SIMARJON SAILS NORTH

John Maddox, Rear Commodore Australia

As mentioned in the March 1993 Newsletter I bought an Endeavour 30 in Tasmania last year and sailed her back to Sydney in February 1993. Simarjon was built in Sydney in 1979/80 and measures 30ft by 10ft 6in by 5ft 6in. Her 12 hp Yanmar YSE drives her at 5-6 knots, and though people have told me that 12 hp is underpowered for a 30ft Endeavour, after reading in the last issue about Sherpa Bill, a 36ft Excalibur, motoring through the Panama Canal with the same engine going full blast, I think that Simarjon is in good company.

Hobart Port Officer John Solomon carried out a preliminary inspection before the boat was surveyed, and Hugh Garnhan (OCC) took delivery and arranged repairs in Hobart. He also kindly drove me to the Derwent Sailing Squadron with all my gear, where my crew -- Charles Davis (OCC), his brother Tony and Ken Morton -- met me on 29th January. Saturday 30th January was spent in getting in supplies and Charles, Tony and Ken drove up to Mount Wellington, which overlooks Hobart and is even known to have snow in summer! That evening John and his wife invited us all for drinks at their beautiful house at Taroona, on a bend of the Derwent River from which you can see all the river traffic entering and leaving Hobart.

Next day we pulled out chart AUS 171 and motored down a glassy Derwent River past the Solomons' house to the Iron Pot below Betsy Island, taking care to miss Black Jack Rocks and Cape Contrariety, then on through Flinders Channel to the Denison Canal at Dunalley. By passing through the Canal and Blackman's Bay into Marion Bay about 150 miles are saved -- the alternative is to go round Tasman Peninsula, which is the route that boats of more than 6ft draught have to take. One advantage of the longer route is to see historic Port Arthur (after crossing Storm Bay), where convicts transported to Tasmania from the UK were brought in the first twenty years of the last century.

Before leaving Hobart I had checked the tide through the Canal and called the bridgekeeper on 27 MHz to say that we were coming through. The road from Hobart to Port Arthur crosses the man-made canal by a swivel bridge, and as one passes through the bridgekeeper holds out a bucket on a long pole into which one is supposed to put a few notes or cans of beer. It is said that if insufficient `payment' is made the bridge starts closing, which would be disastrous!

Blackman Bay is quite shallow, especially from Green Point to Marion Narrows, and the caution on AUS 171 states that `only vessels with local knowledge should use Denison Canal and the passage between Blackman and Marion Bays'. As the sandbanks shift from year to year it is advisable to collect a pilotage plan from the Hobart Harbourmaster. The locals will tell you that it is a `good' or `bad' year for Dunalley depending on the shift of the shoals. It was evening by the time we sailed across Marion Bay, through Mercury Passage between Maria Island and mainland Tasmania, and anchored in Prosser Bay, off Orford. It is little known that rebellious Maoris were exiled on Maria Island after the New Zealand Wars of 1846.

Monday saw us in Triabunna in company with two yachts which had come from Melbourne and were going to Hobart. The forecast for crossing the Bass Strait was for a southerly commencing on Wednesday, so we spent Monday night and Tuesday fishing at Bryans Corner off Freycinet Peninsula near Schouten Passage. I do not say that one should always wait for fair winds before leaving port, but Peter Cosgrave (OCC) had told me in Sydney that many a time, returning after a Sydney Hobart Race, boats that had waited for a fair wind arrived at Eden on the Victoria/New South Wales border at the same time as those who had left earlier and had to bash their way across `The Paddock' (Bass Strait) against a north-easter. Lots of flathead were caught and eaten, as well as a barracuda that snapped at the trolling line on the run from Hobart to Dunalley. A warning about barracuda -- not only do they have sharp teeth but at certain times of year the flesh is full of worms.

The southerly duly came in and we set course for Eden on the Australian mainland, resisting the temptation to stop at Wineglass Bay just up the Freycinet Peninsula now that the wind was favourable. The only other anchorages on the east coast of Tasmania are Bicheno and St Helens, both of which I have visited in calm weather. Bicheno give protection from the north by lying between Governor Island, Alligator Rock and the shore and Trap Reef to the north. St Helens has a bar, and it is advisable to call up the local Coastguard to arrange for a fishing trawler to stand by in case one's engine fails or has insufficient power to drive through the breakers.

A course of 000(with approximately 14of easterly variation) brought us to Bermagui after four days at sea. The wind was steady from the south and only for short periods did we have a reef in the main, though one photo taken by Tony of Charles in the companionway shows 8 knots on the clock! A strong set through the Bass Strait took us to the east of our rhumb line, which meant that we made our landfall on the NSW coast considerably north of Eden. (The NSW coast trends at about 30to the north). Returning from Hobart on Ronita with Ron Cottee in 1966, a similar set took us so far to the east that Point Perpendicular by Jervis Bay was the first land we saw after leaving Maria Island. In the past thirty years I have crossed the Strait twenty times (ten Sydney Hobart Races and return) and this was only the second time I had encountered such a set.

At times the Bass Strait is as calm as a swimming pool, at others as rough as any strait between two land masses at the latitude of the Roaring Forties could be. King Island on the western side only serves to funnel the westerly wind and current. It is said that 1000 seafarers have been lost since white settlement 200 years ago. Only two years ago Great Expectations and her crew of six disappeared without trace between Devonport and Melbourne, as did Charleston coming from Tasmania to Sydney for the start of the Race.

Bermagui (Aboriginal for `canoe with paddles') is an all-weather harbour, with a river entrance best tackled between the third and sixth hours of the flood tide. We arrived at 1900 on Saturday 6th February and berthed alongside the Fish Cooperative Wharf after guidance from the local Coastguard. Showers and a Chinese meal were offered by the Country Club which was most hospitable. As the forecast for the next day was northerly, Charles, Tony and I decided to swim and relax and depart for Sydney on Monday morning. Ken had to get back, leaving the three of us on board. We had an excellent meal at a restaurant with walls covered by photos of large game fishing catches from the 1930s up to the present. In fact only two of the former twenty commercial fishing vessels still operate out of Bermagui, the others being game boats.

On Tuesday evening we entered Sydney Heads after skirting some naval vessels exercising off Jervis Bay, and moored overnight at the Sydney Amateur Sailing Association in Mosman Bay where Tony keeps his 28ft Warrangi. Next morning Simarjon motored up to Tamborine Bay in front of St Ignatius College (Riverview), where Peter Cosgrave had kindly left a dinghy on Tony Johnson's mooring. We now have mooring at Clareville Beach, Pittwater, and greatly enjoy sailing and exploring that area.