A Day Closer to Xmas

Being in an advanced country we are one day ahead of the US and Europe. So today is Xmas eve. We are spending it in Port Macquarie, New South Wales. That’s about half way from the Gold Coast to our next destination Sydney.
We left the Gold Coast about 10:30am, giving our friends on Fairwinds a 4 hour head start. Being the first time we have crossed the bar at the Gold Coast Seaway entrance we decided to go on an incoming current closer to high tide. We are not in the mood to test any more of the entrance bars in this country. The ride out was a little bumpy, but all over 15 feet plus deep. At this part of the coast the Eastern Australian Current comes in close to land and heads south at 2-4kts, giving anyone going southbound a major boost.
We picked up the current and started sailing south often making 9-10kts over ground with the push. Nice. In the wee hours of the morning the deluge rains started. This made the winds go up and then go down, leaving the boat with a very uncomfortable motion. To make things worse there was a lot of big ship traffic going to or from the port of Newcastle up and down the coast – pretty much on our course.
At about one in the morning Chris got me up because she was concerned about how close the CPA (closest point of approach) was for a northbound freighter. The boat was about 3 1/2 or 4 miles away, but not visible in the rain. The CPA was bouncing around .1 miles – way too close for comfort. As I shook the sleep out of my eyes the CPA slowly changed to 1 mile. 1 mile is typically the standing orders given to the bridge officers on freighters as a minimum clearance. When I see the change to 1 mile CPA I am pretty confident they know we are there. They either see us on Radar or AIS.
Just then the VHF radio crackled with a call Georgia, Georgia this is Corona Infinity. It was the captain of the Japanese northbound freighter letting us know he had opened up the CPA and wishing us a warm watch.  Then we only had to dodge two or three more freighters before we were clear for awhile.
As the sun came up we were fairly close to Coffs Harbour. No one on the boat was feeling good, as the night had been really sloppy and wet. Coffs does not have a bar entrance so we turned westerly and headed in. The anchorage was rolly as the swell makes it past the break water. Not really comfortable, but a shower and nap helped.
Next morning we sailed down to Port Macquarie, again with a great push by the current. This was fast, pleasant sail – the way they usually are after you had a sucky sail the day before. The bar at Port Macquarie is pretty dangerous and needs to be taken carefully. There is a daylight visible sector light that aligns your entry. If you are too far south it shows red, too far north it shows green and if the porridge is just right it shows white. We rode one set in and headed to the marina’s moorings.
We’ve been here for a week now waiting for the weather to turn back to a northerly wind. Probably a good thing as the Sydney area has had wicked storms with hail, lightning and excess wind.

The Port Macquarie coast with the two entrance break waters center top.
Looks like we’ll be off on Xmas day to continue moving closer to Sydney.
Hope all our family and friends on land have a good holiday season, as well as all the ships at sea.
Paul and Chris