Blowin at Bowen

Bowen  31/5/2017

Had a brilliant sail from Airlie to Gloucester Passage, the scene of the annual Shaggers Rendezvous in August, which was such fun last year.  Of course, passing through in May this year was a much quieter, solitary affair; basically just another overnight stop.

The weather forecast was for strong winds for the following week and I really didn't fancy a repeat of the beating I took last year sailing up to Townsville.  So I opted to park Shanti in Bowen Marina for the duration of the blow.

There were two windows of opportunity for ease of manoeuvring in the tight confines of Bowen. - either slack water low at 1000 or slack water high at 1600.  It's about 12 miles across, and I allowed 3 hours sailing time. The current flows westward with the ebb tide, so I would either have it with me in the morning or against me in the afternoon.  When I awoke at 0630 the wind was already whipping up whitecaps so the decision was made for me to up anchor and go.

It was hard to slow Shanti down enough to get there at 1000.  Even with the headsail half furled in, she was still doing over 6 knots SOG. (Speed Over Ground).

I had rung ahead and been given the number of someone who could be there to take my lines.  The berth I was allocated could scarcely be given the illustrious title of Marina berth, being more like a narrow gap between the rock breakwater and the floating plastic walkway.

The leads in are narrow and shallow and a strong crosswind was blowing when I arrived at 0930.  Half a dozen people were standing on the end of the dock, yelling instructions at me.  The trick was to turn immediately toward the shallower mangroves (0.2 metres below keel), then reverse back toward the rock wall, then do a last minute pirouette to parallel the pontoon, all the while avoiding the barnacle encrusted piles and moored boats.

I had three quite respectable goes at it, after which it was obvious Shanti just didn't want to go in there. Can't say I blame her.

The helpers agreed and yelled out a change of plan - apparently there was a proper berth available, a lot easier to get into.  It was the spare berth belonging to a man called Kerry, who perceived that my need of it was greater than the others who had said they were (possibly) coming.  I was soooo grateful!  He even told the club not to charge me for the larger size, just the 10 m I had requested.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ugsZTmKy2XI