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

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