wrote in message
...
On Sep 4, 2:02 pm, "Gregory Hall" wrote:
....
You're right! And did you notice he was motoring out of the harbor into a
headwind and then when the motor quit he unrolled the genoa and tried to
tack back into the harbor? Then he had to be towed.

Strange winds out that way. I guess they blow both ways at the same time.
....

To get out of Port Morsby in the typical SE trades you need to beat
out of the harbor until you get to the pass in the barrier reef at
which point you should be able to reach through the pass. If you were
motoring to the pass or in the pass and your engine were to fail you
would be on a lee shore and would need to beat off of it. The
entrance to the yacht basin is tricky because of the coral heads and
because the break in the seawall is small. Currents within the
barrier reef can be quite strong, too. The reason the call it the
Coral Sea is because there is a whole lot of coral in it. I don't know
anything about the guy and I think this kind of record breaking is
kind of silly, but if he says his engine failed and he had to beat off
of a lee shore why scoff?

-- Tom.

reply

I scoff because I can take a look-see using Google Maps.

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworl...rt_Moresby.htm

You might want to zoom it in a couple notches so you can see the reef and
other obstructions. And you can readily see if there's a headwind leaving
port then there will be a tailwind returning to port. You can also see the
area is wide open with few dangers and obstructions until you get to the
pass in the outlying reef proper.

Zac lied or embellished for effect. It's patently obviously. You can
actually see the prevailing winds resulting in a headwind coming into the
pass. The waves show it. You can even see some ships and one heading into
the pass.

--
Gregory Hall