Here is another article on #114.
D’Entrecasteaux Channel -March 1985.
About 12.30 am I was suddenly awake. Something was different with the movement of the boat and the sounds. Looking out the cabin window, I couldn’t see the lights on the ends of the beach, so I slid back the cabin hatch for a better view. The beach lights were no-where to be seen. Then it dawned on me, we had dragged the anchor and had drifted about a nautical mile out into North West Bay. I woke Janet and she quickly came on deck.
The night was beautifully clear, the stars shone brightly, and we could clearly see the lights at South Arm on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River. The southerly wind although still blowing, had moderated considerably. Pleased that we had not hit anything we hauled up the anchor and quietly motored back to our position at Cunningham Beach. This time, although both wind and water were calm, we laid out both anchors and went back to sleep.
Day two of our cruise dawned fine. After breakfast we quietly sailed across to the Duckpond on Bruny Island, there to enjoy a leisurely day drying everything off andrelaxing.
Day three also dawned fine. After cleaning up we sailed back across the Channel and south to Kettering in a light northerly breeze, there to buy fresh food supplies, and outboard motor fuel.
The Duck Pond
Kettering
Leaving Kettering, we motored out of Little Oyster Bay, and hoisting sails set off for the eleven or so nautical miles south down the Channel, running before a pleasant northerly breeze of about 10 to 15 knots. As we proceeded the northerly breeze gradually died, and by the time we were off Gordon another southerly was starting to come in, so we changed headsails to the much smaller storm jib. On rounding Ninepin Point we were very glad we had taken that precaution. The southerly increased to between 25 and 30 knots with the seas starting to build up. Sailing on a beam reach into the mouth of the Huon Estuary, we watched traffic travelling along the Channel Highway, until the highway was out of sight behind Garden Island. Rounding Egg and Bacon Reef, we sailed into Eggs and Bacon Bay and anchored close the shore in the south-eastern corner. This time we put out the two anchors and settled down as night was fastapproaching.
Once again in the middle of the night we awoke suddenly. Spindrift was pitching and rolling violently. The wind had swung around to the north-west blowing right into our corner. It was a case of “all handson deck” very quickly. First, we started the outboard and Janet stood by with the motor in neutral, while I weighed anchors, both of them. We were too close to the lee shore, and couldn’t afford to make a mistake. The moment the anchors were clear Janet put the motor into gear, and we moved across to the north-east corner of the bay which was now the sheltered corner. Carefully checking that the anchors were holding, we again settled down for what was left of the rest of the night.
Day three dawned cloudy. The gale was still blowing from the north-west, and with it rain showers. The morning news on the radio was that a fishing boat had been wrecked on The Friars south of Bruny Island. The crew had been rescued by helicopter. We had a lazy day. We sat on the boat and read, listened to the ABC on the portable radio, and went for a few walks around the bay, but by late afternoon the wind had swung back to south-west and Spindrift was starting to pitch and roll uncomfortably. It was time to move again.
Weighing anchors, we motored around Cygnet Point and into Port Cygnet. After checking Deep Bay on the eastern side, we moved across to Copper Alley Bay on the western side, there deciding that this would be a suitable anchorage for the night. The water was calm and although it was now raining heavily, we had a very comfortable night.
In the morning of day four we were woken by the moo-ing of cows. We discovered we had anchored close to a dairy farm. The scene was more rural than nautical. Nevertheless, breakfast over, we once more started the outboard and motored north up Port Cygnet, anchoring off the local yacht club. The day’s weather was a mixture. Cloudy, sunny periods, and rain showers
Donning our wet weather gear, we rowed ashore, and carrying a jerry-can for outboard motor fuel, and plastic bags for fresh food supplies, we plodded up the road to the Cygnet town centre. I recall going to the public toilets. They were unlit and dark. I had a distinct feeling that the toilet was rocking. We visited a number of shops. The shop assistants were all quite curt. At the supermarket Janet saw fresh strawberries and asked “How much ?”, to which the shop assistant stated in an aggressive tone “they’re not for sale”.
The only polite person we struck was the sales attendant at the service station where we purchased fuel for the outboard. Plodding back, we thought what an un-friendly town !!!
Back opposite the yacht club there was a man mowing his lawns in the rain. I asked him if we could fill ourwater containers from the tap at the yacht club. The answer was “yes”.
We were about to do this when he walked across to us. He said “I saw you come in in the morning – I thought that our doctor has bought a new boat, until I saw you put your wet weather gear on.” He continued “The yacht clubs got a wood barbecue – you can use it if you like – my brother-in-law supplies the wood – the trouble is the hippies up in the hills come down at night and steal it”.
Then the penny dropped – the Cygnet towns-people had thought we were the hippies from up in the hills.
We didn’t use the yacht barbecue. Instead, we returned to Copper Alley Bay for the night, and the following day, in bright sunny weather had a pleasant sail in a 15 knot southerly breeze all the way back to the NorthWest Bay Marina. Janet trolled out the fishing line but we didn’t catch anything.
David M. Harvey
Its also a drift back to different times when such stories could only be distributed in a club news letter. Now, and it continues to amaze me, what we write here has worldwide readership. All at the touch of a button 
Bloody amazing. 
