Crossing the Bar

The crossing of the infamous Wide Bay Bar at the southern end of Fraser Island is the stuff of many a hairy tale amongst salty dogs in marinas along the east coast. The Bar is crossed via a zigzag series of 3 navigational waypoints and has a section known as the "Mad Mile" (between waypoints 2 and 3) due to a narrow passage with breaking surf on both sides.

Sailing lore suggests that it is bad luck to embark on a voyage on Friday  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailors'_superstitions.

Bimini by Murray, bunting by Sophie.

However set sail on Friday the 11th April we did, leaving the friendly shores of Mooloolaba, where we had enjoyed many a fine meal with friends [Captain's aside: The First Mate neglects to mention that we had 23 people through the vessel on one day at Mooloolaba], and where the lovely Murray from Trimworx at Mooloolaba Marina had done a wonderful job of replacing our bimini covers and making a more weatherproof enclosure for the cockpit. Such a wonderful job in fact that he was up at the crack of dawn still placing eyelets and cords at 6:30am on our day of departure as we fired up the engine and cast off the mooring lines.


[Captain's side note: The fine staff at Trimworx (Murray) had no problem ordering the bits  needed to complete our canopy within half an hour of meeting him. This was in contrast to attempting to get a marine trimmer to look at the job in Manly. In Manly, we tried at least seven trimmers - all were busy weaving flax into gold and completing commissions for leading European royalty]

The crack of dawn at Mooloolaba Marina

The crew were very excited to discover that Mooloolaba was Jessica Watson's home marina and that Murray had done marine trimming on Ella's Pink Lady. Murray lent them his autographed Jessica Watson video to watch.


[Captain's aside: Special thanks also to "Uncle" Pete Allan - visiting indie / roots singer/songwriter extraordinaire - who visited Arjuna and left us a copy of his album. Don't wait - go out buy it now.]



[Captain's special note to "Uncle" Pete Allan: Sorry we seem to have jammed the album in the boat's CD player] 

The crew enjoy shore time in Mooloolaba

While Cyclone Ita threatened the coast 2500km north of us, the unflappable Carmel at Coast Guard Tin Can Bay informed us that conditions at the Wide Bay Bar were favourable for a crossing.

We motored into 10-15 knot northerly winds from Mooloolaba for 8 hours, past the spectacular Cooloola coast and Teewah coloured sands at Rainbow Beach. We had received the current waypoints from CG Tin Can Bay, which was fortunate, as the sectored beacon for waypoints 1-2, and leads for waypoints 2-3 were not visible at all. Lights that we could see on the beach turned out to be the sun reflecting off long queues of 4WDs at Inskip Point for the school holidays, and not the hoped for beacons.

Where are the beacons?



We anchored at Pelican Bay behind Inskip Point for the night. The army had kindly organised a training exercise in the Wide Bay military area for the night and let off an impromptu fireworks display with flares in the western sky, much to the delight of the crew.

From here on we will be sheltered [Captain's note to First Mate: should this be in inverted commas? There is an active cyclone heading down the coast] behind Fraser Island in the Sandy Straits and after that the Great Barrier Reef.

Sunset over Wide Bay

This being the final Bar crossing on the northward journey, I will leave you with Tennyson's description as it is far less prosaic than ours.

Crossing the Bar

Sunset and evening star,

      And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

      When I put out to sea,

   But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

      Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

      Turns again home.

   Twilight and evening bell,

      And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

      When I embark;

   For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

      The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

      When I have crost the bar.

1889

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)