Lily and I sailed yesterday from Royals at Williamstown to SSCBC at Sorrento and had a day full of both excitement and some drama!
With 30 nmi of due south sailing ahead of us, we cast off at 8 AM with a plan to arrive by 5 PM! With an easterly blowing at 10 knots we average 5 knots plus on one long beam reach from Williamstown to Port Arlington – we only tacked once and in doing so I had to wake up Lily who had found a comfy spot on the bench seat to sleep. We then crossed the bay as we headed towards Beaumaris on the east coast of Port Philip, half way across the bay we tacked twice and on the fourth tack found ourselves off Frankston.
Along the way a dolphin travelled beside Huia and we saw the most amazing collection of birds. Even the things that went wrong were managed with a struggling bilge pump seeing us starting to fill with water and needing repair (too much oil and debris in the bilge) and a broken bolt on the auto-pilot bracket throwing us off course (not sure if this was the consequence of using a brass bolt) weren’t enough to take the gloss of what was magnificent day on the water with Lily for company and a fine 24 degrees.
We then tacked again and headed off towards Sorrento and managed to sail down the Pinnacle Channel with the Fort to port and Mud Island to starboard.
“Pride comes before the fall” and I have to admit I felt very proud of Lily and I as we sailed straight down the Pinnacle Channel on a south easterly heading and came out into the shipping channel and headed further towards Sorrento. With 1.5 nmi to go and the sailing club within sight we tacked once, to head towards Rye, another tack back towards Sorrento, then had some concern we may overshoot, we tacked again towards Blairgowrie and what we hopped was a final tack towards Sorrento and home.
With the club within sight and Sarah, Sophie, Mum and Dad on the pier and some concern about dropping the sails single handed, I started the engines and headed Huia into the wind and prepared to drop the sails and motor in the final stretch. I pulled in the jib and with Lily at the tiller, I moved forward to the main mast to drop the main sail, as I started to drop the main I felt the sail fill with wind and grow taut and realised something was wrong.
I called to Lily to confirm the auto-pilot was set into the wind only to feel Huia tipping and pivoting on her keel. I looked over the side and saw fast flowing water and sand up close. We had hit the sandbar and had come to a grinding stop! Unbeknown to Lily and I, Sarah and family have been watching this excitement unfold on the end of the SSCBC pier with other holiday makers.
Rescue # 1: Sarah was on the phone asking if we need help, and I have to admit I was still trying to work out what happened. But as we sat on the sandbar two people came out to help, the first was a stranger in a tinny with a 40 HP outboard who arrived and offered to help if I had a rope, the next on the scene was Tim Phillips from the Wooden Boat who took charge and took my 30 metre long tow rope and having secured one end to his boat and with the other on Huia starts to pull. The first rescuer on the scene took a smaller 10 metre rope I had and after trying to pull Huia forward but then pulled at a 90 degree angle to Tim’s rope – the combined power saw Huia starting to move forward ever so slowly and off the sandbank. As we started to move forward I put the engine into gear and felt a burst of speed that saw me quickly catching my rescuers – this wasn’t a good idea. This saw the first rescuer in the tinny start to be pulled around and before he got pulled backwards he reached over and cut the short rope tied to the back of his boat. This was very smart move! With that I looked up and saw Tim had let loose the rope connected to his boat and I was free – he then called out make sure my engine is off and waved goodbye – if only I had.
30 seconds later I hear the sound of the engine labouring, I look over the side to see my long tow rope trailing behind me and as I rush to stop the engine I know something is very wrong. I press the kill switch and the engine come to a complete stop. It is clear we have a tow rope wrapped around the propeller. I then try to restart the engine and while I am able to start the engine and run it in neutral, every time I move the engine into gear the engine accelerates but there is no resistance in the shaft and the engine starts to “over rev”. I suspect I have lost the propeller or broken something in the gear box or shaft. By then we are now floating out through the Sorrento channel with sails but no engine. This is pain at the beginning of the day, but really no fun at the end of a long day with the sun going down on Christmas Eve – I now need a new plan! I resolve to sail around the next point to Shelly Beach, grab a spare mooring or drop anchor, swim in with Lily and return the next day to sort this out.
Rescue # 2: I spoke to Sarah and shared the news of our latest predicament and the fact we weren’t going to be there anytime soon. The good news was that the holiday maker Sarah had been talking to on the pier had grown up in Sorrento and had a tinny on mooring and offered head out and make sure we are okay – leaving his wife and three boys behind he swam out to get his boat and was heading over.
Just as Huia passes Point King and as I catch my breath, Tony pulls up alongside and offers to help – we gratefully say yes. We agreed to sail out and away from the moored boats and get a tow back to the Sorrento and our mooring.
I am most grateful for Tim, the unknown rescuer and Tony who took time out on Christmas Eve to help – I am most grateful.
Things we did well:
- We improvised to fix both the bilge pump and auto-pilot while sailing down. For the former we use the spray down water pump and hose we had on board to reduce the water in the bilge so we could see what the problem was and address it comfortably, for the later we repaired with blue gaffer tape.
- We used the auto-pilot to enable us to enjoy the sailing and spend the time learning more about Huia.
- We had a 30 metre 10 ml high-strength, low-stretch line tow rope ready to go, including a 1 metre loop at either end – mind you we should have had two
- We took help when it arrived!
Lessons from the day and the things we did wrong:
- You can’t choose the information you want to be right – we shouldn’t have been there! I knew the water was shallow and knew other boats had got into trouble there and while the iPhone chart app said I was okay, if I had looked at the charts I had on board it would have said it was only 1 metre but I hadn’t looked at them and while I questioned the information I should have checked the charts (note: I have now discovered the depth in on the app was set to feet instead of metres, when I saw “3” I read this as metres, instead of feet) and while I thought it had looked wrong, I should have connected the dots. My iPad with my best charts had run out of power – my thinking at the beginning of the day that I may need this at the end was proven correct – I should have kept charged for the end of the sail or have an easily accessible charging point in the cockpit.
- You are not safely home to you have tied up on the mooring – I failed to make sure I had enough energy to get home safely, I was tied and keen to get on my mooring, in my haste to get home I decided to motor in the last mile. As soon as I turned into the wind to drop the sail the fast moving current at Sorrento had me in trouble in a flash – I suspect if I had kept sailing I would have been okay.
- Don’t start the engine if you have ropes in the water – I shouldn’t have started the engine until the tow boats had disconnected and the both toe ropes were on-board and secured.
- When the engine doesn’t sound right you need to address before damage is done – when the engine started to labour I should have instantly turned it off.
Sarah’s Instagram updates capture some of the excitement!
