TN477, 02-12/1/17
Monday 2 January – The Voyage Crew were on board promptly enabling briefings and ‘Hands Aloft’ to take place before dinner at 1800. The pilot joined at 1820, keen to leave as he had another ship to take out of port. We departed the berth at 1845 and anchored in Rose Bay at 1930, allowing the strong South winds to decrease overnight.
TN477, 02-12/1/17
Tuesday 3 January – The S’ly wind had gone down to 15 knots by Noon. After a fire drill and happy hour I gathered the crew to explain how we would sail off the anchor, without using the engines, and we braced the yards in readiness. The pilot boarded at 1230 and we sailed off the anchor under Lower and Upper Topsails, out towards the Heads. As the swell was 2.5 metres with a few rogue swells of up to 4 metres, the pilot left inside the harbour. We passed the Heads sailing close to the wind, on an E’ly course and had to start engines in addition to the sails due to the swell. At 1600 we called all hands, handed sail, braced the yards to starboard and altered to a southerly course. As per forecast, the wind became SE’ly overnight, and the motion was not too bad.
Captain Barbara
TN477, 02-12/1/17
Wednesday 4 January – By 0800 the wind was SE’ly and we set Lower Topsails and turned the engines off. The sun was shining, and straight after the morning meeting we set all 10 square sails. Tenacious was looking splendid as we sailed down the NSW coast, the motion improving all the time. In the evening the wind became East then NE and we squared the yards and settled down for a quiet overnight sail. Several crew were fishing from the stern but sadly no one caught a fish for the Captain’s dinner!
Captain Barbara
TN477, 02-12/1/17
Thursday 5 January – At 0900, 8 miles off the port of Eden, we handed sails and started motoring into this picturesque port, famous for its days as an old Whaling port. The Cruise ship “World” was anchored off as we made our entrance, before turning round and backing onto our berth. The good folk of Eden plus lots of visitors came down, as did the local press. Though not formally open to the public, many visitors were shown around by members of the Voyage Crew. After lunch the Voyage Crew were free to go ashore, many visiting the fabulous whaling museum, with the great ‘story’ of Tom, the Killer Whale. Others walked along the fabulous long beach or round the lagoon. In the evening most of the crew ate ashore, sampling some of the local delights. A number of us went to the local fish and chip shop, which sells several different type of fish and seafood, all locally caught.
Captain Barbara
TNS477 02-12/1/17
Mon 9th January 2017.
Anchored at Refuge Cove, Wilson’s Promontory. The Prom is the most southerly point of the Australian mainland in Victoria. At 7am we were greeted by a pod of dolphins visiting the ship and a fishing boat coming past for a few photos of us !! By 9am we were taken ashore by the 2 ship’s boats to the beach with a picnic lunch. Some people bushwalked an hour to Kersop Peak lookout. This had spectacular views of Tenacious at anchor & Waterloo Bay with it’s white sand. Father/son duo Bill & Jonathan took the adventurous decision to hike to Oberon Bay. This turned out to be a 20km round trip, which meant they came back just in time for the last boat to the ship at 5:30pm. Others swam & snorkelled seeing lots of seaweed, stripey fish (black, silver & yellow). Bosun Steve saw a seahorse ! I spotted a small brown scorpion on our bushwalk – the first I’ve ever seen in the wild ! It was a lovely warm day to visit The Prom, to explore this wonderful National Park with it’s gum trees, grass trees, banksias, hakeas & some flowers. Mostly a cloudy day but sunny at times. The main annoyance ashore were the numerous pesky March Flies which bite but they don’t leave an itchy sore. But they can be easily swotted since they’re slow !
Evening canapes were enjoyed on deck with the Engineers’ Punch with the sun setting !! A seal came past for a visit too !! Dinner was a yummy chicken casserole followed by apple crumble & strawberry ice cream.
Aft Starboard watchleader Diana organised an enjoyable evening of trivia ! 4 teams of 4 people each competed for a bottle of wine ! It was a fun evening with a few laughs & it brought out the competitive nature in a few !
Everyone had the opportunity to put a trivia question to the floor. Irish Carolanna asked us to name 5 Irish Counties. But she then realised she’d have to rattle off all 32 counties to us ! Likewise Belgian Christaan asked us to name all 27 European Union member states !! The top 3 teams were separated by ½ a point each !
We’re aiming to pick up the pilot at 9am on Wed 11th at about 5 miles from The Rip (entrance to Port Phillip Bay). Then berth at Williamstown
(Melbourne) around 4-5pm.
Cheers Aye, Roslyn Jan
TNS477 2-12/1/17
Tue 10 January 2017
At 9am we departed our anchorage at Refuge Cove then motored through the scenic islands at the bottom of The Prom like the Anser Group. Captain Barbara thought they looked very Scottish in the grey sky !!
Bosun Steve gave a very informative talk on different ships rigs. The weather also changed from cloudy to sunny. We’ve been motoring all day & set a few jibs around 3pm Capt Barbara is sailing us close to Phillip Island – hopefully we’ll be able to see or hear a few Little Penguins squeak as they come home for the day !!
