The cyclone season is approaching, time to sail Logic south, to get away from the cyclones.

Via this blog site, a few months previously I was approached by Len, who is in the process of buying a sister-ship to Logic, which is in the Philippines. Naturally he was very keen for the experience of sailing Logic 1,000 miles down the coast, to Brisbane.

The week we were planning to leave, had a 20-25kt headwind forecast, forcing us to defer the departure date for a week.

I needed to create some room in the freezer, so we could put the fishing lines out, so I flew down to Brisbane with  bags of frozen Spanish Mackerel to give away to family.

I found a glorious Thai fish marinate and dripping source recipe to feed Kate, Jackson and Lewis.

And gave my parents a jar of it, with a couple of bags of fish.

Of course while in Brisbane I got a Louis “fix”He and I pulled down the veggie patch and refreshed itfor his mother to replant it, getting ready for summershe is doing an amazing job of being a mother, introducing him to flat pack furniture at 15 monthsshe and I had an argument over who could claim credit for his gravel-rushed knees(he loves exploring) he is growing up too fast and is WAY cute could I not rush back to Brisbane to have Christmas with him While I was in Brisbane another Mumby owner approached me, inquiring about getting some miles in a Mumby. David had bought a Mumby the year before, but had yet to go through all the learning I had been doing on Logic over the last 6.5 years.

I now had 2 capable crew, on an endless search for sailing experience, on a Mumby.

We left Cairns at first light

caught our fist fish within an hour.

Len filleted it and David cooked it, for our lunch First anchorage was Flora ReefI misjudged were to drop the anchor by 5mts and had to lift the rudders so they did not touch the coral a low tide

the satellite maps are getting so good, you can see the coral in question on our tracker time to jump over the side and give Logic a rub down to reduce the drag, for the passage

great snorkeling jut off the back of Logic

 

The boys went for a paddle as the sun was setting the next day the northerly wind had picked up. As you can see from the aerial photo of Flora Reef, the only places to anchor are on the north eastern side of the reefs, with no protection in a Northerly. So we ended up putting in a big day to get to Zoe Bay on the eastern side of Hinchinbrook Island. Arriving at 9.30 pm (good experience for the boys on arriving at an anchorage in the dark). 

(the tracker has both my journey up and down the coast, down is the one with the black arrows)

Along the way we caught another 3 fish David had minimal experience filleting fish so he became the designated filleter 

the last fish had been taxed by a shark before we got it in (probably fortuitous, as that extra meat would have filled the freezer, leaving no room for the ice tray, for ice in the sundowner’s G&T)

Zoe Bay is the anchorage I would give a 10 out of 10 rating to we went ashore to do the short walk up to waterfallthe walk stated up as rainforest

then eucalyptuson the way to the waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottomfull of jungle perch that hang around like seagulls waiting for a piece of our apples

Len went off in Albert to do some fishingbring back a couple of fish to bake for our dinnerafter a Zoe Bay sundowners

we left Zoe Bay, pre-dawnto cover the 180 mile to Nara Inlet on Hook Island in the Whitsundays the wind was on the beam with flat seasideal sailing conditions with the seas all to ourselves, except for the bulk carriers transporting coal to China conditions were too ideal. Instead of arriving at Nara Inlet after dawn we arrived at 2.30am, with rain clouds starting to build. Not ideal, as the anchorage was full of boats, so we anchored in just inside. When we woke in the morning I was glad we did the Northerlies were forecast to end that night, so we made the most of them to do the 40 mile sail to St. Bees in 30kts from dead astern. Rather quickly with the 90 square meter  screacher outThe forecast was for light southerly winds for the next 4 days, ideal for some slow days in a perfect location to do it

I’d spent a few days doing exactly that when I came up the coast last year. Walking up to the hill, under the bird’s head

for a spectacular view, looking across Logic to Keswick Island

I was not all “beer and skittles” for the boys, I was giving them a new task to learn every day.

Splicing rope servicing the deck winches

and reading assignments interspaced with hammock time(no I am not using my phone for social media, but rather to work Spotify for music)

and going ashore for a walk and a swim. on both St. Bees and Keswick

the forecast was now 20-3kts from the south east for few days, then dropping back to 10-15kts, before the northerlies returned in 5 days, so we did the 15 miles to the marina in Mackay, to wait for them.

More tutorials for the Boys

Backing Logic into a marina berththey both went up the mast on the TopClimber

to check the rigging before the big passage to Brisbane there is a pub close by for a beer and a game of pool The Northerlies are back tomorrow (Sunday 21 November 2021), So we will be leaving the Mackay Marina in the early morning with the tide, for the next half of the sail to Brisbane.