Sailing on SOL: Waiting, waiting, waiting …

A month has gone by and we are in Coffs Harbour still. Neither Jamie nor myself have ever been much good at playing this waiting game and although we knew we would be here in Coffs marina for a couple of weeks it is now starting to wear thin.

Wet weather wedding

We had much to do the first few days - with the wedding of Kate and David up in Brisbane on the Saturday it was an opportunity to break out the flash gear which had been packed in a vacuum bag and taken aboard for just this occasion – hmmmn – we would look great if we were supposed to be wearing crinkled cotton by design. No iron on board (I hardly used the one we had on dry land let alone even think of one on the boat) so a quick detour into Derek and Debbie’s laundromat in Southport to borrow theirs had us looking very smart. There was, however, a small moment of terror when getting changed behind the hire car in the multistorey carpark we couldn’t find Jamie’s shoes – visions of all dressed up at the wedding and look down – jandals/thongs/flip flops – whatever you call them – not a good look – but we found them, phew.

The new Mr & Mrs

Planning a wedding at any time of year can be fraught with problems, planning an outdoor wedding brings the weather issue to the fore again and on Kate and David’s day it rained. But, as usual with celebrations like this, even rain cannot dampen the spirits and we stood on the Wedding Lawn, in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, alongside their friends and family, sharing the moment they exchanged their vows. It was a touching ceremony despite the dismal weather, and we had a superb time at the reception – in fact the food was to die for – absolutely the best food in a very long time. Thank you, Kate and David for inviting us to enjoy your special day.

We drove across the Clarence river – (no pesky sailboats held us up!!) travelling through the towns we had sailed to – Grafton, Brushgrove, Cowper, Ulmarra.

Crossing over the bridge this time rather than under it

Back on SOL we had a few last-minute jobs we needed to do before departure and the list seemed to grow as it got shorter – well as we crossed items off, I added more.

Jacklines – these are safety lines you tether yourself to when underway to ensure that you don’t fall off the boat. We had gotten good strong webbing online and needed them stitched with heavy thread on a commercial machine, so a trip to the canvas man in town sorted this.

Ditch bag – this strangely named bag holds the supplies that you take if you are forced to abandon ship, also known as a grab bag. We had a bag ready and just needed to fill it – in went torch, batteries, first aid kit, bottles of water, muesli bars, scroggin (nuts, fruit and chocolate mix), spectacles, sunscreen, etc. the passports, credit card, boat registration papers would be added later.

Food prep for Tasman crossing

Sails – we decided we probably wouldn’t need the screecher on our Tasman crossing so this has been taken down and the storm sail, smaller and tougher, has been hoisted instead. Back in Bundaberg we had the stitching on both the genoa and the stormy checked and reinforced in preparation and stormy had been in a cupboard since then.

Food – the freezer is full - we have prepared, cooked and vacpacked dinners for 9 nights – we won’t be going hungry!! We have made up bags of scroggin for energy giving snacks. Just got to get fresh fruit and veg, eggs, bread and milk.

The diesel tanks are full, will top up the water tanks last minute ….. SOL is ready, we are ready – why is the weather not cooperating???

We enlisted NZ weather guru, Bob McDavitt (MetBob), to give us a passage plan and to provide weather updates via the Delorme inreach (satellite tracker) during the trip. He has been emailing weather updates to us since the beginning of November, and none have been good. The expected pattern of prevailing winds at this time of the year is generally favourable for a Tasman crossing, however, this year, the damned easterlies continue so here we remain, waiting for that weather window. We can handle some unpleasant days, but incessant pounding headfirst into wind and waves endlessly takes you way out of the realm of “unpleasant”.

The time has not been wasted. Jamie managed to take a 5-day trip down to the Blue Mountains to see his family, it will be some months before we can get to see his parents so having this time was ideal – notwithstanding the twelve-hour, two train trip each way.

Jamie and Matthew overlooking the Dorrigo Rainforest

We spent a great day out touring the nearby countryside with Matthew, who is on a boat just a couple away from us, and drove through Bellingen, Dorrigo and outlying areas. We visited Dangar Falls, on the Bellinger River and walked through the rainforest skywalk listening to the abundant birdlife at Dorrigo Rainforest centre. I thought the most fascinating was the catbird – a fairly nondescript grey or green coloured bird that makes a sound truly like a screaming cat – hearing its incredible call was definitely recognisable and amazing. After a restaurant quality lunch at the Dorrigo Heritage Hotel we drove through the Dorrigo National Park to see the huge Tallowood trees there. Tallowood is a species of Eucalyptus found around Dorrigo, the wood apparently feels greasy when cut due to high tannin content and the leaves are a good source of koala food. The specimens we saw in the Norman Jolly Memorial Grove would have been up to 70m tall, dwarfing us as we stood insignificant beneath.

Amazing Tallowood trees at Norman Jolly Memorial Grove

We have walked miles, one day visiting the Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens, these gardens are a real credit to all the people who man and maintain them. One day is not enough to see all the plants on display, you could seriously return week after week and still find another gem.

Botanical gardens Coffs Harbour

Unfortunately, this extended delay has meant that Philip Mercer, who travelled up from Adelaide to make the crossing with us has had to pull out. Lyn Nichols, from the Gold Coast (originally Whangarei, NZ) has gone back to wait out the next few days with family there. Fortunately for us, Bruce Allen, owner of Shellac, a Fusion Catamaran also here in the marina has stepped in to fill Philip's place.

It’s not all bad, as is usual in a marina, you get to meet some great people and hear some even greater stories and the Coffs Marina is no different. So many people appear to have arrived in Coffs and never left (maybe it’s those goddamn easterly winds that don’t allow them to get away!!).

Next to us is Steve, who has travelled the world on his 33ft yacht “Tatura”, he has so many tales to tell of places he has been over the years – he has sailed to most of the places you hear of and many of us just dream of going (even through the Red Sea). He has been a huge help while here, having a contact to weld our cracked exhaust on the starboard engine and spending hours with Jamie trying to get the HF WeatherFax working so we can get weather patterns offshore.

Matthew, who is ‘boat-sitting’ a cat just two down from us, built his boat up in the Snowy Mountains and sailed it on Lake Eucumbene, tamed a kingfish (aptly he named it Elvis) that we fed with minced meat each morning – after a few days Elvis would take the meat from your hand. We have spent many enjoyable hours in his company, laughing at the stories he tells. He kindly took us away from the marina for the day in his car for a trip through the Dorrigo Hinterland.

The World Rally Championship held a special stage right here in Coffs Harbour which we went to with Valinda and Steve, who live on their 47ft yacht here in the marina. They have a small power equipment business up in Woolgoolga (Whoopi to the locals!!). Their aim is to eventually sell the business and sail away but in the meantime, business and boat maintenance take most of their time. The rally was not as noisy, dusty or even fumey as I had expected and current safety regulations kept the spectators well away from the cars – but we had fun.