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SA's WEST COAST on EYRE PENINSULA

Following the trip in March / April around Tasmania, I had been speculating on what a trip to South Australia’s “West Coast” would be like in good conditions, ie no ice, rain or miserable weather. Studying the "Cruising Guide to the historic West Coast" Vol 4 by Graham Scarse there seemed be plenty of anchorages on offer to provide shelter against the prevailing weather and the potential for nice daily runs with interesting rest days for fishing and exploring.

Another attraction for me was that it is relatively close to home (Adelaide) so if the weather turned foul or there was an emergency, I would be in a position to return home at short notice. Talking to people about it, I formed the opinion that December / January would provide the weather window to suit my objectives and I then started to look for crew as well.

My initial survey of the route to Ceduna suggested that it would be necessary to set 4 weeks aside for the return trip in order to provide for a relaxed un-hurried escapade. Two previous members of the Tassie crew, Peter and Brian F. signed up immediately, but only for 2 weeks in January. With this in mind I fixed the timing to January and resolved to rotate crew in Ceduna (half way) and this way one of my daughters, Iraina who had been keen to come but restrained by her teaching job, could come and so that left me with one place to fill and it was filled by Keith, a fellow boat owner in Wirrina, following a chance meeting at the marina.

This crewing provided for 1 person per cabin and thus a measure of personal privacy, but as things turned out an extra person joined us on both the outward and inward legs of the trip and they were awarded the coffin (Port bow compartment), accessible via the forward cabin. Having 4 members each way does make for more comfortable rosters, so all agreed to the extra crew.

Provisioning this time had to be comprehensive as our route there and then along the coast / islands could well see us out of contact with provisioning opportunities if we wanted to maintain our sail with the wind approach. The only fixed reprovisioning opportunity would be Ceduna and here the incoming crew could bring most of the needed supplies with them. The Tassie trip had also provided me with useful feedback to the approach I adopted, that of planning 2 weeks of meal menus in advance. These provide simple meals and require the minimum of refrigeration / storage. I ask people to provide their own liquid refreshments and snacks which in the end we end up sharing anyway.

 
In our planning the only fixed element was the need to get to Ceduna by the end of the second week in order to rotate the crew, who’d be driving up from Adelaide, the returning crew taking the car back The rest of the trip was done on a daily basis after we’d received the GRIBS for the next 7 days (9.30 am + 3.30 pm next day + 9.30 am following 6 days), via my 3G Mobile phone, the BOM SA Coastal Waters Forecast, via VHF and our wish to keep  “beer o’clock” at a reasonable time. I’d start by comparing  the two forecasts and then overlaying the GRIBS on the chart. In discussion with the all the crew we’d assess the different alternatives and choose our prefered option. I’d then map this out on the chart, check distances / arrival times based on likely average speed and then save it to the C-Map user card for transfer to the Chartplotter.

This image can also be enlarged by clicking on it

In the morning before starting I’d activate the route on the plotter and from then on it provided heading / distance information to each turning point as well as our ETA for that day. The weather did not always pan out as expected and we’d then adjust our plan on the trot to suit the conditions, “beer o’clock” did get delayed un-acceptably a couple of times this way.

On our way to the West Coast we took 3 days to get from Wirrina to Fishermans Bay, via Kangeroo Island (Knob Point) and Thistle Island (Whalers Bay), the winds were  fluky but generally from the SE and we got some nice spinaker runs in despite the girls being somewhat apprehensive running this big sail. The way things turned out we stored the spinaker in its sock on the nets and got to use it most days and in the end the girls were comfortable at the helm doing 10 + knots.

Our first anchorage on the “West Coast” was Fishermans Bay, which was not fully protected from the prevailing SE wind, but being a cat the stay there was ok, even though not flat calm.

The next day we had a long run (71 Nm) along the coast under spinaker and got to Coffin Bay by the evening where we anchored off a delightfull little beach just inside the bay, where Raina promptly proceeded to catch a dozen sandcrabs. Keith tried his big game rod, latched on to something big and lost his rig, twice. He had fun though.

The next day we motored to the Coffin Bay township where we were invited to tie up along the CB Yacht Club jetty. Here we met some fellow sailors who were starting of on a week exploration of the bay in their trailer sailors they’d brought in from Adelaide by road. After some shopping, a nice lunch in the Hotel and filling our water tanks we headed back out to our little beach. As there was a nice breeze 15-20 knts, we un- furled the jib only, seeing we were negotiating channels, and got 2-3 knots assistance from it until, out of nowhere, from behind us there was a 45 +knot gust and our 7 ton cat took off like a beachcat hitting a top speed of about 15 knots. It was quite un-nerving and I was glad this had not happened with all our sails up. It did wonders to our vigilance of ensuring the “quick release” fixing of our sheets in the winch self-taylers.

The next day we sailed to Ellison, a nice country town where we had an old fashioned hotel meal, lots of nice meat, overcooked vegetables. There was also good supermarket and a nice bakery plus a camping ground where we enjoyed nice long showers. Although a reef enclosed bay, the anchorage proved to be quite rolly due to the swell coming in through the central gap in the reef bouncing of the beach and then hitting us on the recommended anchorage.

From Ellison we decided to go and have a look at Flinders Island as the wind had shifted and also because someone in the hotel had told us the fishing was great. It was not a long trip, 20 Nm and we arrived just after midday. The recommended anchorages didnot impress us so we explored the northern side of the island where there were some nice beaches which were well protected from the wind which had turned into strong (30-40 knt) southerlies by then.

After snorkelling along the beach, finding a few abalone, it turned into a lovely evening, with little wind and a beautiful sunset. The fishing the next day, on the reef between Flinders and Ward islands, was a bit disappointing, plenty of big fish, but not of the eating kind, except for a huge KG whiting, which Keith lost as it lay accross the back step. Still it was my first experience a drift fishing and it is a technique I will use again. We went back to our beach anchorage and departed for Venus Bay the next day where we came accross and met the only other cruiser during our stay on the West Coast.

By then the forecast were predicting a stinker of a day on Tuesday,45+ dC and I decided it would be a good opportunity to sit the boat in shallow water and clean the hull using the “hooker”(a dive compressor), Keith had brought along to do the bottom and minikeels, so we proceeded to Sceale Bay and anchored of Yarnebie Beach. Gail, our Canadian crew member asked if she could go for a long walk along the beach,while we were cleaning as she wasn’t needed, but once I dropped her on the beach on my way to look for a suitable spot for the cleaning she soon changed her mind after experiencing Aussie heat and a sandblasting. We enjoyed the cleaning as the water along the West Coast is surprisingly cool at times (must be an artic current). By afternoon the wind/heat abated somewhat and we had a succesfull fishing session, before anchoring in Yarnebie again.

The next day the plan was to go to Smoky Bay, but as the wind changed its mind we re routed and went to Franklin Island, which was a wonderfull surprise. We anchored of the beach near some un-inhabited sheds and went exploring along the beach. The travel guide advises to use caution once inside the beach front as the mutton birds burrow for their nests and their predators, big black snakes, occupy some of the vacated ones. It proved to be impossible to walk between the vegetation without the ground collapsing under your feet, into, you guessed it, mutton bird burrows. We quickly decided to stick to the beach.

The next day Keith and I decided we’d snorkel in the pool formed by granite boulders and see what we could find, hopefully some crayfish, except that the water was freezing and we wouldn’t have been able to stay in the water more then a few minutes. We went for a long walk along the coast instead and admired the rock formations, waves breaking. In the photo you can see a rock feature we dubbed a D&D doorway and the mutton bird burrows behind amongst the bushes

As there was a defined path we did visit the vacated sheds and guessed they may be shelters for research workers. The birds had got into them and made a real mess of things. The location did however provide a beautifull panorama of our anchorage on the Western Island.

There is another anchorage on the Eastern Island, but it doesn’t offer the same protection, nor does it have the beachfront, so we didn’t use it. The girls did go for a long walk along the beach and actually travelled accross the landbridge between the islands while the guys were out fishing, latching on to and losing the big ones, drifting along a reef in line with the land bridge.

By this time we were getting close to the crew rotation date so we decided to travel to Ceduna a day early where we were welcomed by the local Coast Guard who helped us tie up along the jetty. After exploring the town and the hotel for a bit the girls decided to move into local accomodation for the night and Keith and I went back to the boat to change before we’d go for a meal at the local yacht club. Unfortunately the wind decided to blow up, 20-30 knts causing the boat to be blown away from the jetty and we weren’t game to get off boat, especially since we didn’t know how we’d get back on safely after a meal and a few drinks.

The following day we refuelled, the exchange crew, Peter, Brian and Rod arrived and we had a comunal dinner at the Lodge accomodation for the entire compliment.

We departed Ceduna on Sunday 19 Jan after taking on water at the commercial wharf and motored, no wind and warm, to Smoky Bay where I’d been told there were lots of razor fish, a shell fish a bit like scallops, which is excellent fish bait but nice to eat as well. Smokey Bay turned out to be a very popular fishing resort and very few razor fish remained for us to gather so we didn’t hang around and went to Franklin Island as I felt the new crew would apprciate the island, plus it would be cooler then the mainland.

We revisited the rock pools and the snorkelling was rewarding.with lots of fish in evidence Somehow the water in the afternoons was no where near as cold as that in the morning. I also took the opportunity to go for a long walk along the beach.

Next we went to the ST Francis Island group, with St Francis Island, where we spend the first day, being very similar to Franklin island. Masillon, the next biggest Island was more interesting and we circumnavigated it and explored both anchorages on offer.

There was a spectecular cliff surrounded round bay with lots of fish in evidence, but it didn’t offer protection against the weather we were expecting so we relocated to the northern bay where we had lots of sea lions for company.

The bull sea lion took exception to Brian snorkelling for cray and chased him off, so when the dingy returned, Rod and I thought we’d try for some whiting on the small white patches along the edge. As soon as we arrived, got our rods in and got a rock cod, a seal pup joined us and we thought that would be the end of the fishing. I gave the cod to the pup, who promptly decided to play with it like a cat before eating it and hooked a nice whiting at the same time. It turned out to be one of our more rewarding fishing stints and it was fun having a seal pup play around the dingy within touching distance.

I managed to download the GRIB files on the mobile, despite not being able to hold a voice connection and the forecast for the following to days was for the wind to shift to 20-30 knot Northerlies, our chance to get down the coast.

We planned to go from Masillon to Baird Bay, advised Ceduna VMR when a fishing vessel came in and recommended against it as the bar at Baird Bay breaks badly in a 3-4 m swell. After examining the entrance from out on sea we decided to postpone our “beer o’clock” and contnued on to Venus Bay, where I knew I could handle the entrance.

I timed our entry so we’d miss the bigger set of waves and managed to run in and turn the corner into the bay without any incident. Once anchored after a 107 Nm run in 11 hours we were rewarded with a peaceful sunset.

The next day saw another 97 Nm, spinaker run into Coffin Bay and the “West Coast” was effectively behind us, with a week left to make a way home to Wirrina.

Because of a lack of wind we spend 2 days in Coffin Bay and then sailed to Avoid Bay, Memory Cove, West Cape, Bay of Shoals on Kangeroo Island, where we cleaned the boat before going to American Beach which was the jumping of point for our final leg to Wirrina.

The total distance travelled to Ceduna was 505 Nm and the return 581 Nm and we were able to sail most of the way. All up we used 220 liters of diesel a lot of which was used for generating electricity and manouvering at the start and end of each day. The spinaker runs varied from 5 – 15+ knots and we also had some nice reaches in the low teens. Some of the seascapes were spectecular but most of the landscape we encountered was pretty barren and I think the trip will be recalled by us for the fantastic sailing we enjoyed, the relaxation and lack of excitement.