Pachuca Circumnavigation: Bunbury Cruise, Days 1-13

The annual Bunbury Cruise officially began with dinner at the Fremantle Sailing Club (FSC) on Friday 14 February. Brenda and I attended and enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones.

Although the Bunbury Cruise is sponsored by the Cruising Section of the FSC there are participants from both Swan River and blue water clubs. This year we have a fleet of 13 boats of various types and construction and ranging from 9.2m to 13.1 meters in length.

The programme called for departure on Saturday the 15^th for a 2-day stay at the Mandurah marina, about 30 sea miles to the south. From there the fleet would sail another 60 miles to Bunbury. However, for various reasons some boats departed before the 14^th and a few, such as Pachuca, departed as late as Tuesday the 18^th. The main issue is the wind. The prevailing winds are from the SW and the sensible tactic is to set sail for the south whenever there are sustained winds from the east.

We departed at about 9 AM on the 18^th with the plan to make directly for Bunbury and sailed through Challenger Pass very comfortable on an easterly wind. But in the early afternoon the wind veered to the SW (as predicted) and we spent the entire night bashing to windward against a 20 kt headwind with associated seas. Unfortunately Brenda was seasick during the entire night, not because conditions inside the cabin were particularly rough but more because of the corkscrew motion of the boat that does not agree with her at all.

I used the autopilot for steering, which worked out very well, and sailed with one reef in the mainsail and very short headsail.

One reason why I stayed up all night was to deal with the shipping. I dodged a large ship, fully lit, and broadcasting the AIS information that she as drifting and “Not Under Command”. Later I had a large Maersk container ship bearing down on me. I contacted her when she was still 10 miles out and she was not aware of me, which surprised me because I was broadcasting my AIS data. It appears that some commercial ships are now blocking out “Class B” AIS broadcasts from small boats, no doubt to remove a lot of clutter from their systems. However, it means that I cannot expect these ships to seem me on AIS and I must contact them when they are bearing down on me. In this case we agreed that he would alter course 10 degrees and pass across my stern.

After dawn I was able to set a timer and take several light naps of 45 minutes which perked me up a bit.

At about mid-day the wind backed to the SE but by then we were 20 miles W of Bunbury so we had to beat against it.

We dropped anchor at Koombana Bay in Bunbury at about 2 PM and I crashed out for 2 hours of deep sleep. By then most of the fleet had made it to Bunbury with tales of having the best and fastest sail from Mandurah to Bunbury ever. Morning Tide, and S&S 34, averaged over 6 knots of the 60 mile leg.

Brenda enjoying calm conditions

These boats had followed the tried and tested tactic of departing at 1-3AM and reaching the next destination before the E wind died out. Because they are hugging the coast which curves gently toward the SW they are sailing in calm waters and are well positioned to sail against a SE wind. I took the hit for employing the worst sailing tactic of the entire fleet and apologised to Brenda for giving her such a rough night. Next year we will be better prepared and will also hop along the coast with early morning departures.

During out stay at Bunbury we visited Peter Jeffreys at his home. Peter had his boat next to Pachuca on D jetty of the FSC but has passed it on to his son Tim. We asked Peter if he could take us to a sports shop so that we could purchase a new air pump for the inflatable dinghy and he found on in his car port that seemed to work very well. After 3 pleasant days in Bunbury we made the passage to Quindalup, 35 miles to the SW. The wind died down and all of us wound up motoring.

There was a fishing contest during this leg, and I trailed two lures in the hopes of redeeming my reputation as the worst fisherman on the West Coast. After starting the engine while we were only 2 miles off the coast I decided to leave the large lure out and within an hour Brenda noticed movement in the rubber bungee that absorbs the shock of a fish strike. We landed the largest fish of my modest experience. We photographed it, weighed it at 3 Kg, and measured it at 66 cm (2.2 ft), then gutted it and keeping the head. At Quindalup we showed the fish to Brian, and it was identified as a “queen fish”. That evening the winners of the fishing contest was announced by Brian. In second place was John Snell of Wim who hooked a magnificent tuna of possibly of 15 kg. The fish was so big that they had trouble landing it. Photographs were taken as John tried to land the fish it managed to dislodge the hook and was soon on its way. First prize went to Pachuca for landing the largest fish.

Prize Winning Fish

The Quindalup anchorage had changed much since our previous visit 6 or 7 years earlier. Now it was full of moorings but because the area was still classed as an anchorage we were free to tie up to any free mooring, on the understanding that we would move on if the owner of the mooring arrived in his boat. Due to Pachuca's relatively deep draft we were forced moor about 800 from the shore, and be the farthest out from the club house of the Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club, which was started only a few years ago and has a 2-story club house with magnificent views.

On the Tuesday the 25^th Brenda and I made the 4 km walk into Dunsborough and had a leisurely coffee and lunch while our telephones were recharged at one of the cafe's power point. We then found a sports shop where we purchased a new pump because we had found that the pump that Peter had kindly donated would begin leaking as we were approaching the necessary pressure in the pontoon. This eased our minds because we had not been sure how much longer the old pump would last. We needed the pump because the Bombard inflatable which had been stored in my garage for 6 years had slight leaks in the floor and one of the pontoons. Worse, the glue in one section of the floor had given way and whenever we put weight in that area the sea water would gush in. I might make an attempt to repair the bombard, but the most likely solution will be the purchase of a new inflatable dinghy during the winter.

Anchorage at Quindalup

Nearby Bunker Bay

There are two notably good things about the Bunbury Cruise besides the great people involve. The first is that the program is not too cluttered and we have entire days to ourselves. The second is that it doesn't matter anyway because people are free on whether or not to participate, with no judgements passed.

On Wed the 26^th (today) we are having an easy day. We had a blind wine tasting at the club last night, where Pachuca's offering of a Condingup red came in a surprising (because of its distinctive taste) 5^th out of 13. Tonight we will have a farewell barbecue at the club house and tomorrow we will make our way to the Port Geographe Marina, 12 miles to the east of here and past Busselton.