Last blog while sailing

Currently 900 am on Sunday 7th ish of november, abeam ofport stephens on our way home after a fantastic 3 odd months. We left Coffs at 1100am yesterday and had a hair raising sail to here over night, gusting over 30 from the north, seas were large and the current was fast, plenty of rolling so much that the second tea pot of the trip went flying and smashed glass all over the floor. This part of the world always has rough seas, very steep and curling wave tops, I even got a few drops of salt water on my legs in the cockpit last nite!
Ship ships ships, what would you do without AIS, many are not under command, two all round red lights, and as such you could sail quite close to them, something impossible without knowing that they are just drifting.

Not even a moment passed after discussing dinner when the familiar sound of 'fish' came from the rod, this time we furled the headsail and went abeam to the wind, dinner was a nice tuna! Yum. Sashimi for entree then the rest was green curried Marions style.

ETA into Davis marina is now 900 pm tonight, we lost a bit of time as we travelled extra distance by only one gybing it, or should I say one granny, if you don't know what that means then use it to strike up a conversation with a sailor.
Pics of tuna and the speedo over 10

Check out this kite

You can spend $3000 on a new spinnaker or even more on a fancy parasailor (a sexy type of spinnaker), or or you can do what the guys I met at Coffs have done and that is to buy a surplus parachute from the military for $60, check out the results. I'm getting one. Also as they are made of silk you can re stitch them into French knickers!

http://saltygardener.com/2011/08/02/parachute-trials-in-platypus-bay/

Last leg

Tomorrow we hard off for the final 220 miles to Sydney, sounds a long way but after the trips we have done it is only 30 hours, Scott is coming back up and David Elliott will provide commentary and constant chatter. Talking about constant chatter, the local bellingin radio station I mentioned previously is online, listen to it and you will be hooked, locals are the presenters and hey all have their quirks which makes great listening, also their music choice is Fantastic
Www.2bbb.net.au
Jobs today were oil and filter change, easy peasy, more varnishing and I finally fixed the water tank gauge. You know when you start one job and then you see another, you start that, then go to get a tool and you end you finishing what you started yesterday, usually there are three jobs on the go at once.
The water gauge has two guides and a twisted centre rod that moves the dial as it floats up and down, the whole lot was encrusted in scale like a pommy tap. Two hours later wire brushing and sanding it works perfectly. Pic below along with the oil change, note the little pump that sucks the oil out, then it pumps the new oil back in, way cool!
Also cool is the car I saw in the car park, check out pic

Coffs Harbour day 3

After waiting out the southerly and three meter swell, I am now waiting for crew to arrive on Saturday, thus am back on the job list again. Lots of varnishing to do, toe rails, hand rails, eyebrows, locker jambs, the list is endless. I'm using marine cetol, not quite the traditional varnish as it gives a stained finish. The advantages are that it is much longer lasting and no sanding is required between coats, at $75 a tin it would want to be good. Oil change is on the agenda as have over 200 engine hours since the last one in Gladstone. The engine takes 20 liters, new oil is easy the trick though is to get a container large enough to get rid of the old oil, I received strange looks as I rummaged in the bins behind the restaurant strip in Coffs trying to find a empty cooking oil drum. While I mentioned it, the Coffs restaurants are fantastic, Indian, Thai, and plenty of other spicy delights, check out the menu of where I'm eating tonite, goat curry!

I'm moored right by the fuel dock, check out the pic of the new Riveria it is on it's way to Canada! How did anyone sell an Aussie boat to Canada? The guy must be a supersalesman, surely any motor boat in the US has to be cheaper with the currency and the general crappy state of the US market. Not only that, Riv's are built for the Aussie climate, I think it snows in Canada.
Coffs has a great radio station BBB, I had to down tools and listen to a lecture that they were reloading from Helen caldicot, more nuclear scaremongering, I would believe her above any politican on matters nuclear, I recommend you listen to what she had to say, in summary, cancel your skiing trip to Japan.
http://www.helencaldicott.com/

Stuck in Coffs Harbour

Have arrived in Coffs Harbour after making some quick miles down the coast from moolooaba. Crew have now departed and am waiting for the southerly to die down before the final run to Sydney.
We sailed through Great sandy straights behind Fraser island is a magic part of the world, you could easily spend a month here, next year maybe. Pics below.
Rob left in moolooaba after two weeks, I was lucky to have him Onboard, anyone ex navy is always welcome, they love to polish and scrub!
With the southerly predicted, scot and I decided to do a 30 hour sail straight to moolooaba and miss southport all together, we chugged along averaging 7 knots with 1000 rpm and a 10 to 15 knt ENE breeze. There are lots other yachts here all awaiting the weather, the marina is actually full! Pic below

Now I also promised a rundown of our wharf neighbors in bundaberg, linda and warren onboard 'leisure lee' I have put everything down in the ships log, so this is just a quick summary.
The bundaberg mid town marina was washed away in the recent floods and remaining or new wharf space is a premium, liveaboards have priority. we were lucky as one yacht had gone on the slip the day we were in town. Our lines were eagerly taken and friendly gestures were as good as anywhere, Linda even presented us with a homemade muffin, pic on previous blog.
Returning from the Bundy distillery I invited them on board for a quick drink, the next 4 hours we kept the marina awake with laughing that neither rob or I have done for ages, these guys are a undiscovered by the entertainment world but surely have to be soon.
Bundy locals and empty nesters, they sold up house and bought a boat to live aboard and learn boats, neither had any experience, zero! For two years they have been out 6 times and had to be rescued and towed back 5, what made the stories funny was that firstly they should not have been there, any small nautical knowledge would have seen them through, they didn't have a nautical term between them thus making their boating mishaps stories sound unreal.
I wont go into depth with all the stories as usual a lot is in the telling, like the time Linda thought if she put a lead weight on the dock line, then she would be able to look better when she threw it to waiting hands on the dock, yep hit em in the head and knocked them out.

The swingers club in burdett heads boat harbour, failed whale watching, marina gossip to make north shore mums look tame, aground on sand bars and numerous failed trips to lady musgrave island, (I was disappointed the we didn't get ES there this trip, these guys are only 30 miles away and have been trying for 2 years) to get these stories in full, tie up at the marina and ask them over for a drink, you will have a great night.
Theirs is a story that need to be in a book, very similar to teenagers sailing round the world, neither know what they are up for, just a touch difference in age.
Anyone like to sail from Coffs to Sydney, am hoping to leave Friday morning, let me know

A day in Bundy

Everywhere you look it is Bundy something, and memories of silly things done previously on Bundy come rushing back, well those that I can remember anyway.
Rob and I walked the 4 odd ks to the Bundy distillery, and managed a good grasp of the place, untouched, rural, and very country townish. Lots of very nice old Queenslander pads, see pics, and kids playing on the middle of the road. Plenty of closed shop fronts as a result of the floods, I don't think the previous pics gave an impression on what it was really like. The marina was washed away, we are on an arm that has just been rebuilt, no insurance for the owner as it was an act of god!
The Bundy factory tour was well worth doing, here are a few things I remembered. 96% of all Bundy is consumed in Australia, 4% in NZ, 1% rest of world. They only make 57% max alc now due to rsa rules, 66% of a Bundy bottle cost is govt taxes, they have over $2 bil of Bundy in vats maturing, they only make Bundy to order due to the taxes, the bear was introduced in 1961 to make Bundy a drink to drink in cool climates too.
You only get 2 drinks in the Bundy bar after the tour, I think they know what is does to you!
A few pics below, two great houses right beside the entrance, imagine that molasses smell every day.
Also one of my shoes, why you ask, it is because that it was the first time in 3 months I have worn shoes.
Front page of the daily rag today, mining affects even the non mining towns.
Tomorrow I will mention a few of the people we have meet in Bundy, worthy of an entire blog if not a book.

In Bundy heaven

Finally got out of yeepppoon, a nice place but not for 5 days. My weather calling was a bit early as we bashed into a 25 to 30 knt se for 5 hours.
Watched the Aussies beat the yarpies at the ccyc, one of the great yacht clubs up here, pic below.
New crew arrived, lauren who sailed a few races at Hammo with us, so the three of us set off early for the trip to pancake ck. We decided halfway to pull into facing island, just south of Curtis island as it was just too rough. I couldn't get on deck to put the main halyard on! The anchorage was so nice we stayed the next day too. The channel marker beside us had a sea eagle nest with chicks, don't think mum liked us being so close. See pic.
Plenty of ferries barges and tugs all buzzing past, turtles and fish everywhere, fishing is banned in Gladstone as the LNG dredging has stirred up all the heavy metals from years of heavy industry dumping into the Harbour. The result is blind barra, deformed crabs, dead dolphins and red spots. We left the line in !

Yesterday we did the 100 miles to Bundaberg, finally we got some fantastic sailing conditions. Wind was a close reach 15 to 20, ES was the perfect yacht for the conditions, dry, comfortable and 6.5 knts avg speed.
A quick motor up to Bundy town this morning past the distillery, Bundy fumes for breakfast will just be the start of the Bundy day! A few pics attached of ES with the distillery behind; also check out these pipes going into he river. I will find out what they are for -  I hope it doesn't go into the rum!
Evidence of the Qld floods is everywhere, angle of the trees shows what happened here. The liveaboard on the Marina presented us with blueberry muffins as we tied up, yum.

And check out the pic of someone's dream yacht now home to the cows!

Here for a night then off to Sandy Straights, then on the home stretch. Anyone like to come along for crew? Let me know.