‘Hey what’s that? is it a croc?’ asks Shaz for the hundredth time as everyone peers out into the water hoping to see a glimpse of a croc in the wild. After closer inspection Shaz exclaims ‘oh wait, no it’s just a stick’. Everyone drops their binoculars and rolls their eyes in unison. I’ll admire Shaz’s dedication to spotting a croc though, which eventually paid off this morning as we spotted something that also was to believed to be more of a stick than a croc bobbing up and down near the boat. ‘No wait that’s definitely a croc!’ we realise as Sandie grabs the mop and dangles it in the water to attract said croc(don’t try this at home kids). The croc senses the splash in the water and comes stealthily swimming up to the back of the boat. It’s just an adolescent! which to be honest I’m glad to see. It almost makes them seem cute but I’m still not going to tempt fate by getting too close. My obsession with trying to spot a croc in the wild could finally come to an end. I’ll have to make sure to report back to my nephew that I had indeed seen a salty croc and that I’d managed to keep all my limbs intact.

After a lovely breakfast cooked by David, we were set to depart St George Basin around 11am. With some time to spare I quickly put my crew to work doing any odd jobs that could save me doing it later on! They jumped to the task of changing out worn yankee sheets and whipping lines while I pretended to write the blog down below.

As we departed the entrance to the basin the breeze started to fill in to a nice 16kts(not forecast of course) so we hoisted every sail we had and tried to make a bit of head way without using the engine for a bit. This was short lived however as the course we wanted to take was directly into the wind. As expected the breeze then fizzled out pretty quickly once the sun went down.

I decided to have a go at furling in the yankee for the 2nd time since leaving Southport, having successfully managed to avoid the task for most of the trip. Boy did I get a surprise at how weak I felt! I then proceeded to make the others on deck do a workout with me so I could be ready for the next yankee furl in another month’s time.

We passed some spectacular looking islands as we settled in for a night of motoring ahead; one in particular called Duguesclin Island, which could easily be used in a movie set. With strong currents flowing in certain areas during the night passage, watch leader David got the fright of his life when the current caught the bow at 90 degrees and spun him around 360 degrees with the auto helm on! Having already been convinced that the auto helm had a mind of it’s own, David then decided to hand steer the boat with not much more luck as the current decided to spin him around all over again. Eventually getting a handle on the helm and bringing the bow into the current David set us off in the right direction. Now with an even stronger mistrust for our auto helm I won’t be surprised to see David hand steering for the rest of the trip. Being a boat owner himself I expect this is where he feels most comfortable.

Till next time,

Jess :)