ARRIVED IN TOWNSVILLE

At the moment, as I write, we're sitting in the "duck pond", just outside the marina in Townsville. We left Airlie Beach finally, on Tuesday 5th May, after having spent nearly 3 weeks sitting around there getting small jobs done, but most importantly, letting Rees recouperate from his bike accident.

Brian & Maxine, on "Kinetic Energy", were keen to leave as well, so after a few last minute jobs around Airlie, we were all ready by 11.00am. Our intention was to sail to George's Point, 14 miles further north, so the guys could do some diving. The weather wasn't the best with squally showers & strong winds forecast but there was no stopping us as we all looked forward to a change of scenery.

With two boats heading the same direction, it's always a RACE but with two boats of the same length & design, it was definately a RACE although neither of us was prepared to put too much sail out because of the strong winds. So with Rees hobbling around the cockpit on his crook knee, the headsail was set & besides a bit of tweeking here & there, nothing else was done. We were finally
on the way & it sure felt good.
Our boats were neck & neck the whole way & because we had the tide & wind with us, as well as calm waters, it was a very pleasant sail. We virtually dropped anchor at the same time but with the water being very milky & no visibility, the guys forgot about the diving & elected to stay onboard for the afternoon. We had a big day the following day to get to Cape Upstart, 50 miles further north, so we chose to have an early night with a day break departure.

The wind had howled all night & the rain had bucketed down so we didn't know what the sea conditions would be like the following day, but we were soon to find out. We left the anchorage at 6.00am & once out into the open waters, we soon realised that we'd have a long & trying day ahead of us. The seas weren't huge at 2 metres, but with the tide against us, we had washing machine conditions which weren't very pleasant & had me racing for the Travacalm before it was too late. The sky was grey & heavy, threatening rain at any moment & with squalls on the way, we decided to only run with our headsails once again. That was enough sail with 25-30 knot S.E winds!

After 7 & 1/2 hours & having covered 55 miles, we eventually dropped anchor at Cape Upstart, within minutes of each other, but with "Kinetic Energy" having the advantage. Then it was time to go ashore to give our weary sea legs some time on solid ground for awhile. Although Rees's knee had been holding up OK, it still proved too tender to be walking around on it, so while he sat, Maxine, Brian & I explored a little of the area, before heading back to "Windy Spirit" for happy hour.

We intended covering 73 miles to reach Townsville the following day so it was agreed that we have an early night & a very early morning with a 4.00am departure, ready for a big day. We'd had a reasonably calm anchorage at Cape upstart & on waking, the wind strength didn't feel too bad but with it still being so dark, we elected to only run with the headsail once again until daylight. But with daylight, came the realisation that we had heavy, grey skies again & with the possibility of strong squalls throughout the day, the headsail remained our choice of sail. Brian, on the other hand, tried the main with the headsail, then the spinnaker before dropping all that in favour of just the headsail to be on the safe side.

It wasn't a very nice day to be at sea really as the wind was fickle & the weather was threatening so we were all pleased when we finally rounded Cape Cleveland, where the waters calmed, giving us a couple of hours of easy sailing across the bay toward the "duckpond". I'd slept on & off due to my sea-sickness medication but Rees was really tired by the time we'd dropped anchor at 4.00PM. It'd taken us exactly 12 hours to do the 75 miles & once again, there was nothing between the two boats, so mini keels versus dagger boards proved to be much the same.