Escape from scAwful Island (into a cyclone!)
Escape from scAwful Island. (Into a
cyclone!)
Scawfell's a
lovely place, don't get me wrong. National park. Green and leafy and
unspoiled. Karl took a surfboard paddle ashore (I don't have my surf
paddling L plates yet) and tells me it was delightful.
Grainne is in this photo if you peer really really closely.
And in all
fairness it did provide reasonable shelter from sustained wind of
35-40 knots. As Karl (repeatedly) said “I don't think anchoring
equipment is meant to withstand this for such a long time!”. But it
was a bit of an enforced stay and once we had done all our
reorganising and tidying and planning we were ready to go. But had to
wait another couple of days for the winds to ease. We even had
“Sewing Day” where we repaired all the bits and pieces Karl kept
bringing to me saying “it ripped” (note his use of the saorbhriathar). And we completed a new project to
allow us to roll up and secure some of our cockpit enclosure (sounds
very boring but is actually embarrassingly exciting for us).
And then
one delightful Sunday morning I was enjoying my freshly hand ground
flat white with my favourite ABC Classic FM presenter when the news
came on: “man arrested after nightclub brawl...blah
blah....apartment fire blah blah..... cyclone in the Coral Sea....
and now in sport....”. Hang on a minute! Cyclone where?! That seems
important. So I waited for the news an hour later and listened
intently. Nothing. Not a mention. I wondered if I had imagined it. When
we checked our weather it turned out to be real. Cyclone Ann, heading
for north Queensland (where we were heading!). But isn't it a little
late in the season for a cyclone? Well, according to a lovely
meteorologist from BOM interviewed on the ABC news it is unusual, but
not unheard of, to have a May cyclone. The last May cyclone that
crossed the Queensland coast was in 1989, so nice of the universe to
have provided us this rare event.
Once we got over that fright and
established we weren't in danger it was all go again. On the morning
of departure we got ready, got up early, just a quick instant coffee and
muesli bar for breakfast and then off. And then the engine didn't
start. You can check out but you can never leave. Long story,
batteries wrecked a couple of weeks before we left Mooloolaba (turns
out homemade transformers in leaky Eskys have issues in heavy rain)
and then drained the engine battery. So another few hours sitting,
waiting for the solar to charge the engine battery. And finally away!
And then a great
sail north in boisterous conditions that meant strictly one-pot
dinners and a ban on anything that required risking a pot of boiling
water.
It was the first time we had ever sailed with a moon
overnight. We're used to the clear, starry nights where the sky is
bright but the sea is completely black and invisible. But we had a
couple of nights where, even though it was overcast, the moon
brightened everything into a white night of cloud and sea like a
permanent dawn. Every night and day and sun/moon rise/set and cloud
formation and sea state is mesmerising in it's own way. Like staring
at a fire for hours. Or maybe I just don't have enough for doing.
Please stay safe. All our prayers go with you guys.
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