Coffs Harbour to Mooloolaba

We left Coffs at 9am on Sunday with very little wind. We had two whale sightings soon after leaving. One, which was very distant, put on a good display of breaching and tail flapping. We also had a close encounter with a couple of bottlenose dolphins. Since leaving Coffs we have spent the time motoring and sailing in roughly equal proportions but the sailing spells are getting longer. When the wind blows it has been from either the SE or SW and there has been very little swell so life aboard has been very easy. We have had the spinnaker up a couple of times for a few hours at a time. The nights have been very cold but the days are sunny. It is definitely getting warmer as we head North. We just wish there were a bit more wind! The highlight of this afternoon was Jonathan catching a Slip Jack tuna. It was a good size but we decided to put it back. We are now in Moolooloba where we have come to refuel. Had we not come in here, the next convenient port would have been Yepoon and we decided not to risk it. Unfortunately we came in an hour before low water so we have had to wait around for a couple of hours. We've refilled the water, cleaned up the boat and had a coffee while waiting. As soon as we have diesel onboard we shall be off. 

Dolphins on the bow. 

 

Getting the kite ready. 

Kite is up.

Cape Byron, the Eastern most point of Australia, at dawn. 

Jonathan's fish. 

Waiting for suitable weather in Coffs Harbour

We have spent rather longer in Coffs than we thought we'd have to. The weather has been very unsettled. We had hoped to make another hop north to Yamba   However, there is a difficult bar across the entrance which is best crossed a couple of hours either side of high water and then, once in the river, there is a short passage over the top of Dart Island which we would have had to negotiate at high tide. All this would have necessitated an over night sail from Coffs which we had intended to do but then it blew up hard during the night and we decided against it. Instead we hired a car for the day and drove up there. We saw the entrance with surf breaking over the bar and strong winds and were quite glad not to be out there in the boat. We sadly said goodbye to Jane as, with all the delays, the next opportunity to drop her off would be Wednesday which would have been difficult for her family. We met up with Hamish, Helen and Huon in Yamba and enjoyed an afternoon at a playground. Today is Jonathan's birthday so we have had an indulgent day which we have just rounded off with a nice bottle of champagne. The weather is looking good for departure tomorrow morning.

The crew

Coffs Harbour marina 

Day 1 24th May. Leaving Port Stephens

After several weeks of perfect weather and winds for sailing North, the weather has quite suddenly become very unsettled. We have a number of different weather forecasting sites which we use. Our friends Jonathan and Wendy Newbury had arrived yesterday and we had arranged to pick up Jane Hunt, a good friend of David's so we decided to at least go to the boat and see what the weather was doing. In the marina, which is quite sheltered, the wind was gusting over 20 knots, the forecast was for a swell of 3-5 meters so not looking very good. After much discussion we decided to make a run for Coffs Harbour as it seemed quite likely that things might be even worse in the coming few days. As it turned out, we had a great start to our journey. We filled Essex Girl with diesel and then left the marina at 3 pm. The sun was shining, the wind was gusty about 17 knots and the swell once out on the ocean was quite OK and coming from the south so not too uncomfortable. As we passed Broughton Island there was a large pod of dolphins. We had a beautiful sunset for our first night at sea and the moon came up a couple of hours later giving us a wonderful moonlit night. By morning we were off Port Macquarie. Late morning the wind died to 3-7 knots so we turned on the motor. We've made several attempts to sail as occasionally the strength rose to 10-11 knots but it didn't last long. We have just passed the 24 hour mark in which we covered 137 nm.  Just south of Coffs we saw our first whales. They were between us and the coast, a mother and calf from last year.  We seem to be doomed to sail with local currents against us. In this area the East Australian current comes in very close to the shoreline so we had 2 knots against us. 

We are about 30 nm from Coffs where we shall stay the night and reasses the weather in the morning. 

Sailing down the Bay.

Out through the Heads. 

Amazing sunset.