One man's journey

On Monday, November 6, 2006, Launceston yachtsman Ken Gourlay aboard the 12m Spirit Silver Edition departed the Tamar River heading west. His tale begins:

My planned route was to sail out of my home port at the Tamar River and go west with my official start time taken from the Bluff at Devonport. From there, I would continue west and around the north western corner of Tasmania and down the west coast. At the bottom of Tasmania I would turn east and pass the first of the five great capes of the world, South East Cape on the bottom of Tasmania. I would then sail across the Tasman and pass the second great cape, South West Cape at the bottom of New Zealand. From there, I would hold the latitude of around 45º south till I was about 1000nm off South America and then turn southeast to round the sailor's Mount Everest - Cape Horn.

There are several requirements to be considered to have sailed around the world. One is to complete a distance of at least 21,600nm - the circumference of the world at the equator- to cross all longitude meridians and the Equator, and turn a land feature.

To achieve the distance, I had to sail around Tristan da Cunha Islands, St. Helena Island, Ascension Island and across the Equator to turn St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks just 56nm in the northern hemisphere. From there, head south again using Tristan da Cunha as a turning mark before passing the Cape of Good Hope. Finally, I would cross the Indian Ocean and past Cape Leeuwin to the finish off the Bluff at Devonport.

WEST COASTER
The west coast of Tasmania has always been a little daunting to me, so I was determined to choose my weather to sail that stretch. It was the only time I would get a say in the weather that I was about to receive. I was also cautious about Bass Strait as that can have some very big westerly winds and I would be sailing west for 90nm to reach the northwest corner. There are lots of islands, current and rocks at the corner to navigate, and solo sailors aren't keen to be too close to land.

November 6 was looming as a possible start date. The Tamar Yacht Club organized a great send off party and I expressed my wish for a low key departure. I felt that I hadn't done anything yet and I wanted the opportunity to be flexible for the weather reasons just mentioned. It was an emotional time for me and for a few members of my family.

Spirit was still in Launceston, so on Sunday, November 5, I left for the trip to Beauty Point and the Club's Marina near the mouth of the Tamar River. The sails were bent on, and many little jobs were done and ticked off the final list. It is truly a beautiful trip of about 25nm down our lovely Tamar River. There was very little wind so I motored all the way.

I headed home for a final night with my family. My night's sleep was interrupted continually with emotional wanderings and once the morning arrived I went into automatic mode to shut out any stray and evil thinking. My wife Wendy, daughter Carly and I arrived at the boat at 0900 and it was all go. It seemed like no time at all before the press and Customs were there doing their job.

Right on noon, it was time to go and we untied Spirit and pushed off to a rousing three cheers.

I was just going, I wouldn't let my mind wander or start thinking. Wendy, Carly and son Tristan accompanied me out on the boat and we raised the main. We were then joined by about eight boats for my low-key send off. Wendy, Carly and Tristan got off just north of Georgetown and I was alone on Spirit. I said to Spirit: "You have no idea what I'm getting you in for. Do you?" Then I thought for a while and said: "Well, perhaps I don't either."

It was a lovely sunny day and the last boat to drop off was at West Head. A light north westerly drifted in and Spirit immediately leapt to the task as I turned the motor off.  It was a gorgeous start and I was able to collect my thoughts and soak in the task ahead.

I crossed my transit line at The Bluff of 146deg 21.35 East at 1628hours 21.41seconds. Wendy and family had driven through to The Bluff and the officials Bill Griffiths, the commodore of the Tamar Yacht Club, and Peter Gibson, representing Yachting Australia, were there as well. My sister, Sue, did a flyover in a friend's light plane as well as some club members. As soon as I was notified I had crossed the start line the emotions took over and I slumped onto the cockpit seat and burst into tears. I was a bit surprised by this as I thought I had been holding up well. It didn't last long and had no lasting effects as I now had some navigating to do. The weather promised to be good to the corner but then a southerly had developed on Tasmania's west coast. It was not promising to be too big, topping out around 25kts. It was not on my wish list but I decided to batten down and head out to sea as it was due to swing south west which would then give me a course down around the bottom of Tassie.

My first email to be sent home:

Position: Lat. 41 deg 06 
Long.146 deg 09
Date: 06/11/2006
Local time: 1920 Tas. time: 1920
Temperate: 18?C inside;
13ºC outside
Water Temp. 13.7ºC 
Humidity: 45 per cent inside

Hi Everyone,

After so long in the planning, the day has finally come and I've left on this wonderful trip. Thanks everyone who came and gave me such a wonderful send off.

I don't mind saying that, in the end, it all got a bit much for me and I was a bit of a sooky babe. Never mind, I'm over that now and have a bit of sailing to do.

I don't know what happened to the easterlies but I am tacking into 15 to 18-knot NW winds.

Now at 1730hrs, I am off Ulverstone and sailing well. I have had sandwiches for tea that Wendy made for me on the way out of the river.

I had some banging up in the bow earlier and it took a while to work out it was a cupboard door not closed in the front cabin.  As I have a water-tight bulkhead I have to climb in through the front hatch.  All is fixed now.
Till tomorrow,

Cheers from, Ken

I stayed up all night to get clear of the coast and made my first contact with Mary at Smithton Radio. In the cockpit I noticed that the ship's log had stopped working. My electronic instrument log had been working fine right up until leaving Launceston the day before. It had refused to work going forward but worked in reverse. I wanted it operating, so the local chandler opened up for me that night and I purchased another. I had fitted this as first job, on arrival at the Beauty Point Marina, that morning. It had worked for about eight hours. I was less than impressed. In the morning, I tacked back towards the coast and found the centerboard wanted to squeak a bit. I was getting tired by now, so I tacked back out to sea and caught a few cat naps.

The compass alarm went off and I cleared that. It wasn't long before it alarmed again. Again I cleared it. After a couple of hours it had repeatedly alarmed. I changed auto-pilots and that temporally fixed it.

I started a few checks and couldn't believe what I saw. The bottom rudder bearing was leaking. How? Why? After bailing for two weeks in the Vanuatu race I knew what I would be in for and didn't like it at all. I could do nothing now other than bail it out and think the problem through. One thing I had was time to think a problem through. I was two days from Hobart if I wanted to call in there and restart after fixing it. How was I going to fix it? Ask the manufacturer to try again?  Not likely, as this was his forth attempt at supplying me with a bearing that did not leak. I decided, when weather permitted, I would try and control where the water would go so I could pump it out rather than bail it. Mmm, it was only day one and I had three break downs.

The winds were stronger than forecast and I reduced sail to just a triple reefed mainsail to let me get into the trip and at one with the boat. My body was still getting accustomed to the movement of the boat and I had a small bit of seasickness the next day as the southerlies persisted. The winds peaked at 42kts and the next day they started to abate. At 0200 I rolled out some jib and slipped a reef out, and another at 0600. We were then settled in with a nice little south westerly and pointing to the bottom of Tassie. Dee Caffari's words were starting to come home to me about living a 24-hour day.

Position: Lat. 40 deg.59S
Long. 142 deg 53E
Date: 8/11/2006
Local time: 10.00 Tas. time: 10.00
Temperate: 16ºC
inside; 17ºC outside;
Water temp. 12.3ºC
Humidity: 61 per cent inside

Hi Everyone,

This is the west coast of Tasmania, so I guess one should expect some rough weather and that is exactly what I have.  The high pressure system that was coming is not ever going to get here.  I have one more day of this and then a westerly change with winds up to 35kts.

I am slowly going just south of west so that I can make the most of those and won't get caught on a lee shore.

Cheers, Ken

My first Wandering Albatross appeared along with various other types of birds.  Unfortunately a beautiful little bird flew into my wind generator and I found it on the floor of the cockpit. It was a common diving petrel and had beautiful pale blue colour with blue legs and feet. The legs were very feeble and would have only just supported the bird's weight on land but were okay for swimming.  That was sad. I ate tea out in the cockpit and had just my second cup of coffee. I was starting to get into the trip and enjoy myself.

To read more on the Ken Gourlay adventure, follow the links below:
» Ken Gourlay Pt 2
» Ken Gourlay Pt 3
» Ken Gourlay Pt 4
» Ken Gourlay Pt 5
» Ken Gourlay Pt 6
» Ken Gourlay Pt 7
» Ken Gourlay Pt 8
» Ken Gourlay Pt 9
» Ken Gourlay Pt 10