After spending two weeks relaxing in the Clarence River from Iluka/Yamba to Harwood and Maclean, we were waiting for a decent weather window to start heading north again, the day finally arrived and yesterday was that day. We weighed anchor and motored across the Clarence River bar on the incoming tide giving us a safe exit out into the Tasman Sea. The sea state was still a bit sloppy after the recent weather we had been getting but it soon settled down to about a one metre swell with a few wind driven waves, the only issue we had was it was almost right on our stern. Running dead downwind is the most uncomfortable point of sail for us, we tend to rock from side to side constantly making everything we do a challenge, cooking in the galley, chasing food around and trying to keep the sails full are just some of the challenges we have. The last 15 nautical miles after crossing the Queensland/New South Wales border we turned giving us a much better angle to the wind reducing the rocking and increasing our speed.
We are now anchored behind South Stradbroke Island, just on the outside of the North navigation channel. We woke up this morning to the sound of jet skis and large motor yachts going past, apart from a few wakes from the passing traffic this is not a bad place to be anchored.
As you can see via the photo, the views we have down through the Broadwater into the Gold Coast are very crowded and commercial, it looked stunning all lit up as we entered the seaway last night but we like quiet places with less people.
In life positive and negative are directions, which way do you choose?