Year 2 – 6 March 2025 -Brisbane –Waiting game before Cyclone Alfred

If anyone reading this and is free from now and all or some of April to mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew during this period at present.

I could not believe it when I woke up that a cyclone was approaching us. It was warm, quite sunny a just a gentle breeze. I checked the latest (as I do a number of times a day) and Storm Alfred is still some 350-400km off the coast and they expect it to hit the coast around Brisbane or slightly North of here. It’s progress toward the coast has slowed and it is now likely to hit on Friday night/Saturday morning rather than tonight. Well, we had some breakfast and were stuck for the day and another day most likely until the storm passes through.

We had had quite a lot of rain but we noticed some water on the port side of the cockpit under the cushions and also a drip from under the doghouse. The cockpit tent was doing its job so we wondered where it was coming from. We had the time to investigate. I took off the trim to the underside of the doghouse and the water was coming from the wires of the solar panels on the doghouse roof so they cannot have sealed those holes properly. This will have to be done when dry and we will need to peel up the solar panels and seal where the wires come through. On the outside we sealed a small hole on the edge which may be contributing and also took off the Bimini bracket which has four screws going into the doghouse roof and resealed them to eliminate that being part of the problem. There had also been a drip from one of the galley windows and we resealed the whole of the bottom. Despite heavy rainfall during the day this did not drip. I guess one advantage of the storm and heavy rain is that it will identify leaks!! The oldest joke in the book is what vegetable sinks a boat – a leek!!.   

We then noticed a bit of water coming from under the cockpit shelf under the doghouse. That was odd because the shelf itself was dry and there was nothing coming in from the window it seemed. We therefore unscrewed the shelf and took it off and there was a little pool of water and dirt underneath. We traced it back and then saw a drip coming from under the window to the doghouse. It was coming from the seal of the doghouse window and going under the shelf and out onto the port cockpit seat. We had identified its source and will now have to reseal it when it is dry enough. This may be some days from now.

I did some admin and emails and crew searching and organising. Trevor read and watched stuff on his iPad. The rain would come and go and occasionally the wind would howl but not for long. It seemed to be an Autumnal day in the Solent although a lot warmer as we were in tee-shirts and shorts. I also began to plan the route North and to work out the likely passage to Cairns. This takes time and we have plenty of time.

The morning passed quite quickly and we had a sandwich lunch. The marina feels like a bit of a ghost town as although there is crew on a large boat called Reliance on the hammerhead, there are very few people about. We checked but even Brewdog was closed!!  We carried on doing jobs and reading and had a siesta. We checked the weather models a few times and they more or less say the same thing- landfall on Friday/Saturday, 600mm of rain, strong winds up to about 130km (about 71 kts) and water surge and likely flooding. There were also reports of waves which had been measured along the coast with one recording 12.37meters!! It is going to cause a lot of corrosion to this coast and a lot of it is large sand dunes. I would not want to be out there in those waves.

 The rain came and went with the pattering on the cockpit cover and it began to get dark so we had a beer and then Trevor cooked some fish he had caught from the freezer with potatoes and salad which was nice. We then watched a film. I have had quite a few messages from those reading the blog wishing us well which is much appreciated. We just want to get this over now as we have been waiting some time. It should happen tomorrow night but we shall see.

The picture of the day is Stormbird waiting patiently like us for Alfred to come. You can see the dinghy on the deck wedged in in front of Puffin and tied down and the sails wrapped tightly with the sheets so they cannot come undone.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com