On the 7th of October the crew gathered in Fremantle to prepare for departure for Melbourne the following day. Ken Dobler (our 5-leg circumnavigator onboard) was back for leg 4 and rearing to go again. The mostly cooler week in Fremantle and the friendly, helpful people from the Royal Perth Yacht Club made this an excellent stopover. Harbour Master - Danny went out of his way to “squeeze us in” and provide advice, help with contractors and check on us regularly. Both yachts had some key repairs to complete, so all the extra help from the local people made a big difference to stress levels and work loads.

Ken was in charge of booking the crew welcome dinner for leg 5 and after a bit of research, found us a great spot at The Local Hotel (a rather uncreative name) and the 20 minute hike through the backs streets of Fremantle, had us all wondering if Ken really knew where it was. Then at the end of the last unlit backstreet, it popped up right in front of us in blazing lights. With Jetstar reinforcing its reputation as S&!t-star, 4 flights to Perth had been cancelled at no notice and our crew had to grab last minute Qantas flights from Sydney and Melbourne, at prices of up to $1,400 to get to Perth in time (instead of the $300-$400 originally paid). Nothing kills the start of a holiday like crappy service from airlines. When Jetstar is owned by Qantas, it’s hard for them to defend such predatory pricing and scheduling behaviour.

Dinner was excellent and our combined crew of 14 enjoyed getting to know each other. After months of booked out yachts (10+12 onboard), it was a nice change to have just 7 on each yacht. Which stretching the duties over fewer people adds to the work load, the group on this leg were far more focused on the Southern Ocean / Great Australian Bight sailing adventure, than on the stops along the way. Of our 5 legs around Australia, this has been the least popular, but the hardy souls gathered for this leg were here for some decent heavy weather sailing and ocean swells.

We were up and ready to get started at 0730 hours on the 8th. With 2 hours of safety training and yacht familiarisation to complete, the time disappears quickly. We had loaded Salt Lines new anchor and chain onboard 2 days early and dropped the anchor loaned from Silver Fern into the marina, with the end of the chain tied off to the dock. Once Salt Lines moved off their dock and headed for refuelling, we turned Silver Fern 180 degrees and parked the bow over the top of the anchor and chain, so we could reattach it to Silver Fern and pull it back on board. We had loaned it to Salt Lines, when they lost their primary anchor approaching Horizontal Falls , earlier in leg 3. The 80m of chain came up easily and was not coated in mud like I expected. Next stop was the fuel dock, where we tucked in front of Salt Lines to take on our 800 litres of diesel and 20 litres of petrol.

By midday we were both done and Salt Lines lead the way out through the maize of channels, reefs and shoals to the open sea 4 hours later. We had planned to head to Esperance, but experienced local skipper, Mark McCrae advised us to go Albany instead, based on current weather forecast and the ranges of things to do and see in Albany. That shortened our first leg to 270nm and we made contact with Albany Marina who happily arranged a couple of berths for us. 

The overnight motor-sail down the coast in sub 10-knot winds went well, with a rounding of the famous Cape Leeuwin (one of the five great southern capes) in calm seas at 0800 hours the next morning. We saw lots of whales (again) along the route, it was great to see the the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in the distance.

The rock strewn coast meant we were still 5 miles off the shoreline, but the Southern Ocean swell and sunny morning made for a gorgeous backdrop. This coast is rugged and you’d be in trouble in a storm trying to fight the onshore breeze and currents to get around this corner if you strayed in too close as many a past mariner has discovered.

The transformation from west coast to south coast was complete as we approached the steep cliffs, rocky shores and headlands of the entrance to Albany. The grey, 13-degree day, sombre colours and squally, rainy weather, completed the transformation of our backdrop, after weeks of mostly sunny weather, blue skies, golden sands and warm-hot temperatures.

By mid-morning, we rounded the eastern end of Flinders Peninsula in 20-25 knots. We had sailed the final 30nm in building breeze and with full main and jib flying, we were trucking along doing 8-9 knots and looking forward to some respite from the rainy, squally weather that was developing. With 30-40 knots forecast later that day, our timing for a 24 hour stop was impeccable. We entered King George Sound, furled the jib away and then reached across the bay, looking for protection behind the headland to drop the mainsail.

With the main safely away, we motored through the narrow channel into Princess Royal Harbour (it’s all very regal here) and Ross lined Silver Fern’s bow up with the entrance into the Albany Marina. We had two berths booked on the downwind side of the public wharf, but a riviera launch had arrived overnight and decided to spoil the party. With limited space I decided to reverse Silver Fern into the narrow gap between the upwind side of the wharf and the sea wall. The harbour master came down to greet us and offered us a pontoon across the marina instead, so we could avoid being pummelled and ground into the wooden piles overnight, when the 30 knots arrived. We happily moved, knowing how difficult it is to keep fenders line up with wooden posts, especially in heavy weather.

Excited to be in a new port, we sat down and finalised our plans for 24 hours of land adventures! 

David