This decision was complicated by the expected arrival of the strong southerly change, before we could get into the harbour. Sod’s law. We thought the best course of action was to sail south past the channel we planned to use so that when the front hit we could turn & run back with it. A wise decision, as it happened.

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We sailed all night with just a pocket handkerchief of headsail out, to keep the speed down to 2.5 knots so we didn’t travel too far. I had to do all the computer navigation work for our entry into Gladstone Harbour while the boat was sailing, and it was pretty rolly because of our slow speed. I don’t normally do this as it is an effective way to get seasick, but there was no choice as we hadn’t planned on going into Gladstone so had no routes available for use.

As predicted, the front hit us in the early hours of the morning, in pitch darkness. It was accompanied by strong gusts and heavy rain squalls. We turned and ran with it, arriving off the entrance to our channel at first light. The strong wind, tide and shallow water quickly whipped up a vicious sea. With a small piece of headsail out and the motor on low revs we shot through the channel at seven knots, with large seas crashing beam on into Masala. Fortunately she is a great sea boat, so most were shrugged off. Only a few hit the side and shot upwards, the ragged tops being grabbed by the wind and flung into the cockpit and onto the roof of the doghouse, the first time this has happened.

Once through the channel and into the main harbour the sea quietened quickly. Now we could turn up the main shipping channel for the eight mile sail to the marina, with the wind behind us. Bliss. We arrived right on 7:30am, perfect timing as that is when the marina opens for business. Before long we were tied up, into the shower, then into bed for a well earned five hour sleep.

Our first scare was at dusk, when what appeared to be a solid wall of fog or a storm front extending to water level advanced down upon us. It was a terrifying sight, especially since no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t work out what it was. Fog would have been preferable to a storm, except that dozens of huge coal ships anchor all over the ocean off Gladstone, waiting to be filled at the port. Whatever the wall was, it never arrived, but I acquired a few extra grey hairs that night.

Our second scare was when one of the aforementioned ships, at anchor and lit up like a Christmas tree, suddenly was underway and heading straight for us, at close range and alarming speed. We had failed to notice that it was underway because, although it had put its navigation lights on, it had not turned all the other lights off, so they were hard to see. This is not good behaviour on the part of the ship, nor is it an isolated incident as it happened to us again on our approach to Brisbane. Fortunately the ship bore away at the last minute and headed south. Not happy Jan.

Left: loading coal at Gladstone. Giant ships such as this are a constant hazard to small craft both inside the harbour and off the coast. When in the pilotage area, any vessel over 10 metres in length (eg Masala) must inform Gladstone Harbour Control of its movements via VHF radio channel 13. Failure to do so could result in a fine of $20,000.