South West Tasmania by Sailing Dinghy - Part 1: Macquarie Harbour to Port Davey

[@tyroneblyth8229]

Heck of an adventure mate. Look forward to hearing all about it!

[@cheshunt5597]

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this. I’ve wanted to see this part of Tas so much. Just beautiful to see it. 😊

[@duncan18663]

Wow - great trip. Well done.

[@PeterMumford]

amazing cruise!

[@gazcubby]

Awwwwwwww yes! What an adventure! Can’t wait to hear about it all in person!

[@onthewater4020]

The kind of exploring you're doing here is worthy of extended videos. This is fantastic. What an amazing adventure - I've sped five years learning the lines and getting better at sailing in preparation of a similar circumnavigation this summer (Vancouver Island) but I can't imagine what it's like to do this in a dinghy.

[@thedinghyspart2474]

Thanks. Yeah, I get that a bit about the video length. Short is just easy, sorry. Good luck with your Vancouver Island circumnavigation. I know that place from the Alone series - looks harsh!

[@davidnewell7671]

awesome mate - doing what the rest of us dream about

[@philipstevenson5166]

weather looks strangely nice for such notorious waters

[@thedinghyspart2474]

It's a little bit deceptive there Philip, becuase I didn't get the camera out for the times I was hunkered down under the tarp pouring rain and howling wind😉

[@dominictarrsailing]

Great adventure! May i suggest, for getting the dinghy up the beach, some inflatable fenders? I guess you would need at least 4. The nice part is that if the beach is firm, they roll forward as you drag, so you only need to move them half as often as dragging over driftwood, and they also provide floatation

[@thedinghyspart2474]

Hi Dominic. Yes, I've got a few inflatable boat rollers that I use for that purpose a sometimes. They double as buoyancy in my boat, so with the time it takes to disentangle all that and put it back in, it's sometimes quicker to just use driftwood (or kelp stalks, which is what I used mostly here). The 1:8 with driftwood, or whatever, has just become my go-to, because sometimes the ground is not so suited to rollers (eg: sharp rocks, or big clumps of driftwood).

[@dominictarrsailing]

@@thedinghyspart2474 oh that makes sense, thanks. Btw how much does spat weigh, do you think?

[@thedinghyspart2474]

@dominictarrsailing just the boat, rigging, rudder, cb, about 150kg. On a trip like this with all the gear, batteries, motor, water, food etc, probably close to 300kg.

[@dominictarrsailing]

@@thedinghyspart2474 wow quite a bit! how long would you be provisioned for?

[@thedinghyspart2474]

@@dominictarrsailing about 4 weeks. I'd guess the boat could fit 6 or 7 weeks of food before space started to become an issue.

[@m1kalD]

Thank you for posting.....

[@DinghyCruisingKingfisher]

Thanks Geoff. Interesting to see you haul out rather than anchor. I’d like to know when you decide to go to that effort? Incoming storm or something?

[@thedinghyspart2474]

That part of the video where I'm dragging the dinghy up the beach was prior to a 7 metre forecast swell coming in and I wasn't going to wait and see what that looked like. Otherwise that was a good anchorage. But generally, if I'm just spending a night or 2 at a spot, and the anchorage isn't too rolly, I will anchor. Also when it's not really suitable to land (like a rocky shore). But generally, I find life on the shore a bit more convenient, and I sleep a bit better if I'm not rolling around or worrying in the back of my mind about dragging anchor etc. Being able to land ashore when an anchorage turns to shit is one of the few occasions that I've seen cruising yachtsmen be genuinely jealous of me 🙂

[@duncan18663]

@@thedinghyspart2474 If you use tackle to drag the boat up the shore, does that mean you can't go above the high water line? How do you get the boat back into the water, or do you wait for the water to come to the boat?

[@thedinghyspart2474]

@duncan18663 its much easier to drag the boat down the beach than up. Depending on the slope of the beach, sometimes I've done it loaded, sometimes unloaded, sometimes using a 2:1 with the anchor out in the water, sometimes using inflatable rollers.

[@duncan18663]

@@thedinghyspart2474 thanks for your answer. That is particularly clever using the anchor with the tackle.

[@kevincurrie2052]

It looked a little dicey around 2:47 . Was that the 7 m swells? Weather looked pretty good until then. Great adventure, well done. Thanks for sharing.

[@thedinghyspart2474]

Swell was down to about 3m by then. I was safely ashore during the 7m swells.

[@anthonyb8998]

Nice, simplicity..

[@brucedrake8645]

Hi, I saw you sailing in Bathurst Channel and then later leaving Allonah, I was on the OVNI 345. I envy you being able to stop along the West Coast and go ashore. I was wondering how you were getting forecasts and such when out of mobile coverage? Small HF receiver, sat phone, wild guesses? Any other electronic gadgetry?

[@thedinghyspart2474]

Hi Bruce, I think I remember you going south as I was heading north out of Allonah? Gee it got windy an hour or 2 later! I was doing 3.5 knots under bare pole for a few minutes there. Re weather forecasts, I've got a Garmin InReach, a little satellite communicator that I can pair my phone to, and through that I can request marine forecasts from Garmin. They're okay, but they miss details like the synoptic situation and when fronts will cross, so I'd get my wife to message me with that extra info. My hand-held vhf was also picking up the coastal stations broadcasting the local weather. But usually by that stage I'm all over the weather forecast.

[@brucedrake8645]

@@thedinghyspart2474Yes I was going south in BARYONIC and the wind did indeed pick up which made the last bit to The Quarries take a little longer that day 🙂.Thanks for the info re the Garmin.

[@2011Matz]

That's seamanship. Congratulations.

[@SailingTeamTallyHo]

Epic!

[@13thbiosphere]

What kind of sleeping schedule do you have I mean do you camp on the beaches do you sleep on the boat what's the longest to go without sleep what sort of cooking do you do.... I suppose you don't go and have a shower and wash, all these basic chores quite a challenge wouldn't they be....I mean after a week not showering you'd be pretty smelly do you smell like an 18th century sailor

[@thedinghyspart2474]

I camp either in the boat or maybe in a tent on the land if there's a good camp site. Cooking with a jetboil stove. Wash by swimming then rinse with a bottle of fresh water, or if feeling decadent I might warm a pot of water and have a sponge bath. I suppose I smell after a few days of not washing, but luckily I can't tell, and there's no one else around to smell me.