Lady Musgrave Island trip report

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cestlavie
Deckhand
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2016 2:57 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Brisbane Australia

Lady Musgrave Island trip report

Post by cestlavie »

Image

Many had awesome plans for the the last 2 weeks so hopefully everyones had a good time- the FB pages seem chockas full of great shots.

I had 30-Sep to 6-Oct available for this trip and had been hanging off WindyTy, Weatherwilly and the Wetherzone 28 day rain forecast all september.
Plan was to drive up and launch, then stay the night in 1770 creek, to set off next morning and have 2 full days in the Lady Musgrave Island Lagoon, then return in the morning prior to the 1770 bar low tide, and then drive straight back to Brisbane arriving prior to 7pm.

Despite some reports of partial mobile coverage, i can 100% confirm there is no Telstra or Optus coverage out there on iphones - out of the 4 of us, i did get a very short random connection one night to awake to a text from my bank, and a couple of spam gmails.... VMR round hill ask you to radio check your VHF on way out. i must have had old information, i didn't hear a single weather report over VHF at the 3 times i thought they were due on CH67 or 82, i caught the end of one at 16:20 on CH67 i think - taking a small AM transistor radio as well next time, and confirm times with VMR round hill. Super yachts in lagoon had satelite\wifi so no drama..

New stuff for this trip was the tandem trailer i built, inflatable SUP and and a 2.8m inflatable tender with 4HP outboard.

25+ knt winds and 2m swell forecast for 1&2-Oct meant we defered the drive up to the 2nd and were hopeful the predicted drop off in wind and reductionin swell would come through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qctyu7hGew
2-Oct: The drive up was fine and new trailer towed perfectly, 5.5hours with a stop for lunch at Childers. We launced at the 1770 boat ramp by beaching in the sand adjacent to the ramp (no pontoon) and then anchored directly across form the pub. Walked up to the cook memorial and scoped out the bar - noting there is a shaol in the direct line between the final red and green bouys (which i still managed to hit mind you). Wind really dropped from the high 20s' to not much then picked up strongly again with the evening sea breeze. Delicous diner at the cafe next to the pub, kids happy and i got a couple of cold ones in, Cie la Vie was high a dry when we got back about 9pm, uneventful night as creek is well protected.

3-Oct: set off at 7am, and still managed to ground on the shoal inside the bar, between the final red and Green bouys, embaressing, but quickly off and out. The wind had really dropped to about 10 but was gusting to over 20 - so i wasn't prepared to sail and motored at about 6Knots in constantly rolling action. For the first hour the swell was annoying at about 1 - 1.5m but it was not breaking, and the wind was staying under 10Knots. Instead of falling futher as predicted the wind started to pick up and tops of swell started to be white tops. The next 4 hours was very uncomfortable, but we did a scarborough to mooloobah trip in 1.5m swell and 20 knots to practice for this, so pushed on crawling at 5knots in 1 - 2m swell and winds hitting 20-25 knots. It took 5.5hours to get from 1770 to Lady Musgrave so we only averaged 5 or 6 knots, and 30 litres of feul. All were releived on the lee side of the lagoon, we couldn't get any video of the rough stuff as all hands where occupied, in the video link its taken just after clearing the bar and point. Inflated the new tender and SUPS on the front deck with lifelines down, worked perfectly, lowering into water and to back of boat, lifted outboard down to tender no issues and set off to the island for a walk through the forest, million noddies and look at campping \toilet areas. Toilets were amazing and clean - much to relief of kids who have been scared forever by composting toilets after a putrid experirnce on the Hume highway years ago.
Back on board with the evening breeze picking up strongly and crew morale actually a little low after the beating on the way out and despite stretching the legs on paradise. Bangkok Chicken for dinner.

4:Oct Thank god, the predicted change came through on sunrise and there is no wind, no clouds and its a perfect day. Saw humpbacks tail slapping out to the south through binos - i thought it was a crazy sail boarder for 5 minutes. We snorkeled and saw turtles, manta ray and a single little reef shark, cruised around on the SUP (big praise for the inflatable SUP now - so light and packable) check out the $10 KMart beach chairs on the inflatables for the bogan kayak, was so comfortable.. New Tender was great, and all kids trained in safety and operation and seemed to really enjoy it. Butter chicken for dinner, cooked on the northern point during sunset - just magic. Evening breeze picked up again and was strong at times but while there was some movement, sleep was no drama - the usual creaks and bumps to sort out by whoever caves in first to get up and sort it out. Forecast was for northerlies and clouds, could see amazing lightning to south.

5:Oct woke to dark clouds but the cleared mid morning to give us another spectacular day. I'd really been riding the kids to get up and out and enjoy the opportunity, but gave up, something about the fresh air everyone was relaxed and was content reading or listening to music and idly chatting the morning away. I walked around the island, and after a Taco lunch, kicked them all out onto the SUP and tender, and snorkelled again. A great day, lots of turtles again, and could see whales out past the reef again. Spag Bol for tea, high spirits but tiredness all round, wind dropped off completely and really good night sleep - everyone hoping the trip back would not be as hard as the one out.

6:Oct woke to the most perfect day, no wind, glass. Reluctantly set off at 6:30 am and with the additional feul not used on way out, ran a still heavy Cest La Vie at 5000rpm and 11knots on way home, saw whales tail slapping in the distance twice more and a couple did the normal surface thing not far from the boat. finally saw dolphins! i'd dropped the water ballast, but had to stop and add some back in for stability and keep rpm constant, nose must still be heavy wih all the crap pushed up into V bed. We arrived at the bar at 10am, 2hr and 45 minute before low tide (yes i know) and naviagted the tight run in between the green bouy and shore rocks, and around\over the shaol between it and the next red port bouy. Saw another :macm: on way past!! couldn't see anyone on board and we we in hurry to beat the tide and get back to brisvegas - whoever it is should have great weather for the week if they are heading over LMI lucky buggers! No dramas up to the boat ramp, beached in sand beside ramp again, on trailer pulled out de-rigged and set off about midday and drove through showers for the last 3 hours of the trip to arrive back in brisbane at 5:30pm to gloomy set in rain :(

Will do this one again with the Admiral as a getaway...
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Javboat
Just Enlisted
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:39 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Queensland, Australia - Mac M ‘07 & Yamaha ‘07

Re: Lady Musgrave Island trip report

Post by Javboat »

Wonderful trip report on what sounds like an amazing trip. Definitely one for the future for us (we need to do a few more sea miles first).

Love the photo too - Saw it on Facebook as well.
DownSouth
Chief Steward
Posts: 86
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 2:12 am
Location: Australia

Re: Lady Musgrave Island trip report

Post by DownSouth »

Great report thanks!

When Mobile 'Phone and VHF dont work the HF Radio network is still active (and works everywhere sometime during the day/night)

DownSouth
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