Another day of Golf

Wednesday 28th




Today it was time for another game of golf. It was overcast and with a few isolated showers, and little breeze. We3 again hired a car from the marina to get us to the Capricorn Resort and we could hang on to it long enough to get Kathy and David to the airport in Rockhampton tomorrow morning for their flight home.



We played the resort course which was in great condition except it had been a while since they had mowed the greens. Carole was in blistering form chalking up 38 points to Mike's 33 points and she now holds a commanding 9 point lead in the Mica Cup.

                                               Some of the locals at Capricorn Golf Resort

After golf we headed back into Yeppoon for lunch at the Keppel Bay Sailing Club, located right on the beach. David continued his calamari survey with the salt and pepper calamari here almost as good as Woodgate..

                                          Keppel Bay Sailing Club on the beach

Off to the supermarket again, and I called into a local mobile phone shop to get an antenna for my wireless internet modem, as from now on reception may be a bit more difficult and Rod has had some success with a similar antenna he had bought in Sydney.



Hen we arrived back at the marina, Cooinda had here mainsail back on and furled up nicely. Let's hope the latesrt fix is the answer.



Dinner tonight was a BBQ on Cooinda. Tomorrow the plan is to head off to Great Keppel Island.

Sightseeing around Yeppoon

Tuesday 27th




A day in port at Rosslyn Bay, we spent the morning giving the boat a good cleanup. Rod had removed his mainsail and was working hard on finally resolving his furling issue. When it was stripped down, it looked like tensioning up the stainless rod that holds the furling shaft in place may improve the clearance enough to alleviate the problem. We will only know when the sail is back on and it is tested in operating conditions.



Kathy and David are leaving us from here and have booked a flight home from Rockhampton on Thursday morning.



We then decided to have a look around the area in the afternoon, so hired a hire car for half a day and went for a drive. First we headed South to Emu Park, a coastal settlement we could see clearly from the sea on approach which turned out to be a sleepy little village, with not much going on. We had lunch at a coffee shop, and headed North, ending up at the Capricorn Resort north of Yeppoon. We had already booked a game of golf here for Wednesday and thought we would have a pre-game look. The resort is looking tired and did not appear to be overflowing with guests, but the golf courses ( 36 holes) looked excellent.







Then it was off to the metropolis of Yeppoon. We did the usual supermarket visit and drive around town to take in the sights. We were particularly impressed with the other 'boat harbour” right in town, however you need to pick the tides carefully.

Tonight we had a BBQ on Mica, joined by Rod & Lee.

Kathy has been the ships photographer since she has been on board and will be sadly missed. Here is the team checking her latest work.

Departing for Rosslyn Bay

Monday 26th




Up early at 4.30am for a 5 am start. We are only a couple of hours into the high tide so need to be aware of the depth going out in the dark, but it looks pretty straight forward.



We had the anchor up and were motoring out of the heads at 5.10 am. The wind was about 10-15 knots from the SE and motor sailed for a while. By around 7 am the breeze had built to around 18 knots and we turned the engine off and sailed the rest of the way to Rosslyn Bay, arriving just before 4 pm.



David took up his normal position downstairs on the bunk, however, this time he managed to read a good deal of his book, so can't have been too seasick.



The weather was pretty ordinary with the wind above 20 knots and isolated showers along the way. Trolling was banned on this due to the strong breeze and difficulty of landing a fish if we got one.



When we arrived at Rosslyn Bay it was only 20 minutes into the high tide, so I decided to check with the marina on the clearance depth at the entrance. They advised it was 1 m plus the tide, so when I called this was 1.7m well below our draft of 2.05 m. We ended up standing off until 2 hours into the high tide before entering. By that time it was blowing 25 knots and our berth was very exposed to the cross breeze making berthing a challenge. Fortunately a few people materialised to help with the lines.



Dinner was at a restaurant near the marina , the girls had showers, but David and I were still dressed in our seagoing gear, but more interested in eating and getting a rest than getting dressed up for dinner.

Sunday at Pancake Creek

Sunday 25th




We spent Sunday at anchor in Pancake Creek. In daylight it was clear that Rod was still having trouble getting his mainsail down and the sail was roughly tied around the boom. He spent a good part of the day further investigating the problem.

Rod in a familiar stance working on Cooinda's mainsail furler

First priority in the morning was to get the fishing lines out and we were quickly rewarded with , one unidentified (but undersized fish a bit to a whiting but with tropical markings), 2 honeycomb cod (undersized), and school mackeral (also undersized) and a tuskfish that was legal, so finally we had something we could eat. Lee caught a sizeable stingray.

Our first edible fish

                                                                                             Honeycomb cod

After breakfast (Kathy kept her promise to cook us pancakes for breakfast at Pancake Creek- they were excellent !), we lowered the dinghy overboard and motored in to a nearby beach in a very strongly flowing tide which seems to be a feature of Pancake Creek. Good shelter from the SE swell, but quite shallow with a strong tidal flow, at least where we anchored in the outer anchorage.



When we could see the creek at low tide it was clear how careful you needed to be in not straying from the nav aids. Rod and Lee came to grief here 6 years ago, and apparently, then, even the basic nav aids were not there.



We had a good walk around on shore, sampled the oysters, it was a very scenic area and sheltered from the still howling South Easter. By the time we decided to go back to the boat the tide had gone out considerably and we could walk our dinghy half way back to the boat.

                                                            Beach at Pancake Creek

Carole checking the oysters

It is still too cold to swim, although David has made a couple of attempts.



As there was little shelter from the wind, and the forecast is for around 20 knots SE for the next few days, we decided to head off tomorrow for Rosslyn Bay (Yeppoon).

                                          Looking back from the beach towards Mica at anxhor

Rod will be sailing on his headsail only, so has decided to leave at 1 am as he expects to be a bit slow. We plan to head off at 5 am.

Sailing to Pancake Creek

Saturday 24th




We set out for Pancake Creek at 6.30 am, shortly after Rod & Lee. Set sail after clearing the entrance to the Burnett River, and took off on a mainsail only with a 15-20 knot SE Breeze. We quickly passed Cooinda averaging around 7 knots. Not far into our trip there was a Securite message from Bundaberg Marine Rescue, that a 15m yacht had been abandoned off Breaksea Spit at the top of Fraser Island at 1 am this morning, and had been logged as a navigation hazrd as the vessel was either drifting or had sunk but was not yet found.



We were making good ground until but had to slow down just of Round Hill Head when the drag on the trolling rod went off, and pandemonium broke loose on board, as it was obvious we had a good fish on and were still doing around 7 knots and would run out of line if we didn't slow down. Mike was reeling it in, Carole was on the helm and we had to come about to lose speed and regain the some of the few hundred metres of line that had now run out. So forget the sailing, start the motor and go head to wind into an 18 knot SE wind was the only option. Half an hour later we had landed a sizable mackerel tuna, despite our high hopes that we finally had a good eating fish we ended up with enough bait to last us for some time.

                                                                   Fish on the line

                                                    
                                                                 There's the fish

Landing the fish

Landing the fish was a messy process with David showing excellent skills with the gaff, blood everywhere but the fish safely on board. He then retreated downstairs to relieve himself of his lunch.

                                                  Support crew during the landing

It was then back to sailing and liberal washing of the cockpit.



We arrived at Pancake Creek around 4.30pm and anchored in the outer anchorage area, close to the entrance. We arrived only a few hours into the incoming tide and it was too shallow to take on entering the inner anchorage area which required going through a passage with a datum level of 0.6m.



Rod and Lee arrived about 45 mins later and anchored nearby. It was blowing hard and there was little enthusiasm to get dinghies off the deck at this hour so we each dined on board our own boats.

Sightseeing in Bundaberg

Friday 23 rd




The good news is that Cooinda is now ready to sail again with mainsail problems now behind them. We all spent a day sightseeing and we decided to drive to Woodgate, a small coastal town down the coast ( about 70 km from Bundaberg). Located on Hervey Bay, just opposite the Northern part of Frasers Island, it is a relatively undeveloped town with basic facilities and almost everyone has a beach frontage.



We went for a short walk in the National Park, about 10 mins was enough, drove up and down the beach front and had lunch in the local pub, which David reckons has the best calamari so far on the coast (or at least as good as at the fish markets at Mooloolaba).

We were impressed with the boat ramp across from the pub which allows launching you boat directly into the ocean at hign tide, but a bit disappointing at low tide when we saw it. See below.

Back at the marina we started planning for an early morning departure tomorrow to Pancake Creek, reluctantly handed back our 1994 Magna to the car hire company. Kathy went for a walk and discovered the local fisherman had no trouble getting a feed , unlike us. She captured their technique in the photo below.

                                                             How Good is this Fisherman !

We met up with Rod & Lee to discuss plans for tomorrow at the marina happy hour, and it looks like we will be off at first light utilising a brisk SE breeze.

Another Bundy Sunset

More Golf in Bundaberg

Thursday 22nd




As departure had been delayed by at least a day, another game of golf was in order. We retained the hire car and booked in to play at Bundaberg Golf Course.



After a short drive to the North of the city we were soon there, and it had lots of trees, narrow fairways and a bit of water in the wrong places, not a good formula.



Suffice to say, Carole quickly reversed her poor fortune at Coral Cove and recorded 34 points to Mike's 26 points, reversing the lead to 4 points in her favour, keeping the Mica Cup very much in contention.



We found our way home via the usual shopping centre, went to the post office and put in an application for a postal vote for the Federal Election, and headed back to the marina to find out how Cooinda had faired with their repairs. The good news was that the bearing had arrived, the bad news was that it didn't fit the shaft and housing and some minor machining work was needed to rectify this. A local machining shop were on the case, but it wouldn't be ready till tomorrow morning.



We decided to wait an extra day, given a pretty ordinary weather forecast for tomorrow and put our trust in the engineering firm that were fixing it, with a strong belief that all would be well in the morning.



We were golfed out so tomorrow we will keep the hire car and do some sightseeing.



Tonight we all headed off to the Lighthouse Hotel in Burnett Heads for dinner.

Golf in Bundaberg

Wednesday 21st




As we were staying a day or two in Bundaberg, it was time for another game of golf. We hired a car from the Marina (for $35 per day), an old Magna with 258,000 km on the clock and headed off to Coral Cove International Resort, just South of Bundaberg near Elliott Heads.



The Mica Cup was full of excitement from the first few holes, with Mike driving the green on the Par 4 1st and recording an eagle, Carole retaliated quickly with a birdie on the Par 3 2nd. The end result was a reversal of the lead again, with Mike having 42 points and Carole 36, now giving Mike a 4 point lead.

Carole's tee shot on the Par 3 2nd

Whilst we were golfing Rod was off to town to try and source a bearing for his mainsail furler. There was nothing in stock in Bundaberg, so he organised to have one flown in overnight.



On the way back to the marina, we stopped in town to get get more supplies and fill a jerry can with diesel whilst we had the car. We arrived back at the marina around 5pm, and the plan was to have a seafood dinner on Cooinda.

Carole's Chilli Prawns were a big hit

Lee prepared a very tasty seafood platter

The girls excelled with the catering and we had a veritable feast.

Bundaberg next stop

Tuesday 20th




After not much sleep we set off for Bundaberg at 6.45 am motoring out and set sail in a 10 to 15 knot southerly and had a good sail until around 11 am when the wind dropped to under 5 knots and we ended up motoring the rest of the way to Bundaberg. The seas were flat and we were on autopilot much of the way.

The Girls on Watch during the sail to Bundaberg

Lee on watch on Cooinda

Cooinda was still having mainsail problems, now identified as a disintegrated bearing on the boom furler, so they motor sailed on their jib.
The forecast does still not look favourable for anchoring at Lady Musgrave Island, and Cooinda needs to source a new bearing, so we will be in Bundaberg for a few nights.



We were coming through the heads of the Burnett River at around 3 pm and tied up at the Bundaberg Port Marina by 3.30pm.



Dinner tonight was at the restaurant at the Marina.
 

Sunset at Bundaberg Marina

Kingfisher Resort

Monday 19th




South White Cliffs looked like the ideal spot to fish from the back of the boat, so as everyone arose the lines went out early, and the crab traps were checked still without success. Fishing yielded some more interesting results, we caught 4 puffer fish, and two very undersized flathead, one of which we think was a tiger flathead.

                                                      Puffer Fish

                                                    David's Flathead

Having given the fish a good feed and got nothing to eat, we pulled up the crab traps and at around 10 am weighed anchor and headed off for North White Cliffs, where the Kingfisher resort is also located. It was a short motor up the Great Sandy Straights in mostly deep water and by noon we were anchored off the beach to the south of the jetty in about 10m of water. The crab traps were quickly deployed, fishing lines tossed out the back, and we caugt one reef fish we couldn't identify, but it was too small to keep, so threw it back.



In the afternoon we decided to explore the area on foot and took the dinghies ashore. We had a good look around Kingfisher Resort, very nice, but not a lot of people there, went for a walk up to a lookout that gave a great Northerly aspect of Fraser Island looking towards Hervey Bay, and returned to the resort where after a walk out on to the jetty, we decided to have a beer at the bar in the day visitors centre before returning to our boats.

                                          Rod & Lee ashore at Kingfishers getting ready for our walk

Rod , Lee and Crole on the Jetty at Kingfishers

When we got back to the beach to take the dinghies home, a fair wind chop had come up and it was a bumpy ride back to the boats. Recovering the crab traps (still empty) and getting back on board in the surge was tricky. Rod & Lee decided not to join us for dinner as it was that rough and they were concerned about getting backwards and forwards and getting the dinghy back on deck for a morning departure to Bundaberg tomorrow.



We packed up, had a lamb roast dinner cooked on the Cobb and went to bed with a plan to leave around 7 am for Bundaberg.

The conditions didn't improved over night and the boat pitched and rolled all night until around 5 am, needless to say none of us got a lot of sleep.

Further into the Great Sandy Straights

Sunday 18th




We went for a walk on Fraser Island from Garry's Anchorage north along what seems to be and old logging track. Up and back took around 2 hrs and we headed back to our boats to ready ourselves to depart at around midday, so we could arrive at the shallowest part of the Great Sandy Straights about an hour and a half before the the high tide.

We arrived at Sheridan Flats, the shallow point on time. A phonecall to the local VMR before departing turned out to to be well worthwhile as on of the key marker buoys had been relocated 70 m to the west and all of the chart info for this section of the passage was to be ignored as the leads were now incorrect.



Having passed through this area with no problems, we are now anchored at South White Cliffs. There was a rush to get the crab pots out and get the fishing lines in the water. Whilst the boys headed out hunting for crabs, the girls quickly had the lines in the water using some left over steak as bait.

                                               Crab Hunters at South White Cliffs


Rod and Lee came over for sundowners, no crabs yet, but the girls have had their hooks bitten off 3 times ( now on wire traces but no further action).



Dinner on board with just the 4 of us, Chicken Satay, most enjoyable !

Off to the Great Sandy Straights

Saturday 17th




Up at 12.15am to get everything in place for a 1 am departure, a little after the peak high tide, and planning to hit the Wide Bay Bar a couple of hours before the peak high tide there to enable a reasonably smooth crossing.



We departed on time, and set sail once clearing the Mooloolaba bar. Rod and Lee were having problems raising their mainsail, so fell a little behind. We had a good sail in 15 -20 kt SW breeze on the mainsail only and as the breeze strengthened to over 20 kts we put a reef in about an hour before Double Island point.



David spent most of the trip down below seasick.



We arrived at Wide Bay Bar at 10.30 am and headed in, a bit of an experience for the uninitiated, but we just followed the leads and ignored everything else going on around us. Once clearing the bar, a long run in, we motored up the Straights to Garry's Anchorage ( about 14 nm) arriving around 1 pm.

Garrys anchorage (Mica furthest out)

                                                           Mica at Garrys Anchorage
Rod and Lee arrived at around 3pm after having trouble getting their mainsail down before crossing the bar.



Dinner tonight was Paella on Mica which was enjoyed by all, and everyone was off to bed for a good sleep after what was a long day. The plan for Sunday was to head North an the high tide and clear the shallow area at Sheridan Flats, anchoring on the northern side.

Still in Mooloolaba

Thursday 15th

Cooinda arrived at 10.30 am, with a pretty tired crew after a bash into a strong NW wind for most of the night. (The forecast was SW at about 75% of the strength). Nevertheless they arrived safely and with no further damage.



Rod and Lee had a well deserved sleep, and we walked into town, had lunch, more shopping for food etc. and met back up with Rod and Lee after lunch to sort out the plan from here.



We agreed that given the weather forecast and the attractiveness of a 30 + hours sail to Lady Musgrave Island, and given the level of crew enthusiasm ( on both boats), it was decided we would go up through the Great Sandy Straights, between Fraser Island and the mainland leaving early Saturday morning.



We had dinner together at the restaurant above the fish co-op, great food and good value + BYO. Unfortunately Kathy lost a tooth filling at dinner and an unscheduled visit to the dentist was on the cards for Fri morning.



Friday 16th



Given we now had an extra day in Mooloolaba it was an opportunity for another game of golf. We booked into Headlands Golf Club at Buderim, and left the Cooinda crew to have a well deserved sleep in. Kathy was dropped off at the dentist at 11 am and and Mike, Carole and David headed off to the golf course with the promise of Kathy joining us after the dentist had done their work.



Kathy joined us at golf at the 3rd hole at which time the Mica Cup contest already strongly under way. The end result was Mike had 33 points, Carole 31 points, reducing Carole's lead to 2 points.



Dinner tonight was an early BBQ on Cooinda, in anticipation of an early morning start to sail to the Wide Bay Bar. The plan was to leave the Mooloolaba Marina at 1 am.

Further News from Mooloolaba

Tuesday 13th




Today we expecting the arrival of Carole's sister, Kathy and husband, David to join us on our cruise for the next two weeks, so there has been much activity tidying up the boat and clearing their cabin.



Also the obligatory shopping trip to Coles was necessary to continue stocking up.



Rod and Lee on Cooinda have been further delayed by a bit of extra repair work needed in Southport and a pretty ordinary weather forecast. Their plan now is to sail up on Wed evening arriving Thursday morning and we will look at departing Mooloolaba Friday morning, weather permitting.

We have extended our stay at the marina until Friday and decided it was time for another game of golf, Kathy and David had bought some basic clubs with them in anticipation. We hired a rental car for Wednesday, and booked in at Pelican Waters Golf Course, just south of Caloundra. The rental company were pretty flexible and we ended up getting the car from around 2 pm on Tues till 8 am Thursday for the cost of one days rental. They also picked us up at the marina and delivered us back on returning the car.

As we had the car early we picked Kathy and David up from the airport and brought them back to the boat. That night we had a quiet dinner at the Surf Club.

                                                Kathy and David Join the Cruise

Wednesday 14th

We set out early for our game of golf at Pelican Waters, booked for 9 am. The course was in excellent condition and we had managed to get a special deal through Drummond Golf, so set out with high hopes. Carole excelled with 36 points, easily closing the gap on Mike's early lead in the Mica Cup, and is now 4 points ahead after Mike only managed 25 points. Kathy had 33 points and David 27.

We had a pleasant lunch at the club, and as we had the car, decided to fill our jerry cans with diesel to refuel the boat. After a couple of trips to the service station, the tank is now full and we have 40 litres in reserve.

It turned out that Kathy and David had some friends ( Kerry and Pauline Sunderland) house minding a place in Noosa and after a couple of phone calls, they decided to come to Moolooolaba join us for a few pre dinner drinks and dinner at the fish markets.

In the meantime we heard that Cooinda was on her way, passing through the Gold Coast Seaway at 4pm, and that Rod and Lee would be in Mooloolaba Thursday morning.

Sunday and Monday in Mooloolaba

After completing marina check in procedures, and a short rest, we set out to explore Mooloolaba on foot.




On a berth just near the marina office was Ella's Pink Lady and the support catamaran, we saw a lot of on TV as she arrived in Sydney. Later in the afternoon we saw her coming back into the harbour with Jessica at the helm and probably her father as crew.

                                                  Ella's Pink Lady at Mooloolaba Marina

We walked into town to get an idea where everything was, had lunch in town, and eventually found the Coles Supermarket and stocked up on a few supplies.



We had a good nights sleep and when we went for a walk Mon (12th) morning, Ella's Pink Lady was gone, possibly setting out to Sydney for the boat show in a few weeks.



Low tide today was very low 0.08 m, followed by a King Tide tonight (2.11m). One of the racing yachts on the marina sat on the bottom for the about 2 hours at the bottom of the low tide.

                                 Note the mast on the left, he spent a couple of hours resting on his keel

Seafood here is plentiful and well priced, and the fishing fleet and fisherman's market is near the marina. Coffin Bay Oysters, fresh snapper, calamari and chips from the wholesale market made a most enjoyable dinner.

The Long Trek to Mooloolaba

Sat 10th July, we rose at 3.45am, and first priority was to check the weather forecast. It had continued to blow pretty hard all night despite the forecast for the winds to abate. A check on the Bureau of Meteorology site showed there was still a strong wind warning in place (cancelled later in the morning) and that, coupled with leaving the seaway in the dark, without a chance to check if there were breaking waves, made us decide we would motor up into Morton Bay, through the broadwater and go on Mooloolaba from there on Sunday.




A friend with a catamaran told us that this was an experience not to be missed, I won't be giving others similar advice.We headed off at around 7 am, got disoriented , and had to backtrack to find a “navigable” channel into the main channel to Morton Bay from the Broadwater, we grounded 3 times and bounced off the bottom once in a powerboat wake. We had a number of reputable cruising guides assuring us the channels were navigable for deep keel boats (must have been written by catamaran owners), so in the end we gave up and went back to Southport and anchored just off the spit and decided on plan B. I don't think we will be back to have another go.



A check of the weather forecast showed winds were abating back to 10-15 knots, seas around the 1.5 to 2.5 m mark, and a phonecall to the seaway tower, confirmed that the crossing conditions were
now moderate, compared with not real flash this morning.



"We" decided we would go to Mooloolaba overnight tonight. So, we had lunch, booked a marina berth in Mooloolaba, had a few hours sleep and pulled up anchor at 4.30pm, and headed off to the seaway.



Just as we were approaching the seaway there was a Securite announcement to all ships from Seaway Tower. Apparently this morning a tinnie overturned in the seaway whilst crossing, all on board were rescued. But the whereabouts of the tinnie was unknown, other than it constituted a risk to navigation in the Seaway as it was under the water there somewhere, but yet to be found.



Not to be deterred, we crossed the bar with no dramas, Carole took her out, and after a few dramas with the main halyard getting caught on the radar reflector again, we set sail for Mooloolaba.



For the first part of the trip up the outside of Stradbroke Island, winds were light 5-10 knots from the SE moving us along, but with a little assistance from the diesel. The next leg from Point Lookout to Cape Moreton, saw the breeze fill out to around 20 knots and we powered across this stretch on a broad reach with only the mainsail. It was a bit bumpy in parts. Alas when we passed Cape Moreton and turned toward Mooloolaba the wind was right up our tail until very late in the trip when it moved ESE, so once again there was a bit of motoring involved.



We had a bit of rain along the way, but generally it was a clear starry night, but little moonlight.



We arrived at the entrance to the Mooloolaba bar at 7.30 am and Carole took us in very professionally. We were tied up at our berth at the Mooloolaba Yacht Club by 8.15 am.



We had a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, a shower and a bit of a cleanup of the boat and now for some rest.



Just heard from our friends Rod & Lee on Cooinda. They hope to be in Southport by lunchtime. I hope they don't find the tinnie in the seaway. They will depart for Mooloolaba on Tues.So we should finally catch up next week.

Still in Southport

It is now Thursday 8th July and we had booked our marina berth till Sat 10th, so spent Thursday walking around to the spit where Palazzo Versace and the Marina Mirage etc are located. Just a lttle way past the hotels and shopping centres you can buy fresh seafood from the fishermen directly off their boats. In the afternoon it was back to Australia Fair for re-provisioning.




On Friday we had a further game of golf at Southport Golf Club with the Wesslinks, this time also playing in the local comp, Carole had 33 points, but Mike has run away with a 7 point lead in the Mica Cup. After scoring 39 points. He also won the Southport Cup which he and Mike Wesslink strongly contested over the 3 rounds in Southport.



We had an early dinner with the Wesslinks at Ribs & Rumps, a steakhouse in the Marina complex,

and is off to bed for an early start to Mooloolaba on Saturday.



A quick check with Rod and Lee from Cooinda confirmed they had received their repaired mainsail, intended refitting it this afternoon and planned to leave Coffs Sat morning for Southport.

Update from Southport

We are still in Southport awaiting the arrival of our friends from Sydney, Rod and Lee Mellor in their boat Cooinda. In the meantime we have had the opportunity to spend some time with Mike and Joy Wesslink and to continue the cruising golf competition, the Mica Cup.




We played at Southport GC on Monday and Carole came out victorious with a one point win 29 points to 28 points putting her one point ahead. Mike Wesslink was the star of the day with 34 points.



It is now Tuesday and I checked with Cooinda regarding their progress North, at 8 am they had been sailing for 17hrs and were just off Port Stephens sailing into stiff northerlies and making slow progress, but still hoping to be in Southport by the weekend. We spent a leisurely day walking to Surfers Paradise in the morning and having lunch there. When we returned to the boat I decided to try a bit of fishing, but the weather was threatening and the fish didn't seem to like our NSW prawn bait. After about an hour we gave up and headed back to the boat before we got wet.



Today, it was another game of golf, with the Wesslinks, and to continue our competition. We played the Surfers Paradise course, a reciprocal club of Oatlands. It was Mike's turn for a win and defeating Carole 35 to 33 points, now gives him a one stroke lead. Our next game is at Southport on Friday, once again with the Wesslink's.



Today is Mike.W's birthday, so we celebrated with lunch back at the Yacht Club and further celebrations are planned for dinner at their apartment in Broadbeach tonight.

                                                         Birthday lunch at the SYC

I checked with Cooinda this morning to see how they were progressing North and it seems they had a pretty wild night at sea, 30-35 knot southerlies and a big sea. They had sustained some damage to their mainsail and were heading for Coffs Harbour for repairs.



Looks like they may now not get to Southport before we leave on Saturday, so will plan to meet up in Mooloolaba.

Relaxing at Southport

                                                    Mica entering the GC Seaway

Having had a good rest after our early morning arrival at the Southport Yacht Club, we went for a walk to familiarise ourselves with the surrounds and that evening it was off to dinner with Mike & Joy Wesslink.




Mike picked us up at the marina and took us back to their unit in Broadbeach, for pre-dinner drinks before wandering across the road to one of their favourite restaurants, Champagne Brasserie. The food was excellent and an enjoyable evening was had by all.



On Saturday we wandered up to Southport town cenre, and did some shopping at Australia Fair and in the main shopping strip. We returned to the boat early afternoon and took it easy for the rest of the day. One of the things I wanted to address on the boat was to reduce the power consumption when we are night sailing. On our trip to Southport we were using around 18 amp hours, between the navigation lights, instruments, radar and the odd bit of refrigeration. It was therefore necessary to run the engine for a while to keep the batteries topped up, we certainly didn't need any assistance with speed. I changed the Navigation lights over to LED's (got them from the chandlery at SYC), which should reduce the load by around 5 amp hours.



On checking my email I discovered that Justine was much better and the major kidney stone risk had passed. David was still coming to run in the marathon on Sunday and Justine was well enough to come along for the ride.



So on Sunday morning we walked down to where the marathon would finish to catch up with David and Justine, and maybe see him run across the finish line. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but eventually we found Justine, and not long after we found David, looking a bit worse for wear, but victorious having completed his first marathon. Here is a photo he and a mate below sporting their medals.

By the time the race was over and they cleaned up, it was time for them to think about driving home , so we parted company and went back to the SYC for lunch.

Time to Say Goodbye to Yamba

Time to Say Goodbye to Yamba




Wednesday 30th June was spent catching up on the mundane things, doing the washing, a bit of shopping, and getting the boat ready for our next voyage to the Gold Coast. The marina laundromat turned out to be the social centre of the marina and a great deal of the morning was taken up talking to various people as they came and went.



We also met up with a couple, Terry & Marjatta, from a catamaran “Lioness 111”, who we had met briefly at Laurieton, as they were anchored nearby. We ended up having sundowners with them and they decided they would also head off to Southport tomorrow, so we might as well sail in company,



We were to have dinner with David and Justine tonight, but Justine unexpectedly ended up in Maclean hospital with kidney stones, so we said our goodbyes and may catch up on the way home.



Thursday morning we readied for our departure, not before buying some essential supplies from the fresh seafood outlet attached to the marina, easily the best quality and value for money seafood we have seen so far ( king prawns $20 per kg, and 6 flathead fillets for $6). And fresh off the boat that morning.

We set out from the Yamba marina at 1215 hrs (high tide was at 1130 hrs and we needed the high to get through the shallow approaches to the marina and wanted to cross the Clarence river bar before the tide runout gathered momentum. Lioness 111 came out with us. It was our first overnight sail.



The bar crossing was smooth and after a few hassles getting the mainsail up ( the halyard had become caught on the radar reflector and it took a bit of juggling to get it free,) we set sail for Southport.



The forecast was for slight winds 5-10knots dead behind us for most of the trip, so we had factored in a slow sail, a lot of motoring and some loss of headway due the strong southerly currents in some areas. Everything taken into account we expected to be at the seaway around 0800 hrs, a good time to enter as the low tide was at 0600 hrs.

How wrong we were !!

After a bit of a slow start the wind settled in at around 12 to 17 knots from the SW, and we were sailing at 7– 9 knots, we reached Cape Byron, a little over half way, at 2000 hrs, and realised if we continued at this rate we would have a long wait standing off the Gold Coast Seaway. So both of us set out to shed as much speed as we could to get back to 5-6 knots. We hauled in the headsail, put a reef in the main and still struggled to stay below 6 knots. In the end we ended up sitting off the seaway entrance for around 3 hrs before crossing the bar at 0730 hrs.

Mike Wesslink was at the Seaway entrance, camera in hand to greet us and to photograph the choas associated with entering the seaway ,tinnies anchored in the middle of the entrance fishing, all manner of small boats darting in and out, and a large charter cruiser, tearing up the middle going out at around 25 knots generating a bow wave you could surf on.



We were tied up at the Southport Yacht Club marina by a little after 8 am. Once again Mike Wesslink was there greet us and help us with our lines. Thanks Mike. Carole got out the Nespresso machine and we celebrated with a real cup of coffee.



The weather here is pretty ordinary, overcast with light showers. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.



First priority is to have breakfast and get some sleep.