Wednesday 1st July 1015
After a brief discussion this morning, we
all decide to sail to Cid Harbour, leaving at 10 am. We should have studied the
timing of the tides a bit closer, and the winds weren’t forecast to exceed 25
knots, but that’s weather forecasting for you. Of course, the trip to Cid
Harbour from Woodwark Bay was hard on the wind , most of the way.
The first half hour or so was very pleasant
getting out of Woodwark Bay, and around the Point before we had to harden up in
the direction of Cid Harbour. It was a pretty uncomfortable sail, and as the
ebbing tide strengthened, so did the adverse current, and size of the waves. We
took a fair bit of water over the bow, and as the wind strengthened, we put a
reef in the main, which made it a bit more pleasant.
Wilparina and Koonya as we were leaving Woodwark Bay
Koonya took off like a scalded cat and left
Wilparina and us well behind. To make it worse, we were towing our dinghy.
In the end we decided to come off the wind
a bit and sail to the nearest shore , which happened to be the bottom end of
Hook Island, and then run down the shore where the water looked a lot flatter.
Conditions were a lot better and we decided
to motor sail for the last part, rather than be forced to sail right up too
close to the breeze. We had trouble furling in the headsail as the rope was too
tight on the furling drum, so ran off and let the sail back out, to relieve the
pressure and then furl it. It was still problematic, but we got it in.
Entering Cid Harbour, at last !
Once anchored in Cid Harbour, conditions
were lovely. Calm, flat water, not too many boats when we arrived and once the
anchor was down, I pulled the headsail back out and the rope on the drum was so
tight, I had to pull it off bit by bit by hand to get the sail back out. Now it
seems fine.
It took us over 3 hours to cover a bit over 18 nm, and we were glad to
be in the anchorage. Once everything was tidied up, we went off in the dinghy to have a look around.
A few more boats have turned up, and it is a lovely sunny afternoon
Wilparina anchored nearby
Boats anchored off Sawmill Beach at sunset
Koonya moving anchorage up to where we and Wilparina are, at sunset
We are all tired after what was a full on
sail, and decide to have a quiet night on our own boats, ready to spend
tomorrow looking around here. Maybe a
walk up to the summit of Whitsunday Peak.
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