Bunbury Cruise 2021

Report to FSC Cruising Committee on Bunbury Cruise 2021 This year’s Bunbury Cruise was coordinated by myself and Rob James of HYC, who was indispensible in sharing the planning and execution load of this endeavour and in particular did a superb job in his role as treasurer, which is a surprisingly complex and difficult task. BC2021 almost did not happen due to the sudden covid lockdown during the week of our planned start. We would not countenance a delay of more than one week and alerted the skippers of the likelihood of cancellation of the cruise. However, late on Friday 12 Feb it was announced that the transitional lockdown restrictions were being lifted and as of midnight Sat the 13th we would be allowed to travel outside of the Perth-Peel bubble. This enabled us to reschedule the event by exactly one week and we would sail to MOFSC on Sat/13 and on to KB on Sun/14. Rob James and I were pleased to note that all the skippers were if anything more keen than ever, and the complete fleet of 8 boats participated in the event. The participating boats and crews were: Manta Ray from FSC with Lucinda and Frank Daly Pachuca from FSC with Brenda Newbey, Peter Austin and myself de la mer from HYC with Robert James and Jill Amy Panache from HYC with Geoff and Rita James Sea Gypsy from HYC with Mitchell and Sharon Rogers Libertus from RFBYC with Rick and Kerry Blair Plan Sea from RFBYC with Remi and Miriam Van Baaren Volare from RFBYC with Zac and Anne Armanasco [Note: FSC=Fremantle Sailing Club, HYC=Hillarys Yacht Club, RFBYC=Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club] All boats except Libertus set off for MOFSC on the official starting day Sat/13 and all 8 boats were at Koombana Bay on the target date of Wed/17. The passage to KB had been challenging due to the adverse southerly winds, which necessitated much motor sailing.

On Thu/18 we were at anchor at Koombana Bay and prepared our boats for predicted gale force winds of 35 knots during the night. During the night I noted a wind speed of 36 knots and one skipper reported seeing 40 knots. Three BC boats dragged anchor that night, two of them seriously, requiring use of their engines and several attempts to get their anchors to bite. During the worst of it one of the boats dragged between two other boats, avoiding a collision because of the fortunate timing of the boat’s swings on its rode as it passed by. The third boat dragged about 100 meters and took the matter calmly. (A fourth boat not part of our fleet also dragged anchor. The experience skipper had prepared by repositioning his boat further away from the shore to eliminate the risk either being hit by a dragging boat or hitting another if he dragged.) By dawn all was well with no boats damaged. However, I am sad to report that Lucinda Daly aboard Manta Ray had a fall down a ladder during the night, forcing her to spend one night in the hospital then being unable to re-board the boat. I am very pleased to report that Lucinda is now at home and is recovering well with no permanent damage. On Friday 19 Feb seven boats made the passage from KB to DBYC at Quindalup. Frank took his boat to PGM [Port Geographe Marina in Busselton]where he left it so that he could attend to Lucinda. The stay at DBYC was as good as ever. From there Rick aboard Libertus left the fleet to make his way back to his pen at RFBYC, something not unexpected due to the sudden shift of the cruise by a week due to the covid lockdown. Brenda and I aboard Pachuca exercised the option of visiting Busselton on Day 12 of the cruise and enjoyed the novelty of anchoring off the beach. On Day 13, 25 Feb, five BC boats arrived at PGM. Remi and Miriam aboard Plan Sea had elected to bypass PGM and sail directly to KB. We 11 guests from the five BC boats had a splendid evening at Dennis Gee’s home on the night of our arrival at PGM. On the next night we enjoyed drinks and dinner at the The Deck marina bar and restaurant then on the morning of Sat/27 we set off for KB. We spent the next four days relaxing at KB [Koombana Bay, Bunbury] with sundowners in the evenings, an enjoyable pizza night where we had a lot of fun in front of the club playing the Finnish game Finska introduced to us by Geoff James then ordering the delivery of a stack of pizzas for dinner, and riding our inflatables to lunch at the Parade Hotel. Panache with Geoff and Rita departed from the fleet on 1 March, Day 17 of the cruise, to meet a commitment in Perth. During this time we kept a close watch on the predicted winds and decided that we should leave for MOFSC one day earlier than planned. Accordingly, Rob changed our end-of-cruise restaurant booking at MOFSC from Fri 5 Mar to Thurs 4 Mar. Our reduced fleet of four boats set off for MOFSC early on the morning of Wed 3 Mar, Day 19 of the cruise. The passage was a good one, given the unusual wind conditions, with the winds generally from the east at 9-15 kts. And for once it was the boats further offshore that got significantly better winds than the ones hugging the coast. We had a good end-of-cruise dinner and on the morning of Fri 5 March the fleet departed MOFSC to their respective destinations. I have stated many times that my first and fundamental criterion for a successful cruise is that all boats and crews return safely with no harm. Thus with the injury to Lucinda I cannot consider it a completely successful cruise. But in all other respects it was indeed successful, a judgement made easier by the knowledge that Lucinda will make a full recovery. Robert Morales