It's been a pain not being able to fully use the boat for the past few weeks (yes, it sails without a full tramp, but anchoring or picking up a mooring was a little insecure, so we took it easy).
Thanks to Barracouta Sails, Te Moana now sports a new Trampoline. Back to sailing!
On Saturday evening, I was talking to Ken (Red Undies) over a drink at sunset in Jerusalem Bay. "Now that Te Moana is six years old", I said, "it will need some additional preventitive maintenance".
On Sunday morning, Joy and I were taking our time taking up the anchor, washing the anchor chain as we went (Jerusalem Bay has good holding, but very sticky, thick mud), all 60 meters of it.
Unfortunately I lost my balance standing near the Anchor locker, took some heavy steps on to the trampoline to regain my balance and consequently gave it a solid stress test. The result is clear, we need a new trampoline.
Early on Tuesday morning, Breakaway arrived in Mackay after a 7 day, 1000 Nautical Mile "Delivery Cruise".
All five crew agreed that this was one of the best "cruises" they'd been on. And it isn't hard to come up for some reasons for that.
Thanks Graeme, Claudia, Maurice and Tim for a great trip!
At 0800 yesterday, we came around Cape Byron. It's always a magic spot.
Having 5 crew on the boat makes sailing non-stop a "breeze". Graeme has proven to be a most amiable and competent skipper and there is much to learn from him.
Breakaway has everything anyone would wish for. The the least of which is very convenient internet access, which makes it easy to update this weblog and "Where is Breakaway" while underway. At the time of writing, we are off Fraser Island, after a night with sporadic rain, but which was otherwise uneventful.
As of 8.00 am today, we've travelled over 500 nautical miles (900km) in three days and at the current rate we'll arrive in Mackay by Monday. Provided we don't stop over for a couple of days at the Percy Islands, of course...
I had difficulty yesterday in getting a picture which represented the weather conditions on the first day after departure on Breakaway.
The picture above is the best I can do in demonstrating how close an encounter we had with a whale this evening. Just on sunset, near South Solitary Island a whale crossed right in front of our bow. The picture doesn't show the whale but where he had just been...
In case you weren't already underwhelmed by my photographic expertise, be sure to click on the picture for the full size version of the photo.
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