Gunnel to Gunnel

We set off for the Whitsundays on Friday afternoon. Now considering ourselves ‘seasoned sailors’ after having sailed a whopping 531 miles in one hit. We felt prepared for whatever was in store for us next on our mere 150 mile passage to The Whitsundays. With a forecast of 20-30kt South Easterlies and 2m swells we decided to try our new sail configuration of using the Mizzen and the Yankee, in the hopes that the boat would sit a little steadier in the weather. With the swell building up to 3m over the night it was fairly hard to tell if this made much difference.

Another beautiful sunset

As we surfed down waves and navigated our way through a large shipping channel, one particular watch(who I like to call the A Team) became experts in gybing after getting a lot of practise in while dodging a couple of 300m cargo ships.

Kingsley never one to pass up a photo opportunity

As we sailed through the night in some large 2-3m swells. The boat rocked from gunnel to gunnel making for some exhilarating sailing. With our expert Sharon on the helm, we felt in safe hands. Barb let out an excited squeal exclaiming this was the most fun she’d had all trip. As a wave washed over the transom she explained to us that this was being ‘pooped’, which is why old ships often called the deck area at the stern, the poop deck.

Barb from the A Team, working on perfecting her gybe technique

Arriving at Whitsunday Island around 2.30pm we quickly pumped up the tender(well as quick as we could…….have you seen how big it is?!) and half of the crew went ashore to check out the beautiful white sandy beaches. We all donned our togs hoping to go for a swim but the weather didn’t quite play ball for us. We got completely soaked heading over on the tender though so we went for a swim of sorts in the end. Having pre planned an exercise session for us(unbeknownst to the crew) I made sure we pulled the dinghy high up onto the beach even though the tide was coming out. When we went to leave we had to ‘heave ho’ it about 30m down the sand which impressively there were no complaints about. Although Andrew was MIA for a while and conveniently popped out of the bushes as we just managed to pull the boat to the waterline.

Barb, Steve, Sally, Sandie and Kingsley headed for the lookout.

Steve below, living his true thespian dream.

The next morning was to be a short 2 hour motor to Nara Inlet to meet up with our Silver Fern friends who had anchored there for the night.

Will Kurt and Keryn have enough to barter for some staples of salt and onions. Or will they return to Silver Fern empty handed?

Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Chief Mate

Jess :)