Weather window

Bundaberg,

May 4th 2017  (Or as someone so astutely observed, Star Wars day) - was to be departure day, in an ideal world without weather.

However, words of wisdom from my son in law, Dr Andrew Watkins, meteorologist at the BOM, suggested the cyclone season may not fit so neatly within its usual parameters of November to April this year, and patience could be the more sensible course.  Clearly Mother Nature doesn't watch the calendar as closely as we sailors do.

After three weeks living in the protected environment of a house in Melbourne, it is easy to forget the weather.  Mostly it was sunny, quite mild for autumn, occasionally rained and blew a little. Nothing of any great concern.  So it seemed perfectly reasonable to come back to Shanti with a departure date in mind.  Wrong!

Looking at the forecast for the coming week - gales of over 40 knots and 2-3 meter seas, with potential for another low forming within the monsoon trough that could develop into another Tropical cyclone Debbie - staying tied up in Bundaberg Marina seems somewhat more appealing than going sailing.



This forecast shows a low approaching the Queensland coast this weekend.



Forecast to slide down the coast toward Bundaberg next week.

TC Debbie left a trail of devastation through the Whitsundays last month. After tracking inland she re-emerged at the coast near here, bringing torrential rain and winds up to 55 knots.  During this deluge my life raft self-inflated.  It was stored in the well under the cockpit floor, which ordinarily is reasonably watertight. It was quite an odd sight to find the floor lifted to a 45 degree angle, as if some subterranean iceberg was surfacing!  Fortunately it could be relatively easily repacked with a new gas cylinder, (after evicting a resident cane toad) and a memo to store in a drier spot.

While in Melbourne, I bought myself a second-hand sextant, just for fun really, but you never know when those satellites that we take so much for granted might be shut down.  I'm looking forward to learning how to use it, kind of like learning a foreign language.  I also bought some bluetooth wireless headphones and scraped together a collection of audiobooks. Should keep me amused for months out on the ocean.

Till then, it's a waiting game ....