Circumnavigating Tasmania in 2007

by Jeremy Firth/Nancy Knudsen on 9 May 2006 In 1642 Head Honcho of the Dutch East Indies, a character called Anthony Van Diemen, sent hardy adventuring type Abel Tasman - 17th Century’s version of Ernest Shackleton - off to map the ‘Great South Land’. Little did he know then that 365 years later there would be a bunch of yachties still calling their biennial jaunt around Tasmania the 'Van Diemens Land Circumnavigation'. The best thing about the story is that YOU can join them in February 2007.


Since 1992, every couple of years, an adventure seeking fleet of up to 65 boats(1998) sets off for one of the most wildly romantic and picturesque sailing journeys in the world, round the coast of Tasmania. The trip takes around 30 days from Hobart, or a bit longer if you prefer to leave from the mainland port of Geelong. It also takes place during the delightful Tasmanian summer, the ideal time to explore the lush countryside, and the most settled weather for sailing.

When you think how seriously crowded some of the anchorages are in the more popular Whitsundays, the idea of this southerly island gets better and better. There are a variety of conditions and anchorages, and the remote west coast of Tasmania is something to dream of. The best way to do this sail is in company; so as you have nearly a year to plan, start thinking seriously now. The cruise this year will be limited to 40 participants.
The dates are:
Tuesday 13th February to Monday 19th March 2007 (ex Hobart)
Monday 26th February to Thursday 5th April 2007 (ex Geelong)
It is to be organised by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania . Go to their website, and contact one of the organising committee, which is Damien Killalea (chair), Jeremy Firth, Graeme Dineen, Bob White, Brett Coper, David Weir, Alastair Douglas and Trevor Sharman
The associate organising club is the Royal Geelong Yacht Club . To express interest, go to their website, and speak to the Cruise Organiser, Bill Newman.


JEREMY FIRTH on board Rosinante has written a very detailed first hand account of the 2005 circumnavigation, and we publish here in toto:

The VDL Circumnavigation is a cruise-in-company, anticlockwise around Tasmania. A cruise-incompany is not a race. Within various constraints to do with social arrangements along the way,
and of course the weather, each skipper can decide where to go and when to go there. Thus,
everyone’s cruise is different. This is an account of Rosinante’s cruise as the Radio Relay Vessel
for the 5 week cruise held in early 2005.
As usual, the event was organized by the RYCT; but this time it was held in conjunction with the
Royal Geelong Yacht Club. This meant there were two fleets. One fleet left Hobart on 12 January
2005. A second fleet left Port Phillip Bay to rendezvous on the North West Coast at the end of the
month. All that happened more or less according to plan. Of the 39 boats registered for the cruise,
5 never left their homeport, 2 retired and 1 was wrecked. Thus, once all were together for the run S
from Hunter Is on the NW corner of Tasmania, the combined fleet consisted of 31 boats.

To the East Coast
Wednesday 12 January dawned windy but clear and sunny. More wind was forecast for during the
day. There was much talk of delaying the start of the cruise until the morrow. Indeed some did
wait while others set off with various plans in mind. Rosinante’s decision was to head for Piersons
Point at the entrance to d’Entrecasteaux Channel and then decide whether to set off for Cape Raoul
or to wait somewhere like Barnes Bay in the N end of the Channel.
In the end we settled on the Barnes Bay option. It was not a particularly good call. There were 40
knots from the nor’west across North West Bay; although it was peaceful enough at Rosebanks
once we got there. Close Encounters (Damien Killalea and family) pulled into Fishermans Haul
just N of Piersons Point for lunch and then headed for Cape Raoul when things had calmed down.
Theirs was the better choice. By the time they reached Tasman Peninsula, there were less than 20
knots.
This is a good demonstration that it is in the very nature of cruising that usually there are several
options as to where and when to go. By the first formal radio sched of the cruise, the fleet was
already spread out over 40M. Some had stayed at home, some had gone W into the Channel, a
goodly number were safely in Port Arthur. A few had made it through The Hole In The Wall
between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar to be snug behind the William Pitt, the old dredger that
provides a breakwater for the Canoe Bay anchorage in the NW corner of Fortescue Bay.

The next day, Day 2 of the cruise, we had a nice sail across Storm Bay in a 20 knot nor’wester. By
mid morning we were approaching Cape Pillar. We had some fine views of the towering cliffs with
Sea Esta (Graeme and Jan Dineen), diminutive beneath their grandeur. Each time we pass this part
of our coast, Penny and I agree that it is still one of the most majestic, if not the most majestic of
views.
There was a bit of a tide-rip on the E side of the narrows but nothing serious. More important was
the lack of wind. We had to use the engine to get clear of Cape Pillar. Close Encounters had the
misfortune to have hers stop right in the narrows. A passing fishing boat was kind enough to tow
her out of danger - one of the little dramas of cruising life – but with a happy ending.
Even clear of the Cape, sailing wasn’t much fun. Although it was quite warm, a sea breeze
convection was having difficulty establishing itself. The wind varied from 0 to 30 knots anywhere
from W to N to E and back again. We decided not to stop at Fortescue Bay. Radio chatter
indicated the inner anchorage was full. Life on an anchor outside the dredger would not be at all
comfortable in the NE swell that was rolling in.

We decided to press on to Maria Is. Although it was already after midday, there would be plenty of
daylight to get into Chinamans Bay. And so it was some 13 hours after leaving Barnes Bay, we
were safely anchored in time to watch the sun setting in all its glory behind Hellfire Bluff.
On the treeless peninsula behind Chinamans, the tussocks have ears. It is a favourite spot for large
numbers of kangaroo who are expert at sitting just over the skyline with heads up to observe your
intrusion into their lives. In convict times this part of Maria Island was a farm. Now nothing is left
but the cellblock, the foundations of the farmhouse and some fine old Cyprus pines.
After the crew had taken a short walk ashore, a forecast sou’easterly showed signs of arriving. We
decided to take it and to push on for the Schouten Passage before the arrival of a nor’wester
forecast for the next day. We were a day early for the scheduled barbecue on the beach the
following evening. This gave us a chance to relax and catch our breath … and to pursue the demon
flathead (to no avail).
By the evening of the barbecue (Day 4) all 15 boats that set out from Hobart had arrived in Bryans
Corner. They were joined by Krackt (Karen and Robert Black) of Lake Macquarie who had been
delayed by bad weather in Eden for too long to allow them to join the cruise in Hobart, and by
Strawberry Girl (Hu Van Neutegin) who took a short cut through the Dunalley Canal having been
delayed in Hobart by last minute repairs.
As beach barbecues go, it was a good one. Bob White, owner of Hindsight brought a gas-fired
griller across from his shack at Little Swanport in his fishing launch (inevitably called Foresight).
As the first of many social functions, this allowed us to put names heard on the radio scheds to
faces and to boats. Penny, Rosinante’s 1st mate, celebrated her arrival on the beach by leaping
gazelle-like out o