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1st June 2008 |
The first of June has arrived and the planned departure date is upon us.
We celebrated the last night partying in Sydney Harbour.
Thanks to Elizabeth and Peter on Aphelion who provided the Party boat.
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One more round of sailing past the City of Sydney, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
Slowly we sailed out the Sydney heads maybe for the last time, who knows?
I have mixed feelings of sadness and my spirit of adventure.
Circumnavigating this lovely planet again will take me at least 10 years or more and by that time I have no real reasons to return with Little Swan to Sydney. Retirement along the way is a likelihood.
Farewell to Sydney and friends and thank you all for your support and help and generosity.
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Disappointingly only one person joined me to the start of my journey. Steve W. being my first crew on this part of the trip. We sailed along the north shore of Sydney to Pitt Water where we moored for the night. We have to get used to living at sea again.
The weather forecast was not so good with gale force winds and a low pressure system moving towards us.
We decided to sail as far as Newcastle before the gale arrives.
A pod of Whales was a welcoming sight.
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| Newcastle Harbour has much improved from years ago. Many ships loading coal come and go daily. The Marina was in a protected corner and we soon secured Little Swan against the on slaughter of the gale force winds. For 3 days we endured wind and torrential rain.
The weather forecast was still not the best, but the wind has changed to SW which is Ok for us.
We departed Newcastle Harbour bound for Port Stephens only 27 miles away.
The wind was Ok for sailing with 2 reefs in the main. The ocean swells 3 meters plus sometimes.
Halfway across Stockton Bight the wind picked up again and approaching Port Stephen was blowing nearly 40 knots on the nose with unrelenting torrential rain. Give us break please!
We only managing 1 knot of speed against the wind as we clawed our way into Port Stephen where we found protection in Shoal Bay.
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A day later the wind was favorable again for us and we sailed north towards Coffs Harbour some 150 miles away. It mend sailing through the night as there are no other safe Harbours for this stretch of the NSW coastline.
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| Steve W. did not like that at all, but that’s how it is.
Worse was yet to come with adverse winds approaching us yet again unless we depart Coffs Hbr. and sail all the way to Southport. Once more through the night, otherwise we will be stuck for an another 3 days in Coff’s. Steve W. was announcing he will depart Little Swan as he did not like sailing through the night. Well, what can I do? People sign on for an adventure-yachting experience and then cannot cope with a little unavoidable hardship.
This is very disappointing to me. Jumping ship I regard as a cowardly behavior and I am not happy about it.
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The inside passage from Southport to Morton Bay was frustrating. The estuary channels have silted up badly and we touched bottom a few times where it was supposed to be deep.
At one spot we got stuck altogether and had to wait fro the tide to get us off.
This passage I recommend to deep keelers is only possible at high tides.
In Brisbane we met up with Jan and Nick of which I have known them in other parts of the world.
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They are refurbishing a trawler for cruising purpose and giving sailing away.
Watch out for Yawarra 2. She is a beauty. |
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Luckily a friend of mine in Noosa was referring me to a potential crew member and without much ado Mark agreed to join me heading north.
Providence has prevailed once again.
Keep smiling!
Toni |
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www.adventure-yachting.com
svlittleswan@yahoo.com.au
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