21 August 2010
The wind has stayed with all day and dropped a notch down to a more leisurely pace, that of a stroll in the park rather than a jog. Voyageur had two close encounters of the "yachtie" kind overnight. Now we just take in our sails and allow the other boat to pull ahead. It is a waste of time calling them up. More often than not you won't get a response. We are now halfway across the Gulf of Carpentaria. It forms the south and eastern boundary of the Arafura Sea. The name Arafura is derived from the word "alfours" meaning 'free men'. The coastline of the gulf is shared between Queensland on to the east and the Northern Territories to the west. Broadly speaking the Northern Territory land is Aboriginal land and thus can only be visited with a permit. The rest is given over to National parklands. Looking at the chart large areas around the gulf are unsurveyed, making it a "no go "area for yachtsmen. The whole day we have neither sail nor ship. Murphy's law. Last night we had a least a half dozen ships. Without fail when David and I enter a harbour or into a narrow channel we will either come head on with such a leviathan or it will be steaming up from astern. I have no doubt that the pilot on the bridge will be muttering the same sentiments as ourselves, ...... yachties! By mid morning of our third day at sea we draw level with Cape Wessel. There are a couple of lovely anchorages in the Wessel Islands just around the corner from the cape where we anchored last time. It is a shame that we cannot do that this time but this leg does not allow for stops. We are supposed to be racing after all.......
Susan Mackay