Start Loc: Abel Point Marina, Airlie Beach (20o 15.83'S, 148o 42.73'E)
Narrative: I checked the installation instructions for the furler parts, which I had downloaded from the net, but the parts were not quite the same. I went to the top of the mast to have a look and while trying to get the bush inside the halyard deflector, one part came away and fell, bounced off the port seat in the cockpit and (naturally) disappeared into the water at the back of the boat. That was enough for me. Given the parts didn’t match the instructions I had and I was already angry at losing one piece, I decided it could wait until the rigger’s leg was better and the expert could do it! We booked back into the marina on 30th September and organised for the rigger to do the work then.
As we were giving the boat a good clean and refilling water tanks before heading out, a Bertrand 35 motor boat came in beside us. Naturally, Heather and I stopped what we were doing and went to lend a hand with mooring lines. The skipper was grateful for the help and commented that it was all a bit tight despite the marina saying he would have “plenty of room”. The marina has squeezed more berths in than is comfortable, has no competition and charges like a wounded bull – I fail to see how it’s business plan could have been that poor that it has gone into receivership.
The forecast for the next few days is light winds, SE to NE (and variable) at mainly 5-10 and 10-15kts; perfect weather for going to the outer reef. We pulled out of our berth at 11:45am and went to the fuel dock to get some unleaded for the outboards. I was hoping to get the opportunity to top up at a service station much cheaper, but didn’t, so we booked in for 12:00pm and I paid the $1.72/L for the 25L I needed. We pulled away from the fuel dock at 12:15pm and left the marina a few minutes later. The breeze was slightly north of east at 5-10kts, so we motored NE on our course towards the top of Hook Island. The breeze came more east for us and freshened to 12kts, so we were able to turn off the motor and sail on a close reach at 5.5kts. A little over half way the breeze died off and we motor sailed for a bit, before it swung back too close to the bow forcing us to furl the head sail and keep motoring.
As we came in south of the Langford and Bird Island cay we got a strike on the lure. Heather throttled back to idle while I wound in a 74cm spotted mackerel. With enough fish to feed us all two meals, I didn’t bother putting the lure back out. We put the sails away and motored between Hayman and Hook Islands, and continued around the north of Hook Island to Butterfly Bay. We anchored in 16m of water to stay outside the reef protection buoys, which two boats didn’t bother doing. We got everything set and I was about to start cleaning the fish when a boat dropped its mooring buoy and left. We quickly raised the anchor and took up the buoy. The mackerel made a great dinner. The forecast remains SE/NE at 5-10kts for tomorrow and then SE getting up to 10-15kts on Thursday. The plan remains that we will sail from here to the reef (Bait, Hook, Sinker, Line and Hardy reefs), explore and snorkel, anchor there for the night, and come back Thursday afternoon. We will then spend a week or so exploring Hook Island.
End Loc: Butterfly Bay, Hook Island (20o 04.36'S, 148o 55.71'E)
Distance run: 20nm (cumulative: 973nm)
Engine hours: 3 hr, 36 min (cumulative: 111 hr 17 min)