Day 345 - Dodging the EAC on the way to Coffs Harbour
The big winds of the previous days had gone by today, as we ventured out at 6am to sail north to Coffs Harbour and to meet with our friends the Sharp family who had driven down to help celebrate Stephen’s 12th birthday on the weekend.
We did have a light breeze from the south-west, but at 7-8 knots it was of limited assistance. We were motoring at 5 knots with the help of the engines, and although we had the sails up - our boat speed reduced the effective (or apparent) wind to only 3-4 knots - barely enough to fill the sails.
Craig’s major effort was finding the EAC (or rather finding how to get out of it!) - as the photos of the chart plotter indicate - when we were hugging the coast in the bays, we had a back-eddy going in the direction we were traveling - but as soon as we poked our nose out to go around a headland, we found ourselves in the EAC good and proper!
The difference was significant: With the current, our 5 knots of boat speed became 6 knots over the ground. When in the south-bound current in deeper waters, the 5 knots became 4 or less! There is a big difference between making progress at 3.8 knots versus 6.1 knots - so the current plays a big part in navigation around here.
We went quite close to the back of the breaking waves - tacking out when we were at about 100m from the beginning of the break. As the day was fairly quiet in terms of wind, there was little risk as we already had one of the motors on, and there were no breaking waves where we were that could accidentally wash us close to the beach surf, but nevertheless we all kept a keen eye on our position and tacked out when it got too close.
Our progress was slower than we would have liked, but fortunately the breeze picked up toward the end of the day, and we found ourselves with a 15 knot wind on the beam doing 7-8 knots as the sun was setting.
We entered Coffs Harbour at 6:15 pm with waves on the nearby Mutton Bird Island coming from David Sharp and his two sons Daniel and Harrison - and they greeted us at dockside and were welcomed aboard for the weekend with much celebration!
Till next entry...
Craig & Kerry Margetts
Friday, 13 April 2012
Lachlan winching the screecher
Position: 30°18.251’ S 153°08.789’ E - Coffs Harbour
Passing the wharf as we left Port Macquarie
Cloud over the dawning sun
Hugging the coast - 1 knot of current going with us! (North-East at 37°)
As we move out to round the point we get into 1.7 knots going against us! ( South at 173°)
Sailing up the beach just outside the breakers - only 100m from disaster
Better breeze toward the end, but we were in “GET THERE” mode by then!
