It is great to be finally on the move again. We were up at 4 am, and left the marina at just after 4.30am with a reasonable weather forecast. The bar crossing was uneventful but the swell offshore is much bigger than forecast, so crossing the entrance to Moreton Bay was a bit bumpy. Fortunately we had a SW breeze at around 8 knots (forecast was ENE), so we started off having a great sail towards Cape Morton.
Amazingly, at at about two thirds of the way to the Cape, the wind suddenly changed to ENE and we came to an abrupt halt. After a bit of sail adjustment we were on our way again, but into the wind and in a lighter breeze, so we motor sailed to Cape Morton.
A number of boats are on the water today, a few heading South like us. Everyone is motor sailing as the breeze continues to weaken and by the Southern end of Moreton Island, the seas started to flatten out, but the breeze remained elusive until the last hour or so before the Gold Coast Seaway. By then we had our sails down and were motoring. We flew the headsail for a while but the wind was dead behind us, and shifting all the time. It was too hard to keep it full, so we continued motoring.
An 18m yacht beside us as we travel down the outside of Moreton Island disappearing behind the swell
And then reappearing on the crests
By the time we reached the Seaway the wind was up to 20 knots, stirring up some healthy wind waves on the way in.
Overall it was a fast trip completing the 90nm in 12.5 hours. We had a healthy favourable current, up to 2 knots, for much of the way. We originally expected it to take us a few hours more than this, given the forecast.
Arriving at the Southport Yacht Club marina in daylight was a bonus. Friends of Smithy's from Akuna Bay, Bob and Bernie Woolacott, we there when we arrived having just arrived back in Southport to reunite with their boat after a 3 week holiday in South Africa. They had also been up in FNQ in their large Maritimo motor boat and are also Southward bound.
The Wollacotts have a unit in Labrador, and offered all of us a night on land staying at their place, and wandering down the road to a local pub/restaurant for dinner. It was a bit of a rush to grab a few things together for the night and to get the boat packed away, but we had a great night out.
The insurance assessor is coming tomorrow morning to assess our claim for the lost radar, so I need to be back at the marina by 8.30am to meet up with him.
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