28 Mar to 10 Apr 15

We had an early start on Good Friday (3 Apr) to watch the start of the Brisbane to Gladstone race off Redcliffs. We knew some boats and their crews, notably B52 with Dan and Hasta La Vista with Lyle on board. So we met with our friends, Murray and Glenis, at the car park before 0700. They had a fair bit of kit (OK quite a bit of nice food, wine and beer and some clothes). The Marina does have over a dozen trolleys, but they do have a habit of walking around the marina and disappearing from sight. Still, there were also a couple of ‘liberated’ IGA shopping trolleys and they worked fine! So kit stowed, safety brief done, life jackets fitted, boat ready and we motored out of the Marina at 0800. There was a light SE wind building as we left that allowed us to stop the motor and sail at the end of the marina channel. Even better, the tide allowed us to sail over the comparatively shallow shoal in the narrow channel to the North of St Helena Island; that reduced the route by about a mile. A good broad reach saw us anchored 16 miles and under 3 hours later in the spectator area near the first turn in the course. En route we had dropped closer to shore to have a look at Margate and the adjoining boroughs. These are pleasant areas on the land, and the view from the sea confirmed that. There was an onshore wind, and this set up quite a nasty steep chop. Still it was tolerable to stay at anchor for a couple of hours, but no more.
We had a pretty good view of the race. The start seemed slightly staggered with two maxis (i.e. 60 foot plus), 23 monohulls and 16 multi hulls racing. All were clearly pushing hard; the two maxis in the front going fast, then the monos, also fast, and then the multis, catching the monos! Most of the boats were definitely race boats, with all having very nice (read expensive!) sails set. For the record, the website has 8 out of the 23 monos failing to finish, including B52 who blew their Main sail. The multis suffered some 6 casualties out of their 16 starters, most from equipment failures. Well, that is the price (cost!) of racing! Lyle came 9th out of 10 multi finishers (we later found he had broken his ‘prod’ which supports the foresail at the front of the boat, but continued racing).
The excitement of the race over, we pushed into wind to Little Sand Hills. Our inner stay was fixed so we had to use the Stay Sail. To be fair the additional power (we already had full Yankee and reefed Main) did help in pushing us through the chop and allowed us a reasonable 5 to 6 knots. So 22 miles and about 4 ½ hours later we were anchored in our nice calm spot in the lee of the sand hills. The lure of delicious nibbles (cheese, salami, olives, beer sticks, relish, crackers etc) and wine won over putting out the crab pots!
We stayed at Little Sand Hills a couple of days. This allowed for swimming at high tide close to the beach; very pleasant. The pots also went out three times and we got a good haul totaling some nine legal blue swimmer crabs. Murray helped Paul haul them up, and almost leapt out of the boat when one managed to nip Paul; that one was definitely legal! Murray and Paul also had a rush of blood to the head and decided to climb Big Sand Hill. This is some 73m high, so quite a pull up a steep sandy slope. Still it burned off some calories and the view was worth it. We also saw quite a bit of sea life at close quarters. In addition to lots of small fish, there were a couple of docile dolphins, several sting rays (some seemed to be wider than the dinghy!), a small sand shark and four turtles.
Unfortunately the water speed log had not worked. Paul dived under the hull and saw it was not fully in the water. Back in the boat, and bit of percussion adjustment and the impeller was correctly positioned; the log worked well after that. Whilst under the boat Paul noticed the hull had collected quite a bit of slime and weed in the marina (nutritious water?!). Now the extra drag slows the boat down, so it was out with a hand scrubbing brush and an hour or so of burning off more calories and the hull looked a bit more streamlined.
The forecast for Easter Sunday was a variable 10 knot wind, swinging Northerly 10 to 15 knots late afternoon, then North Westerly 10 knots late evening. Mid afternoon it was blowing Westerly 20 to 25 knots; not quite as forecast! The problem was that Little Sand Hills offers good shelter from South to South West around to North to North West, a West wind sets up a steep uncomfortable chop, and 20 knots is untenable. So just before 1600 we raised anchor and pushed out to Horseshoe Bay, Peel Island.
We arrived about 1940, after dark. The bay was packed with over 80 boats at anchor, and a few crab pots to avoid as well. Still it is fairly shallow and we were easily able to find a good sheltered anchoring spot. The sail over was also surprisingly pleasant giving Murray and Glenis their first night sail, and the opportunity for some sunset and moonrise camera shots.
Easter Monday (6 April) saw a gentle breeze developing allowing us a nice sail close to the wind straight back to the Marina. The developing breeze also allowed a lazy, late start and leisurely breakfast. One of the joys of sailing is that there is no point rushing if the wind has not built to a sufficient strength!

The picture – crab dinner!