50-50 wind

Daz and Tess joined RW for the offshore sail down to Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club last weekend. With a favourable light wind, swift outgoing tide and gentleman's departure time, we made good time to the heads out of Port Stephens. All looked good for a spinnaker reach down the coast......then just as Daz had clipped on the last line, the wind veered SE! So it was back on the wind with the whites taking us south at a steady 5-6 knots. As the wind built to 12 with the odd 15 knot gusts we pushed along at 6-7 knots with a nice balanced helm.

It was Tess's first sail for a while and she handled herself like a seasoned professional. The breeze stayed reasonably constant enough for us to hold a long starboard tack until NE of Newcastle harbour. As we tacked onto port we caught a glimpse of some jumping fish in the distance....worth a look we thought. As we got closer a Mako shark leapt 6ft clear of the water spiralling as it flew through the air......then another and another. Awesome sight amidst the very calm seas. Not long after the wind died in the butt and we motor sailed into NCYC for a well earned bucketful of beers on board. A good feed at the club and more beers saw us hit the bunks very 'tired'.


Sunday we set off in a light land breeze only to be foiled by the Eco Activists. They were demonstrating by trying to hold up coal ships from berthing, using kayaks, boats, jetskis or whatever. Maritime advised us to keep clear as the cops may need to get heavy handed so we delayed our departure until two ships entered.....maybe Tess looked like an activist!

Anyway, by the time we cleared port the wind was light but still enough to launch the weapon. Under spinnaker we cruised along at SOG=App wind.....5.5 knots! Didn't last long and soon the wind was history and we motor sailed all the way home. Any day on the water is a great day so a 50% wind is ok by me! Thanks crew, great job!