Abrolhos Islands - Wallabi Group
19 August 2007
All three yachts departed Steep Point at around 9am on Saturday and took off down the coast past the Zuytdorp Cliffs with favourable NE winds, soon after departure the Urchin hit a top speed of 9.7 knots which isn't too bad for the old girl. These impressive cliffs extend for miles and proved to be a trap for sailing ships of old, a lee shore and no where to run sealed the fate for an unknown number. Soon after leaving Shark Bay I started to see the whales yet again, one crossed my bows far too close and I had to take evasive action just to miss him, the one pictured swam next to me for some time waving away. Andrew crewed with Tony on Waitani this leg due to the amount of rain we anticipated, this didn't eventuate until we were at anchorage the next day. We are now tucked in behind Pigeon Island in the Wallabi Group of the Abrolhos islands. This group was the final resting place of the Batavia in 1629 and the horrendous events that were to follow. I am now taking a little rest after the all-night sail and some 150 NM of sailing, the only difficult part was when I was 15 NM from the islands the cold front approaching the coast arrived, the westerly winds suddenly became 30 knots on the nose from the SW, thankfully this soon died and I was left to motor the final 5 NM with not a breath of air. We will travel down through the Abrolhos Islands which cover around 100 NM from North to South, from there it is the final jump to home and the Urchins final home.