Friday 10 July to Wednesday 23 July, 2026
Raby Bay to Pancake Creek
We hauled Phase2 out in June at Boatworks for her annual maintenance to be ready for another trip north to the Whitsundays. Our planned departure on 6 July was delayed by a huge high near Tasmania - the largest ever recorded. So it was Friday before we slipped the lines and headed out in a light SW breeze. Sailing is often too much or too little wind and we were only able to sail for about an hour before we motor sailed the rest of the 58nm to the Mooloolah River. This entrance has become a challenge as sand is continually deposited across the entrance. We made the recommended "hook" entry and dropped anchor in the pond.
A small fleet from RQYS was also heading north with us. Danu, a Jeanneau 60, left on Thursday and Southern Exposure, a Hanse 370e, and Liberty, a Beneteau Trawler 40 on Friday with us.
Next day we departed the river early and headed for the Wide Bay Bar in light winds. Bad for sailing but it meant the big swell that had made the bar difficult/impossible had eased to the 1.5m that we favour for the crossing. We had enough wind to get the spinnaker up for a few hours and then it was back to motoring.
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| First whales of the trip |
We crossed the bar at 1600 (sloppy but safe) then motored up the Great Sandy Straits with the incoming tide to Garry's anchorage.
On Sunday we motored through Sheridan Flats, the shallowest part of the Straits and anchored at Big Woody Island.
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| Another predawn start |
We used a new track that had been marked by the vessel Jansz that was much wider and somewhat deeper (minimum 3.9m on a 2.6m tide). The fleet all gathered here ready to cross Hervey Bay for the Burnett River in the morning. We watched the Lions beat Essenden using our new Starlink antenna that Warren had bought.
Another 0630 start on Monday, where we sailed all morning, genoa then spinnaker, before the wind dropped so we were back to motorsailing. We tied up at the Bundaberg Port Marina at 1445.
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| Photo courtesy of Danu |
We had 2 nights in the marina, completing some unfinished boat jobs and I had a quick bike ride to the Burnett Heads IGA for some fresh food. Our group had dinner at the pub that night as Phase2 was planning to head up to Pancake Creek before the arrival of the next lot of bad weather. The rest of the group elected to stay in the marina and hired a car to visit the surrounding sights.
Our sail to Pancake Creek on Wednesday was the best so far on this trip and we anchored in the creek at 1645.
The winds picked up as expected and we were in the creek for 7 days. Warren caught some fish, we did some repairs and I read - a lot. We had noticed that one of the mainsail battern boxes was damaged so we fashioned a repair from an old toothbrush and stickyback. We ordered a new one and hoped our repair would last until Rosslyn Bay marina.
It was 5 days before I got off the boat for a walk!
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| Overlooking Jenny Lind Creek |
