The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
I am still not too comfortable with this reef navigation stuff. People tell me you need the sun at your back and someone up the mast or on the bow. Well, I can’t arrange where the sun goes and being on the bow or up the mast when single handing is impracticable.
The trip from Gove to Saumlaki was a slow affair, taking a full day longer than I expected. However, once I overcame the sheer frustration of being becalmed at one point, the voyage progressed at a constant slow speed with favourable winds and a calm sea. Sailing wing on wing it turned out to be a very pleasant trip .
It's time to move onto new adventures. My visa for Indonesia arrived yesterday, I can get going again to continue my journey, visit new places and meet different people.
Gove anchorage in Inverell Bay is mostly a peaceful place. With the easterly and southeasterly winds there is no sea or swell intrusion. The wind when it gets up is only a minor disturbance. So that’s good. The downside is that Truce is becoming a dirty red colour, the same as everything around here. It’s the windborne bauxite dust that settles everywhere.
I have sailed the seven seas. But, never before have I sailed on the Arafura Sea or crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria. Now I have. My stop in Seisia was excellent apart from a couple of days when the wind blew too hard for me to get ashore in the little rubber duck dinghy, at least not without a soaking or risk of being blown to Timbuctu.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 