A very slap-up bouncy ride all night and this morning with higher ENE winds and 2m swells smacking us from abeam. Sonsie lurching sideways onto her port side whenever a puffy top wave hits her.

All our energy spent staying safe and not jettisoning overboard into the drink, lurching down the companionway, smashing around the cabin, or bouncing into each other. Everything requires pacing and care. Head (toilet) visits necessitate unique balancing and precision. After taking an hour to make crepes I wonder if I’ll even came out ahead, calorie-wise?

After days of quiet blue emptiness, the chart plotter starts showing large vessel (500’ to 1000’) traffic and AIS targets. We’re nearing a port, a city’s working heart.

It’s going to be an all-nighter to get up the Brisbane River, so Jim naps in the afternoon. Around 5pm the sun hides behind clouds, and the air gets hot and heavy with humidity. The clouds look thick and thunder starts rumbling across the expanse. Whoa, let’s slow down!

It takes me a little while to furl the big genoa by myself. No electric winches on Sonsie, just muscle power. By running the furling line around a winch and positioning myself above the line I can use mechanical advantage and gravity to slowly work it in.

Jim wakes as it becomes more thundery. We check the radar to track which way the clouds are moving. He switches settings from “offshore” to “weather”.

From our initial reckoning we better change course 180° to avoid this storm...