Year 2 – 29th April 2025 - Mackay Marina- Scawfell Island

I woke as it got light. It was a lovely day and I watched the sun come over the breakwater. I got up had a cup of tea and did the blog. Gradually the motley crew got up and had a tea and surveyed the day. They went up for showers etc and we having had some breakfast became synonymous with the day.

Paul went back to give the car up and I filled the water tanks again. When everyone was ready I went through the boat internally, externally and we then went through the emergency procedures. By the end of all of this everyone had a better idea of the boat and systems and we could consider leaving. I took back the key fobs and then we prepared the boat to leave by creating the lines to slip and removing the springs (side lines). The wind was blowing us off and so we drifted away from the pontoon and we motored away from our berth and out of the marina nd it all seemed very easy. It is not always like that.

We motored along the breakwater and then out to the North of the little Island just outside and then set course for the south of St Bees and on toward Scawfell Island. The wind was about 7-10 kts and got Stormbird well trimmed and were sailing well between 6.3-7.3 kts. There was little swell and it was lovely calm sailing. It was about 26nm to Scawfell and I was conscious that we wanted to get there at a reasonable time and before dark. We sailed on well and it was lovely sailing conditions although not as fast as we would like.

As we got adjacent to St Bees the wind began to die so we took in the sails and sailed the last 7-8 nm under engine. We therefore arrived about 3.20pm on to Refuge Bay again and took the same buoy as we had last time. It was a lovely afternoon and there were butterflies around and various birds. It had been a good gentle sail across for the guys and it was a beautiful location to be back again.

We had a cup of tea on the aft deck. I had a seminar for the Sail2Indonesia rally on weather and difficult anchor situations. This was interesting and most informative. After this we had a beer as a crew and I made tuna nibbles as a starter and burgers with salad as a main. This all seemed to down well. It had been a good first day.

The picture of the day is us as a motley crew after our arrival at Scawfell Island.   

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late June to Mid-July. In addition, there is one space from Cairns to Indonesia from mid-July - so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

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