Year 2 – 21 February 2025 -Coffs Harbour to Moreton Bay (Brisbane)

If anyone reading this and is free in June- mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew for that month fully at present.

It rained in the night and I had to shut some hatches but we were fine. My alarm woke me at 6.00am and I had a quick shower and made sure everyone was up with a cup of tea/coffee. It was still a bit dark and we upped anchor at 6.30am and as we motored out of the harbour the sun appeared out of the water with sunrise. There was little wind so we motored North and parallel to the coast. It was a lovely sunny morning and the sea was blue and there was a little easterly swell. We relaxed and read other than who was on watch. There was the odd shearwater and other seabirds about.

The passage to the top of Moreton Island, which is the entry to Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River is some 200nm. We will pass a number of river entries on way and headlands including Byron Bay which is the most easterly point of Australia and we will then cut in more. We made good progress motoring and at 10.30am the wind started and we sailed with full main and genoa. There was a 56-foot yacht ahead of us called Halsag 6 and we began to catch it up and then it decided to head closer into shore. As the angle allowed for it we put up the staysail as well and gradually overtook this yacht who headed closer to shore. We made good progress and were averaging 7-8 kts. The wind varied from about 8-9 kts to 13. As time went on the wind backed so we were more on a beam reach and therefore had to take the staysail down as it does not really work with the genoa at that angle. The wind dropped a bit and we made the best progress we could.

We took time to rest and read or just watched the water with our own thoughts. I had decided at 8.00am that we would start 2-hour watches. We had a wrap/sandwich lunch. I was on at 4.00pm and by 4.40pm the wind began to increase a little. I also saw Halasg 6 on AIS and they were in front of us. They had gone inside to avoid the southbound current and it must have helped them and perhaps we should have gone in more.  The sky became greyer and it looked inclement ahead. Gradually the wind increased and it looked like we would get some rain. When Mark took over we put first one reef in the main and then two and then changed the genoa to staysail. We were now prepared for the rain and up to 25 kts which came briefly. Then things calmed down just enough time for us to have supper – which I made and to make it easy to eat in our passage bowls we had pasta pesto with peas which went down well and fortified us for the night.

I debated whether to change the staysail for genoa but the clouds threatened again and I thought wait. This was a good call as the 20 plus kt winds and rain returned and then we were into night mode. The instruments were all put into their red  night settings and we settled down for the night shifts with the Tricolour going on. The wind continued at the 18-20 kts level and we sailed a good comfortable speed. I put on the generator to charge the batteries and I also made water as the Starboard tank was empty.

As I write this we have done 92 nm in 13.5 hours which is an average of just under 7 kts. We are nearly halfway and Byron Bay is only a couple of hours ahead.  The picture of the day is the sun going down looking ashore. If you looked ahead of the boat you would think it was a different day as the sky is black and dark. A complete contrast and this is the better one!!

We expect the current conditions to continue overnight so hopefully we can continue to make good progress and get some rest. We have two boats ahead of us on the same course so we need to keep a good look out.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com