Maripi: Burrum Heads to 1770

On Sunday morning, after farewelling Ray, we looked up the weather forecast for the next few days. There was a big high pressure system coming across with S to SE wind 25 to 30 knots forecast for Tuesday. Would we stay in Burrum Heads for maybe another week or would we head north now? We elected to head for the Burnett River, 35 nautical miles away with the aim of overnighting there before continuing on to 1770.

The wind varied in speed and direction but was mostly directly behind us at 5 – 10 knots. Like most cats, Maripi does not like to go square down wind. Given the light conditions, this time we went for the spinnaker. It is the first time that we have set the spinnaker on Maripi.

Maripi's Spinnaker up for the first time

We entered the Burnett River at Bundaberg just as the sun was going down and anchored before it was fully dark at 1750. We anchored where we usually do – just upstream of the sugar shed. Merv tells us he and his mate put the first coat on paint on it (last century!) At 0400 the next day we were off again in the dark up the river and out through the laterals headed for 1770 on Round Hill Creek; a distance of 55 nautical miles.

Both the wind and sea were up and at 0500 that morning a strong wind warning was issued for that Monday afternoon. We were sailing downwind on a S-SWesterly that was around 15 to 20 knots. Far too much wind for the spinnaker. We averaged 6.3 knots under headsail and main.

After a long day on the water the day before and the early start, breakfast was not up to our usual culinary standard. Chris (he with the cast iron stomach) announced that he had “had enough” after getting through about ¾ of his serve.

Breakfast

North of Baffle Creek, about 5 miles off shore, we picked up two exhausted hitch hikers. They must have been blown out to sea by the strong SW winds. They checked out the phone aerials, backstay, back rail and finally settled for a snooze under the TV antenna and in the lee of the radar (which was not on).

Rainbow Lorikeets

Tuning the antenna?

Not flying underneath the radar

They stayed with us for an hour. When they left we were much closer to land. They were in good voice and we hope they made it.

As expected the ocean swells were rougher around Round Hill Head. We manually steered because the auto pilot would not hold a course in the rough conditions.

Concentration required at the helm

We were very pleased to see the green marking the entry to Round Hill Creek. The entrance is narrow and adjacent to a rocky outcrop. The channel runs between the green and the rocks. We arrived at 1770 at 1330.

Round Hill Head

The welcome green channel marker. The channel is to port (the left) of the marker.

We anchored just upstream from the LARC base in 2 metres of water. This was OK for Monday night. With the approaching spring tides, however, there would be over a 2 metre tidal range. We needed 4 metres of water at high tide later in the week so that we would not take the hard at low tide. On Tuesday we went searching for some deeper water. After an extensive “marine survey “, we found a hole with 5 metre depth of water at high tide, away from the other anchored and moored vessels.

1770 anchorage looking downstream

1770 anchorage looking upstream

On Wednesday we took the dingy ashore and walked up past the caravan park to see what the entrance looked like in a strong wind warning. There was white water everywhere!