2020 Summer Adventures

Well 2020 was a year we, like so many, were very happy to see the tail end of and so it was with great excitement that we set off on the 27th December for a two week adventure with the entire family onboard.

Baruch has been quite the sanctuary for our family as we endured the restrictive lockdowns created by COVID-19. There were a couple of months where we were not even allowed to take Baruch out of the marina even though we could stay within our 5km radius required by law BUT at least we could go down and hang out on board and have a change of scenery and as soon as restrictions eased in around October, we were very quick to start heading out for weekends on board again in our local area.

Our plan for this Summer adventure was to head down to Wilsons Prom, the southern most point of mainland Australia, and then we had hoped to sail across to Deal Island, an island in the Kent Group which lies around half way between the mainland and Tasmania in the middle of the notorious Bass strait.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with a trip to Deal Island but we didn’t feel like we missed out because for us this trip was all about getting away with each other, finding some quiet anchorages away from civilisation, phone reception & internet and just enjoying each others company.

Sunsets at Tin Mine Cove

This was Liane & Kalani’s first real ocean sailing experience and both Baruch and the weather were fairly kind to them for their first big crossing. Bass Strait can be a very treacherous stretch of water and while we did get some significant winds, the seas were quite calm with the exception of one particular section between Phillip Island and Cape Schanck where we had 25 knots of wind swell & 2 metres of ground swell colliding with a fast flowing outgoing tide coming out of Westernport Bay. Very lumpy and a bit jumpy given we had our gennaker up and were hurtling along at around 14 knots boat speed!!

Refuge Cove

We left Martha Cove early on the 27th and had a pleasant sail to Cleelands Bight, San Remo, an anchorage I have wanted to stop at for years but had always been in a hurry to get further and so it was great to finally check this spot out. Its a great anchorage, really protected in most conditions except east quadrant conditions and there is a great fish and chip shop thats just a tender ride away over in San Remo.

Next stop was Refuge Cove, which for me was a very special place that I wanted the family to see and experience and it did not disappoint . We had a lovely few days in Refuge and would have loved to stay longer but some big easterly winds were forecast and so it was time to move onto the next spot - Tin Mine Cove.

Early morning departure

Tin Mine Cove was an accidental find and a place I had no expectations of other than to be sheltered from an easterly but we were very pleasantly surprised by how beautiful a place it was and it was amazing to have it almost to ourselves for a few days and to welcome in the New Year in a place of such extreme beauty.

From Tin Mine Cove we sailed around to the other side of the Prom and stayed the afternoon and evening in Oberon Bay. Wilsons Prom seems to have its own little micro climate and the weather here can be very different than what other places not far away are experiencing. As we rounded the corner of the Prom the wind went from 20 to 40 knots almost without warning. Not wanting to put too much loads on the rig I decided to head out to sea with this wind behind me but the boat had full sails up and was soon feeling well out of control so we rounded up quickly and got the sails down - unfortunately not quick enough as we put a small rip in the headsail.

The crew at the top of Heslop’s Peak - Wilson’s Prom.

From Oberon Bay we sailed back to civilisation and spent a couple of days anchored off Cowes, Phillip Island, where we caught up with some great friends.

After a wonderful sail with the wind behind us and sitting comfortably on 12-14 knots we sailed back to the Heads and Kye helmed us through the turbulent waters of the Rip and then pointed the bow towards the Portsea Pub where we anchored for the night and enjoyed a good old Pub dinner.

Kye was pretty pumped because he hit a top speed of 18 knots while helming us to the Pub!

Once inside the Bay we enjoyed another few nights anchored at Portsea, Rye and Portarlington before bringing Baruch back into Martha Cove.

We put together a little video highlight pack below to save the memories - hope you enjoy!