Van Diemen's Land Circumnavigation (VDLC)

Hobart to Beauty Point, Tamar River
11-20 February 2015

Day 1 of the VDLC began in light winds with most of the 31 boats in the Hobart fleet motorsailing the 46nm to Port Arthur.

Not so stormy Storm Bay

More fun with dolphins, this time half a dozen riding off the stern and one doing tail slaps to get our attention.

We anchored in Ladies Bay which was very protected from the strong southerlies that came in during the evening.

The Port Arthur Historic Site was very interesting. We took a guided walk on the first afternoon to orientate ourselves and then a cruise around the bay the next morning. We also hired iPods for the self guided tour, a good way to learn a lot about the site.

We enjoyed it so much we were the last boat to leave the anchorage at 1300. We went outside Tasman Island which was spectacular but the confused seas and adverse current made for hard going. I can only imagine how intimidating it must be in strong winds and big seas.

Tasman Island

Once on the eastern side of the Tasman Peninsular, the seas abated and we had a good reach up to Maria Island where we anchored in Chinamans Bay at 2120.

Chinaman's Bay

We spent 4 nights in Chinamans as the wind was back in the north and we decided against another slog to windward as there were plenty of walks we could do.

We explored the convict cells with Helen, Lester, Fred and Marie from Joule another RQ yacht in the VDLC.

Riedle Bay on the eastern side of Maria Island

On Monday, a southerly change came through and we had a fast sail up to Morey's Beach. We had to furl our genoa when the wind got up over 25 knots but we practised setting the storm jib which did the job until the breeze eased.

Fleet anchored at Schouten Island

On Tuesday, we left at 0610 in thick fog and light rain. We had another good reach up the eastern coast until 1700 when the breeze died and we motored the last few hours to Great Musselroe Bay. We anchored at 2130 after covering 104nm in the day.

Watching the sun set while eating dinner

Another good night here before we motored through Banks Strait with the current early on Wednesday morning. The tide can run at 6 knots through here so you need to make sure it is working in your favour. We anchored at Foster Inlet to wait for the wind to arrive at lunchtime. We invited the San Souci crew to join us for morning tea to celebrate Julie's birthday. Spinnaker run in the afternoon to Croppies Bay.

Campervan on the hill above Croppies Bay

On Thursday we sailed 38nm under spinnaker to the mouth of the Tamar River, then 5 miles up river to George Town where we rafted up to Joule on the public pontoon for the night. We did our laundry and shopping here before motoring further up the river this morning to the Tamar Yacht Club for 2 nights. Ben flies in tomorrow to join us for a few days including dinner with the fleet here at the yacht club tomorrow night.

Hobart - Wooden Boat Festival and MONA

6 - 10 February 2015

We packed a lot into Friday, our first day in Hobart - a trip to the dentist for Warren, shopping for some more thermals, the wooden boat festival, Mount Wellington and pizza at a "quirky" unit with friends Karen and Maurice.

Parade of sail to start the Wooden Boat Festival

We wandered the show admiring the workmanship of the old and new wooden boats on display including several from RQYS.

Next up was a drive up Mount Wellington where we could see from the D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Maria Island, areas that we will be cruising in the coming days.

On Sunday we joined our friends Karen and Maurice for an 8km bike ride to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) on a bike path that follows the railway line.

While some of the art was not to my taste, the building is spectacular and well worth the visit.

Monday was the briefing for the Van Diemen's Land Circumnavigation at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania where we met some of our fellow sailors and finished the night with dinner with the Joule crew.

Crazy photo for Lester

Roaring Forties

Flinders Island to Hobart - 29 January to 5 February 2015

Coastal day hops from Killiecrankie to Hobart I wrote in my last post. Sounds easy doesn't it! We had 3 nights in Killiecrankie while the wind howled and we waited for a opportunity to head further south. A monohull left one day and returned later that day saying they were only making 1 knot against the wind and current.

Killiecrankie was a nice spot to wait for the weather

Eventually on Saturday the wind had eased and we headed south in a 15-20 knot SSW wind. Tacking initially in moderate seas, at 1400 the log entry for latitude was 40 degrees - we were into the roaring forties! We got some relief from the wind and the swell as we approached Cape Barren Island on a tight reach and anchored in Munro Bay where we had 2 attempts before the anchor set in the weed. We sailed 61nm in 9 hours to progress 40nm south.

On Sunday, we started with a double reef that we shook out after seeing the wind drop to 10-12 knots as we entered Banks Strait. This area has a reputation for big seas that we glimpsed only briefly off Swan Island when the wind had increased again. Back in with the double reef for the final sail to Great Musselroe Bay - another pretty anchorage after 45nm to windward.

Wind generators are visible a long way out to sea

On Monday, we had lighter winds but still from the south so more tacking. We covered another 43nm to Skeleton Bay just north of St Helens, motoring the last few hours when the breeze died. Warren caught a couple of good sized flathead here which were very tasty.

Sailing in company with Kailani

We left before 6 on Tueday as we wanted to get to Schouten Passage if possible. The sun was out, the wind was from the north and we finally got our spinnaker up for most of the day before a nasty 30 knot SW change came through. We motored the last couple of hours to Moreys Bay on Schouten Island. During the day we were visited at one point by at least 100 dolphins - all looking so excited to see us and ride our bow wave.

Moreys Bay, Schouten Island

We went ashore Wednesday morning to look around before heading off at 1000 for Shoal Bay, Maria Island. Wind from the south again so another 61nm to cover the straight line distance of 40nm. Another amazing day with the dolphins!

Thursday we had an early start to get to Denison Canal before high tide. This is a short cut opened in 1905 to shorten the trade route to Hobart from the east coast.

Entering Denison canal

It is 895 meters long and has a swing bridge to allow the boats through. We went in a convey of 6 boats and as we had arrived early there was still a couple of knots of tide against us.

Swing bridge visible on the left

After exiting the canal we had to motor until we reached Iron Pot, at the entry to the Derwent river. The spinnaker went up in a 10-15 knot SE and we enjoyed the final leg of the trip to Hobart. We tied up in the Prince of Wales bay marina having covered 1263nm from Raby Bay.

Iron Pot