Okay I am really excited if this works. This is our first post via SSB. We plan to try and post updates often while we are at sea.

Last night we moored off of the Low Islands. It was an easy 40 mile day sail downwind from Cairns. The weather was blustery trade winds.

Nice to finally be out of Marlin Marina in Cairns. Nice place but a month there is plenty.

On approaching the Low Islands the captain of Synergy, a charter catamaran, came by in his RIB and told us to pick up a mooring ball instead of anchoring. This allowed us to get much closer in towards the islands to minimize the beam seas. He also told about the Hope Island which is another day sail up the reef for the next night. We sure appreciated his help. Australian yachties continue to be very friendly and helpful. I hope we are able to return the favor in our home waters.

We were able to test our rebuilt Reckmann roller furler (the reason we were in Cairns for a month). It worked well except for one of the foils is slightly bent which prevented the genoa from hoisting smoothly at one point. The bend is my fault for not having enough dock in front of the boat when lowering the headstay. We can fix it next time we have some down time.

No luck with the fish. We had a couple of strikes on the Yo Zuri Red Head but nothing hooked. The lure has its first teeth marks now. I sharpened the treble hooks on a stone and will try a softer drag setting today. We has set the drags tighter based on our heavier monofilament.

That is all for now.