Mischief - Yet more Mischief : Log 74 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes

Sunday, 18th August 2018 - Passage to Seisha, Cape York

A really comfortable and pleasant night sail last night at 5 knots+ in flat water. Again, the sun rose with no cloud in the sky at all. However, there were a number of big ships about as we had come to the end of the inner passage lanes and had now rejoined the main shipping channel - these ships are doing 18 knots+ in confined quarters so need to be watched carefully.

We sailed passed Weymouth Bay and saw a ketch yacht standing on the beach against some trees miles from anywhere - goodness knows how on earth it got to be there standing upright. The bay from seawards is identical to Weymouth Bay in Dorset, which is probably why it got its name, with the exception being the lack of fish and chip shops and any other sign of civilization for that matter.

We were visited by dolphins, of which we had seen very few and these didn't want to play either. We also saw what looked like the white cliffs of Dover, although these were made of brilliant white silicon sand which is mined hereabouts. The shipping lanes are like a slalom course around the various reefs and islands - makes it very interesting sailing. The thinking was that there are no rocks in the shipping lanes so stick to the edge and we would be fine, which we were.

Late afternoon we had a couple of bites on our fishing lines, one got away but the other we pulled up to the transom and seeing that it was a sizable Barracuda Dave bravely lifted the line with the fish attached with huge teeth bared and snipped the hook off so it could swim away - these things are full of the fish poison through feeding on reef fish so not worth any risk eating it. Predatory fish are rife with it in the Great Barrier Reef, so we understand.

As it was Sunday I made a beef stew with boiled potatoes and peas which went down very well and set us up for what was to become a fairly uncomfortable night as the direction of our course put the wind and waves onto our beam which became very bouncy as the wind had increased as per the forecast. At one point we rolled the genoa away completely and had a reef in the main, but we still were being knocked about by the waves. We were also meeting converging shipping lanes and were impressed with the discipline of the skippers of these big ships when they meet in such situations; whether or not they paid any heed to us at all is a moot point, but we were in the mix somewhere I'm sure! It gets very confusing though at night that's for sure as did the fact that one of the sector lights over the top of Cape York which the chart had as a green/red/white flashing two every 10 seconds was in fact a white light flashing every 2.5 seconds. There was no question we were in the right place, but the lights were wrong which is a real concern - no doubt the chart is wrong or just out of date. The problem is trying to fit the lights you are seeing to the chart which could put you in all sorts of trouble, and in this case, thank God for an electronic chart with GPS!

Monday, 20th August 2018 - Seisia Harbour, North Queensland

We arrived at Seisia harbor at just gone 8 am and just after low water. It seems to be a tiny outpost of a town around the top of the north horn of Australia, Cape York.

A chap named Mark came across for a cup of coffee from his racing catamaran at anchor close by which he had bought up the coast from Hobart where he had bought it and delivering it to Darwin single-handed. The boat was capable of 25 knots + so quite a handful on your own so he was using hardly any sail to keep the speed down and still doing 8 knots. We exchanged details and may well meet him on Darwin for a beer.

We had to re-set the anchor a couple of times as the wind had really picked up off the shore and was now blowing hard so we were pleased to be at anchor rather than still at sea as it was starting to howl in the gusts, enough to straighten out the anchor chain and leave us perilously close to a moored motor yacht that looked one Humphrey Bogart short of the 'Africa Queen'.

Only after sufficient time to make sure the anchor was holding did we venture the short distance ashore in the dinghy armed with shopping trolley and bags for a trip to the supermarket. Once off the beach beside a small container terminal and landing pier we asked a passing young lady if she could direct us to the supermarket and if there was a pub and restaurant nearby. She told us where the shop was but not to expect too much by way of fresh stuff as the 'barge' had not been in for a week. She also confirmed there was no pub and no restaurant other than a coffee shop that didn't do food. In her words, "This is really a sh*t place!" And so far we couldn't disagree with her, everything was covered in red sand and dust. This actually wasn't the main hub of the town which we were told was about 6 km away but there was no bus service, so we contented ourselves with the trip to the shop, where there were the fresh basics thank goodness, then back to the boat. No beer or alcohol of any description was sold anywhere outside the main town.

So, we had a very lazy afternoon with the wind whistling around the rigging. I made some pesto pasta arrabiata for tea with a very nice glass of sauvignon blanc Wendy had bought cheap in Bowen. Thankfully, after about 8 pm the wind dropped completely and I had the best nights' sleep for ages.

Tuesday, 21st August 2018 -Seisia departure and passage to Darwin, 732 nm

I was awoken with some banging, crashing and beeping from ashore and found that the 'barge', a square sided supply vessel had arrived overnight and was unloading containers against the pier with forklift trucks beeping in reverse.

We had a bacon sandwich, picked up and stowed the dinghy then waved cheerio to Mark on the catamaran and headed for the harbor exit bound for Darwin 732 miles, the final leg of our Australia adventure.

Wendy was having a fit though as we motored out - Dave had not closed the fore hatches properly before washing down the foredeck with a couple of buckets of water and it had leaked through onto their bed and soaked it! Poor Dave, when you are in it over your head, the depth is academic!

As soon as we were clear of the little harbor we noticed both Blue Pearl and Christine on the AIS on passage to Darwin too within 5 miles of our position, so we called them up and said hello - these are the first ARC boats we have seen other than Smoke and Roses and briefly, Minto. It was really nice to hear familiar voices.

Dave fitted our one remaining wooden 'cigar' lure to one of the handlines and set it over the stern. These lures have been far and away the most successful since Galapagos as illustrated by the fact that we had over six of them and now only one. An hour later that one had gone with a bang too - disappeared leaving only teeth marks down the trace line!

The wind had returned and was quite breezy by mid-morning but the sun was shining and the wind was from behind, which continued all day and into the evening so we were carrying two reefs in the mainsail going into the dark. The only hazard other than shipping was an isolated danger mark on our course about 60 miles off marking shallows of 14 metres, so the mark itself was the hazard not the shallows for us. At least the light was working.

The boat was rolling about in an increasing sea, so we shall see what tonight brings. We are certainly putting some miles in.