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Firefly - Rough passage across the Gulf of Carpentaria



Its Saturday 22nd August and Firefly is sailing across the Arufura sea bound for Darwin. We passed north of Cape Wessel yesterday at midday. In company with Exody, Garlix and Starblazer we left Escape River on Wednesday morning at 0900. This was conveniently timed so that went through the Albany Passage with a north flowing current and rounded Cape York at 1230 at the start of the west flowing current. From there we turned west and had a great sail passed the various islands through the Endeavour Strait. The maximum current flow was about 3 to 4 knots as we sailed passed Possession Island.

Its relatively shallow water in the Strait and towards the end, some 30 miles from Cape York, the water gets gradually shallower to the point were we had about 5 meters under Firefly. It was blowing about 20 knots from behind but at this point the sailing was very comfortable. Ships passing through the Torres Strait use the Prince of Wales passage and it was good to know that we would only encounter yachts or smaller boats, of which we only saw a couple.

About 1900 on Wednesday we had cleared the Endeavour Strait and we had a rapid increase in wind strength and a change of direction of current - so that it was wind over tide. The conditions became really uncomfortable and we had a horrible night. With a few gusts over 40 knots and the wind consistently over 30 knots we bumped and bounced until nearly dawn when it all settled back down. Neither of us managed to sleep when off watch and by the morning we felt really washed out.

However, things have improved sunce then - the sun continues shining in the daytime and we have a new moon keeping us company for the first half of the nights. As we are heading west the moon is lighting our path. The last 2 nights have been fine although we are still finding things much harder on passage with two as opposed to three. After Cape Wessel we lost most of the ocean swell and as we get closer to Darwin the wind is gradually easing. The 'Admiral' (our gennaker) has just come out for the afternoon and we are making between 6 and 8 knots depending on whether we have a stronger patch of wind or are in a lull - it means we have to concentrate on sailing Firefly, something we don't normally do too frequently.

As we round the Coburg Peninsula we need to consider the timing of the tidal streams for the last 100 miles to Darwin. In the Dundas and Clarence Straits the tides run at up to 4 knots and its essential to have them in your favour. At present we have about 140 miles to Cape Don where the tidal stream really starts and we need to be there at either 1800 on Sunday or 0700 on Monday. The latter is currently favorite as it would mean we can pull into a bay and anchor, enabling us to sleep for the night, before a daylight passage the remaining distance to Darwin.

On arrival in Darwin there is a strange procedure performed by their Biosecurity. A diver injects a liquid into the seacocks of yachts that are entering the locked marinas. The marinas in Darwin have a huge tidal range and the liquid gets rid of a problematic mussell that apparently causes the lock gates to fail. Following the application there is a waiting period before yachts can then enter the marina and also can only do so at high water. With the complication of the tidal gates, the Biosecurity issues and finally entering the locked marinas it does feel like its going to be a while until we set foot in Darwin - hopefully it will be on Tuesday.

Paul and Susie
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