TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Charon’s Queensland Adventure

12^th August 2011

Maryborough and Wide Bay

We were the guests of Wendy’s friends Wayne and Anne and spent several days with them exploring the area, meals ashore and at their traditional “Queenslander” Home in Kent Street and doing a few jobs on Charon. It was also a time for mail as their address was convenient and dependable. I had stripped the anchor windlass while on the mooring off the chandlery and Muir in Hobart were able to send new bearings and seals overnight. Great service and a very reasonable price. Also Peppertree Winery also sent us a dozen of their finest wines to restock our cellar. Maryborough was home for a week and Wayne and Anne signed on as crew for a few days the following week.

We departed Maryborough on a falling tide as depths were reasonable and we would anchor before Beaver Rocks and push an incoming tide to safely negotiate the shallows. Anchorage at Susan River sounded very attractive as the Mary River is a long haul.

Bump! Just one section before our designated safe anchorage to await the turn of the tide, we struck bottom and Charon slewed sideways as the outgoing stream pushed us on to a sand bank! I know instantly that we would be there for a while and no amount of running astern would get us off. We were heeled at 10 degrees within minutes. Luckily the bottom was hard sand and fairly flat. I did the calculations and reckoned we would be afloat in five hours. The rule of twelfths was calculated and rechecked and I plugged up the above water openings for bilge pumps and shower sump outlet. Also the heater exhaust was sealed and we waited and prepared lunch. Wendy gingerly opened the day fridge and a stubby of Crown lager flew out. I took it as a sign from God and enjoyed it as Wendy logged the heel. Twenty degrees. Twenty-five degrees. Thirty degrees! Charon finally settled at 34 degrees and we had lunch and attempted to enjoy life at an angle. The dinghy and a walk on the adjacent provided some relief from being horizontally compromised! A photo shoot from the dinghy gave us some purpose and finally I settled on the foredeck for a snooze. I must have been adapting as the heel felt quite comfortable and I enjoyed the sense of helplessness until Wendy announced that we were returning to the vertical! Twenty degrees! And as we went over, we came up – even faster. Before we could make ready, we were afloat and motored off into deeper water. I gave Wendy the helm and she steered us safely over the remaining shallows to a delightful all weather anchorage in the Susan River. I had relied on the plotter position to gauge river centre and not my eyes – despite knowing all too well that in good visibility, eyes are the best tool for navigating.

We caught up with our crew the following day at the fuel wharf in Urangan.