Start Loc: Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island (20o 02.46'S, 148o 52.85'E)
Narrative: The kids decided they wanted to spend the morning at Blue Pearl Bay and do some more snorkeling and swimming, so we did. We decided that we would therefore sail down the west side of Hook Island and Whitsunday Island to Cid Harbour, and spend the night there again. That will make it a fairly short trip into Hamilton tomorrow.
We left Blue Pearl Bay after lunch at 1:25pm. The forecast was for S/SE winds at 10-15kts. When we left Blue Pearl Bay we had E winds at 10kts, so we sailed south from Hayman Island on a beam reach with full sail. As we cleared Hayman, the wind came a bit more south and freshened to around 13kts, but with gusts up to 18kts, so we took a reef in the main and reduced head sail to 110%, sailing on a close reach at 6kts.
I stayed a mile or so off Hook Island to keep some clean wind, but it still had its moments of less than 5kts. On average, we sailed between close hauled and a close reach in SSE winds at 10-15kts, making 5-6kts through the water. Seas and swell were less than 1m, so it was a comfortable sail that I really enjoyed. We were anchored in Sawmill Bay at the southern end of Cid Harbour by 4:10pm.
The winds are due to swing N/NE tomorrow, so it should be a fairly quick run down to Hamilton in the morning. We will spend the night in the marina before Heather and the kids fly out on Friday. Given the forecast for Friday and Saturday is for N/NW winds, I will probably move to Turtle or Chance Bay on the south side of Whitsunday Island to do the work I need to do on the engine.
End Loc: Cid Harbour, Whitsunday Island (20o 15.90'S, 148o 57.47'E)
Distance run: 15nm (cumulative: 1141nm)
Engine hours: 0 hr, 51 min (cumulative: 144 hr 30 min)