Crossing the Tasman Sea Feb 2015

Well here we are in Sydney after our shake-down trip across the Tasman Sea. Yes, I realise we were bound for northern NSW but we had to make a few changes! After waiting more than a week in Nelson for a weather window the westerly gales finally died down and on 10 February we set off!  

The wind in the southern part of Tasman Bay were fickle as usual but once we got north of Separation Point a steady 15-20 kt easterly set in and we had a fantastic sail for the first couple of days. Our comfort improved as the SE swell gradually diminished and we were making more than 120NM each day. We settled into the rhythm of passage making. We don’t do shifts during the day but night shifts are Suzy 8-10pm, Neil 10pm-2am, Suzy 2-6am and Neil 6-8am. It seems to work for us.  

Neil trying to fix the lift pump on the engine

With sailing the only thing certain is change . . . if it’s good it will get worse and if it’s bad it will get better! On day 3 the wind dropped so we turned the engine on and motored for most of the day. We had a bit of trouble getting the engine started and put it down to the battery being a bit low. Not a problem as running the engine recharges the batteries. Just after the 2am shift change on day 4 the engine stopped working. I’m not superstitious but it just happened to be Friday 13th February! Neil worked on it for twelve hours flat and could not get it started again. It seems that the high pressure fuel pump had broken and we cannot repair that on board. 

Set up for passage making with sea berths

Although we were still closer to NZ the winds were more favourable to continue on to Australia. All we needed were sails and wind! Well we had sails but not much wind for the next couple of days and without the engine we couldn’t motor to find any. Generating power was probably our major concern as we needed it for running our navigation system and lights as well as for refrigeration. We have solar panels and a wind generator but without wind they did not contribute much.

Retying the sheet to the headsail

For the next four days we ghosted along at 2-3 kt hand-steering to conserve power as the autopilot chews through the amps. Helming, especially at such low speeds, requires a lot of concentration and as we were running with the wind we had to be very careful to prevent gybes. It was quite exhausting, particularly the 4hr night shift. The one saving grace was a small generator that we bought in Indonesia. We ran it for a couple of hours a day to top up the batteries but we only had one jerry can of petrol on board so we had to limit our power consumption to the absolute minimum.

One laptop for navigation, one for sailmail and weather info

On day 8 things changed again, this time from bad to better! The wind picked up to a gusty 20-25 kt from the east/NE and held up for most of the rest of the crossing. The wind gen and generator together were able to sustain our power usage including the autopilot – luxury!  We were still running with the wind and the easterly swell of 3-4m made the boat roll quite violently. It was relentless, everything was moving and if you didn’t hang on you got thrown around. With each roll the contents of every cupboard were sliding to a fro in unison, with a loud crash at the end of each swing. It was very difficult to sleep but at least we were eating up the miles towards Coffs Harbour!

Approaching Sydney Heads

By day 11 we were about 100NM from Coffs Harbour! Less than a day to go! Unfortunately tropical cyclone Marcia had developed in the Coral Sea and was moving southwards along the Queensland coast. The weather faxes indicated that it had diminished to a severe Low but was still moving down towards northern NSW and to Coffs Harbour. There was no way we could enter the harbour without an engine in such harsh weather conditions. We had to change course and head to Sydney.

Assistance from Sydney Marine Rescue

We had a great sail down the coast and on Sunday 22 February we finally arrived in Sydney Harbour. The wind died in the early morning so we were assisted by the Sydney Marine Rescue who towed us into our berth at the CYC in Rushcutters Bay. Distant Drummer is moored up alongside the $$$ Sydney Hobart racing yachts but, after such an eventful trip, we feel we’ve earned our spot!

The high pressure fuel pump is now off being fixed and we’re enjoying a little rest and relaxation. The pump should be re-installed by the weekend so we’ll be watching the weather and making a new plan.

Suzy and Neil