WED. 26TH SEPT. 2012 58 NM
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| sunrise at Cape Gloucester, with Gloucester Island on the left , and the Echo resort on the mainland behind the moored craft. |
On inspection of the boarding platform, Capt Barry discovered that the good Lord had provided once again, with a small offering of garfish, which Capt Barry wrapped in plastic for bait, later that day.
The weather predictors were going for half to 1 m seas with a swell of less than 1.5 m and winds from the east/north east of between 10 and 15 kts gusting to 20kts.
We dropped the mooring rope at 0900 hrs and sat on 1050 rpm doing 9+ kts using 36 l/h total.
Some parts of Upstart Bay are quite shallow , and as we planned to be on anchor again overnight , and the wind was predicted to increase , we wanted to get in as close as possible as soon as rounding the western tip of the Cape , as the side of the bay immediately around Cape Upstart offers reasonably good protection from easterly winds and south easterly swell.
Capt Barry did some trolling along the way.
Capt Barry did some speed runs every 60 to 90 mins or so to heat up the oil and burn off impurities and clean out the exhausts etc. These consisted of LAST WORD sitting on 2270 rpm for about 5 mins burning 210 l/h total and managing 22+ kts , ( which is not bad as the current is quite strong flowing the other way in this part of coastline, and we were into 10 to 20 kt 45 degree headwind on the starboard side ) and doing about 10 to 15 mins on 1900 rpm burning 190 l/h total, making 19 knots.
During one of Capt Barry's routine boat inspections ( which includes the engine room and shooting some temperatures ) he discovered the Yak board, which was tied off on the boarding platform, had come loose at one end, ie the the rope at one end had broken the plastic tie down point on the end of the Yak board. This probably happened during a speed run when sea water can wash over the boarding platform in swelly seas.
Capt Barry simply untied the other end of the Yak board and lifted it into the cockpit, where it remained for a couple of days, as there is still plenty of room to walk around the board.
We passed the Abbot Point coal loader , which projects a long way into the sea.
When inspecting the engine room over the last couple of weeks passages, Capt Barry has noticed a small coolant leak collecting in the forward engine room bilge recess with tell tale marks indicating it is from the starboard engine ( maybe half a cup over several hours passage ) , but the coolant level is not getting lower, and the colour is getting less pink each time , to the point it is almost yellowish, and tastes of sea water.
Capt Barry had not been able to spot any coolant leaks ( which are usually obvious due to the trail of pink ) , and with the colour fading and now tasting the water, a closer examination of the sea water parts of the starboard engine lead Capt Barry to believe that it may be a small pressure sea water leak from the impeller cover. The heat from the engine probably evaporates the small tell tale leads of sea water disappear, but there is a residue of salt crystals around the impeller cover,( and they re appear every time Capt Barry wipes the area clean . The original pink colour must have been the sea water leak passing through a coolant puddle ( from the coolant leak fixed back in early August at Marina Mirage ) unseen and unable to be cleaned up under the starboard battery box. the leak being from the impeller cover also fits with the fact that the leak has only been evident for the last three weeks , about the time Hastings Deering changed the impellers during the 4 Sept service. They probably missed the slight leak, assuming they ran the engines, after the service checking for such leaks).
Any way , another thing to fix when i get back to Airlie Beach, and i get another oil sample done.
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| coming to Cape Upstart |
When we rounded Cape Upstart, we decided to motor down the entire length of the bay ( about 5 nm ) to check out all the suggested anchorages, and ended coming back to Shark Bay , being that part of coast just inside the main Upstart Bay, where we tucked in to within about half a nm of the beach in about 5 m of water at low tide, and let out 28 m of anchor chain ( in case the wind came up and allowing for the tide rise of approx. 2.7 m.
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| around Cape Upstart |
We anchored about 3.00pm , and in the process a formation of small sting rays came out to meet us.
There are many homes ( mostly holiday houses ) along the beach front all along the bay, and many fishing runabouts on trailers line the beach . Obviously this is a favoured fishing and holidaying spot for locals.
Rear Admiral Julie cooked a chicken curry, which was superb , and was accompanied by a bottle of fine white wine.
The wind was a constant 12 to 15 kts , gusting to 24 kts at one stage, then dropped so we had a relatively calm night with minimal swell.
TRIP; 58 NM, 5.95 HRS ( INCLUDING SOME TROLLING ALONG THE WAY AND RETURN TRIP UP UPSTART BAY AND BACK ) , AV 9.5 KTS AT AV 30 L/HR TOTAL.
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