Delivering Vámonos from Sydney to Melbourne - 35° 04' 27" S 150° 52' 02" E
Ross, a childhood friend of Kate's, bought a new yacht in Pittwater (just north of Sydney) and wanted to bring her back to Melbourne. Due to the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, it seemed all the professional skippers in the country were committed to racing or delivering Hobart yachts.
So, who do you think he called?
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| The good ship Vámonos |
After a couple of conversations with Ross discussing logistics and the like, we found ourselves winging our way to Sydney. We met him and Vámonos at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club so we were able to say a g'day to Popeye!
Vámonos is a 2004 Sayer 44, an Australian-built, aluminium, lifting-keel, blue water cruiser-racer - with a tiller! We had a great deal of fun crawling around, opening lockers and generally poking about. She was extremely clean and tidy, well maintained by her fastidious previous owner. As Ross had only spent a couple of days aboard, we checked all the safety gear, radios, bilge pumps and engine were in good working order.
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| With her lifting keel, Vámonos has an interesting layout, but it works! The galley is fabulous to cook in underway. (Oh, and the green - yep, that will eventually go!!) |
For those of you who follow the Sydney to Hobart, you will know there was a strong southerly blowing and the fleet had to bash their way down the coast. The joys of cruising meant we could wait until the worst of the system had blown through. After provisioning and buying a few essentials such as addition jerry cans for diesel, we left the marina and anchored in a protected cove to wait out the southerly.
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| Having a tiller makes the cockpit huge! A perfect place for sundowners. |
One of the challenges of our passage was the weather. We needed a northerly to get down to Gabo Island and an easterly to get us across Bass Strait. Another challenge is The Rip tidal gate at the Port Phillip Heads. This must be carefully timed to slack water to ensure a safe transit.
And a fun fact: Wilsons Promotory is the southernmost point of the Australian mainland, and we needed to 'round that too!
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| Our route - approximately 580 nautical miles (nm) |
The forecast was for southerly, a lull then another strong southerly. Blah! We decided we could make Bermagui and tuck in before the next strong southerly. So, at first light, we upped anchor and headed out into the South Pacific for our run down the coast.
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| Sean enjoying the novelty of a tiller |
We had a great run down. The boat performed magnificently. We motored, we sailed, we reefed, we reefed again, we shook out the reefs, we motored some more and arrived into Bermagui well in front of the southerly. And in daylight which is always a bonus.
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| Celebratory drinks in Bermagui |
We had a fabulous stop in Bermagui. We had been there aboard Keshi back in 2021 and it was fun to revisit. We cooked steaks on the free BBQ at the park, topped up our snack locker and refuelled. New Year's Eve was spent at the Bermi Pub enjoying chicken parmas washed down with a beer. How Australian is that?
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| BBQ steak at the park |
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| The Bermagui Blue Pool. A common sight around the Aussie coastline is a swimming pool carved into the rocks, flushed and cleaned by the tide. |
Watching the weather, we decided our next leg would take us 340nm to Flinders. We anticipated this would take about 48 hours. We had a few reasons for stopping in Flinders. There are limited anchorages along the route and our preferred one, Refuge Cove on Wilsons Prom, is exposed to the east. Flinders is Ross and Kate's hometown where they grew up sailing at the Flinders Yacht Club and Ross could show off his new boat to his Dad. But most importantly, a stop in Flinders made it easier for us to time the tidal gate at The Heads.
The forecast was for a weak southerly to Gabo Island then a building east-south-easterly to push us through Bass Strait. At first light, we left the marina and continued south.
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| Leaving Bermagui - sunrise over Dickinson Point |
We motored much of the way down to Gabo Island. The wind was on the nose but the seas were relatively calm. With an almost full moon, the night was bright, the Milky Way twinkled and the water filled with phosphorescence.
Another fun fact: when you pump the heads without the light on, the loo sparkles with the phosphorescent critters in the sea water, too!
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| Hand steering using a tiller is such a novelty. But yes, the auto-helm was put to very good use! |
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| Not having brought sailing gear to Australia, Kate borrowed her Mum's old Japara, circa 1985. It worked a treat! |
Rounding Gabo, we were now running with the wind. We poled out the headsail and ran wing-on-wing across Bass Strait. As the wind started to build, we pulled in one reef, and then two. By the time we reached Wilsons Prom, we were seeing 42kn gusts!
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| Sailing wing-on-wing |
We had The Prom in sight. We needed to gybe once we rounded to set a course for Flinders. The wind was strong and the seas quite steep. It was then Ross realised he had not downloaded the navionics charts for this section of the coast onto the chart plotter. Whoops! Back to basics - paper and our eyes.
Fortunately for us, it was a beautiful night, bright with an almost full moon, the land was easily made out - as was the crashing surf on the rocks! The Prom is very well lit with lots of light houses. We just had to stay clear of the Forty Foot Rocks and when the Citadel light popped out to the port of Cleft Island, we could safely gybe and head to Flinders.
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| Safely docked at the Flinders Pier |
As we sailed between Seal Rocks and The Knobbies (about 4nm off Flinders), we had a few friends call to say they were watching us come in. We pulled up at the pier and had a few celebratory drinks before moving out onto anchor. The tidal range at Flinders is over 2m and, without a floating pontoon, it is easier to be on anchor than manage the dock lines at the pier.
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| An artsy view of the pier. There is a restoration project underway ... thus the lack of planking. |
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| Ross in the dinghy at low tide |
After a few days in Flinders, we headed off again bound for Melbourne. This time, we had an additional crew member. Ross' 91y-o dad, Doug, decided to break out of his nursing home and join the shenanigans on the 60nm trip.
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| Are you enjoying yourself Doug? |
We had planned the trip for a day when the weather was lovely but we did not anticipate just how perfect conditions would be. Bass Strait, which can be notoriously rough, was calm and blue. We were a bit early to The Heads, about an hour before slack water. The Rip was on its best behaviour and we were able to safely transit through before slack tide and thus avoided meeting ships in the narrow channel!
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| We do have to share the channel with shipping as we come through The Heads. |
The run up The Bay was fast and we arrived at Vámonos' new berth at The Royal Melbourne Yacht Club in St Kilda several hours ahead of schedule. Doug has quite the story to share back at the nursing home. We suspect 'Doug's Big Day Out' may be the story of the year!
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| Happy skipper and crew of the good ship Vámonos! |
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| The end of a great day... |
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