Hamilton Island to Pioneer Bay

Wednesday 8th July 2015

Today we finally got it right with the combination of wind and tide to have a great sail in flattish seas with a touch of helpful current.

Low tide today is at 9.42 am, which means that the current will flow North until then. There is a 15 knot SE breeze, which should be right behind us for the first part of our trip and then a bit more aft of the beam as we head over to Pioneer Bay.

We motored out of the marina at 8.30am, put up the mainsail in the Dent Channel and pulled away and let it out to let the wind do its work. We were soon doing 6 knots in the protected channel. Once we cleared Plum Pudding Island and could change bearing enough to carry a headsail, I gingerly tried to let it out, and what a relief, everything was fine. Our speed increased to 7-8 knots almost immediately.

Initially we thought we might pick up a mooring at South Molle Island, but could not contact the resort that controls the moorings, as they didn't answer their phone. Happy Bay at the Northern end of Long Island was another option, they did answer the phone, only to advise that the resort closed in January 2015 and is undergoing renovation.

The sailing was great now pushing up over 9 knots on a couple of occasions, so we kept on going and after looking at Funnel Bay as a possible anchorage, decided it was too exposed and sailed around to anchor in Pioneer Bay, just out from Airlie Beach. We will go into the marina tomorrow to get restocked and ready for our visitors arrival on Saturday. At least here we have TV reception, so should be able to watch the State of Origin tonight.

As we were sailing in the Molle Channel I could see two catamarans about 4 miles behind us and checked on the AIS to see who they were. As I suspected, one of them was "About Time", owned by my Bradford mate Bill Castles. They are now in the marina, so we will catch up with them tomorrow.
Koonya also arrived back in the marina late this afternoon.

Anchored out in Pioneer Bay, there is a boat with a Canadian Flag flying next to us.

Towards late afternoon, the Wednesday Twilight race fleet appear for their weekly race. It is a good sized fleet of around 20 boats, and the breeze is still around 15 knots ensuring good racing conditions.

We had a BBQ on board and watched the State of Origin, until I totally lost interest , it is hard to believe that the NSW team could be so hopeless given their past performances ??????