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Exody - Days 221-225: Over the Top



.......of Australia that is, having now passed the northern Queensland tip of Cape York with a fair tide and a fair wind lunchtime Wednesday 19th - great scenery through the Albany channel - golden beaches, wooded islands and hills - a 4WD wild camper's dream! We rode the tide for hours reaching over nine knots through the Endeavour Strait, past Prince of Wales Island, clearing Peebles shoals and Rothesay Banks en route for the Gulf of Carpentaria. The familiar Scottish names a powerful reminder both of home and the history of this country. Exody, Firefly, Starblazer and Garlix had left the calm brown waters of 'pearl farm' estuary Escape River first thing that morning, Exody leading the small World ARC convoy, by dint of an earlier start - fully allowable during 'free cruising'! Only Luna Quest and Allegro are ahead of our group, the rest of the fleet following us now, all somewhere along the 1200 mile haul from Cairns.

With the wind almost directly astern, we were soon poled out wing on wing- the sailing conditions were great - smooth seas, good winds of 15-20 knots, though the spells of over 30 during the first night gave some discomfort and rolling. And of course the sun - the Queensland numberplate moniker of 'sunshine state' is perfectly correct. We have not seen rain in a month.

First landfall for this non stop 750 mile leg was Cape Wessel, 300 miles across the Gulf of Carpentaria - low and featureless but it's richly coloured waters, adverse tides and lumpy seas made a memorable waypoint into the Arafura Sea, bounded just a few hundred miles to the north by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The mainland soon fell away as we laid our course for New Year's Island avoiding Hogmanay reef, outliers to the Cobourg Peninsula a further 200 miles on.

Appropriately for a Friday aternoon and with the last of the Cairns fresh meat consumed, we landed a nice 5 kg tuna, Marian now having perfected her fisherman's knots and lure selection and my having deployed the gaff for the first time. This to avoid yet another last minute disappointment - we have lost more than one within two metres of the boat!. Plenty for the two of us- now thrice eaten: pan fried, baked and curried.

The mainland topography of Arnhem Land and the Cobourg peninsula is virtually non-existent, and such a contrast to the interest of the Queensland coast. Today the wind has dropped and we have been motoring across a flat sea - maintaining progress for our 19.00 appointment with the tide into the Van Diemen Gulf through Dundas Strait.

It's been flat enough to tackle some serious 'tools out' jobs on board - even the smallest task seems to mean everything out in both cabin and cockpit! Whilst in the midst of fitting two new electrical switches, we were very closely overflown by Australian Customs surveillance aircraft 'Border 66'. They politely checked out our credentials by radio and disappeared.

For four nights we have literally been sailing into the sunset directly westbound, followed by the glorious light of the waxing moon, now glimpsed as a half moon from the chart table through the open forehatch. This evening as we altered course southwest past Melville Island, we had the setting sun abeam over a cloudless sky and I saw my first green flash- always cynical about this phenomenon, I am now a believer!

We motor on through Sunday night now to make our next tidal 'gate' at 4 am for the Clarence Strait, Firefly still ahead, Starblazer now abeam - just 50 miles to Darwin.


Peter (Skipper)


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