Emigre’s Voyage to Tasmania - The Esperance Arrival
- morganflower
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Albany to Tasmania - Day 3
The Esperance Arrival
Saturday, April 11th 2026
Of the many ways you can sail into Esperance Bay, we possibly chose one of the worst. We spent the morning simply trying to get Emigre moving on a course vaguely in the same direction as Esperance. If we had a working engine, we would have motored for sure.
When you’re drifting about at one or two knots, not making much headway, you begin to get frustrated. I call it playing ‘Bob’. We played a lot of Bob that morning.
The wind eventually began to fill in from the north east at about a force three. We did a couple of tacks before getting a decent lift to the west of Figure of Eight Island in the Western Group, approximately 20 miles south south west of Esperance Harbour. The lift seemed good at the time. We went from sailing towards Albany to pointing almost due North, closing the gap between us and Esperance Harbour.
We cleared North of the Western Group and the North Easterly pushed us a fair way East before we could tack and clear Cull Island.
Despite our best efforts to make good progress and arrive in daylight, we were treated to a spectacular sunset as we passed Charlie and Cull Island to Port. The breeze had freshened to force 5-6 from the east north east. As we rounded Cull Island, the sun dipped below the land and we surfed a reasonable fetch whilst reaching towards Esperance Port.
With the conditions less than ideal and my agricultural boom fueling system difficult to operate at the best of times, I elected to drop the main well clear of the port. James went forward and worked the furler and stainless steel wire rope halyard winch whilst I kept Emigre sailing close hauled with half a headsail.
Once the main was furled and secured, James prepared our lines and fenders as I steered us towards the port.
The wind veered to the south east as we neared the breakwater. To my horror, I looked up to see the side lights of a bulk carrier accompanied by two tugs hurriedly steaming out from behind the rock wall.
Quickly furling what was left of the headsail, we coasted under bare poles with a force five pushing us towards the exiting ship. I set the VHF repeater to monitor channel 16 and 12 in case we were contacted by the tugs or pilot. They would have been able to view our position in real time via our Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmitter.
The procession of the ship, tugs, and pilot boat cleared the breakwater with enough time for us to pass safely astern. Or so I thought.
Not three hundred meters past the breakwater the tugs disconnected from the ship and immediately started steaming back towards the port.
Being a recreational vessel, Emigre has no requirement to have lights to fitted to signal a vessel restricted in her ability to manoeuvre. (Red, White, Red in a vertical line) In this situation, given the lack of engine and manoeuvrability from having limited sail up, I wish I did.
As the tugs headed towards us at a rate of knots, I once again furled the headsail and reached for the VHF Radio to alert the tugs of my situation.
My call was ignored and we were given a bright flash from the search lights as they flew past in front of us.
This situation will have been avoided completely should we have had a working engine. I would have stood well clear using the engine to slow the boat down or power away from the port on the reciprocal bearing. I have no interest in obstructing commercial operations but had little option given the strong wind from astern and limited room to manoeuvre.
With the tugs out the way, we again unfurled half the headsail and steered towards the Esperance Bay Yacht Club Marina.
I had arranged a pen thanks to Paul and Tim from the yacht club, and now had to try and berth Emigre safely at night with only a headsail to manoeuvre. We had on shot to get it right.
300 meters or so from the marina I furled the headsail again, reducing our speed to below two knots. With aid from a bright headlamp, I spotted the pen to the right of the marina’s tee head that appeared to be empty. We were travelling quicker than I might have liked under bare poles alone and I worked hard to try and slow the boat using large movements of the rudder whilst attempting to aim Emigre towards the pen.
As we came alongside the finger jetty, James stepped ashore and quickly wrapped the stern line around the cleat. He allowed the line to slip which pulled up Emigre quickly but avoided the cleat ripping out of the pontoon or the deck. Despite our best efforts, eight tonnes of fully loaded Duncanson takes a fair bit to stop. The bow made contact with the jetty, thankfully with minimal damage.
We fastened our bow line and springs and cracked open a cold beer. Like it or not, we had arrived in Esperance.
The days following were somewhat frustrating with the replacement fuel rail being delayed in transit and many hours of filling, flushing, and draining a mixture of engine oil and diesel. Whilst tedious and somewhat messy. With oil drums acquired from the pub and fish and chip shop, we managed to contain the 50 or so litres of waste oil and diesel that I had flushed through the engine without spilling any in the harbour.
The oil in the engine went from looking like a milkshake to looking clean and clear again. After each flush, I removed the oil filter, washed it out with diesel and re-fitted it.
The most challenging decision of our stopover had to be made by James. Although we had been having a good time and sailing well together, unfortunately his leave from work was rapidly coming to a close, requiring him to head back to Tasmania via bus and aeroplane.
Neither of us really wanted to face the reality that he was going home and that I would be in Esperance with a broken down boat looking for a replacement crew. Whilst our trip to Tasmania didn’t quite end up as expected, I couldn’t have even got this far without James‘s help preparing the boat for sea in Albany, and keeping me focussed and motivated to get moving towards Tasmania. Thank you James.
With the decision made and his flight booked, we made the most of his last couple of days in W.A. with plenty of work on the engine and the odd pub visit in town.
Today is Wednesday, April 15th. James left at 08:00 hours this morning on the bus bound for Perth. Exhausted and feeling somewhat deflated, the morning started slowly whilst I mustered up some enthusiasm to continue with the never-ending list of boat jobs.
Having spoken to a few close friends and family informing them of James’s return to Tasmania, I began to enquire about potential new crew for the remainder of the voyage.
The phone rang in the late morning, informing me that my engine parts had been delivered to the boat shop in town where I had arranged to collect them. I set off on a 10 km round-trip to pick them up, returning a couple of hours later to attempt the install.
Despite having purchased ring spanners, and flare nut spanners. I wasn’t able to break the fuel return manifold locking out free on cylinder three.
Before I did something stupid, I decided to contact Wade, a local diesel mechanic who came down to the boat and manage to remove part of the injector and along with it the seized locking nut. He returned an hour later with the locknut released and the three copper washes clean and ready for the new install. He fitted the new injector pipes and return line manifold, bled the injectors and then we watch the engine fire right up.
After a quick adjustment on cylinder, one injector, no leaks were present and the engine was once again running smoothly.
Thank you, Wade and Albany’s one and only Super Chris for the recommendation.
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