Pelican Bay Anchorage

We set off from Mooloolaba at 1500 Thurs and just set the headsail since we only had about 50 nm to get to the Wide Bay Bar in the next 15 hours. A nice afternoons sail through to dusk and a full moon to enjoy the almost clear night on the silver reflective sea. It was an interesting night of variable conditions mostly about 10 knots from the south but a patch of 25 knots from the SE at 2300 with rain just after I came up on watch. We just had the head sail up and still got here 3 hours early so we hove too to wait for dawn. Dawn and another 5 yachts converged to follow us in. The wind turned westerly so on with the donk. The bar was OK being the last of the run in tide. We are anchored in Pelican Bay for a good sleep before continuing on north through the Sandy Straits.
All well on board
Wayne n Dan

Wild Flower at Mooloolaba

The weather forcast showed a following wind of up to 20 knots on Sunday and 30 knots Monday, so we decided to get going north again sooner rather than later.
Brett saw us off from Southport at 2330 on Saturday night. His journey north with us was of great value and we will miss his enthusiasm and  good company.
We motored out over the seaway bar and unfurled the headsail, 6 knots of boat speed was enough with this configuration for the rest of the night. Dan did first watch for 3 hours, enjoying the occasional surf on the 2 metre swell. I took over before dawn and conned the boat around Boat Rock then Cape Morton for a nice sunrise. Turning here to our final waypoint, Point Cartright, had us broad reaching with a wind wave from the south out of Morton Bay and the SE swell. We put up a 2 reefed mainsail and did some more surfing.
The dolphins had a play in the bow waves as we sailed over the pilot boarding spot. We had a ship out of Brisbane and the pilot boat rushing towards the rendezvous spot now behind us.
We are now anchored in the Mooloola river just upstream of Mooloolaba where will sit out the 30 knot winds now blowing.

At Southport QLD

The third night at sea gave us a few testing times with the wind coming around from dead astern at 5 knots to the SE for a while causing us to gybe then SW all of a sudden with a squall of 20 knots with heavy rain. We double reefed and got the poled head sail away. It fell light again soon after I came up for my watch, I shook the reefs out soon afterwards.

 We spotted a few more Whales around Point Danger after a very welcoming dawn.

We made it into Southport yesterday around noon and tied up at the super yacht dock at the yacht club.
We covered 414 Nautical Miles and averaged 5.5 knots.
Today we sorted some things out on board and did a re-supply. We will move off the dock here tomorrow and drop the anchor or grab a mooring nearby to wait for the weather to continue north, perhaps on Sunday.

Brett flies out Sunday morning to head back to Tassie. He has just done the deal on a Bavaria 42 moored at Geelong which I will help him sail it home to the Tamar in August.

All is well on board and looking forward to another long uninterrupted nights sleep again tonight

Great Leaping Whales

SV Wild Flower day 2
3rd June 2013 at 2100 AEST just North of Port Macquarie.
Today we had a mixed bag of wind with mostly light Westerly. It came around to a Northerly off Camden Haven of 5 knots so we drifted there enjoying the challenge of trying to capture the moment on film of a big Humpback launch repeatedly out pf the water about a mile away. Didn't quite get it.

We ended up motoring for a few hours from there and now we have our land breeze back of 10 knots from WNW.

Wayne

Wild Flower Voyage

Wild Flower is a Juneau DS 42 Yacht owned by Dan. He has engaged me to skipper it from Sydney to the Whitsundays with him. We planned to try to get to Qld non stop due to a strong current which sets to the south along the NSW coast. We needed an extra crew so we could do it safely so Brett from Tassie joined us for the first hop through to the Gold Coast.
Anyway we passed out of the harbour this morning at 8am with a light NW breeze and motor sailed for an hour.  Just past Long Reef the breeze filled in to 15 knots so it was off with the motor out with the headsail and trimmed for a close reach.

We played around with Mary-Anne the hydrovane for a few hours but she was a bit overwelmed by the sudden attention after 18 months of iddleness and was a bit sticky rather than smooth in her reactions to the wind.
We occasionally engaged Ginger the Auto Pilot but we weren't too happy with her energy consumption. So we are hand steering since we all need the practice anyway.
Both Ginger and Mary Anne were stars of Gilligan's Island.

At 19:30 we are passing Newcastle doing about 6.5 knots heading towards a waypoint off Point Stephens.
All is well on board. Dan had a bowl of cereal, Brett fancied a can of cold baked beans while I had hot roast chicken and veges for dinner.

Wayne
PS my dinner was out of a can too

Weather dictated a no go for Deal Island

We cruised the Tamar River on Ambler and did some maintenance tasks instead of stepping out into Bass Strait and getting knocked around in a predicted gale every 3 days over the Easter to Anzac break.
Ambler is to get another gadget, a wind vane self steering system called an Auto-Helm, not a raytheon product, its a mechanical device built by Scanmar.

I fly out to Sydney at the end of May to skipper/deliver a 42ft yacht "Wildflower" to the Whitsundays with the owner Dan and another keen crew member Brett from Tassie. Wildflower will accompany the Humpback Whales as they migrate North. Will keep you posted on the trip.

Another delivery from Melbourne to the Tamar is now in the pipeline on another 42 ft yacht, possibly towards the end of July. The boat is being bought at the moment and is subject to a survey inspection and a re-rig.

Wayne

Almost ready for a voyage to Deal Island

Deal Island is an Island, part of the Kent Group which is located North West of Flinders Island in Bass Strait. This one of the islands that form a chain from Wilsons Prom in Victoria to the North East Corner of Tasmania. It has a volunteer caretaker appointed by Parks Tasmania to care and maintain the discontinued Light House and the associated keepers quarters.
We plan to set out weather permitting on or just after Easter this year 2014.
Regards,
Wayne
Sailing Vessel Ambler
sv.ambleratamosconnect.com