A foggy start and nice afternoon sail to Mooloolaba

Saturday 30^th September 2017

Last night was pretty uncomfortable until the strong Northerly died late in the evening, leaving still conditions and the opportunity to get some sleep before wake up time of 4am, to cross the Wide Bay Bar at first light.

When we woke there was some activity on the water, and our colleagues on Moonshadow were already on the move at 4.30am, in the dark. We had our anchor up by 5am, and Dalwhinnie was right behind us. By now the procession to cross the bar had built and we were among the last boats in the queue. Many of those in front of us are well known to us, but there is a complication. The whole area is covered in a soupy sea fog, so visibility is extremely limited. We all have to rely on electronic charts, radar and the best of all AIS.

Fortunately, many of the boats now have AIS and we could see their positions overlaid on the chart. The ones that didn’t we could see on the radar.

A procession of boats crossing the bar ( AIS signals overlaid on the chart)

Once across the bar, in fairly calm conditions, we all changed course to head South. The minimum depth under our keel as we crossed was 2.2 m, and we crossed about 1.5 hours after high tide.

The fog was still very thick and occasionally there was a small patch of clear area where you could quickly assess where everyone was. We were amazed to find a fishing charter, sitting on a mooring near Double Island Point, pretty much on the course that most people would use to head south, that no lights or AIS. Fortunately we picked them up on the radar, and they were right on our course.

Dalwhinnie emerging from the fog, briefly at Double Island Point

This Guy was quite invisible until we got very close. Fortunately the radar picked him up in the fog

As the day developed, we were able to motor sail for a good part of the way, including through the fog. The wind was coming from the west and so was the fog.

Eventually, the sun prevailed over the fog, and we were in bright sunny conditions with a wind change to the South and then SE. We had a great sail on the South Easterly, of around 12 knots (moving along at around 7 knots), for a few hours until just out of Mooloolaba, the wind dropped and we had to motor the last bit.

Sailing at 7.3  knots on autopilot

The dredging of the bar at Mooloolaba is complete, and we entered with 2 m under our keel, in mild conditions. It was much shallower in the river, often on with 1 m under us. The tide was past halfway coming in, so we will need to choose our departure time carefully.

Once the boat was secured, paperwork at the marina office done and the boat hosed down, we had welcome hot showers before going out to dinner with Brian and Amanda at Fish on Parkyn, a nice seafood restaurant within easy walking distance. The Yacht club is closed undergoing renovation.

Amanda is abandoning ship in Mooloolaba, and Brian’s brother is coming up to help him sail the boat home.  We will probably sail in company to Southport and after that they will run straight back to Pittwater.  They have been good company and we have enjoyed moving down the coast with them. Moonshadow is still with us, and may stay with us as far as Iluka. Being Victorians, there whole focus this afternoon has been on the AFL Grand Final.