Inconceivable

Our next hop up the coast was another mighty day's jump of 68 (or more depending on whether you take the northern route or the slightly longer northern route) nautical miles into another predicted nor'easter. Our destination was Coffs Harbour. North of Port Macquarie there was only one real other possible anchorage at Trial Bay but with a nor'easter there would be no shelter from the wind or the swell.

The Captain's long years of experience with people told him that the crew was becoming slightly agitated at the winds blowing incessantly from the wrong direction but...unfortunately, northwards lay our destiny. Also northwards lay the Specialist Sail Trimmer's wife - waiting for him to stop mucking around on boats and get back to daily duties. Time was a-wasting so the 13th of February started well before sunrise. The Ship's Log records that the diesel on Arjuna turned over at 0544 hours that morning with the river temperature a balmy 24.5 degrees and the Acting First Mate still fast asleep in the bow cabin.

We navigated down the darkened Hastings River hugging the bank where the wise river folk of the day before had indicated: feeling confident with the depths and twists and turns, at one with the ship and the gentle flowing of the river until a salty dog in a commercial fishing boat shouted out to turn on our navigation lights. He didn't actually say turn on the lights. His wording was more cutting and suggestive that the captain of a boat navigating at night with no lights was no captain at all. The Captain hung his head in shame briefly while the crew fumbled in the dark trying to find the nav light switch.

We crossed the Port Macquarie bar at 0610. The Acting First Mate was pulled unceremoniously onto deck and inserted into a life jacket for the crossing.

From Port Macquarie to Trial Bay and then to Coffs Harbour the coast runs in such a way that we anticipated we could actually use the predicted 20 knot northeast wind later in the day by running further out to sea early on and then making a tight reach back in to Coffs Harbour. Saltier dogs than us would suggest that this sort of sailing should have been the order of the day but all this time we were trying to make distance up the coast as fast as possible without overnighting at sea.

Not long out of Port Macquarie, we looked astern and noticed a rare sight - another yacht coming up the coast in our wake. They had their sails up - optimistically we thought given our course and the direction of the wind. After some discussion amongst various higher and lower ranking crew we set our headsail and noted an increase of half a knot in our speed - nothing to be sneezed at when averaged over a long distance - but 45 minutes later it was apparent that the sail was doing nothing in the light and shifting wind and we furled it again and settled back on the engine.

Waiting for some wind

As the morning went on, we angled further out to sea. The yacht behind us appeared to be playing with sail configurations and was trending closer in to the coast. Inexplicably, they were gaining on us. The deep yacht racing instincts of the Rear Admiral and the Specialist Sail Trimmer were beginning to stir. The Captain, confident in the plan for the day, maintained faith that the accursed north east breeze would strengthen as predicted and bear us at a frightening pace into Coffs.

The ballast must have shifted because that wind generator isn't turning

Our eyes were upon the other boat and our sails were up again before lunch - the team tuning and winching to milk the maximum wind pressure and squeeze our boat faster. Around lunch time off Trial Bay the other boat was clearly neck and neck but much closer to the coast. Even worse, the toilet was on the blink. A blinking electric head is something to be treated with respect and...caution.

Dolphins! No wonder there are no fish

All day we had been logging the water temperature using our fancy navigation equipment and from the start of the day in the river the temperature had jumped a full three degrees warmer. If this was Queensland, we would have been looking over our shoulder for approaching cyclones. It dawned on us, using specialist knowledge obtained from watching Finding Nemo, that the Arjuna was ploughing directly into the East Australian Current. To be fair, our charts and research also suggested that the EAC was a potential problem when heading north which was why we had been logging the temperature in the first place. The current starts taking hold a few miles out from the coast - although the distance and speed varies. Our water speed was around three or more knots faster than our speed over ground - meaning the current was probably pushing back against us at around three knots. Undoubtedly, the other yacht was sitting out of the current while we languished at sea.

The restless sea. With no wind

The crew was distraught - the Captain still harbouring a hope that the nor'easter would actually blow in hard as predicted but as the afternoon wore on we watched the other boat stream up the coast and our sails slunk back and forward with nought to fill them. A black day indeed. We watched the other yacht round the rocks at Coffs Harbour well in front and the Captain hung his head knowing that we had gambled all and lost.

We motored into Coffs Harbour, passing the Cliffs of Insanity with no issues other than a disgruntled race team. Coffs Harbour is another artificial harbour with plenty of protection at the entrance. The inner harbour is protected by a second seawall and was eerily still when we pulled in. This was the first marina berth we used were wind was absolutely not an issue. We simply threw mooring ropes out in all directions like the arms of a juggling octopus and pulled to a stop. The Rear Admiral may have fallen off and some strong words spoken - but still - a calm marina.

Looking nervously toward the Cliffs of Insanity

At the marina, we eyed off the vessel that had outgunned us on the way up and discovered it had been sitting near us at Port Macquarie the night before. "Migaloo" bobbed in the marina in all its Ben Lexcen designed magnificence. A conversation with the owners revealed that they had spent the day trying to work out what we were doing - trying various sail combinations with no luck.

At Coffs Harbour, despite it being close to 2000 hours - dinner time in the old scale - we put in a call to a local marine mechanic who promptly turned up to cast an eye over our long suffering Yanmar diesel engine. There definitely appeared to be a problem with shipping some oil with our oil levels way down on the night before. He indicated that he would be back in the morning with some spares and some oil - which basically put paid to our plans to be away the next day. We settled in to the Coffs Harbour drizzle.

The next morning our friendly mechanic returned with oil, replacement oil filters and a new alternator belt. The source of the oil leak - a badly seated oil filter - was addressed and the oil changed. Apparently, the cost of oil in Coffs Harbour is half that compared to Port Macquarie. As the mechanic left, we collared a random marine electrician on the marina who quickly traced the intermittent head operation to a corroded pin behind our instrument panel and asked nothing more for his troubles than the contents of the Captain's wallet. The Captain, being a father of three and owner of a yacht rarely keeps more than cash register receipts and five cent coins in his wallet so this worked out well.

The Coffs Harbour marina harbour remained absolutely still all day. Despite claims from the staff at the marina office that they often had breaking waves come over the seawall and land in the harbour the water was completely flat. In fact, not long after breakfast, the Captain looked out at the clean still waters and observed some rubbish very slowly floating by. It was someone's discarded black thong. The lack of respect shown by some to the environment and the sea is just mind boggling. The thong slowly moved past the boats as the tide dropped.

Many sea curses were issued when the Captain discovered that only one of his thongs was sitting on the boat when he went to wander up to the marina office. But later that day, the thong was discovered - floating gently back to where it came from: completely undisturbed in its travels other than by the gentle movement of the tide.

The Rear Admiral used his initiative by getting a lift with the mechanic to the tackle shop and stocked up on heavier wire traces for our fishing exploits. The Specialist Sail Trimmer wandered through the Coffs Harbour jetty area. The Acting First Mate did his school lessons. The Captain stocked up stainless steel screws at the chandlery. Such was our romantic Valentine's Day in Coffs Harbour.

A rainy day at school