JANUARY
Well 2010 started with a trip from Manly to Mooloolaba in order to spend time with friends on a beautiful big tri – Ocean Emu. We had a wonderful sail up to Mooloolaba (about 50 miles north of Manly), three great days berthed at the Mooloolaba Yacht Club Marina, which is in easy walking distance of the surf beach. Did new years eve at a beach party with lots of live music and fireworks. Then back to some more friends on board a stunning power cat, Maverick. Danced and sang away the evening doing all sorts of bad karaoke particularly to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The trip back to Manly was wonderful, started out a bit boring as we left at daybreak in zero wind, but a few hours later we had a great spinnaker run down to the southern end of Moreton Island. Then a fantastic two sail reach across to Manly. It was quite wonderful on the two hour spinnaker run to have the spinnaker up, and us sitting in the saloon drinking coffee. Its a little thing we call the Seawind Factor.
The rest of the month was mainly taken up with short weekend day sails, including my local club’s social sunday afternoon race known as SAGS, handicap start, 2 hour rough time, no soft luff sails and no protests. We got a third one weekend and third last the next!! Handicapping is an art not a science, but really these races are about social use of the boat and honing your sailing skills.
The image on the left above is a large scale Moreton Bay and the one on the right shows the usual SAGS course.
Been very fortunate to have our good friends from San Francisco, Joe and Kathy Siudzinski, also Seawind owners – visiting with us. They have been coming and going from our place and revisiting some favourite spots they cruised to earlier this century. If you haven’t checked it out clik on the link to their website over on the right hand side of this page. It’s a wealth of Seawind information. For those who do follow his web site Joe has promised to update it when he returns to San Fran mid February. It has been wonderful to spend time with them again after we had spent a days this time last year at their place in California. The photo below is us on board KatieKat in San Francisco Bay in 2009.
They spent one day on the water on Dilligara with us, and Joe was seen poking and prodding in all corners of our boat to see if there were any differences to his boat.
FEBRUARY
So far – more of the same – fair bit of day sailing round Moreton Bay, a couple of SAGS races and a few nights down at Peel Island. We are also gearing up to be ready for a short trip to Gladstone and the adjacent islands in late March. Sad news though at SAGS when a regular sailor, a guy I had crewed with a few times, passed away mid race. Heart attack apparently. We remembered him the following race with all boats doing a 360 degree turn at about the location of the incident.
(late Feb) And yet more of the same. Have done well in our Sunday afternoon social races, I think I am getting better at making the self tacking jib behave , which is adding quite a bit to our performance and pointing.
MARCH
And again – most of the month has been day sailing and getting ready for our upcoming short cruise – loosely based on the Brisbane to Gladstone cruise that accompanies the race. The race starts on Good Friday from Manly in Brisbane and is probably the premier multihull race in Australia. We aren’t racing, and in fact our cruise starts nearly a week prior. The rough plan is to leave on Sunday 28 March and the overnight at Mooloolaba then Double Island Point – in order to cross Wide Bay Bar early on Tuesday 30th. After that its a little loose, but with the intention of arriving in Gladstone Harbour early afternoon on Saturday 3 April. This should have us there round the same time as the front end of the race fleet, we should get some good photos etc. After that its a couple of days in Gladstone, then a few more weeks of cruising around the area. Obviously all weather dependant but Cape Capricorn, Lady Musgrave Island, Great Keppel Island, Pancake Creek and the Great Sandy Straits are all probable.
A short cruise in March and April based very loosely on the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race. Our plan is to leave the Sunday before the race start and stop at Mooloolaba, Double Island Point, Fraser Island (Garry’s), and a few other places finishing up somewhere (Pancake Crk?) in reasonable proximity so that on Saturday Morning we can head for Gladstone and watch the front end of the racing fleets go past. That’s the plan – we will see how it goes. Then a few nights in Gladstone and off cruising with Al and Michelle on Beats Workin (Seawind 1160) and possibly a few other boats. Destinations will be weather based but may include Cape Capricorn, Lady Musgrave, Lady Elliot et al.
PLAN UPDATE – Al and Michelle had to return home urgently to attend to some family business, so Deb from their boat joined us for the trip back.
Trip Log Start 1036 Nautical Miles
Sunday 28 March – Mooloolaba
The day saw us leave Manly early for a leisurely trip up to Mooloolaba Not a lot of breeze, but still a nice trip. We arrived mid afternoon and immediately took in a swim at the main beach. Took advantage of the tidal northerly ebb flow to get a free ride most of the way to Mooloolaba. Yet again I congratulate myself for installing AIS. It is an absolute godsend for this bit of the trip. Only motored for the first few hours, pleasant sail after that.
Monday 29 March – Double Island Point
Again up early for a longish trip to Wide Bay Bar/Double Island Point. Spent the night at Double Island Point. Not entirely happy with my Manson anchor. The anchorage itself is fantastic for a cat, fairly comfortable and fairly secure and very pretty. A lot of motoring! Though we did get to at least motor sail on one motor, which works well and keeps the averages up. Thats Double Island Point – up close and personal on the photo below to the left, and on the rights its us anchored in behind the point, pretty stunning isn’t it.
Tuesday 30 March – Garry’s Anchorage/Fraser Island
Again (this is getting repetitive) up early to get a crossing at Wide Bay Bar at the best time. Bar crossing was smooth and hassle free. Pulled into Pelican Bay for breakfast, this was a mistake in hindsight as we hadn’t thought through the tidal runs and shallow bits up through the Great Sandy Straights. After some stuffing about we ended up at Garry’s Anchorage for the night. Really safe and secure, but my god there are some vindictive mosquitos and midges in these parts.
Wednesday 31 March – Urangan Boat Harbour
A morning of motoring up through the straights to Urangan for the night. Apart from the vagaries of tide and depth, this is such a beautiful part of the world. On the subject of tide and depth, for those that don’t know the point called Sheridan Flats, around beacon S24 & S26 is the shallowest, You need your draft in tide to be safe. Interestingly the actual flow separation of water is a bit further north, we found that near the entrance to the Mary River is where the tidal run is ebb north and south and flood south and north, in other words south of the Mary River entrance its ebb south and flood north.
Thursday 1 April – Bundaberg Port Marina
Yet more motoring till mid afternoon to get to Bundaberg Port Marina. First time I have been here and its very pleasant. Fair few mosses though. Its a very easy place to get into and would make an excellent landfall for arrivals from overseas by virtue of its ease of entrance. So far we have discovered a few gaps in our insect screening, been okay overall but can (and will) be improved. Most of the pretty places suffer from mosses and midges.
Friday 2 April – Pancake Creek
Another day of checking where the tidal run changes. Up to the Town of 1770 its flood south and ebb north but north of there is flood north and ebb south, overnight at Pancake Creek. Its a great anchorage – though you do have to watch the rocks of the headland when approaching from the south. Photo on the left is a view of the beach in the outer anchorage, you can go further into the mangroves, the centre photo is actually taken on the way back when there were a number of race boats returning from Gladstone. And the photo on the right is a view to the north west, watching a cat head into the inner areas.
Saturday/Sunday/Monday 3/4/5 April – Gladstone Marina
In Gladstone for the race finish and the various druken presentations. A very pleasant stay for a few days. Its a bloody long way up the inlet though from the entrance to Gladstone Harbour until you get to the marina at Auckland Creek. The marina itself is very welcoming with excellent staff.
Tuesday 6 April – Pancake Creek
The trip home is a carbon copy – in reverse. Not the way we planned but with our friends not being able to go cruising we decided to just head back to Mooloolaba for a few nights on the way home for a relaxing holiday.
Wednesday/Thursday 7/8 April – Bundaberg Port Marina
We had intended to only spend one night here (after a very long day motor sailing and bashing into some uncomfotable swells but we met some really nice people at the marina on a 48 foot Shuttleworth cat from South Africa. (“Life’s A Dream – Hi Rory and Mark). Enjoyed their wine and beer and company so had to stay an extra day to recover from the first nights party.
Friday 9 April – Urangan
Early in and late to leave (its all about the tides here). The sail down was quiet until the last few hours when the wind kicked in andf we got some really exciting sailing happening. Met some more lovely people at the marina – Rod and Jan on PETROS.
Saturday 10 April – Pelican Bay (Inskip Point)
Left about 1000 and went across to Kingfisher for a few hours and then a long night trip down the inside of Fraser so that we could anchor just inside the Wide Bay Bar for an early morning – dawn – crosssing on high tide. Photos below are – Kingfisher, Sonja having a swim at Kingfisher, Wide Bay Bar the morning we crossed south – it was absolutely calm!!
Sunday/Monday/Tuesday 11/12/13 April – Mooloolaba
Got into Mooloolaba and reverting to beach holiday makers. We will leave here on the next reasonable weather window.
APRIL
So – home again after the short but entirely wonderful Gladstone trip. Spent some time cleaning the boat – its on display at Sanctuary Cove this year, and had a beautiful weekend at Horseshoe Bay on Peel Island, only an hours sail but a wonderful anchorage. Counted 8 Seawinds all anchored in the Bay!
MAY
This month started with a long weekend (Labour Day), which we spent at the Sandhills on Moreton Island. This is my favourite anchorage in Moreton Bay, its quite stunning beautiful sandy bottom, crystal clear water. It was a fantastic sail over – about three hours and an equally wonderful sail back. Spent Sunday morning visiting all the other Seawinds in the area, only six this time. Really interesting to see the little things that people do differently. The photos below are a few shots in and around the anchorage.
And the rest of the month will involve getting ready for Sanctuary Cove Boat Show where Dilligara will be used as a display boat for Seawind. A lot of polishing and shining, then a week at the show and after that maybe one weekend away. I have had some requests for more technical info and I will try and update those pages soon. Sanctuary Cove was busy, but not as busy as it had been. It was good to see all the multis collected into the one area of the show.
I spent today (30 May) bringing the Seawind 1250 up from the coast to Raby Bay. Its such a beautiful boat.
JUNE/JULY/AUGUST
Not a lot of super interesting sailing, though we have done SAGS a few times, and we are consistently one of the fastest boats around the course, so we must be doing something good. One of the things it has proven to me is that the myth of MULTIS can’t point is patent stupidity. I can point as well as cruising monos, and go a little faster and cracked off we accelerate away. I have no problem with the performance of my boat – in fact it has exceeded my expectations. Also took the boat out during August for antifouling. Whilst out I had a look over all the boat, as you do, all in great nick. Hand polished the entire boat, with help from a friend. Bloody hard work. Dilligara fits on the slip at my Yacht Club which is fantastic. Also installed some padeyes as light tie-downs up forward and put some ring bolts up forward for the same purpose. Some photos below of the boat on the slipway.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
Again not a lot of super interesting sailing, though we continue to do SAGS and get out most weekends.
My dad became increasingly ill during this time and finally passed away in late November – so most of my time was spent visiting him at Tweed Heads over those last few months. Great bloke my dad, RIP Sydney Roy CRAWFORD.
We did manage to get away for a week at Mooloolaba between Christmas and New Years and it was shocking weather most of the time, though the sail up and back (particularly back) was okay, rest of the time it rained, then it showered, then there were isolated passages of precipitation. Still – a crap day on the boat beats a good day at work. Had a couple of mates fly in from Canberra for a few days and they enjoyed being there and I enjoyed their company, we also had another close friend and walking buddy of Sonja’s spend a few nights with us. Below is my good mate Micky G from Canberra.
