S/V Rutea Sails Around the World: Whitsunday Islands

Monday, May 20, 2013

Whitsunday Islands


Just off Pinnacle Point on Hook Island - Photo by Corie

Originally, we had planned on hopping up the Queensland coast, spending our evenings tucked away in some pleasant anchorage, of which there are many. However, Mary's time aboard was growing short (that damned calendar!) so we decided to do an overnight passage to the Whitsundays. Besides, this gave Mary the experience of sleep deprivation, which is part and parcel of cruising on a sailboat when doing overnight passages. Mary didn't actually stand a watch but she did stay up through most of mine. The winds were non-existent so we were under power the entire way and we arrived under cloudy skies at Whitehaven Bay, famous for it's long beaches of fine white sand, in the early afternoon.

The Whitsundays are a very popular destination not just for people cruising on sailboats but it attracts visitors from all over the world. The waters are filled with the wakes of passing ferries and tour boats and even though things calm down at night, the heavy traffic deprives the area of remote-destination feel. We only spent one night at Whitehaven Bay and left early the next morning.


Pinnacle Point

Hook Island is just north of Whitsunday Island and the most northerly part is Pinnacle Point. As we rounded the point we could see one boat hanging on a park-provided mooring. Ruthie looked closely with the binoculars and discovered a second mooring with no one on it. What a score! We felt it was like getting an up front parking spot in a crowded mall. The Marine Parks Department of Queensland establishes Reef Protection Zones and boats are prohibited from anchoring inside those well-marked areas. However, the Parks Department also installs a few moorings that are free to anyone although certain size limits apply but we raced to snag the one that was empty. Written on the mooring are rules for it's use, which include a 2-hour limit and we started looking around for the meter maid who would either kick us off or write us a ticket. When the other boat in the little bay left, we relaxed and wound up spending the night.

The bay was beautiful, calm, remote and for most of the time we were there, we had it all to ourselves. Regardless, we felt a little guilty for spending 24 hours on a mooring with a 2-hour limit so the next day we went to cast off for other destinations. We started our trusty diesel, just like so many times in the past and it ran fine - for about 30 seconds before sputtering and dieing. It took Ruthie and me over an hour to find the problem (a manual transfer pump on the final fuel filter froze) but by then we had taken almost the entire fuel delivery system apart and put it back together. We're now running the engine without a final fuel filter which would scare the hell out of most diesel mechanics. Once the engine was running again, we motored around to the west side of Hook Island to Stonehaven Bay where we found a whole field of empty mooring buoys inside the Reef Protection Zone. Emboldened by getting away with our lengthy stay a Pinnacle Point, we grabbed a mooring that was close to the beach and settled in for a two-day stay.

Alas, we couldn't prevent the day from arriving when we would have to take Mary to the airport and after 21 very fun days, we motored over to Hamilton Island where the airport was right on the edge of the bay. It was kind of scary to see what appeared to be huge 737s coming in for a landing just above the tops of the masts. No sooner had Mary left, we had the dinghy secured in it's davits and we departed for Townsville, about 150 miles to the north. The winds were forecast to be very light and I had set my expectations for motoring the entire way but a 15-knot southeasterly breeze filled in. With the genoa poled out to starboard, the main prevented off to port, we sailed all night into a beautiful setting moon. It was so magical that even the heavy freighter traffic didn't disturb my revery. The entrance to the Breakwater Marina in Townsville is very shallow and for the most part we only had 1 foot of water under the keel. Townsville is a bustling little beach-side community with lots of attractions for visitors. Unfortunately, it's beautiful beaches are currently closed to swimming as there are deadly box jellyfish in the water. After a few repairs, we'll be underway again although we'll time our departure to be at high tide!

1 comment:

Sarah GrahamFebruary 16, 2018 at 3:18 PM
wonderful site
http://whitsundays.tours
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About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.