1/8/2001

Dear Ross,

Well I am back in Albany after spending several weeks in the Kimberlies on my J6 Willawaw.

The trip North was uneventful with three nights camped in the bush and four days on the road, 2846 Km. From home to Derby. The inland road through Meekatharra and Newman an easy run from Perth.

Launched at the Derby jetty ramp at High Tide in the late afternoon of May 26th. with difficulty, as we were heavily loaded with 90 Lts. fuel and 8O Lts. water ++ a folda-boat to tow as a tender. Tide running past ramp at 6 knots. The crew being my Brother and Sister-in- Law

Fortunatly we were able to hang off a mooring for the night and by 1630 had dried out on sand (hard) and mud..

Cast off at 4.10 next morning on an 11.36 metre high tide and headed north up King Sound in the dark. The first shelter is Point Usbourne 40 Nm North of Derby and MUST be reached before the outgoing tide turns to avoid being swept into Stokes Bay, a 22,NM WIDE gap.

After having two nights anchored in the inland sea, ( a large water-way accessed by two narrow channels) we worked our way up to the BUCCANEAR ARCHIPELAGO and across Yampi Sound to spend days

exploring TALBOT and DUJONG bays. Beautiful areas, many islands

and waterfalls at the end of most Mangrove creeks.

One thing we found essential was to have unlimited patience as life is governed by the huge tides. Many areas could only be

accessed on the slack and even then the upwellings and whirlpools were awe-inspiring.

With care we negotioated areas which have a bad reputation, such as Hells Gates and Whirlpool Pass and suffered no damage on reefs or uncharted rocks (which is most of this area). A cheap fish finder, very useful to select an obstacle free bottom to dry out on, as well as a hand held GPS. The GPS mainly for the crossing from Derby to Pt Usborne as you are out of sight of land for some of the 40 Nm and the tide carries you north of your course across Stokes Bay.

Crocodiles were a concern as you are close to the water in a J6 !!.

They have no fear of humans in the Kimberely and approach very freely especially during the night. A spotlight an essential for a check around the boat after dark. Twice we were woken during the night with a croc. rubbing itself on an anchor chain.! I made a practice of tying the side shade cloth curtains, suspended from the boom awning, down to the side decks at anchor in the evening.

The dinghy I would leave behind next time, as it had to be towed all the time and the "freeboard " wasn't really suitable for the area !!!

The idea was to carry 2 2O lt Fuel drums in the dinghy but this didn't work as the tender kept filling with water, consequently the drums ended up being carried in the cockpit.

The scenery is magnificent, especially in the Talbot Bar area with small patches of rainforest at the end of mangrove creeks plus many islands, complete solitude.

The J6 proved very workable, even though a little crowded with 3 adults with all the gear we needed.

Fuel is unobtainable after leaving Derby even though we managed to buy 20 Lts. at Cockatoo Island. However we were left in no doubt that it was not policy to sell fuel to yachties !.'

The 8 Hp. EVINRUDE 4 Stroke used 2Lts an hour and without towing a dinghy may have been closer to 1.5 its an hour.

Water was not hard to find although in most cases required motoring right to the end of creeks, usually quite narrow.

Fish plentiful, only caught what we needed for food, mainly

Mangrove Jacks, Fingermarks, Blue salmon and the odd Barra. 100lb lines with large suicide hooks the way to go. Many sharks which were a nuisance at times when fishing.

All up a great adventure.

EQUIPMENT TAKEN.

Fuel 90 Lts plus 20 purchased at Cockatoo Island.

Water 80 Lts.

Food for 4 weeks stored in Starboard Quarter Berth accessable through 3 cockpit inspection ports.

Stove Single burner travelmate + 32 Disposable Cans stored under cabin floors.

Portable toilet stored in starboard hull

Boom awning with removable side shade cloth curtains and removable forward extension to cover cabin.

Anchors. lx 10 kg. plough 8m.chain 5Om line

lx Danforth 7m.chain 5Om line

lx Admiralty Folding 3m chain

lx Small Danforth 5Om line

VHF Radio

Auto Helm B*1 Data Log sounder

Eagle Fish Finder

Spotlight

2 Batteries lx 32 amp. Deepcycle in stern well charged by outboard

lx 17 amp. sealed, forward in starboard hull charged by 11w. flexible solar panel.

All necessary flares

1 Reflecting sighting mirror

1 Fire blanket and fire extinguisher

Apart from the chip off the starboard stem when launching on the concrete ramp at Derby (fixed with Epoxy Putty) no damage for the entire trip. Had several weeks at Dampier where Sue joined me. Mainly day sailing (motoring) around the islands. Very pleasant and NO crocs!

Not a lot of wind in the Kimberlies, mainly motor sailing or just motoring. Kept boom awning up for most of the time & used jib or cruising spinnaker where possible.

..........................................................................

Ross,

I keep meaning to write to you but also keep putting it off.

The June newsletter just arrived so prompted this. I always enjoy the newsletters so please keep them going.

Auralea is going well, we're getting on reasonably well and she has started to let me tack her a bit more often and more reliably. I'll talk to you about this another time. Bev went off line dancing with her mates on the June weekend you mentioned so I took the boat out on the Bay myself. The weather was great, got launched and away from the Trailer Boat Club about 1145, got the sails up and wandered around near Green and St Helena for a while, had lunch and headed for the H Atkinson Artificial Reef. Just had a lovely reach out and back, NE breeze about 10 knots, trying to get Auralea to steer herself. She hasn't quite got the hang of it yet.

Over night tucked in close to St Helena.

Had breakfast and went south in a NW breeze, boat doing 3-4 knots, lovely sunshine, good for the soul.

Down towards Peel, about midday and got into one of those wind changing but can't make up its mind situations, after about 30 minutes we had a bit from the SE so got part way down the Banana Banks.

Called Coast Guard Brisbane to let them know where I was, had a bit of a problem raising them but spoke to Raby Bay and other boats OK so I assume they'd gone for a cup of tea. Vic Thomas and Ray Baxter, a couple of my fellow operators from the Trailer Boat Club's Radio Room VKQ 447 were on their boats down at Blakesleys, were catching whiting and intending to overnight in Deanbilla Bay. Said I'd come and join them for the fishing and the overnight.

Made a bit of progress but then the wind died. Not a problem, I refused to start the motor, had lunch, magic sunny day with blue sky and water, no grandkids, etc etc, shirt off (not a pretty sight), fish jumping, boats going here and there, just lazed around and took it all in. Wind got up about 3 pm, nice breeze from south east so headed for Deanbilla Bay. Wind was doing perhaps 15 knots so decided to stay out for a while and we were getting along with the speedo touching seven knots at times. Later went in and caught up with Vic and Ray and had a brilliant night at anchor. Queensland got beaten in the State of Origin game that night, did a bit of fishing for no result, off to sleep about 2230.

Breakfast about 0800, motored out about 0845 to about the Douglas Light, put the sails up and headed north of Peel and back to Manly, Eve's Delight, Shadow and Part Her Ship from MBTBC came through about the same time. Had another lovely sail, back to Manly by about 1230, back home about 1430. One of the nicest times I've had for a while.

As I'm trying to use Auralea as a sailing boat I'm trying to minimise the engine size and fuel carrying needs. The shorter shaft Tohatsu 5 that came with the boat did not handle any pitching without cavitating and a reasonably big bloke on the foredeck could lift the stern enough to not have sufficient control under motor. I replaced it with a long shaft Tohatsu 5 and I'm very happy with it. Its reliable, economical, fairly light and can push the boat with good control into winds around 20 knots with the chop that creates, and of course its always on the nose, otherwise I'd be running downwind under sail, and the motor can do 7 knots in flat water. If ever I raced the boat I would probably try and borrow an even smaller motor to minimise the weight.

Ted Cooper lives just around the corner and we've had a few days on the water together and spent some time helping each other with bits of gear and of course, invaluable information. Seven years and six days after he started building we got Recooperation into the water for the first time. He has an ex 505 mast and a cut down skiff mainsail, the luff is about 1300 mm longer than Auralea's and being a bare boat and very light it got along pretty well. We've had it out twice, first day we were told it was 17-19 knots but I didn't think it was quite that much and the second time it was blowing a bit harder. Both days were great, the bigger rig not causing any concerns. I think Ted's happy with his work. He's since fitted a tack track but hasn't tried that out yet.

Bev and I are going to trhe Untied States to see our daughter and hubby and grandkids so won't be back till end September.

Fond regards for now to you and the family.

Jack Duvoisin