We were just off Cape Byron, the easternmost point of mainland Australia, mesmerized by the beautiful coastline, the cliffs rising above the sandy beaches, the blue waves gently rolling past the boat and further on to lap the shore, the blue sky above us adorned with soft clouds, the wind filling the sails so Silver Fern flew along, when a voice broke the silence.

"If this won't make you fall in love with sailing, nothing will."

It's hard not to agree. This last sailing day was a reminder about what most people would imagine when they think of beautiful Sunday sailing. After crossing Bass Strait twice, being in all kinds of weather from slight, evasive sunny breezes to dodging night thunderstorms, facing all kinds of challenges from sea sickness to breakages on board, it was nice to get some smooth, relaxing sailing that would make these very last miles very memorable.

The last days were memorable in many ways. One thing is that we finally could shake all the reefs out of the main! That makes it some 1600 nautical miles on this leg before we did it, and it tells you a bit about the conditions we've had. Sometimes, we had to reef for strong winds. Other times, the wind was too light and we needed to motorsail, but that was also done with a reefed main to reduce the wear and tear.

Bruce with his birthday cake and a coffee

Another memorable moment was yesterday's afternoon. We had just celebrated Bruce's birthday with a cake and a nice lunch, and were motorsailing past Coffs Harbour and listening to music, when dolphins came along. But not just a couple or a dozen. There must have been a hundred of them, at least. They'd come racing down the waves, keeping speed with the boat.

Sometimes, they would let the tip of the fin break the surface. However this time they did not do the classic dolphin jumps. Instead, they would stay submerged and then slap their tails on the surface. We figured it was because they liked the music and wanted to show that to us. Or maybe they hated it and wanted us to stop? We'll probably never know. It was a beautiful show nevertheless.

More memorable moments: one that will become a classic, but was a bit messy at the time of the story unwrapping. We had some rocky and rolly seas, and were busy on deck. Then, as Sharon was going to get some rest and went down to her cabin, and opened the door to the aft heads, she was in for a surprise. A bottle of shampoo or conditioner had been knocked over and around, squirting its contents all over the inside of the shower cabin, including the ceiling. I could have not gotten that stuff so evenly onto the walls and the ceiling even if I tried to. We washed it off, having quite a laugh.

The Ghost of the Aft Heads did prepare another surprise for us shortly afterwards, as the toilet paper got mystically unfurled. Maybe it was trying to clean up the shampoo chaos just a bit too late. Spooky!

A most memorable night shift was at four o'clock this morning. The dark skies were just starting to light up ever so little on the eastern horizon, but the stars we still bright and well visible. We recognised a few constellations and planets, Venus high and bright, the Milky Way, Orion (upside down of what it looks like in the Northern Hemisphere), and the Southern Cross, which I only usually see when I come to sail with Silver Fern. When sailing like this, away from light pollution, the stars are amazingly bright, and together with the bioluminescence in the water they create an absolutely magical night scene. This time, apart from the classics, something new was there. A thin horisontal line, just visible, moving diagonally towards the horizon. It was clearly a comet. We'd seen quite a few falling stars on this leg, but this was different - it hadn't entered the athmosphere so it was not burning fast, and what we were observing was the long tail. We followed its path along the night skies for about ten minutes or even more, until it gradually disappeared at the horizon where the skies were starting to lighten and changed color from dark navy to pastel yellow, orange and pink. Once again, I'm inclined to say: "If this won't make you fall in love with sailing, nothing will."

John from Salt Lines joining us for the last part of this adventure - clearly happy with his late night/early morning watch

Right now, we're just a few miles away from completing the last leg. For Silver Fern, this means completing the circumnavigation of Australia. On board, we will have one full circumnavigator, Ken Dobler. Looking forward to congratulate him on this impressive achievement. And for the rest of the crew, to congratulate them on completing this challenging leg of some 1640+ nautical miles. Well done!

We will stay on anchor for the night, and then motor into the river for a couple of hours to get Silver Fern into her Australian Base. Then, we'll be in for a well-deserved celebration together with all the crew from Silver Fern and Salt Lines. Looking forward to that!

Lena, Chief Mate Silver Fern

Join the crew for a sailing adventure

If This Won’t Make You Fall In Love With Sailing, Nothing Will

Circumnavigation of Australia: Complete

Sydney by night