Start Loc: Great Keppel Island (23o 09.72’ S, 150o 57.30’ E)
Narrative: The last two days were spent at Great Keppel. We ran the engine for 41 minutes and 30 minutes on 3rd August and 4th August respectively. The sand provided strong hold, and it was a good anchorage.
The wind this morning was being swirled around by the Island and started holding us beam on to the swell, so were rocking and rolling a fair bit. As such, we cancelled the planned trip to the beach and prepared for the short trip to Rosslyn Bay. We lifted anchor at 9:20am and motored between Miall and Middle Islands, then set an easterly course for the marina.
The 15kt southerly, under full sail on a beam reach, pushed us along at a steady 6.5kts boat speed. With the incoming tide giving us a bit of assistance as well, we made good time across the bay. There were isolated showers, but we missed most of them and it was a great sail, albeit short. We knocked over the 10nm quickly and were securely berthed at Rosslyn Bay just before 11:00am.
We will spend two nights here before continuing north on Sunday. The Brisbane to Keppel Yacht Race started at midday today and a lot of the yachts will get in tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if Wild Oats XI can break the 24 hour mark.
End Loc: Rosslyn Bay Marina, Yeppoon (23o 09.67’ S, 150o 47.13’ E)
Distance run: 10nm (cumulative: 454nm)
Engine hours: 1 hr, 02 min (cumulative: 47 hr, 02 min)