Blue Moon goes to The Whitsundays

[Phillip]

Ahhh the secret is out

With the distances between safe anchorages you normally have to do at least 3 knots or you are going to miss a tide or just not get there.

So most, if not all, cruisers motor sail at some stage. Its just the harsh reality of the distances around Australia.

Put it this way, not many people sail around Britain each year, a distance of around 2,000 nm,
but in Australia dozens of sailors are doing that all the time, including some Top Hats.

Anyway I'm off north next year [April] for my third trip, this time going as far north as Lizard Island, anybody want to join in?

[Shaun]

Shaun,

I think you might have your sums wrong. If you did a total of 471 hours and used 445 litres that's almost motoring the whole way?

Hi Miker
I divided 445litres by 1.75 (lph) to get approx 254 engine hours, so motored approx just over 50% of the time, I think my calculations are right??
Cheers

[Shaun]

Absolutely Phil, you need to get to the anchorage at a reasonable hour. I was ona tight time frame and didn't worry too much about turning thee engine on. If i had more time to wait for perfect weather fuel use would have been a lot less. I don't use very much fuel on thee relatively short distances ofCamden Haven to PS or Lake Mac'.
Good onePhil I'll try to sail in company with you to the Clarence or thereabouts.

[Phillip]

Glad to have you in company up to the Clarence Shaun, and we will go up to Grafton

To compare, with 445 litres of diesel I would have got 495 hours of motoring giving a max of 2,275 nm

Don't think I used that much fuel last time, I'll have to see if my records are still around.

[Shaun]

Video of Blue Moon sailing North along coast ofBribie island, August 2018 https://youtu.be/_J9AM0yUCZM

[Troppo]

That is awesome, Shaun!

Things I noticed in no particular order:

Beautiful weather
6 knots is a great cruising speed!
Your dinghy sits so nicely under the boom
You have covers over your fuel tanks (and is something I sewed up for my own tanks when I had Windchaser)
Junk rigged sails looking good

Nice to see your boat in action.

troppo

[Shaun]

Gday Troppo,
Abit of tidal assistance there probably coming out of Moreton Bay, and offshore wind with minimal seas make a big difference.
Yes, the covers are great. ..really reducing the sun and heat that gets to thee tanks. Cheers

[Shaun]

A couple more videos. ..
https://youtu.be/tuSVIAGMQYA on way to Pancake Creek
https://youtu.be/7_7IVDMMqR0 Dolphins near Gladstone
https://youtu.be/F1ccVcZI0FE anchored in Badger Creek
https://youtu.be/JtP6a-YBA6I sailing between GKI and Port Clinton

Cheers

[Troppo]

Fantastic! Shaun, I was hoping you would post some more videos up. Nice to see a bit of scenery from my nearby coast. And while watching the videos you posted I came across your intro to your rig, which was awesome because I had been wondering about it and wanted to see more of it. Now I know a bit more about your junk rig, or as you clarify, your junkette rig.

troppo

[Phillip]

Better get my clip up for the first part of Shaun's voyage.