Three Salty Dogs

Ahoy Matees,

I have a tale for ye of the high seas that be sure to impress any a landlubber. It started after hitching a ride with two German blokes from Townsville to Airlie Beach, when John and I could not resist the call of the seas any longer. So we set out down to the Marina to find volunteer work on any sea vessel that would take us on. Unfortunately, there be no ship needing a crew, so slightly dismayed we headed back to town to continue our search with some of the local sailing companies and to check all the posting boards we could find. After only a short while we found a posting of a scallywag looking for two crewmates to help him sail the 32-foot “Southport Mentor” from Hamilton Island to Southport, an 700 mile voyage down the coast, and leaving as soon as possible. We tore down the posting and gave Heikki a ring. Two hours later we were on a ferry to Hamilton Island to set sail in the morrow. Heikki, a Finlander who moved to Australia 40 years ago, has been sailing and transporting boats around the Oz and the rest of the world most of his life. We had set sail the following morning by 4:00 am and were heading down to Mackay Harbor, the trip there was relatively uneventful other than the occasional humpback breaching and a review of how to work the sails and man the boat. We arrived in Mackay, refueled the tank, and check the weather prediction for the next day. Accu-weather called for 5-10 kn SSE winds so all was fine for smooth sailing. We left the Marina around 3:30 am but it didn’t take long for us to realize the prediction was seriously inaccurate, winds had picked up to 23 kn with swells over 1 meter high, Heikki was reluctant to say that we had better turn back and try again later. Around 9:30 am we tried at it again but after 3 hours we decided the seas were still to high for the “Mentor” so we turned back rather than continuing the 36+ hour trip to the next port in Hervy Bay. From then on the weather had not cooperated with us for about a week so we stayed in Mackay taking it easy and relaxing by the beach. Finally, the winds turned for our favor and we headed out down the coast. Along the way we spotted many whales performing some impressive breaches, but not nearly as impressive as the delicious Spotted Mackerel that we caught on a tow line off the back of the boat. We arrived in Hervy Bay around noon the next day when we noticed there was some gas in the oil; we had to stay over for two days when we waited for a new valve to be mailed in and installed in the motor. We set out again around 3:00 pm the next day and after about 15 minutes or so we got caught in a sandbar that Heikki said had “moved” since the last time he had been in that Marina. So we flagged down a dingy that was coming into port to tie onto the Main Halyard and pull the boat sideways so we could motor out into deeper water. After less then a minute we were free and on our way sailing down the Fraser Island through the Sandy Straight and Cooloola Colored Sands passing Sea Turltes, a Dugong, and a very close encounter of two Humpbacks. We had Finally made birth at the Southport Marina in Gold Coast around 7 am the following morning, then made breakfast and washed down the Mentor. Heikki offered to let us stay on his boat “Daily Rate” for the night so we could plan out our next leg of the trip. We’re thinking about hitching up to Brisbane for a week then heading down the coast again to find more HelpX hosts. All in all it was an incredible experience getting to sail around Australia and I could only help but think how proud my Grandpa, Jack Mellor would have been to know what I had been up to. I am having an incredible time here and I am so fortunate to be able to take on this adventure. I hope everyone is doing well back home and know that I despite all the fun I am having I think of you all often and am looking forward to seeing everyone when I return home.

- John

Another interesting fact about the “Southport Mentor” is that it is the very same boat that Jessica Watson learned to sail on before she set out on her around the world sailing trip. She did it when she was only 16 years old and currently holds the record for the youngest person ever to do it.