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Hi,
All the holes in the Swiss cheese were lining up, and a trip from Laurieton to The Whitsundays was looking like a real possibility for Blue Moon in 2018.
So as soon as the official approval was given by the wife, the wife and kids were quickly booked on flights to meet me at Hamilton Island on the 12th of September.
I had slowly been provisioning in the weeks leading up to departure that was to be mid August, slipping and anti foul done early August.
Phil gave me a hand from Laurieton to Ruby Bay, which saved a lot of time, as it meant we could put in longer hours up the NSW coast without getting too exhausted. And Phil saving the day....on Day one.
It was looking like a good weather window, so we left on 12th of Aug, we threw ourselves into the deep end from day one, with the wind getting up to 36+ kts.
Continually reefing the main until only the headsail remained, going past Tacking Point, but it was still to much and I made the decision to swap it for the storm jib, which was the very first thing that I stowed in the pointy end of the bow, so I crawled right up the front to get it, naturally I got seasick, and Phil did the lions share of the work for the rest of the day. Someone told me my mistake was, not sending the crew down to get the storm sail, hehe, I'll remember that for next time!.
We were planning big legs up the coast, but under the conditions both agreed to stop at Trial Bay (50nm)that afternoon for rest.
The next day was fine under easing conditions to Coffs Hbr, but running into a large branch floating with no damage done on exiting Trial Bay. an early start 2am to Iluka the next day with a good wind, we picked our way between the islands.
We had a rest day in Iluka, which was a good chance to refuel and visit the supermarket.
We then did an overnight sail to the Seaway, with a fair bit of motoring, anchoring at Jacobs Well.
The following day was to Raby Bay where I dropped Phil off, while topping up fuel. Thanks Phil.
That afternoon I punched into a solid NE'er to anchor at Scarborough . Leaving around 3am had a great sail to Mooloolaba, with just some confusion over the lights at the southern end of Bribie Is, a white light was flashing 4 times amongst the port and cardinal marks there, that was baffling until I realised the 4 flashes was from the lighthouse right across the bay on the northern end of Moreton Is.
As the sun rose, I realised I was sailing parallel with some shark nets and buoys just 2 boat lengths inshore of me, at Bribie beach.
After a rest day at Mooloolaba I left about 6am to make Double Island Point, the light NE'er forecast turned into 20-25 N, I motor sailed to get into DIP anchorage before dark, but didn't make it, as I rounded the lighthouse there in the dark, the strong N wind was completely blowing out the anchorage and it would have been dangerous to anchor there, so I clawed my way out of the Bay, silly decision to try and go into there in the first place with the conditions.......
I headed out to sea, and hove -to about 3nm E of the light, just me and the whales, I set the alarm to have a good look around every 15 mins, between sleeps.
The next day I went over the Wide Bay Bar at high tide, which was pretty flat, after getting the waypoints from WBB coast guard.

Phil might be able to post up a couple of photos,
I'll continue it as time permits, currently sitting behind Shaw Is, waiting for weather to head South,
Cheers

Sounds like a great adventure Shaun - thanks for the reporting. I'd be interested to know much were you drifting while hove-to overnight?

Hi Gerard, it varied between o.8 and 1.5 kts, (I just looked at the track) I was actually 6nm E of the light when I hove-to (too far really but wanted decent sea room in case the strong N turned NE) by sunrise i had drifted 7nm S parallel with the coast, in about 7hrs and was about 10nm from the light, and then had to sail back north but the wind had eased considerably.
Cheers

Awesome story, Shaun.

You have certainly put a heap of nautical miles behind you. That's some travelling you did coming up the coast. And with your night off Double Island Point, well done! Amazing that you could do that.

troppo

Nice trip Shaun, I saw some of Louise's photos on FB. Looks like you had a fabulous time. I'm still planning to do it, but like you, I'll have to do the coastal section solo and fly Gabi up. She's not likely to want to spend days on the boat getting there, and may not have the time off work either.

Looks like you've had no issues with Blue Moon either. Good to see your fettling skills have paid off! Well done.

Sorry about the auto spellon my phone, its not liking the word 'the'for some reason.
After going across WBB, i motor sailed against wind and tide to Garrys Anchorage which is quite sheltered. The next day i tried to get out of the northern entry/exit to Garrys on a rising tide, i bumped aground thena little further on went aground,there nothing else to do but put of thee anchor and wait for thee tide. About an hour later i was able to retrace my sheep's out thee Southern entry.
Using the tide had a great sail to Kingfishers,for a shower and lunch, had to guard my lunch as thee kookaburras were grabbing thee food literally out of your mouth! .
Then sailed to thee SW point of Big Woody Island. Thee following day sailed to Bundy.
While waiting in bundy for a day because of Northerly weather, irefueled.
The following day while exciting the Burnett River, at 0300 some idiot started shining a powerful green laser in my eyes, i instantly thoughti had stuffed up and ran into a starboard marker and got some nastylaser flashes beforei realised it was just a moron having a few laughs. I continued to Pancake Creek, but one of my eyes was getting hot as the sun rose, so had to sail three rest of the day with a patch over it to rest it.
Over the next weekthere wasNE sea breezes every afternoon, so i went through tube Narrows to make some north each day.
I got toBoat Creek at exactly high tideand had a good run through.
Stayed a couple of nights in the small creeks north of three Narrows, but the sandflies were unbearable so i motored to Thee Keppels.
Had a look around the main island there. The next morning threeSE came in nicely so i skipped threerefueling at Roslyn bay and had a great sailto Pearl Bay which isbeautiful. Hexham island was three following night,had 40+kts while trying to anchor at Hexham. Had to reanchor .
Middle Percy Island was three destination three next day, i found Seaka's burgee and quickly made a Blue Moon trinket and left thatnear Seaka's.
Still using three excellentSE i continued on three next day toCurlew Is them Mackay for 2 nights to refuel and doa major provision, and wait out some northerly weather.It wad now clear i was going to make it to Hamilton by 12th September soi was able to take my time,to Brampton,Goldsmith and then Shaw Islands before getting to Hamilton.

Well done Shaun! Certainly a long way to travel in a small yacht.

The northern channel from Garrys Anchorage behind Fraser Island is tricky so I am not surprised you grounded. When I went through there years ago it seemed shallower than what the charts said.

Your encounter with a moron using a laser is very disturbing. I hope your eyes fully recovered.

And just out of interest, were the sandflies in the Narrows (behind Curtis Island near Gladstone) the worst out of all your trip?

Thanks for sharing your stories. You have had quite an adventure what with storms and sandflies and lasers and, that section from Keppel Island to Mackay is very long and incredibly remote. Awesome.

troppo

Troppo wrote:And just out of interest, were the sandflies in the Narrows (behind Curtis Island near Gladstone) the worst out of all your trip?
troppo

Interesting about sandflies and other bitees, I've done the trip twice now and I have only had one bite.

It's all about management and fly screens

Hi Phillip, I luv spray-on insect repellent as so easy to apply when needed. And hands remain clean and less likely to. add 'flavour' to biscuits and whatever else one is eating with fingers. Mosquito coils I found work well but not sure about the hazard from the smoke to humans.

Cups of tea also kill sandflies. When anchored in the Narrows, I have had a dozen or more sandflies fall into the cup of tea I was drinking. They all died. Not sure if it was the hot water or the excess sugar I load my cups of black tea with.

What size mesh in flyscreen keeps out midgies?

troppo

What size mesh in flyscreen keeps out midgies?

troppo[/quote]

There are two mesh sizes when it comes to fly sceens, a general one and the Queensland one which has a finer mesh/weave.
I got a roll of the finer mesh [local hardware shop wouldn't get it in unless I got a roll] which I've used on my house as well.

Rule One: All, ALL, permanent vents are screened ALL the time. No exceptions.

Rule Two: At anchor on cloudy days I put up the main hatch and forward hatch screens. The only two large openings.

Rule Three: THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE!! All screens go up at 1600 unless sailing.

Screens are fixed on by having velcro sewn onto their edges and velcro with self adhesive tape on stuck into postion around the openings.

Photo shows fly screen over dorogo opening in cabin roof.