19 August 2010
Jeepers! It is so windy here. It comes in great gusts, "bullets" of wind. One minute it is thirteen knots, the next nearly 30knots. We cannot ever remember being in a place with so much wind, for so long except in Scotland! I lift the anchor to head for the start of leg 13 at twelve o'clock. The wind is blowing so hard the water from the anchor wash pipe showers me with salt water. We cross the start line nine minutes late but it was quite intentional. In this howling gale we do not wish to short tack in the confined waters off Port Kennedy on T. I. Half the genoa is all we need as we all tear down Normanby Sound, a three knot current in our favour. The visibility is as poor as ever today. The islands around Thursday Island are in the centre of the windiest trade wind area in the world and where there is trade wind there is haze. Moisture is gathered in the ocean and carried along to thicken the air. The frequent bushfires cannot help either. There was a huge one during the evening of our first night at anchor on Horn Island. At the time I thought they must have been accidental due to the dry season but i have since read that controlled burning of the bush takes place in order to encourage regrowth, thus attracting animals to the area. Having cleared the western end of Normanby Sound, we are out into the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is almost like being back upon the ocean once more for we leave behind all the reefs and islets which are such a feature of the inside passage of the Great Barrier Reef, but at its deepest it is never more than 50 metres. Consequently it makes for short choppy seas. We bounce along under mizzen and reefed genoa. There is no doubt about it, we will need our lee boards in tonight.....
Susan Mackay