Sent: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 1:43 PM
Subject: Tropical Cyclone Jasper Update 6 – Wednesday 13 December 2023 at 1230pm

To All Our Marina Customers,

Tropical Cyclone Jasper Update 6 – Wednesday 13 December 2023 at 1230pm

TC Jasper sits around 125kms NNE of Cairns as a Category 1 strength system and is moving WSW towards the far north Queensland coast. Forecasters predict Jasper will likely re-intensify to a Category 2 system before crossing the coast this afternoon between Cooktown and Cairns with destructive wind gusts predicted.  

Townsville remains outside of the Warning Zone.  

TC Jasper is expected to weaken as it moves inland during Thursday towards the Gulf.   

The Marine Gale Coastal Wind Warning is still in effect for the Townsville coast today. Whilst BOM reports that the heaviest rainfall and damaging winds associated with TC Jasper are expected north of Townsville, locally the winds gusts are expected to reach speeds up to 30knots (around 55km/h) this afternoon. Winds are forecast to ease across Thursday.

Thunderstorms and showers are possible today and in to tomorrow.

With the persistence of strong wind gusts and showers, we want to see boat owners attending to the issues we pointed to in our Cyclone Update 5 yesterday in respect Mooring Ropes. 

Where Mooring Ropes are inadequate in size and load rating for your boat or are in poor condition now, they must be replaced not just on account of the passing TC Jasper but for the adequacy of the boat’s tie-up for the rest of the Cyclone season.

Looking ahead, while there is still an active cyclone in the region it is important to continue to monitor the situation. With that said, I know our boat owners will start thinking over the coming days about the readiness measures they’ve taken for Jasper and either taking them down or perhaps even considering leaving them in a prepared state. I’ll circulate a note separately to all our boat owners that will contemplate this specifically.

And whilst this feedback is a little premature, given Jasper has yet to cross land and is still an active cyclone, I would like to thank everyone for the effort they’ve put in to their responses so far during this event. We appreciate it can take a lot of work to get on top of the readiness measures and to leave your vessel confident you’ve done everything practicable to have it ready to withstand the demands of severe weather. Whilst it appears our region has missed the worst conditions of TC Jasper, I hope you’ve been able to take some positive learnings through the exercise of preparing your boat for a potential cyclone threat and that you better understand how we manage Cyclone threats at Breakwater. For those of you who have had the opportunity to observe the impacts on the boats in the prevailing conditions we’ve experienced this week, it will have been interesting to note the change in wind direction from ENE on Sunday to ESE today and perhaps witness the increase in movement of boats in berths with the comparably light 20 to 30 knot winds. Seeing these impacts first hand, even in moderate conditions, certainly helps shape how you approach your boat preparations for future weather events.  

One clear learning, having watched Jasper move and develop from its origins 1500 kms away in the Solomon Sea a week ago is that these systems are not predictable. There are so many meteorological , environmental and geographical influences that combine to ultimately determine how these systems develop, how fast they travel and which track they’ll take. In practical terms, for us as boat owners, our best defence to the risk of damage and injury is to get prepared early and be prepared for the worst.    

Our thoughts go to those in the path of Jasper and particularly to those boat owners, charter operators and Marina and hard stand operators who will contend with the worsening conditions as Jasper approaches the coast.

For now, Townsville is outside of the southern border of the Warning Zone. Breakwater Marina will remain in Condition Green which is the first and normal state of readiness phase of our Cyclone Warning System under our Cyclone Management Plan.   

To close this TC Jasper update, I want to thank all the boat owners who have engaged with us in respect to their preparations and sent through notes about their progress and what they’ve managed to do; the communication helps our Emergency Management enormously.

As is always the case, don’t hesitate to contact us should you need any help.

Scott Marshall    |    General Manager          
BREAKWATER MARINA, TOWNSVILLE