer back. The ramp at Airlie does not have a pontoon so retrieving the boat was tricky. Lots of ropes and lots of time.
Of the 3 week voyage from Rosslyn Bay to Airlie Beach we only spent 3 days in the Whitsundays proper. Another couple of weeks would have been better. Next time.
John and Lyn
Breakaway
