99. Coastal Sailing

I’m writing this at what is likely to be the southern most point of this circumnavigation. On the south coast of Tasmania, 43 degrees south of the equator. I’ve sailed around 1700 nautical miles from Bundaberg where I arrived in the country and when I turn north again in a month or so I will have at least another 3000 to go before I can check out in the far north. More if I decide to depart from Darwin rather than Thursday Island. That’s a lot of coastal sailing for someone that has gotten used to the open ocean. Most normal people that I talk to seem to think that sailing far from land is a little daunting but I would suggest that being close to land is much more challenging. Land brings no good things to a long distance sailor. Even less so to someone that primarily sails on his own.

First of all, you can obviously expect a lot more traffic when you sail along a coast. With container ships, tankers, cruise ships and, worst of all, fishing vessels constantly crossing your path you need to stay alert. It hasn’t actually been as bad as I expected along the Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmanian coasts but I’m used to being able to sail for days without seeing anyone. To a large extent I rely on AIS, radar and VHF in order to avoid collision as I have alarms that notify me if anything gets too close and I monitor any radio traffic on channel 16. But as the traffic intensity increases these alarms get triggered all the time and with constant radio chatter I find it very hard to get any real nap time. As a result I don’t really sail longer than 24 hours at a time and I always find myself arriving exhausted. It’s not a real problem, just a different routine. One day of sailing and one day of recovering before you can explore the new location or move on.

Out on the ocean you often have prevailing wind conditions. Conditions that we have observed over hundreds of years and by now we know what winds we are most likely to get at any given place and time of year. Don’t get me wrong, you will get surprises, particularly if the crossing is longer than a couple of days, but predicting winds over a flat surface like an ocean is a lot easier than closer to a major landmass. I don’t think I’ve had the same wind conditions a whole day during my entire sail down the coast. Most of the time It’s been too calm to sail but when I have had wind it’s been constantly changing in strength and direction. Particularly if you get katabatic winds close to cliffs or headlands.

Then you have the sea state. In deep waters you generally get a constant swell. Often with waves that at first appear massive. To the extent that you think the cockpit will be flooded with every wave. Until you realise that Saoirse’s butt will lift and she will surf down the wave, the speed will increase with a couple of knots before slowing down again in anticipation of the next wave ride. With the right sail configuration this motion is very comfortable, almost soothing. It doesn’t matter if the waves are as high as three metres if the wave period is say twelve seconds. But when you get closer to land and it gets more shallow the wave period tends to decrease and what used to be green or blue piste (for the downhill skiers out there) turns in to a black mogul run. And if you include local tides and river outlets you often get contradicting swell that can get very uncomfortable.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed my sail south along the Australian east coast. There has been a lot to look at all the way and I have been able to explore some really cool places (pictures below). Sailing south has also meant that I’ve had the assistance of a southerly current some ten nautical miles off the coast. With 2-4 knots help it’s been like walking in the right direction on an escalator. Unfortunately I’ll be going the other way as I go north and I have not yet found an escalator for people going that way. Going north you have to sail closer to land where the current is less strong. Something that no doubt will only enhance the coastal sailing experience…