First Taste of Tasmania

Our first anchorage in Tassie - Bryan's Corner

Arriving in Sydney on ITIKI was very much a homecoming for us but Tasmania ITIKI’s spiritual home so we always wanted to take her south. After a couple of months in Sydney, catching up with friends, attending the inevitable Drs appointments, and replacing our rigging(!) we could finally head further  “down-under”.

Hopping down the coast

​Our plan was to make a few stops on our way south, watching for a weather window to leave from Eden to Wineglass Bay on Tasmania’s east coast. Our departure from Sydney turned out to be a bit of a strange omen as we got as far as the heads realising our autopilot was not working. As luck would have it we were able to contact our marine electrician who happened to be passing Middle Harbour Yacht Club. He was able to jump on board, reconnect a loose wire and we were quickly under way again – take II! 

Our anchorage at Target Beach

After motoring for a couple of hours the Nor’easter filled in and the parasailor went up. We had a fantastic run down to Jervis Bay, dropping the kite as we passed Point Perpendicular before turning right and tucking up into Target Beach. A couple of days of strong northerlies are forecast so here we stay. No going ashore though as the headland area is used by the defence forces as a practice range!

Black Hawk Down!

On our second night we were buzzed for about 15 mins by a helicopter circling the bay and scanning with a search light – that was a pretty weird experience!

The winds shifted south so we crossed the bay to the beautiful beach anchorage at Vincentia. The weather wasn't great, very overcast but no rain. Had a couple of friends drop by for coffee and lunch and a beer or two and enjoyed a couple more nights here waiting for the southerly to pass.

Beautiful beach at Vincentia

Foggy morning at Bateman's Bay

With a forecast Nor’easter we were ready to head south but unfortunately the breeze never filled in enough to sail so we motored all the way to Bateman’s Bay, dropping anchor in Chain Bay around 6:30pm. With another forecast Southerly in a couple of days we decided to head out early the next morning. We woke surrounded by fog and again motored all the way to Eden, dropping anchor behind the wood chip loading dock at Boyd Bay.

​Its beautifully protected here and being the weekend, all is quiet on the dock. There are quite a few yachts here already, waiting for a window south or north. We spend a couple of days here, dropping over to Eden briefly to provision and refuel before heading south.

Boyd Bay (Eden)

Tackling Bass Strait

Preparing the grab bag

My only sea level crossings of Bass Strait have been in The Spirit of Tasmania and her various predecessors. Otherwise I have preferred the 35,000ft option when turning right out of Sydney. In spite of our 30,000nm in ITIKI I was feeling a tad apprehensive about this stretch of water with its awesome reputation.  Nevertheless we prepared as we would for any other passage looking for the weather window and adding the requisite “GST” to the wind and wave forecasts on PredictWind. Our route takes us 340nm from Eden to Freycinet Peninsula which takes us well east of the shallower waters and funnelling winds of Bass Strait. We planned to leave Eden on the back of a southerly, delaying our departure to the afternoon to give it more time to blow through. Of course its aftermath hung around longer than forecast and we ended up punching into a southerly swell under motor for the first 6 hours. We pass Gabo island around 7:30pm and log off with Marine Rescue Eden. The breeze eventually backs off but the chop remains, it swings to the east late in the evening, around midnight it finally builds enough to pull the gennaker out.

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Sunset over Gabo Island

Eventually the wind builds to be too much for the gennaker and the genoa comes out. The sea state is diabolical, like a washing machine. In the dark it is hard to know what direction the waves are coming from but there are definitely 2 swells there, one from the south is still with us. Mid-morning we have some squalls pass over us, lifting the wind speed a bit and dumping quite a bit of rain. When they eventually pass through the swell seems to have settled into a better pattern and we have pulled away as well, getting a better angle to it. From here on in the wind starts to ease so we slow down.

At around 4pm the the autopilot failed completely – no warnings, no flashing lights, just not holding a course. We spoke to the marine electrician who helped us out as we left Sydney, did some trouble shooting but to no avail. This time it is no loose wire! We took turns hand steering through the night in the blackness, each of us steering for as long as we possibly could before exhaustion forced us off watch. With the swell pushing us hard from one side it was just so tiring to hold a decent course. The compass light has not been working for some time (another interesting story…) so we tucked an overhead light into the bimini. Fortunately we had enough wind to make good progress despite zig-zagging all over the place.

We somehow made it through the night, it was good to see the first light of dawn at around 5am. Much easier to steer when you can see the horizon. We continued sailing for as long as we could sail faster than we could motor, but we were falling east of course. Sticking both motors on, and furling the headsail made it a bit easier to steer but it was still challenging in the swell and we both involuntarily gybed numerous times. Did a downwind drop of the main and gybed about 6 times during the manoeuvre without Ellie (the autopilot) to keep us on course.

Welcome from the dolphins

A pod of dolphins, somehow sensing our exhaustion and stress, came out to greet us. No matter how bad a passage you have had, this always puts a smile on your face and makes everything alright again. It was such a relief to round the end of the Freycinet Peninsula, through Schouten passage and headed into Bryan’s Corner. What a beautiful anchorage – stunning white sand beach and water a colour we have not seen since Fiji. It immediately lifted our spirits. We could barely stand up so took some Voltaren and had a nap. Lunch was at 4pm and dinner (and more Voltaren) not long after.

Freycinet Peninsula

A welcome sight

Schouten Island

Bryan's Corner

A momentous decision

We spend a couple of nights in our anchorage here, walking along the beach and even taking a dip in the pristine, and slightly chilly waters. We were invited for coffee aboard another yacht and that turned into drinks aboard a power boat that arrived later. After chewing the fat and hearing all about the boating life in Tassie we pretty much decided to stay put here in Tasmania and get all our boat jobs sorted out in one place, rather than rushing north for the winter. There are great tradies here, reasonably priced marinas and fantastic cruising grounds, so why rush away.

A few scenes from our anchorage

Incoming Westerlies

​Woke the next morning to an empty and very rolly anchorage, with the smell of bushfires in the air.  It was time to find some protection from the strong westerlies which had arrived a little earlier than forecast, we headed south past Schouten Island copping gusts in the high 30s so dropped the main unceremoniously and motored into Shelly Beach near Orford. Here we picked up one of the free MAST moorings, which are rated to 40kts! We kept our heads down for the rest of the day and it thankfully blew through overnight. We dinghied into “town” down the narrow river channel and picked up a couple of essentials at the IGA before heading across to Maria Island.

Sunset from our mooring at Shelly Beach

Full moon

Maria Island

An old school friend of mine reminded me of a camping trip with her family of five kids and couple of their friends many years ago. How (or why) on earth did their parents manage?! Keith and I also visited the island a few years back and rode bikes around the island, visiting the painted cliffs and enjoying the spectacular coastline. We never thought we would be back here in our own boat! This time we are anchored in the middle of the island, at Shoal Bay, where a narrow neck of land divides the two halves of the island. We can walk across to the ocean side where the stunning white sand beach is every bit as beautiful as the more famous Wineglass Bay. As the wind direction is turning north tomorrow so we will press on towards Hobart.

The Denison Canal

Coming down the east coast there are two options to sail into the Derwent River. You can go all the way around the Tasman Peninsula, past Port Arthur, and into Storm Bay the way the Sydney-to-Hobart race yachts go, or you can take a short cut through the Denison Canal – that is if your draft allows it. We chose this option as we are shallow draft.

The canal itself is just a swing bridge, no locks or dams involved and it generally opens on demand. In the olden days (before political correctness, and 0.05 blood alcohol limits) it was traditional to pass a 6-pack to the canal attendant in a bucket as you passed through, but these days that is actually illegal! Before we get to the canal though, we need to make it through the Marion Narrows. The bar crossing is fine in light conditions and the canal is well marked but it’s a little confusing initially with big gaps between the first few sets of markers  - we managed to find a sandbar to clean the bottom of our keels with. An outgoing monohull skipper gives us a quizzical look as he knowingly hugs the eastern side of the channel…

Once we are into the main channel we are comfortably able to follow the port and starboard markers. The canal attendant has advised us to “gimme a call when you see The Castle” – no that’s not the movie, but a large, castl-ey looking building up on the hill to the north of the bay. We make contact and he heads down to the bridge to arrange its opening. This involves stopping the traffic and swinging the bridge across to open the canal. From the start of the short and narrow canal you can’t actually see the bridge, which is a bit disconcerting, but as we round the bend we can see the bridge is fully open and traffic dutifully waiting on either side, and we motor on through, giving the waiting cars and pedestrians a good wave. The canal attendant is there too and takes a few photos. If only they knew how far we have come to provide this entertainment!

Lime Bay

The channel markers continue for about a quarter of a mile more and then we are out into open water. We head to Primrose Sands and drop anchor in front of where we (like many Tasmanians) had a shack back in the day. My aunt and uncle still have one up on the hill and give us a wave. My brother drops by for lunch but it’s a bit too bouncy to go ashore or stay the night so we head across to Lime Bay on the NW tip of Tasman Peninsula. It’s a small bay, popular with campers and well protected from the southerly wind and swell, which is a regular visitor to this area. We stay here a couple of nights, going ashore for a walk on the lovely beach and waiting out the southerly before heading to Hobart.

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Hometown Hobart

When I left Hobart in my early 20s to explore the big, wide world and escape the cold, I never imagined that 35 years later I would sail back into town on my own yacht that I had brought all the way from France. That’s life for you! We are delighted to find space on the FREE(!) public dock at Sullivan’s Cove, right in the middle of town. What a great facility! It means we can go out to shops, chandleries, Bunnings and even to dinner without having to worry about getting back in the dark in the dinghy. There is much more of Tassie to explore, so we will be heading “down the channel” next.

Sandy Bay & Mt Wellington