It was a strange day last Tuesday. Somehow I found myself in situations that I had not planned for and not as anticipated or forecast, and not great communications.
I was planning on taking out the Pirogue, as it was a 10 knots or less forecast. Andrew texted me saying he was taking his laser out to visit the seal on T28. I put a message on AYC cruisers, and contacted Gavan to say I was getting out from Altona at 10.
Greg from AYC said he would come, and we met down there at about 9.30 and were ready to get on the water at 10. Andrew was a bit late, so we said we would get a head start. Gavan called me about 9.45 but I missed his call. Greg and I headed off, me with a reef in as it was gusting northerly. The Bom often seems to get Northerlies wrong.
We had a splendid fast sail over to T28, no seal home but we saw a seal head pop up nearby. We were going so well, Greg suggested we head over to St Kilda. We sailed over to St Kilda Harbour, and spent a bit of time as Greg was not familiar with the area, and headed off towards the marina. When we were in, we had a cuppa and a leg stretch, and Oz had some shore leave on the nice little island that had formed where we landed.
When it was time to go, the wind had just about died away, but some very ominous clouds were building on the horizon back over to the West.
Roger Barnes has some profoundly sensible things to say about storms:
"A seagoing yacht can weather a storm out at sea. A small boat must seek shelter. She needs to be in shelter before the storm hits. So you should always have a plan in the back of your mind how you would do that - where the nearest shelter is, and how you would get to it. But storms do not suddenly hit out of a blue sky. You always have time, if you are aware of the weather and how it is changing ..."
I did suggest we should run for Williamstown, in a half hearted way. But we headed on towards it, in the hope that somehow we could squeak through before the storm hit.
No such luck. I was tacking between the Gellibrand mark and the cardinal mark for the reefs off Williamstown, when we got hit. Laverton recorded 41 knot gusts. I had shaken the reef out, somehow I was too stupid or optimistic to even put a reef in, but I doubt in that wind it would have made any difference. I was trying to avoid heading into the reef, had eased out the main probably further than right angles to the line of the boat, and we were in the water super fast. Oz was in the dodger space, and I managed to get the boat up, fairly fast, but with the sail up, we went over again straight away. I got it up again, but with Ozzie's weight in the wrong place and the narrow amount of freeboard, we went over again, and again. Oz got a fright, and took off swimming to shore, which gave me a chance to get back in.
Greg was fantastic, and got Oz plus various crap that had drifted off. I bailed out, we transferred Oz back and we sailed home through a few more storms,downpours and calms.
Thinking about it all, the social element is a key one. I would not have made the choices that I did, nor been in the situation I was in, if I had been alone. But if I had been alone I would have been in really deep trouble. It is the Civilization and its Discontents dilemma.
Coming home, I thought I should sell the Core Sound, as I really wonder, given the trouble I had getting the Skerry up, if I would be capable of getting the Core Sound up and going again. The very next day, I got a call from Cam from Canberra who offered again to buy the Core Sound.
The whole episode was profoundly sobering and traumatic. A week later, I am still bruised in body and in ego. I lost my video camera, and drowned my vhf, but, thank heavens, Oz is ok and I got home. It is my second close shave this year. If I was a cat, I think I might be running out of lives. I have to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. A lot to think about, and a lot to change.
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