the Adventures of Erica and Nico

After managing to get a spare anchor in Forster and heading to Port Stephens we had another curveball flying our way. The day after we arrived at Port Stephen’s marina, Erica pulled out her back. The pain was severe enough that she couldn’t sit or walk more than a few minutes and even laying down on most of the places we had available in the boat was painful. Because she really needed easy access to open/flat/even spaces to lay and stretch we decided to move to the Marina’s hotel and attempt to expedite the healing process.

When you start living on a boat you have to adapt to a more minimalistic way of living, but also in a more confined and sometimes awkward environment. Open spaces are generally uneven, curved, or small. Even getting in and out of our bed requires some crawling and contortions. When we are healthy these are just minor inconveniences, but when there is an injury in the mix it really makes it the last place we want to be.

The hotel at the marina was extremely nice, but it came with a steep price tag. We decided to stay just for two nights. It would be the least painful options (literally), the room was only a few steps away from our boat and the convenience was a bit too hard to pass up. We eventually moved to another hotel after 2 days when Erica had more mobility.

One advantage to being in an expensive marina is that we had access to a luxury courtesy car. That allowed me run a lot of errands and spend less on taxis getting around to the hotel.

Passage from Port Stephens and Pittwater

The situation made us re-plan our stay in Port Stephens and Pittwater. Our original plan was to spend more time on the boat between Port Stephens and Pittwater, not in marinas. We ended not spending any additional time in Port Stephens and extending our stay at Pittwater marina so we could to directly from one marina to another. We still had to make our way to Pittwater though and after 4 days in hotels Erica’s back was improving, but slowly.

We thought of few scenarios, deciding what option would work best for Erica’s back: travel by taxi, by train, or on the boat. We discarded the first two options quickly as she still couldn’t actually stay in a seated or standing position comfortably for more than about 20 minutes. A taxi or train from Port Stephens to Pittwater was between 3-5 hours. In the end the boat made the most sense, that was the only option where she could be in a laying position most of the time.

Once decided, I wanted to find a weather window which would be as calm as possible. If we have to motor all the way so be it. I wanted to avoid big swell, or short swell periods. The journey was southwest for at least 13h, and I was hoping for Easterly or Northerly wind to help us along.

The day I selected wasn’t the best for sailing but it was good for comfort. We needed to get to Pittwater before 8 pm as the wind was forecasted to reach 30+ knots by the end of the day. Coming into new waters/harbour/marina on a gale force wind would not be ideal.

I decided to leave at 2 am, which meant we should be arriving around 3 pm. We stayed at the hotel and got some sleep before making our way to the boat. I was able use the marina courtesy car over night so we could drive ourselves back to the boat and we arrived just before 2 am. Erica made herself comfortable and I had prepared the boat for departure the day before so there wasn’t much to do besides setting the mooring lines to slip, unzipping the mainsail, starting the engine, and letting the lines go. We were off, it was a quiet morning motoring towards Pittwater.

Most of the passage was under engine with only the headsail. Whenever we had wind, it was NE, I wasn’t confident with single-hand sailing the boat using the mainsail so I kept it simple and safe.

The wind picked up when we were about to arrive in Pittwater, I kept on seeing 20+ knots. The wind raised the sea and we were getting some waves directly behind us. I waited to be in the Pittwater inlet to start preparing the boat for berthing at Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. The preparation consisted of putting out the fenders, the lines, and calling the marina in order to get people at the dock to help me tie the boat off on arrival.

At 4 pm we were safely moored, I had checked us into the marina, and I was ready to have a beer.