Finally! After spending a number of months working fulltime on preparation we left our pen at Royal Brighton Yacht Club on the evening of Sunday April 9th 2006.Friends and family were there to wave us goodbye and wish us well and we headed out still tying down the last of the cruising gear we had brought up from Paul’s garage in Elwood the day before.
First stop was for fuel so we pulled into Sandringham Yacht Club around 1830. Oh dear – a very large motor cruiser was at the dock refuelling so we waited some time for her to finish before tying up to the fuel dock. Refuelling was slower than anticipated so there went our plans to catch the 2330 tide at Port Phillip Heads that evening.
No problems, we had a meal, a couple of hours sleep and at midnight were up once more to head off to catch the early morning tide. And then discovered a fuel leak …
So far, departure had been somewhat of an anti-climax………
Two hours later, after David and friend Duncan had solved the problem we decided to head off anyway as the weather was fairly benign. As I had a couple of extra hours sleep under my belt I did the first watch to Queenscliffe and woke the guys at dawn as we left Queenscliffe to starboard and prepared to go through the heads.
Bass Strait had been blowing a gale (storm in the east) the previous week and we had delayed our departure. Now we had smooth seas and little breeze. The passage to Gabo Island required some motor sailing but a little 35 knot blow on Tuesday evening from the south west sent us scurrying along at a rapid rate.
A slow trip up the coast against light northerlies and north easterlies (not to mention the 1-2 knot eastern current against us) was a little tedious but there were magnificent moonlit evenings to make up for it and a very special sighting of a pod of humpback whales playing at dusk just to the North of Batemans Bay. We felt very privileged to be the only boat out there to see the show as they breached, spouted and waved their flukes at us. We are not sure of the numbers but guess at least 10.
Friday evening (April 14th) saw us approaching Sydney heads and making little way into a nasty northerly chop. Rather than plow on against the chop and current we decided to head into Sydney and the Cruising Yacht Club at Rushcutters Bay overnight. What a magnificent sight to come through the heads after 5 days at sea at 2300 hours and see the lights of Sydney and the harbour. Most spectacular!
We dropped into a vacant pen at CYC and noted that at 45 feet we looked very small against the 70 foot New Zealand maxi nearby and the Volvo 60’s around us. Brindabella was just across the arm from us as well.
First light on Saturday we put Duncan ashore to catch his flight home and slipped out of the pen and through the heads to our first destination, Pittwater.
