Albany to Tasmania - Day 9 ‘Refuelling At Sea ’

Monday, April 27th 2026.

Much like yesterday, today has been overcast with 8/8 cloud cover. The wind was light, ranging between a force one and a force three. The seas have been smooth, eerily smooth for being so far offshore. Gentle Antarctic swells lift and lower Emigre like clockwork.

April was recommended to me by Jon Sanders as the ‘quietest’ month to sail south of Australia or anywhere in the Southern Ocean. I hope his theory remains true for the remainder of the trip.

I would much rather the trip take a week longer due to light winds and calm seas than face heavy gales  and rough seas. Having said that, progress under sail is much more enjoyable than progress under motor when you spend 24hrs a day in the same room as the noisy engine.

We motored during the morning, headsail fueled and mainsail sheeted centre.  Whilst it’s noisy, it makes it easy to go about daily tasks such as cooking breakfast, making coffee and refuelling the main fuel tank.

After I finished my eggs on toast and Kevin made oats for breakfast, I unlashed a couple of the diesel jerry cans that I had stowed in the aft end of the cockpit. Emigre’s fuel filler cap is on the port cockpit bench which makes it relatively easy to refuel while underway.

If the weather is rough, you can tie the can to the solar panel frame and use a syphon hose to drain the majority of the contents into the tank. In calm conditions like today, I tend to use the can’s built in pourer and tip it directly into the fuel filler.

We had now consumed sixty litres of diesel from three jerry cans since departing Esperance six days ago.

After the usual morning Austravel radio sked, we began to feel a light breeze fill in from the North East. At around force three, it wasn’t enough to switch the engine off but it did improve our speed from 4.5kn to around 6kn.

Before dinner our course was SSE as the wind was swinging further East. We decided to tack and sail in a North Easterly direction with the expectation of the wind shifting further North tomorrow.

In the early evening I made contact with Harry VK6LLL, an amateur radio operator in Albany WA. Propagation was very good on 7Mhz across the bight with my 10w signal receiving a positive 5-7 signal report. HF Radios require a ground plane which is connected to the antenna or antenna tuner. On land, operators may use a ground spike or radial wires lying on the ground around an antenna. On the ocean, we connect the ground of the radio and antenna tuner to as much metal as possible on board the boat, and also to the water via a bronze or copper grounding plate under the hull. Salt water, being a good conductor of electricity, becomes an extension of the ground, significantly improving your antenna performance.

After speaking with Harry, Tony VK5KI came up on frequency and provided information about  contacting the Kangaroo Is Coast Guard to arrange a mooring.

Dinner consisted of tomato quiche accompanied by vegetarian sausage rolls.

About 2100hrs, the wind filled in enough to shut the engine down and sail. We ghosted along into the night at a steady 3-4kn before tacking at about 0130hrs as the wind had backed around to the North.