Yorkeys Knob

We arrived at Yorkeys Knob at 1100 this morning, just after the top of the tide - good timing!  Entry into the marina was very simple with good buoyage and plenty of depth.  The minimum depth we saw was 3.3m with 2.0m tide (ie 1.3m reduced to chart datum).  The marina has good facilities and is costing us only $30 per day - half the cost of Airlie Beach.

Zen Again at Yorkey's Knob

We had a fun sail overnight and this morning.  The breeze died off to practically nothing in the evening so we had to "run the fridge" for three hours.  Then a nice land breeze came in and we had a great sail up the coast, passing inside some small islands to stay out of the shipping lane which was fairly busy.  The radar is great for confirming the islands are where the GPS chartplotter says they are - especially on a moonless, cloudy and drizzly night.

This morning we raced a big ugly rain cloud across the bay from Cape Grafton to Yorkeys Knob.  Happily we won.  The boat was powering along at 7.5 knots beam reaching under full main and No 3 jib in 20-25 knots.  She's a great boat.

We'll be staying here for several days to install a new fridge (portable type like the old) and to do a few other jobs.

Enroute to Yorkeys Knob day 2

Hi everyone,
We had a great sail overnight and today. The wind has stayed SE and gradually decreased to the 10knots we have currently. We have reefs to windward now and so the swell has disappeared. Sailing along quietly under full main and No 3 jib with barely any rolling or pitching.

Sunset

We have Hinchinbrook Island on our port side. It is an amazingly rugged island with very tall hills/mountains. Spectacular. Sorry to be sailing past without stopping but at least we did explore the channel last time (in 2002).

Passing Hinchinbrook Island

Sunrise

The density of yachts has rapidly decreased since leaving the Whitsundays. On our passages up to that point we would often have a yacht in sight. We haven't seen one all day today, although we heard a couple on the radio as we passed Townsville.

Hope all's well where you are!

Enroute towards Yorkeys Knob

After 8 days at Abel Point Marina we finally departed this morning. The stay at Airlie Beach was very pleasant but the week-long strong wind warnings were a bit of a drag. It was great to spend some time with Peter and Paula from Valhalla during our stay. Yesterday was Peter's 60th and a party of seven had dinner to mark the occasion. Getting up this morning was just a little more difficult than on most days. ;)

Departing Airlie Beach

We departed Abel Point around 0900 this morning and have made good time so far, especially considering we're sailing under No 3 jib only. We're doing 5 to 6 knots in 15-20 knots of SE wind (right behind us).  This is our cruisiest sail so far since we've always had the main up throughout previous passages. There's a 2m left-over swell which should die down gradually. Very pleasant sailing nonetheless.

We hope to arrive in Half Moon Bay marina at Yorkeys Knob on Monday sometime.