Start Loc: Mourilyan Harbour (17o 36.18'S, 146o 07.36'E)
Narrative: The forecast for today was for E/SE winds at 15-20kts. It looked a bit rough outside the harbour so Heather suggested staying there for the day. I agreed it looked a bit rough, but there was nothing to stay for, so we moved on. I was thinking of going out to the reef for a couple of days on the way up to Cairns, but it would probably be unpleasant, so we made the late decision to do the 40nm or so to Fitzroy Island.
We raised the anchor at 9:35am and motored past the sugar loading wharf. Once outside the harbour, the wind was E at around 15kts and seas were about 1.5m. I took the cautious option based on the forecast and set sail with two reefs in the main and head sail reduced to 110%. With the wind off the starboard beam we sailed quite nicely making 5-5.5kts through the water and 6.5-7kts over ground. It turned out to be quite a pleasant sail.
I subscribe to the principal "if you think it might be time to reef, it's time to reef; and if you think it might be time to let out a reef, put the kettle on and wait 10 minutes". Having had a brew I shook reef two out of the main at 11:38am, and at 11:45am unfurled the head sail to the full 130%. The wind had swung and dropped a bit, and was now ESE at 10-15kts. By late morning, the wind was SE at around 10kts. With our course now being NNW, the main was robbing the head sail of wind. I ended up furling the head sail and motor sailing for a bit over an hour so we could put some charge back in the batteries (it was overcast yesterday afternoon and this morning so the solar panels did not produce much).
We motor sailed past Russell Island (which has a very nice looking sand spit running off its NE corner) and the rest of the Frankland Islands. Once I shut down the engine, we hoisted the spinnaker and spent the last couple of hours up to Fitzroy Island making around 4.5kts through the water in an apparent wind of about 8kts.
We snuffed the spinnaker as we came up the west side of Fitzroy Island, and were surprised to see the LCH (Landing Craft Heavy) HMAS Wewak doing it tough anchored off the resort. We had a look around the anchorage before we ended up taking a public mooring buoy on the west side of the jetty at 5:22pm.
We have decided we will most likely spend tomorrow here and then on Friday drop in to Turtle Bay on our way in to Cairns for resupply.
End Loc: Fitzroy Island (16o 55.95'S, 145o 59.12'E)
Distance run: 44nm (cumulative: 1587nm)
Engine hours: 2 hr, 33 min (cumulative: 192 hr 27 min)