The passage from Percy Islands to Yeppoon was epic.
A couple of hours into battling the wind and a very choppy seas under motor we ran out of fuel and had to load from reserve fuel stock in jerry cans whilst bouncing around like a cork. Difficult task indeed.
We have been having a battery issue and had been using the motor generator to top up regularly whilst at Percy island and we had not figured this into our calculations of our fuel reserves for fuel to get us to Yeppoon, if we were required to motor due to weather conditions not in our favour.
The house battery runs all the electronic devices for navigation as well as the pumps and refrigeration, lighting and every other necessary things you need to keep a yacht functional for passage making.
This situation meant that we had to shut down non essential equipment requiring power and taking stock of our situation which was hardly enough fuel to get us to Yeppoon and topping up a failing battery to power of the navigation devices when the motor is not running.
We had to sail even if the wind and seas were not in our favour. This meant that we were going to have a long passage tacking back a forward to make passage to our destination under the light winds that were southeast.
Capt Teza's excellent navigation skills and plotting our course on the hour ensured we were heading in the right direction to get to our overnight anchorage of Pearl Bay
We arrived at 9pm at Pearl Bay under sail into a cove completed shrouded in the dark and that is notorious for coral reefs that are unchartered.
Indeed we hit a coral reef as we left anchorage the next morning that was not on the chart, no damage but once again I got anxious before we even started on what was going to be a long day.
A beautiful spot but we had no time to enjoy our surroundings with a full day ahead day chasing wind.
Thankfully the seas had calmed to just a large rolling swell which made for a good sail but at 5 knots tacking back and forward along the coast we were looking at an ETA of Midnight due to no wind in our favour to make any headway to our destination.
The wind by 3pm turned to the EAST AT LAST and we arrived into Yeppoon late in the evening about 9pm with a storm and bitterly cold wind that required the skipper to have a rum just to warm him up. It is indeed a beautiful experience to sail on sunset despite the challenges.
Terry remains unfazed, completely capable and always with a plan and directive in all situations plan. I guess that what makes him so successful in his job and why I trust him to keep me safe.
I was getting very anxious of all the "what ifs" of a disaster on the sea without navigation lights, navigation equipment, no fuel and running into a reef to name just a few challenges to overcome.
It was a very testing sail today for both of us but we both know this is all part of the experience of sailing which will challenge and test your weaknesses and strengths. Sometimes in a most confronting of circumstances.
Safe in Yeppoon, yet another day of Terry working on the boat to get it back into operational order to complete our passage home.
On reflection of our shake down cruise. We both agreed that 5 weeks was not enough time to go to the Whitsundays and back home that would give us rest days in between passages with allowances for times when we had operational failures and poor sailing conditions.
This is the shake down cruise to test both the boat and ourselves. The yacht in general performs well and has no major problems that has stopped our passage just annoying interruptions that are frustrating and tiresome particularly for Terry who perhaps really needed a holiday with less physical and mental effort.
That said we remain in good spirits with the help of a lot of cocktails and rum.
With a new mega house battery, fuel and the prospect of wind and seas in our favour we will make passage to Lady Musgrave tomorrow which hopefully will only take 10 hours, with no breakdowns along the way, so we can have a stay over on the island that will be restful and relaxing
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