Year 2 – 7 March 2025 -Brisbane –More Waiting for 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.
This was another morning when there was no sign of Alfred. There was little wind, it was a bit grey with sunny spells and then rain showers like April showers in the UK. We had strawberries for breakfast and the latest news was that Alfred was only moving about 8km per hour. It was slowing down and still about 150 km off the coast and should now hit just North of Brisbane in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Clearly the coast from the reports is getting a battering and there is a lot of coastal erosion and one buoy recorded a wave at 16.88 meters !! The rain came and went during the morning and we decided in the dry bits to look at the doghouse window and Trevor put some more sealant on but the rain soon came back. We therefore decided to put a sail bag across the whole window so that no water could get in and that seemed to work well. We have had to tie it across.
I had a number of emails to attend to and crew communications. I also did some more planning and this was useful as I was trying to work out where I would be when I am short of crew and could there be a place to leave the boat and go home for a couple of weeks. I had been waiting for my visitor visa application answer and it finally came giving me permission to stay until the end of July which should work quite well. This has now helped crystalise my thinking and I can plan accordingly for which I am grateful.
We were short of bread as we could not get any at the shops due to panic buying. Trevor bless him got on to it and within a few hours we have a lovely fresh loaf to eat. We went round the boat again and there was nothing more to do. We read, did emails, and planned further and rested as we may get a restless night.
We had lunch and sat in the cockpit dodging the rain showers. We have seen the barometer gradually lower. We sat out on deck from about 4.30pm and although grey it was warm and pleasant with little wind and no rain. We had a beer and enjoyed the moment in advance as to what is ahead. We saw a low band of cloud coming from the city -see picture of the day which was taken our time about 5.00pm. It was odd to thing some 40-100 nm away all havoc was going on and we seemed to be in this quiet enclave. We also saw some birds which I have not seen for a few days going inland. They probably sense what is coming.
I cooked some chicken schnitzels with potato and broccoli. As I write this we are listening to jazz with the rain pattering outside on the windows and cockpit tent and the boat swaying a little from time to time. There has been quite a lot of slopping of the water on the hull and next-door boat and the river has been flowing very strongly.
We hope this will be over in the morning or by tomorrow afternoon. It has been going on for some time and the city is like it was in covid and we all want to go back to normality. Fingers crossed that all we have done will keep us and Stormbird safe and sound. The suggestion is that it will decline from a strong category 2 storm to a category 1. We shall see but I will report tomorrow on how it went. Good Night.
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