DAY 1 – Wednesday 11th February 2009

All but three of the Hobart fleet left as scheduled on the morning of Day 1. Of those remaining, one had electrical problems, another awaited a replacement regulator. The trip down the river to the Iron Pot that marks the entrance to the Derwent Estuary from Storm Bay was made in a freshening westerly that heralded an approaching weak weather front forecast to pass just south of Tasmania.

The front arrived more or less on cue when Rosinante was about half way across Storm Bay and we changed down two reefs while it went through. Things soon calmed down again with the wind further around towards the south. Things freshened up a bit for rounding Cape Raoul and stayed fresh at 20 to 25 knots for the run into Port Arthur. 8 boats decided to take advantage of the favourable breeze to go through The Hole In The Wall, as the gap between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar is called. (Its real name on the charts is the Tasman Passage.)

    Cape Raoul                                                                                         Cape Pillar

Thus, the fleet was split between Ladies Bay and Carnarvon Bay in Port Arthur and Canoe Bay behind the old wreck at the northern end of Fortescue Bay around the Tasman Island corner.

Sadly, we had our first casualty. A crew member on the Wizard of Oz got a smack in the mouth from a winch handle which broke his jaw and has had to return to Hobart to be patched up.

DAY 2- Thursday 12th February 2009

During the night it blew quite hard in Carnarvon Bay with several rain squalls. Indeed a fresh 20 to 25 knot southerly stayed in all day. Most boats took advantage of this for the run to a place the yachtsmen call Chinamans Bay on the western side of Maria Island  (It has another name on modern charts.)

Crossing from Port Arthur to The Hole In The Wall was, as usual lumpy and uncomfortable in the 20 knots of southerly. The waves hit the steep dolerite cliffs and bounce back making a 3 metre swell with wind waves on top very confused.

Once through the gap it was a lovely square run all the way to Maria Island. Most of the fleet ended up in The Deep Hole on the eastern side of Chinamans. A few went into Boomer Bay on the northern side of Point Lesueur just north of Chinamans. A couple of boats stayed in Port Arthur , planning to come north the next day.

The weather looks to be settling down and all is promising for the first fleet barbecue on Saturday night in the Schouten Passage.

DAY 3 – Friday 13th February 2009

The day dawned clear and cool, promising one of those sparkling East Coast days. And so it turned out. Those that left early had the advantage of a south-westerly land breeze and by lunchtime the sea breeze was filling in from the north-east.

                  
                       This is Bishop & Clerk at the northern end of Maria Island

Those that decided on pressing on to the Schouten Passage had a lovely sail with the wind just free of close-hauled. Others crossed the Mercury Passage to the fleshpots of Triabunna. Fargo who was had no engine because her cooling system had failed was assisted into the wharf along a narrow and somewhat tortuous channel by Aquabat, another of the VDL-C fleet. A few boats pressed on to Coles Bay, planning to climb Mt Amos tomorrow for one of the finest views in the world  - of Wineglass Bay below.

On the way across from Maria Is. to the Schoutens, Rosinante paused at the Isle du Phoques to inspect (and smell) the seal colony stretched along its western shore. French scholars of course will recognise that the island lives up to its name … that translates into English as Seal Island.

The picture shows part of the seal colony on Isle du Phoques. The colony stretches over 500 metres with many hundreds of seals. The little black sticks on the white background on the right of the picture is a cormorant rookery; the little black sticks are the cormorants.

The picture shows part of the VDL-C fleet anchored at Passage Beach with Schouten Island in the background, Bear Hill is on the right. From the left, the boats are JEM, Dovetail Eleven, Sea Esta, Shonandra, Lavinda (NZ), Aquabat, Ill Eagle, Lemaris (obscured), Maa Maalni (USA)

 DAY 4 – Saturday 14th February 2009

It was a beautiful and relaxing day in the Schouten Passage. Those already there spent it fishing, exploring ashore and conducting minor maintenance tasks on board. A game of beach cricket was soon under way. Rosinante did a little bit of survey work for the next edition of the Tasmanian Anchorage Guide. We found a bully (rock) between Schouten Reef and Schouten Island with considerably less water over it than was indicated on the official chart, having narrowly missed hitting it the day before.

This would be the first time the entire fleet would be in one place in time for the St Valentine’s Day barbecue in the evening. There was one exception – Masterpiece who has gone directly to the Furneaux Group. Several boats made a day trip to Coles Bay for supplies including one expedition up the Hazards to the lookout for the superb view down to Wineglass Bay. Others caught up from points south, including Fargo who has resolved her overheating problems.

The barbecue in the evening got under way at about 1800. When most of the crowd had assembled, it was discovered there wasn’t a single box of matches on the beach to light the barbecues! How times have changed – not one smoker in a group of more than 50 people.

It was quite cool night but a good time was had by all. There was a cruise briefing discussing the possibilities for the next phase of the cruise which will be trip along what the weather bureau calls the upper east coast to Banks Strait and beyond.