Sunny Quensland

Saturday, 25 June to Tuesday, 28 June 2011

We had one night at the Stadium where we caught up with Jenny and John from Corazon and compared notes about the trip north. They are heading up to the Whitsundays and we hope to see them again when we go north.

Sunday we motored up to the Southport Yacht Club's anchorage at Dux. We saw Jireh (SW1160) and Sunbird (SW100) before finding Tranquillity (SW1000XL) here. Alan and Margaret are also planning a trip north about the same time as us. We walked over to the surf and had a BBQ ashore with the Corazon crew on Monday evening.

Today, Tuesday we motored up to Slipping Sands for the last night of our trip. We'll miss being on the boat but not the cold weather. Do they make 12v heaters??

Coffs Harbour to Southport

Friday 24 June 2011

We left early again for the 60nm trip to Yamba. A moderate SW/S breeze had us gybing downwind. After lunch we hoisted the spinnaker as the breeze had softened a little and we carried it to Yamba. The yacht Corazon had left Coffs after us and stayed about 5nm behind all day. They were heading for the Seaway and as we neared Yamba we contemplated also continuing our trip as the conditions were so good.

While the thought of a nice rest at Yamba was tempting, we eventually decided that we should make the most of the conditions and so amended our trip with Marine Rescue Iluka/Yamba and prepared for a night at sea. We dropped the kite on dusk, had some tea and started our watch system of 2 hours on, 2 hours off.

The radar was great to track all the trawlers and the breeze stayed in all night. We put the second reef in and enjoyed perfect sailing conditions. We were doing 5-6 knots over the ground which was perfect timing for a crossing of the Gold Coast Seaway around 0800.

We passed Cape Byron around midnight and logged off with the last NSW Marine Rescue at Point Danger at 0500. They are all linked by computer now which makes logging in as we travelled up the coast very easy. These volunteers do a great job.

We crossed the Seaway at 0800 as planned and then went around to anchor in the Stadium (also known as Bum's Bay). Corazon followed soon after. Scambled eggs for breakfast and then off to bed after covering 160nm (140nm on the log).

Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour

Wednesday 22 June 2011

We left at 0730 with the last of an incoming tide and found the entrance flat due to the westerly (10-15 knots) we had. The breeze stayed in the W or SW all day which made for some good reaches up the coastline. We hugged the coast as much as possible to avoid the current.

By lunchtime as we passed Trial Bay Gaol, we had the second reef in as the breeze was over 20 knots and by 1500 we had gone to the third reef as it hit 30 knots. Even with 3 reefs we were sitting on 8 knots most of the time and enjoying the sail in the slight seas.

We arrived at the Coffs Harbour marina after dark and tied up to our berth on the end of the row after covering 74 nm. The temperature dropped to 2.8 degrees overnight and we were thankful for the flannelette sheets we had bought in Port Macquarie. We decided to spend Thursday in Coffs as the breeze was light from the NE.

We did a few more jobs (there is always something to do) and went for a very interesting walk to the top of Mutton Bird Island. It was hot and sunny and we bought out our shorts for the first time in weeks!

Port Stephens to Port Macquarie

Monday, 20 June 2011

Another front heading this way so we are up early with the plan to go to Forster Tuncurry, a trip of 46nm. The sailing was perfect all day, SW/W wind that averaged 15 knots in the morning and eased a little in the afternoon. It was so good we decided to keep going to Coffs Harbour as the weather reports for tomorrow became steadily worse during the day.

A pod of 3 whales entertained us for an hour as we cruised with them up the coast. They breeched numerous times and amused themselves by slapping their tails and fins. They weren't even deterred when we had to start our motors as the breeze eased about 1600 and went around to the N/NW. As usual my timing of photos was off.

After 8 hours of motoring, we decided Port Macquarie looked a good option so decided to cross the bar just after midnight. There was very little swell and about 10 knots of westerly so we thought conditions ideal. A couple of largish waves as we approached surprised us but we entered the river without issue and took up one of the marina moorings up the river.

We spent today here sitting out the weather and plan to head off again tomorrow if the forecast is suitable for the trip to Coffs.

Pittwater to Port Stephens

Sunday, 19 June 2011

We finally left Pittwater in a moderate south wester and swell of about 3m. The 2 reefs we had put in based on the forecast were quickly removed and we had a good reach all the way to Port Stephens in company with a large monohull Corazon. They decided to push on to Coffs Harbour while we stuck with our plan to go into Port Stephens.

We were surprised to see the 1160 Champagne on Ice appear among the anchored ships off Lake Macquarie.

A great day's sail soured somewhat when it took an hour to set the anchor after an chain alignment issue with the windlass became apparent. We eventually spent a quiet night at Soldiers Point after covering 70 nm back towards home at last.

Storm Jib

Warwick and Ruth from Ulysses asked about the storm jib. Our sail was made by John Penfold at UK Halsey Sydney and we are very happy with it. (John also has made all the sails for our 1160). It clips over the furled jib and it works fine on both the 1000 and 1160. We have used it in 30+ knots a couple of times with 2 reefs in the main and Warren was surprised that the boat still tacked easily and we pointed ok.

We have found it is best to set it all up before you leave as our one attempt to do it on the run was complicated when the furling jib became unfurled when the sheet was removed. We now take much more care when tying the jib up and have had no problems since. It uses the standard jib sheets which makes setting it up easy.

We would recommend one if you are doing a lot of sailing as it certainly saves flogging the standard jib. It is nice to know it is there if you need it!

Pittwater

Wednesday 8 June to Wednesday 15 June 2011
We have been at Pittwater for a week now, and while the weather has not been kind, we have had a chance to visit some great spots and also get a few jobs done on the boat before we head further North.

The windy conditions were also ideal for trying out the storm jib which we kept off Next Phase. It worked well without any modification.

The main is currently with UK Halsey getting a change to the reefing system that was installed. We are using TyeTec blocks on the leech to prevent rope chafe. One of the blocks had a defect and UK is replacing them all with smaller ones which will work better.

Last Friday Lois and Kel caught the train back to Singleton from Brooklyn. This was very convenient and a good spot to stop and get bread, milk etc. We are getting spoiled with the public moorings available in NSW.

We were glad we are currently tied up at Royal Motor Yacht Club as it was very gusty yesterday and last night (40-45 knots). A bit better today and hopefully it will continue to improve. Warren saw a penguin swim past the boat today - I told you it was cold! The main issue for us now is the swell and seas predicted (3-4m swell and 2-3m seas). We'll see what develops over the next few days.

State of origin tonight so Warren's main concern is that we are somewhere with good TV reception.


PS. We spent another 3 nights here at the Basin and enjoyed a walk around Coasters Retreat.

Sydney to Pittwater

Tuesday 7 June 2011
On Monday we provisioned the boat in readiness for the short trip to Pittwater on Tuesday morning. It had been windy (and COLD) for days and there was a small weather window before the next front came through with 30 knot westerlies predicted. We had a good sail to Pittwater, picked up our new Swift RIB and found a mooring at The Basin for the night. It is very comfortable here although it is getting colder!

Sydney

Wednesday 1 June to Monday 6 June 2011
We had test sails on Wednesday and Friday afternoons with David Renouf from Seawind who was very helpful in setting up the boat.

Our friends Lois and Kel joined us Thursday evening and we took Phase2 out by ourselves for the first time on Saturday for lunch at the nearby Hen and Chicken Bay. We visited the spectacular Sydney light festival and Archibald exhibition with them on Sunday.

Our stay was extended to allow some additional electronics to be installed and Seawind time to fix a few issues prior to heading home. We are very happy with the boat and the quick rectification of identified issues.

One thing we discovered when testing the AIS was that you could see our track for the previous 24 hours on the website www.marinetraffic.com (provided the AIS is on at the time you search). While having lunch on Saturday, we got a call from our son Ben to say he saw on this website we had moved the boat!

Handover of Phase2

Monday 30 May, 2011 to Tuesday 31 May 2011
We spent the day with Murray and Chad from Seawind going over Phase2 from stem to stern. Chad is the supervisor of the 1160 production line and knows the boats inside out. We took the opportunity to learn as much as we could from him. As Service Manager, Murray was making sure we covered all aspects on his very comprehensive checklist.

As it poured all day, we did not get our test sail but the rain did allow us extra time going through the boat. Still raining Tuesday so we spent the day moving stuff out of the office and filling the many cupboards and storage areas. Test sail set down for Wednesday.