Year 2 -13 May 2025 -Gloucester Island -Cape Upstart – Upstart Bay

It was a reasonable day when we woke and we had a good breakfast. We left at about 7.45am and headed out of the bay. Due to the wind angle we had to sail almost due North so that when we gybed we could sail direct to Cape Upstart some 40 plus miles away.

We got the sails up and as we came out of the lee of Gloucester Island the wind picked up and we were sailing on a reefed main and genoa. We sailed well and fast and were making on average between 8-9kts. As we went North the swell picked up a bit but we had to go about 10-13 nm out almost to the shipping lanes before we could then gybe back toward the Northern end of Cape Upstart. The sea had lots of white horses and the swell must have been 1.5-1.8 m.

We gybed just before the shipping lanes and before Melbourne Island and set out course for the end of Cape Upstart some 35 plus mile away. This course was more comfortable with the swell and we were average 8+ kts and often making 9 + kts. The highest speed I saw with the help of a wave was 11.3 kts. We remarked that we had seen no dolphins for some time which has been true.  We have also not caught fish for days and perhaps we have been going too fast.

We eventually came to Cape Upstart at about 2.30pm. Cape Upstart is a national park in the locality of Guthalungra in the Whitsunday Region local government area of North Queensland, Australia, 1,016 km northwest of Brisbane. There are numerous middens in the sand dunes of Cape Upstart to demonstrate the connection of the Juru People to Cape Upstart. Cape Upstart was named by Lieutenant James Cook on 5 June 1770 during his voyage along the eastern coast of Australia in HM Bark Endeavour.

We sailed along the headland which was a few miles and then sailed round into this vast bay which was about 10nm across. There was one boat at anchor round the headland. We went a about 1.5nm beyond the headland and the went in and anchored in about 5m of water. It was flat and reasonably calm. We had made nearly 59nm in about 7.5 hours and an average of about 7.9 kts.

We had a sundowner on the aft deck and there were some buildings ashore but it did not really look lived in and when it got dark there were not mainly lights. We had chicken with chorizo and red wine with rice and peas and courgettes our last fresh vegetable.

It had been a great sailing delay with about 65nm to go to Magnetic Island which is a few miles off Townsville. We will get up early and head off tomorrow for Magnetic Island. The picture of the day is the sunset from Upstart Bay.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am in need of one more crew from Cairns to Indonesia. You could join In Townsville at the end of June and sail up to Cairns of join in Cairns on about 14 July. We will then sail to Indonesia on about 17 July and arrive 1,100nm) on about 22-23 July. You can then stay for a bit and then leave when convenient. If  interested do email me.

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Reunion to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com