On the morning of the 27th we arose to get ready for our motor sail across to the Gurgari Rip, which is a small gap between the Wessel Islands. The Gugari Rip is around 60m wide and 1.1nm long. With the tide flowing through the rip at around 12kts in a Spring Tide we had to time our approach carefully. The plan was to arrive right on high water during the slack tide so we were running with a slight ebb through the rip.

We had decided to mix our crew up with Silver Fern for the day so people could take the opportunity to see how each boat is run. Our keen volunteers were foreign imports Polish Jerzey and American Paul who we swapped with Baz and Karen. We unintentionally offended one of our visiting crew while talking about the Yankee(our large headsail on the front of the foredeck). Our other Yankee launched into a detailed explanation of the derivation of the term as I tried to intercept and explain that I wasn’t talking about him. DJ Paul then proceeded to provide us with the coolest playlist set of the leg so far.

Our foreign imports Jerzey and Paul providing some good company for the day

As we approached the rip after some rocky seas we were a little early and had to kill some time by reaching up and down the shoreline. With only the stay sail up at this point the lurching of the boat through the waves was fairly uncomfortable but I tried to liken it to some sort of amusement park ride.

As we’re a polite bunch of people, we decided to let Silver Fern go through the rip first and we waited for them to make the first move. As we approached the rip we thankfully spotted flat water which meant we’d timed our run perfectly. I explained to the crew that this short passage may be a little anti climatic after all the suspense. Skipper Phil retorted with a ‘that’s exactly how we want it!’………OK Phil you’re probably right.

As we steered through the passage there were countless “ooohs and aahhs” coming from the crew as they oggled the beautiful scenery. We were making good speed at around 8 knots and 1500rpm with the current pushing us about 3 knots through the rip. Phil handed over the helm to me so he could snap some photos. You could see little back eddies flowing around the corners of the coastline which gave us a good idea of how strong the tide was flowing even at this slack point. As someone spotted a few croc marks on the nearby beaches I promptly lost concentration of driving to spy any of them on the beach. Phil’s outburst of ‘watch where you’re going!’ reminded me that we were still not quite out of the narrow passage. If the tide caught our bow I’d have a bit of explaining to do!…….OR I’d get to practise my confined space turns.

We made it through the rip which took all of 10 minutes, and pulled up to our anchorage nearby for the night. We swapped our crew back and I was hoping they might have stolen me some of those sweet sweet mackintosh toffees that Silver Fern have onboard. Egg and Cream being by far the best flavour(so you know for next time ;).

Tomorrow we’re to carry on with a 300nm passage to the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park on the Cobourg Peninsula.

Till next time,

Jess :)

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