Thursday 28th July
So having prepared ourselves for a tough crossing from New Caledonia starting this day last week sense prevailed and we postponed our departure until Sunday 24th . We spent another very pleasant couple of days in Noumea sitting out the lightening storm doing some retail therapy and catching TopGun the Maverick which was easily the highlight !. We set out then in very pleasant conditions on Sunday with Babe Adelia and Acoya from the fleet all leaving the same day . We had been warned of a 10-15knt beat for the first 12 hours but the wind kindly came around after then and we settled in to a pleasant fetch followed by a full day of engine and we were even allowed a dip . We have kept the same watches I am treated kindly getting 5-9 am/pm which I love as I get both dawn and dusk ! It is definitely cooler and we are pulling out the jumpers and long pants which have been at the bottom of the cupboard for a long while . We are eating very well James did some great vegetarian cooking before we left and of course as we face very strict biosecurity in Australia we are trying to get through our meat supplies too ! Being surrounded by other boats has been fun and we do an SSB call morning and evening sharing positions and thoughts on the weather and favourable course to take .The company of other boats has of course brought out the offshore racer in Liam constantly trimming sails to get that extra half knot .
Our ETA in Mackay is around 2am Saturday morning .We arrive at the bottom of the reef in approximately 7 hours and then sail up the Capricorn Channel to Mackay . We will have the wind behind us so the trade wind sail is being rigged as I write . We have just this afternoon seen the first Dolpins in a
long time identified as being of the Indo Pacific bottle nosed variety thanks to Johns book . So the current statistics: we have sailed 730 miles since Noumea in just over four days but in the bigger picture the boat left Blacksod just one year ago next week and the overall log is in excess of 12000 miles so far !
So having prepared ourselves for a tough crossing from New Caledonia starting this day last week sense prevailed and we postponed our departure until Sunday 24th . We spent another very pleasant couple of days in Noumea sitting out the lightening storm doing some retail therapy and catching TopGun the Maverick which was easily the highlight !. We set out then in very pleasant conditions on Sunday with Babe Adelia and Acoya from the fleet all leaving the same day . We had been warned of a 10-15knt beat for the first 12 hours but the wind kindly came around after then and we settled in to a pleasant fetch followed by a full day of engine and we were even allowed a dip . We have kept the same watches I am treated kindly getting 5-9 am/pm which I love as I get both dawn and dusk ! It is definitely cooler and we are pulling out the jumpers and long pants which have been at the bottom of the cupboard for a long while . We are eating very well James did some great vegetarian cooking before we left and of course as we face very strict biosecurity in Australia we are trying to get through our meat supplies too ! Being surrounded by other boats has been fun and we do an SSB call morning and evening sharing positions and thoughts on the weather and favourable course to take .The company of other boats has of course brought out the offshore racer in Liam constantly trimming sails to get that extra half knot .
Our ETA in Mackay is around 2am Saturday morning .We arrive at the bottom of the reef in approximately 7 hours and then sail up the Capricorn Channel to Mackay . We will have the wind behind us so the trade wind sail is being rigged as I write . We have just this afternoon seen the first Dolpins in a
long time identified as being of the Indo Pacific bottle nosed variety thanks to Johns book . So the current statistics: we have sailed 730 miles since Noumea in just over four days but in the bigger picture the boat left Blacksod just one year ago next week and the overall log is in excess of 12000 miles so far !
Enjoying hearing from you guys and glad everything is going so well. Big well done on a year of fantastic Ruth 2 adventuring . Mary
ReplyDeleteWelcome to AUSTRALIA ! Enjoy Mackay and celebrating one year since Ruth2 left Blacksod. Wow! Sorry that although I am also in Aus. I am only 4690 kms from you, so may not get to pop in for a cuppa.
ReplyDeleteJudy
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying following progress via your reports Ruth - most entertaining.
ReplyDeleteLiam & Ruth and all on Ruth 11 many congratulations sailing into Mackay 12,000 miles and almost 1 yr since you lifted anchor in Belmulee is like summitting Everest. Take a deep breath it is really some achievement, we take our cap off to you both, james
ReplyDeleteI hope Liam is not wearing a sma navy peaked cap!
ReplyDeleteRuth your mention of El Classico reminds me of Bardsley.
ReplyDelete