Start Loc: Shaw Island (20o 30.29'S, 149o 02.83'E)
Narrative: We raised the anchor and left Shaw Island at 9:41am. There was a bit of wind but it was calm until we rounded Burning Point. The wind picked up and as we motored south, and when we no longer had the shelter of Shaw Island, it was obvious how protected our anchorage was. It was basically as forecast; the winds were a little south of east coming from 100 to 110 degrees magnetic at 15-20kts, and seas were a little under 2m. We set sail with two reefs in the main and the head sail reduced to 100%, and sailed between a close haul and a close reach on 160 degrees magnetic towards Blacksmith Island.
We sailed right in on Blacksmith Island until we were on the lee of the island and had no wind. We put the sails away to motor between Blacksmith and Hammer Islands, and between Ladysmith and Bellows Islets. As we came out of the passage we found the wind had strengthened a little and was sitting around 20kts, and that seas had increased to 2-2.5m. We set sail again and sailed close hauled on 150 degrees magnetic. We decided we would continue past Goldsmith Island and make for Brampton Island, which should make an easy sail to Mackay tomorrow. After a bit we found the frequency of the waves had also increased so that before we cleared one we were on to the next. This constant wave action took a lot of boat speed off and we lost a little over a knot.
Given the wind direction, we had to sail well to the west of Brampton until we were south of the island, so we could then tack basically north east and sail to to the island. We made the tack and sailed close hauled on 055 degrees magnetic, but the wind also shifted further north to 080 degrees, so we had to sail 030 degrees. We were basically sailing back the way we had come, so we decided to tack back and head south-ish a little further. We were able to sail SE, so I had just about decided we would continue to Mackay when the wind swung back south of east again. This allowed us to tack and sail close hauled direct to Brampton. The waves were still steep and close, the wind was gusting to 25kts and we weren't having our best day on the water, so we were looking forward to the shelter of Brampton.
The wind swung north of east again when we were about 2.5nm out, so we dropped sail and motored the last little bit into Brampton Island. We anchored at 3:30pm. Although we didn't go that far and we weren't sailing for that long, it felt like a long day.
End Loc: Brampton Island (20o 48.03'S, 149o 15.81'E)
Distance run: 34nm (cumulative: 2505nm)
Engine hours: 1 hr, 30 min (cumulative: 74 hr, 14 min)