Finally able to get out on the Lara today after a couple of months of conflicting commitments and weather only intermittently suitable for sailing. The Moreton Bay forecast suggested S-SW 10-15 knot winds increasing to 20-25 knots in the afternoon with a 1.2 metre swell. As such, Yolande decided to stay home with the girls, not wanting to subject Freya to a bumpy ride that might damage her already fragile attitude towards sailing. "We not going sailing today Dad? Don't wanna go sailing Dad!"
Despite a couple of phone calls I was only able to press-gang Steve into a "decky for the day" role, Phil and Andrew both having to attend to other matters. We managed a reasonably early start, leaving the Manly boat harbour around 9:30am, steering due east towards the Hybers Beacon between Green and King Islands. The wind was quite gentle throughout the morning, (I later confirmed that it had dropped to less than 10 knots). After a bit of discussion we decided to sail across the top of Peel Island to Dunwich for lunch, with a view to visiting "The Little Ships Club", which is a popular drinking hole for boaties.
The chart indicated that a direct route (about 14 miles) would would allow us to sail on a continuous starboard reach, an efficient and pleasant point of sailing. This we did, loitering along until about a mile or so from the inlet to the Little Ships Club, where we ran Lara to ground on a shallow patch of outlying shoal.
View Dunwich-North Stradbroke Island in a larger map
This wasn't really unexpected as it was clearly indicated on the chart, more a case of allowing a what appears to be a clear expanse of water fool one into believing it will be sufficiently deep enough to navigate. A bit of judicious pushing by Steve got us off after which we carefully back-tracked to the main channel around the Douglas Light before entering the inlet.
View Dunwich-North Stradbroke Island in a larger map
This wasn't really unexpected as it was clearly indicated on the chart, more a case of allowing a what appears to be a clear expanse of water fool one into believing it will be sufficiently deep enough to navigate. A bit of judicious pushing by Steve got us off after which we carefully back-tracked to the main channel around the Douglas Light before entering the inlet.
There being no free space to tie up at the visitor's pontoon, we decided against actually visiting the club, and anchored off a spit to enjoy lunch. After an hour or so we cleaned up for the leg home, careful to follow the recommended small boat navigation tracks marked on the chart. The expected 20-25 knot blow-in did not materialise, rather the opposite, with the wind dropping even more. Across the top of Peel a trailerable Farr sailed along side travelling in the same direction, and we playfully tried to "race" it.
Despite the Farr's and our sails flapping intermittently in the dying breeze, our companion slowly pulled away, although we were able to catch him several times due to the erratic nature of his course, probably chasing the wind, which by this time had died. In places, the water was as still and flat as to be almost mirror like.
Firing up the outboard, we enjoyed a leisurely motor across the Bay in virtually flat water until arriving back at the boat harbour around 6:00pm. Passed a beautiful yacht still under full sail also returning through the entrance. It was gaff rigged with a huge bowsprit to which were attached two jibs, rigged cutter style, it certainly looked a sight. Steve, who was at the helm for the entire return trip, performed a perfectly executed approach to the pontoon where we we tidied Lara and left her for the marina staff to berth.
