Well, we were all waiting waiting waiting - we needed a three day weather window to cross the gulf. Some yachts were going to Gove and some were going to the top of the Wessell Islands, we decided to go to the top of the Wessells and could always change course if we needed to. Suddenly there was a good window of nearly four days..time to leave! Yehaa, we are off on the last real leg to Darwin...how exciting! About ten boats left that Sunday morning all making up our own minds individually that it was a good time to go...how wrong can ten individual boats be????? hmmmm...we were about to find out!
That Sunday was magic, had a lovely breeze and Sunburn was sailing along beautifully. I made the fatal error of commenting I would be very happy if the Gulf stayed this way for our entire crossing..never ever make such a challenge to Mother Nature..ever! We tuned into the weather forecast at 7pm that night, our 3 day weather window had been reduced to less than 12 hours, and there was no way we could cross the gulf in 12 hours unless we were in a plane, so we were going to get hammered!! But the forecast was for 30knt winds and 3 metre seas, well - they precede these forecasts with a warning that both the winds and seas can be 40% plus or minus.
So, we reduced sail area and put a reef in the main and made sure everything was very securely stowed (it was already but you always double check) and then took our 3 hour watches. Morning dawned to very ugly seas, the gulf is very shallow which when windy causes a very ugly choppy swell. We had waves coming from our Port (left) side but from all directions on our port side and it was like riding on top of a roller coaster. We listened to the weather again and decided we really needed to drop our main and just have the mizzen and genoa out, as Sunburn sails very well in grotty seas with that combination. So, we turned into the wind whilst brendan made sure he was harnessed on securely to the boat with two tethers and proceeded to drop the main...ugh...it was a nightmare, the waves were coming from all directions and we must have looked like a bucking bronco, brendan was holding on for life while trying to drop and then secure the mainsail. Finally all was tied down securely and we turned back on to our course, to watch the wind pick up, pick up and pick up, and the waves get higher and higher and higher. By the time darkness came I was very happy because I couldnt see the waves anymore..little did I know that night worse was to come! Of course it was my watch, by this stage it was so rough that we could only do a one hour watch at a time, we were sitting at the top of the stairs holding on, tied on, watching the radar and all instruments and trying to keep a watch (impossible with basically zero visibility!!) We had been on Autohelm most of the time (barry) and barry had been doing so so well, then suddenly he was all over the place, no matter what I did he just wasnt responding, so I put him on Standby and tried to hand steer, but I had no steerage..needless to say I screamed at Brendan (yet again) - we have no steerage...I am sure he didnt believe me..up he came, and then yes he confirmed it..we had lost our steering! arrgghhh...can this night get any worse? This however is where Sunburn comes into her own, she has done this several times to us...somehow, she manages to "hove to" all by herself (this means she turns into the wind and gives us a very nice comfortable ride while we try and solve the problem). After trying to find the problem (hydraulic fluid leak) and trying to remedy the problem (bleed, bleed, bleed, bleed) Brendan finally advises me he thinks we are stuffed! Hmm..no land for a couple of days, in the middle of a major low, children on board, no steering hmmm. So we talked about it and just decided to keep bleeding the steering and see what happens, after a couple of hours nothing, so brendan decided to go and catch some sleep and I would stay on watch, he had just got to bed when I noticed we were moving at 4knts and I had steerage..yehaa..we were off again..yehaa - it just took a while (3hours) to get the fluid where it needed to go! Thank god for that was all I could think! Finally the grey dawn arrived and the sight it brought with it was unbelievable, a malestrom of ocean going in every direction it possibly could, at one stage it was like being on the ridge of a 45deg roof on a 2 story house..the waves were that big! When we finally made it to the Wessells (very early on day 4) the concurrence with the other yachts was on average the waves were 6-8 metres with a few 10metre ones rolling through for good measure, and the wind..well up to 52knts at the height of the low! We and one other boat slowed down, we because Sophie was so so seasick we needed to make it as comfortable as possible for her and also this reduces the wear and tear on the boat, most other boats speeded up to get out of this weather and a large number of them incurred a lot of damage..thousands of dollars worth. When we finally arrived at the Wessells, boats that had spent the last 8 years sailing around the world had never ever encountered weather and sea's like that, so we all have to go through it and as far as I am concerned we have now done it and never want to do it again! We dropped anchor in the Wessells and Finn came out and made the announcement..Mum and Dad, the next time we cross the Gulf of Carpentaria I am going by PLANE! I for one couldnt agree more!!!
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