On to Bundaberg

Tuesday 28th September




Up early and motoring out of Pancake Creek at 6am. Once again it is low tide, a bit lower than when we came in last night, and to stay in the deep water the GPS shows us travelling across the land. When we got up there were only 3 boats in the anchorage, it looks like everyone is off to an early start. We could see 4 of them just going out of the entrance.



When we get outside the sea is like glass, only a very light NE breeze and a strong current against us. Kyeema made radio contact with Cooinda, and it seems they are about an hour ahead of us, also headed for Bundaberg. Everyone is motoring.



As we approach Cape Capricorn a thick sea fog rolled in and visibility was very limited. We had a couple of hours of this, so the radr got a bit of a workout, and then the breeze picked up to around 10 knots and we put up the mainsail and motor sailed the rest of the way. When I pulled the main up, a couple of bits of metal rained down , fortunately they didn't go overboard. Carole spotted one on the deck, and I could see it was part of the coupling that connects the barrens to the slide car in the mast track. I had a hasty search in the sail bag and found the other half, but the pin that secures it must have gone overboard. Fortunately it was off the very top short batten, so being unsecured in a light breeze wasn't of great concern.



We passed Kyeema along the way, they were doing about a knot less than us and expected to be in Bundaberg by 6pm.



We arrived at the marina a 3.30pm, just before it started to rain. I went up and checked it, went to the chandlery to get a new pin to secure the wayward batten, and wandered over to the sailmaker to see if I could organise a repair on my headsail. Weather permitting, I should be able to get it down in the morning and take it over to his loft.



We are going to be here for a few days, as tomorrow a strong southerly change is expected and it looks like a few days of 20-30knots before it settles down again.