North to Cairns

Tuesday, 28 August to Wednesday, 5 September 2012
We left the Shaggers Rendezvous in company with 7 other yachts for the trip to Cape Upstart. Spinnaker run most of the way in perfect conditions. 2 school mackeral finally landed (and another released). Fresh fish for dinner! 13 yachts here overnight including many heading to Magnetic Island Race Week.

On Wednesday we covered the 70nm to Magnetic Island under spinnaker and anchored in Horseshoe Bay for 3 nights. Our departure further north was delayed through lack of wind but this is always a nice spot to spend a few days.

Highlight of the next few days was seeing a newborn whale as we were leaving Orpheus Island. We had been watching a whale lying on the surface for quite a while when we suddenly saw a second fin and then a small spout.

2 Dorsal fins 

The mother seemed to be pushing the whale in front of her. Eventually the baby got more and more active until it started breaching as we were leaving. Amazing!

Baby whale breaching off Little Pioneer Bay

Sunday night we were anchored at Dunk Island after a fast run with main and jib in the fresh conditions. A walk ashore revealed that not much has happened here since Cyclone Yasi although the pool has been cleaned and some staff are living in one group of units.

Dunk Island Jetty

Main restaurant and bar

Monday we sailed to Mission Bay which is just south of Cairns. Another good day for the spinnaker with a 7.3 knot average for the 68nm. Mission Bay appears to be a better anchorage than Fitzroy Island in swelly conditions.

On Tuesday with winds of 20 - 25 knots, we decided to head out Grafton Passage and practice reefing and setting our storm jib. A double reef and self tacker gave us speeds of around 8 knots then 7.5 knots with the triple reef in these conditions on the course to Louisiades (40 degrees magnetic). There was a good swell as we approached the end of the passage so it went some way to simulating the conditions we may encounter when setting the storm jib.

We took the opportunity to check how long to reach Duchateau Entrance in the Louisiades. 91 hours with storm jib and triple reef. 

Wednesday we headed to Half Moon Bay marina at Yorkeys Knob.On the way in we set the drogue - easier to set than retrieve.

We are here for 10 days to prepare for our first offshore passage. Some other yachts already here and there have already been many discussions around weather, provisioning etc. Guy Chester's preparation program begins on Tuesday. It looks like being a busy week!

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