Two Sundays ago we’d planned to sail south from Newcastle to Lake Macquarie only a couple of hours sail away. As boat life tends to go, those plans didn’t quite stick and we had to postpone. Later on that week we woke late on what turned out to be a stunning Thursday morning and decided we’d quickly make those plans happen and set sail with some help from Tom’s Dad. Continue reading
Our second attempt to sail to Port Stephens was a lot more successful. Setting out bright and early we had some nice weather with good winds and were making good progress. Next thing you know though, there was a bang behind us and we turn around to see a storm heading right for us. Thankfully it just blew over with some rain, but it also killed our wind. But hey, as those crazy Norwegians apparently say, “there is no bad weather, only bad clothing”. Continue reading
Very lazy day around the boat today, so trying to practice my photography skills. Don’t really know what I’m doing, I have a lot to learn! Using my el cheapo $100 ‘nifty fifty’ lens (Canon 50mm fixed lens). Anyone have any good tips for me?
The plan was, to sail to Fame Cove in Port Stephens and chill out on the boat for a few days and then meet our friends at Shoal Bay for Australia Day. The wind had another idea though. We set off this morning and were headed almost directly into the wind so had to mostly use the engine instead of the sails. It was what I would call ‘pretty rough’, but what Tom would probably just call ‘motoring with the nose on the wind’. The pictures will never do it justice, but although it was probably only about 1-1.5 metre swells, it really did feel quite big and rocky to me. Thankfully though, I didn’t get seasick (but queasy at times), so we can tick that off the list of things to check before sailing around the world! Continue reading
After a month of waiting and a solid week of work running new wires, nav lights, halyards and rigging, Makroro had her mast back! Everything went smoothly dropping the mast back in. David Lambourne did a great job and tuned the rig up even better than before. The next step was the 400 nautical mile trip down the coast from Moreton Bay to Newcastle. Continue reading
