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.

Print this post