Whitsundays to Cairns

After the racing things got back to normal.
We picked up our new crew Andrew Poynter and girlfriend  Emma from Hammo on the last day then a brisk sail back to Airlie to drop off the Hardman's and to pick up Mac and Tillie.

 Andy on the helm

 

Andy and Emma

Alan and Carol have now resumed their caravan holiday and are working their way South.
After another reprovisioning and a nights stay at Abel Point we did a 3 day run to Townsville with 2 nights at Bona beach on Gloucester Island, where Andy did a quick bush bash to the top of the Island: (there are no tracks!) and us less hardy souls enjoyed the lovely beach and caught up with some other cruisers. Emma wasn't feeling very well and as the days wore on she did not improve.
The third night was behind Cape Upstart and then onto Townsville where Andy and Emma were forced to cut short their holiday to seek some medical attention in Melbourne. However I am sure we will enjoy their company again on some later cruise.

 Sundown watchers on Gloucester Is

 

Andy and Mac catching garfish with a torch and a bucket

A strong high pressure system was developing over the mainland at this time and the trade winds picked up to a strong wind level (25 to 33 Knots) and stayed with us for the next week.
After Townsville we sailed the short distance to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island and spent 4 nights in the shelter of the bay. Our good friends Alan and Lynnie McLean have a property here and also keep "Svanica" in the bay for much of the year when they aren't cruising the reef areas or travelling further afield. It was great catching up with them and sharing a few stories and meals.
As we had to be at Yorky's Knob by Saturday to start the Louisiades Rally preparations we decided to cover the 160 mile run up to Cairns in a 3 day run .
The first day felt like we were running the gauntlet as our course took us past Rattlesnake island which the air force was using for target practice that day, and a 5 mile exclusion zone was in force. Another small island close by had a shooting party ashore exterminating vermin and had a 1 mile small arms fire exclusion zone around it! safely past, we sailed up through the Palm Island Group which has an Aboriginal settlement on the main Island, Great Palm Island. The other islands in the Palm Group include Curacos, Fantome (once a leper colony) and Orpheus which now has a very exclusive resort and a research Station.
We chose to spend the night in Little Pioneer Bay at the northern end of Orpheus as we were experiencing some strong squalls and heavy rain showers.
A roley, windy night followed and the poor dogs missed out on their night time beach walk as it was too windy to launch the dingy.

Thursday the 5th was a bit lighter in the wind department as we set off and the waves were more comfortable. We left the third reef in for comfort and we were still trucking along at 8 to 9 knots with a choice of the lee side of Dunk Island for the nights anchorage or the small sugar port of Mourilyan  Harbour. We chose Mourilyan in the end as it was 20 miles closer to Cairns and the shelter of the river sounded more inviting than the Dunk Island alternative.
This proved to be a good choice and we found two other Louisiades cruisers (Yantara and Symphony 2) holed up here as well.
Another boat we kept in sight on the AIS on the way up during these two days was the very attractive J160 Avante who is also a rally entrant from the US.

Friday saw a further improvement in the weather and we stopped at Fitzroy Island for lunch and a swim before heading into the Marina at Yorky's Knob.

Saturday was busy picking up our rally freight which has filled the generator room and half the port quarter  berth cabin and starting on the big food stock-up. The majority of the 20 rally entrants are monohulls with 5 sailing cats and One power cat.
We have caught up with Andy Duffield and Kelly Saron on Quintessa who spent most of last summer at Beauty Point.
Rodney and Christine Smart on Smart Choice are also entered and I was intrigued to refresh an old school boy friendship with Steve Everett on another J160 called Salacia
The last 3 days have flown past as we start thinking about all of the last minute jobs we should do, including an engine service, fitting fans to the cabins and galley, sail repairs (minor) and shopping, shopping, shopping. How much do we take to feed and nourish the crew of 4 for 6 weeks. Is there enough room for all the drinks we might need? Do we need anymore trade goods?
today we had the first 6 hour briefing with another to follow tomorrow.
Ken and Wendy arrive tomorrow night and the final stock up of fresh fruit, vegies and meats will be done on Friday.
We will have a new phone number for the Sat phone tomorrow and SMS will be the best and cheapest way for everyone to keep in touch. I will email the number to the club and we hope to hear from some of you. We won't be able to update the blog again until we are back in acceptable internet range.

Cheers for now 

Almost two weeks since our last update. So sorry; but we have been a tad busy!

Hamilton Island Race Week 2013 was the 30th anniversary of the event and Allusive was lucky to have some very good friends as crew who all competed with enthusiasm and a high level of skill. By the end of the event we all were getting a feel for the boat (and the big kite). The event was the calmest in history with winds mostly below 10 knots and getting to know where the currents were and how the breezes were affected by the islands played a big part in where you finished in the fleet, with our finish positions(and handicap) improving dramatically towards the end. Out of a fleet of 34 in cruising Division 2 we finished as low as 32nd and as high as 5th, with a final position in the top half. We were happy with this.

Di and I were joined by Tim and Sue Gourlay, Alan and Carol Hardman, Annette and Andrew Fullard for all six races and Tim Freeman for three.

There were 6 Tassie boats entered this year and we all enjoyed a Tassie night out together.

Piers and Sarah Findlay purchased an Elliot 7 sight unseen and sailed it to within half a point of winning their division.

Rodney and Chris Smart won the non spinnaker Cruising Division 1 in Smart Choice

An incredible effort by the Tasmanian crews.

 on our way to the first start

 

After the finish of race 6 

 all the crew together

 Andy the tactician

 

 Stay clear of the end of the runway please!

 

 It did get busy sometimes

 

 A whale lazing on the surface

"Smart Choice" the Hunter 50 of Rodney and Christine Smart

Our equivalent of sitting on the windward rail

 

 rocks make good rounding marks

 Susie Gourlay first time racer

going home to give the kids some tips

 

 There goes Bob

 

 H I Yacht Club

 

 

 Annette on brace ( note the boats behind!!!)

 

 Big Tim on kite sheet

 

 Little Tim on main sheet and foredeck (young mans job)

 

OOPS! someone missed the corner! (no damage on recovery)

 Hammo marina

 

 350 feet of private yacht -owner leased Wild Oates X for the regatta

 

 Alan and Carol

 View from the crews shore side accommodation

 The Keg ran out before we made it to Whitehaven (day before race day 1)

Hot days in the islands

Alan  and Carol Hardman joined us for two nights on-board and we took the opportunity to sail up to Bowen to catch up with Johns sister Bev and partner David who are spending 6 weeks at their favourite resort  on the beach. The run up was the only windy day we have had since we arrived in the Whitsundays. A social BBQ on board and a quiet night in Queens Bay then a leisurely sail to Butterfly Bay at the northern side of Hook Island for the second night.
The third day was very warm and we all enjoyed a swim at the lunch stop in Nara Inlet.

                                                 Four dogs on a boat? is it possible?

 

Alan , Carol Geordie and Kaila

 

 

 

 We cant believe the string of great weather we are enjoying, especially when we compare it to the constant rain being experienced in the Southern states. We have watched a few of the Airlie Race Week fleets drifting slowly around their courses and hope we get a bit more breeze next week during Hammo. Allusive has a lot of stores on board for the Louisiades leg and it wont be practical to take them off for race week..... She doesn't like light airs either..
Still the bottom is clean. I gave it a rub over this morning and was given lots of advice by a large  (half metre) angel fish that has taken up residence in the shadow of the keel. I was probably down there for over an hour scrubbing away and he was never more than a metre or two away from me. Very tame and inquisitive.

"Archie" the angel fish keeping me company as I scrubbed

 

 

We have placed our food order for Hammo week through the Coles on line shopping system.
Everything will be delivered to the door of the apartment on Friday for a small delivery fee. This will save us lots of carting as food for 9 people for nine days is not a small basket!

 Allusive resting up in Nara Inlet

                                                    "Archie" enjoys some bread

Whitsundays

After leaving Middle Percy on Friday 2nd August we did a daylight run to Scawfell Island.
On Saturday lunch was at the lovely anchorage at Goldsmith Island then by nightfall we had tucked into the lee of Shaw island after a slow sail in a dying breeze.
It is now Wednesday the 7th of August and we are in Abel Point Marina catching up on the washing, food supplies and -well overdue-, this blog!
Our first engineering problem has shown up with the voltage regulator on the engine alternator tossing it in a couple of days ago. The diagnosis was made with the help of a local auto electrician. Of course the part (Mastervolt Alpha Pro 24 volt regulator) has to come in from overseas so we will be relying on the generator for the next week or so to keep the batteries charged and the beers cold.

Last night we had a great night on board with our Tassie friends Cheryl and Roger Hart who are touring in their van.

Wednesday 31^st July

An early run ashore on South Percy where we met up with Alan and Michele Larkin off the eye catching Schionning 15 Catamaran named ”Attitude” which had arrived just on dusk the night before. This triple spreader rigged  cat with reverse rake bows did the Louisiades Rally two years ago. A number of these cats with lightweight fit out (6 tonne) are doing well in overseas regattas. Attitude has a full cruising fit out (9 tonne) but is still a very quick cat.

After our walk we had a leisurely sail under headsail to West Bay on Middle Percy, 10 miles to the North West. This famous anchorage is a “must stop” for most cruising yachts with most leaving some memento of their visit in the large A frame shed. There would be literally thousands of boat plaques here; anything from a signed thong to ornately carved timber boards 

 

                                      

                Our previous boat "Malew of Man" put there by the previous owners in the late 1980's

                                                                                                 New board for Allusive

                                                                                                 BBQ at the back of the famous A frame

                                         

A bit hard to read but this typed linen plaque was done by past members John and Audrey Garwood in 1984 Some senior members will remember them well.

                                                                                                              West Percy sunset

Apart from a walk over to the lagoon at low tide we spent a quiet day on board reading and fishing with a run ashore at 4.30 for the mandatory sundowners and BBQ with the other cruisers from the 4 cats anchored in the bay.

We ended up staying two nights and after a half day walk to the homestead enjoyed the company of Ernest "The goat man" at the BBQ  on the second night . He spent some time telling us about the islands history. He lives full time on the island and is famous for his wild goat currys.

Tuesday 30^th July

South Percy Island is not on most cruisers radar as an anchorage, most preferring to head straight to Middle Percy and we therefore had the island anchorage to ourselves and “Entice”. There are many rocky bays and coral shelves around the Island which don’t encourage anchoring. However there is a small deep anchorage on a sandy beach on the N East corner where we spent two nights.

A very interesting walk on the island to the Southern side revealed steep cliffs and when scrambling down one  cleft we found a small entrance which opened up into a very large cave about 100 metres long but only a couple of metres wide which we spent some time exploring.

                                                     the intrepid explorers Greg and John

 

                                                            Karen in the cave

                                                       looking into the teeth of the trade winds

 

Further along the shore were a number of rocky inlets with much debris washed up. We were intrigued by the number of thongs….. Boat people??  and old fishing ropes and nets.

Monday 29^th July

An early morning dog run then it was time to move on from Great Keppel Island, once again in loose company with the cat Entice.

 

The original plan was to head for Cheviot Island but the anchorage was not useable in the boisterous conditions. For the first part of the day we had a pleasant 15 knot wind from astern which slowly built to the forecast 25 to 30 knots and a steep short sea once the tide turned. The war games were interesting with a big USA hovercraft coming out from the shore and sliding into the back door of an aircraft carrier. (as there was an exclusion zone of 3 miles we called the carrier for his course and speed and he responded! , 3 knots  155 degrees).

We ended up sailing to South Percy arriving at 1900. Greg arrived about an hour before us and his lights guided us into the anchorage. A wet, windy night followed

USA Carrier 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Keppel Island to the Percys

We spent another three nights at Great Keppel along with about 20 other cruisers after a great night at Keppel Bay Marina catching up with Di's niece Kellie and family.
The weather had been blowing 25 to 30 offshore while we waited at GKI but we were in no hurry to move on as there was lots of good company and every night was BBQ night on the beach thanks to Pete who lives on his boat in the anchorage. He had furnished the site with scrounged furniture and provided the firewood in return for a bit of tucker around the BBQ. We did a couple of walks and one night lindy Svensen from the island brought along a guitar and a cruiser brought along a banjo to everyone's great enjoyment.
Lindy and her husband do a lot to keep the tracks open on the island and she hand paints a lot of directions and little poems on the granite stones around the tracks. As a thank you about 10 of us gave them a hand the next morning clearing up some fire hazards around their property. I couldn't help myself...another working bee!
finally on the 29th we left GKI for the Percys in loose company with Greg and Karen on Entice.
We did the 100 miles in 12 hours and Entice (Grainger 43 cat) managed to do it in 11 hours.

 One of Lindy's 50 or so hand painted stones

 

 Pete' s BBQ campsite (all welcome)

 

 

Part of the working Bee at Svensens

 

Lady Musgrave to Great Keppel Is

Saturday 20^th July

We left Bundaberg early on Thursday for the 50nm run out to Lady Musgrave Island as there was a great forecast for the next 4 days.

The wind started off as a South Easterly of 5 to 10 knots and slowly swung to the North East of about 10 to 15 knots with 20 knots during the rain showers.

Lady Musgrave is part of the Bunker group of islands and is a coral lagoon of about 12 square kilometres in area with a sandy cay situated at the western end.

The entry channel is on the Northern side of the lagoon and is one of the very few coral lagoons where vessels can safely enter in almost any weather.

Allusive motored in through the narrow, deep channel and anchored in 9 metres of crystal clear water with about a dozen other vessels. Apart from a quick run ashore late in the day we didn’t do a lot as the breeze had picked up to about 20 knots and the lagoon was a bit lumpy with the swell breaking over the reef top for an hour or so either side of high tide. Once the tide drops the reef is exposed and the lagoon becomes very peaceful. The holding here is excellent and during the night the breeze slowly died away.

Friday turned out to be a million dollar day with no wind all day and lots of sun. We spent the day snorkelling, taking photos and cruising around the lagoon in the dingy looking at the various reefs.

 

 

 

 

At one spot we found a turtle cleaning station where the turtles gathered in a depression in the coral and small fish nibbled away at the accumulated algae on their shell. The fish life here is very colourful and abundant and the tour boat Lady Musgrave calls regularly with day trippers who hand feed a lot of the fish life, so they are fairly tame as you snorkel through the schools.

 

 

The dogs get a quick run ashore in the morning and evening but as there are a lot of ground birds in the undergrowth they are kept on the surrounding coral beaches on their leads.

 We have enjoyed the company of Greg and Karen from the Grainger 43 cat, Entice for a few sun downers and beach walks.

The weather is still holding on Saturday morning as I write this with a 5knot breeze coming in from the North West.

During the day we took a walk on the reef at low tide and found heaps of tropical fish and numerous turtles in the reef pools. Another snorkel along the edge of the reef then a snooze and sundowners with 3 other couples off the surrounding cats finished off another great day.

 

 Sunday 21^st July

Out departure from the lagoon this morning wasn’t without incident as the engine of the mono hull departing 2 minutes in front of us stopped just as they got to the entrance. We managed to get a line onto them and towed them out through the coral pass into deep water where they made sail and headed off for Gladstone

The 100nm run to Great Keppel Island was a mixed bag of showers, multiple reefs in the main and eventually motor sailing in light breezes. This is a picturesque run up through the Capricorn group of reefs and small coral fringed islands including Heron, Masthead and other less known islets. The fishing is usually pretty good up through this area with Entice picking up three good fish (tuna and Spanish Mackerel) on their trolling lure around Heron Is. Our luck was out but we did lose another lure to something big.

We arrived at the anchorage at 9.00pm under a near full moon and spent a quiet night.

Hoping to improve our luck we set 3 crab pots in the mangrove lagoon behind the beach on Monday morning, but only picked up a couple of small ones overnight.

Dawn Monday at Great Keppel Is

 

Today, Tuesday is overcast and a bit windy, a good day to catch up on the blog. We are both well but the midges are leaving their mark on Di.