The Cure for Work

Wednesday morning saw us up early with the smell of home in the air and the excitement was present in both of us to finally be nearing home. At 0600 we left the Bundaberg marina and shortly after we were doing 8 knots under full sail in a 10-15 knot breeze.
These great conditions died off before morning 'smoko' however, so we motored for most of the rest of the day. It was about this time that we heard the latest Met weather forecast hinting there was a good possibility of a strong wind warning arriving on the Sunshine Coast on Friday or Saturday, or maybe even earlier if the front got a move on. Waiting in Tin Can Bay for a few extra days for this weather to pass did not appeal, so the decision was made by all to push on to Pelican Bay (Inskip Point) even if this meant arriving there after dark. The anchor finally went down at 1940hrs in pitch darkness - a good Radar ( and torches in closer) are essential for this in-close manouvering, and a bit of local knowledge also helps..
Today we travelled 105nm (195km) in 13.5 hrs - some of which was at 2knots through Sheridan Flats on low tide, but when we only draw 1.15m this was OK, especially as it was a sandy bottom. We spoke briefly via VHF with Dennis and Joy on Molokai who were also preparing to cross the Wide Bay Bar in the morning, then it was lights out until 0500hrs.
Porridge for breakfast, check the whole boat for the bar crossing including putting extra tie-downs on the dinghy, donning our PFD lifejackets and we headed for the bar at 0600 beside Molokai and 4 other yachts, also with similar intentions.
This was Annette's first bar crossing so her 'excitement' was apparent. Fortunately, it was a moderate to easy crossing with no broken water and only a 1 - 1.5 m swell.
Once outside, up went the spinnaker to join the main and we were off at 6-7 knots. Yes, not really enough to get all that excited about, but any day under sail is a whole lot better than the chug-a-long. We finally pulled into Mooloolaba at 1500hrs and tied up at our home jetty shortly later. We toasted a drink to the safe end of our first trip, and then began the clean-up.
Looking back on the trip now, there were many highlights for me including meeting many like-minded new friends, not feeling guilty for just sitting down and not doing anything except read or relax, catching up with friends on board, but especially just being together alone with Annette on board sharing our cruising experience together.
Total distance travelled for return trip was 2172nm