I remember when I was pregnant my mother told me that there was nothing she could say that would really prepare me for the experience of childbirth. I think that the first open sea passage of several days is a bit like that, especially when it involves Bass Strait. I don’t think that anything I had heard from others really prepared me for it.

After a wonderful farewell from friends and family, we set out from Hobsons Bay Yacht Club with the aim of getting to Refuge Cove on Wilsons Prom as the first stop, and then hopefully all the way across Bass Strait, around the corner of Vic/NSW border, and up the NSW coast to Port Stephens – a convenient spot to catch up with family and friends for a few days, and for our crew, Colin, to get the plane back to Melbourne.

The first leg was just lovely and we all agreed that we could not have asked for a better start.

We got into Refuge Cove about 24 hours ahead of some bad weather that was expected to blow across Bass Strait. Neither Phil or I have been to Refuge before and after hearing so much about it over the years, it did not disappoint.

We closely monitored the weather while in there – thanks to Colin’s technical skills we had access to the internet by running a hot spot in a water proof bag up the mast which gave enough height to get a signal. We decided we would go just behind the low that was bringing the bad weather. We had a weather window that was long enough to get to Port Stephens, but with predicted dying wind at the end of it. Se we wanted to time it just right – miss the bad weather and get to Port Stephens before we ran out of wind. What we did not factor in was the Paseafique takes off like a rocket when the wind is behind her, and so we kept catching up to the bad weather – which had also slowed up a bit so was not moving away as quickly as the forecast had predicted. This made for a very uncomfortable 36 hours or so in strong winds and confused seas while we got across Bass Strait and around the corner, trying to slow the boat down and stay out of the worst of it. It was difficult to move about the boat, to sleep (bit like trying to sleep in a washing machine), to prepare food and eat it, and to go to the toilet even!

Conditions settled after that and we rocketed up the coast until the last day when the wind died off. Life aboard looked quite different once we all had better sleep, moving around was easier, and mobile reception was better. Even though you know that bad weather is not going to last more than a day or so (in that case) that still does not seem to make it more tolerable at the time. I would like to shift the way I relate to bad weather so that I don’t get so stuck in my thoughts about how much I don’t like it. It requires a different mind set – batten down and toughen up I would say. We don’t expect to have a lot of bad weather, but a healthy perspective on it would be very handy for those few occasions when we might get caught out.

The last day brought a few more challenges when we had to deal with a blocked fuel line which was preventing us from using the motor in the light winds. At one stage I was sure we were going to end up in Pittwater rather than Port Stephens but Phil and Colin sorted out the problem and we were off again motoring for the whole day. Phil was delighted late in the day to catch a fair sized tuna, which brought great excitement (and mess).

Getting into Port Stephens was fairly straight forward but getting into the courtesy berth was not- a very tight spot that Phil and I were sure we would not be able to fit.

But with encouragement from Colin, and the assistance of our friends Innes and Steve, and a couple of others, we got in, and finally we could all relax, enjoy some refreshments and fall into bed.

The first few days here were taken up with catching up with Innes and Steve, having lunch with my brother and sister-in-law who drove up from Sydney to visit us, and doing mountains of washing. We are now making our way through a list of jobs like fixing a few leaks that sprang up during the passage, cleaning up the fuel tank, getting the VHF radio checked and cleaning the boat which got amazingly mucky down below. With most of those jobs out of the way and warming weather, we will be able to spend a few days enjoying the delights of Port Stephens.