Sailing around New Caledonia - Follow that boat

30th May 2017

Noumea -  New Caledonia

Follow that Boat.

Australia seems so far from anywhere. When you look at the map, it is 800 or so nautical miles to get to  New Caledonia which is one of the closest "foreign" countries. I guess that’s why it seems such a great feat to sail there. I suppose, it’s no problem or hardly a challenge for Europeans, as different countries are so much closer, but for us it seemed quite daunting.To be lead by a fella that has done it eight or nine times before made it a lot less daunting, so we decided to  include our boat in a “rally” of sailing boats. 

By the time the morning of departure came around, all the suggestion, discussion, debating, decision making, planning, organizing, financing, provisioning, learning, talking, shouting, frustration, effort and time that had gone into deciding to go, getting ready and preparation the down under go east rally brought us to the 23rd May 2017. Departure day. Were we ready? What had we forgotten? What could go wrong? How would we physically stand up to the task? All these and many more questions raced around in my head for most of the night before so when the time came I was actually already tired. 

At 6.00am there was plenty of nervous energy on board Easy Tiger as the crew milled around getting breakfast. For Leanne and I it was the culmination of our plans and dreams to go coupled with the anticipation of the 800nm passage that lay ahead, for our son Luke it was the excitement of showing his parents his skills and abilities and for Ian Sulley and Susan Rousalen it was just plain excitement. As Sue said "they didn't know what they didn't know, so didn't know what to expect".

At 6.15am I did a final tour of the boat with Ian and Sue, reminding them where things like fire extinguishers were located, and which rope did what. I had prepared a list of things we expected to be done while on watch and went through the log book that we would keep for the journey, once more.

6.30am came around in the blink of an eye. Easy Tiger and crew anchored up, ready to assemble at the Seaway for an all in 7.00am departure. Many others came past us with their sails hoisted but we decided against hoisting our sails until we were out in the ocean. As we rounded the headland and straightened up, we were alongside our sailing family Eva and Brian on Zofia. Instant flashbacks to 3 and a half years ago when at 4.00am we departed Busselton WA next to each other, bound for what we thought then was a round Australia circumnavigation. Here we are now together departing on an international sailing adventure.

Right on the knock of 7.o’clock am, the Gold Coast Seaway spewed forth 18 or so boats. Easy Tiger was in about the first half dozen spat out of the safety and quiet of the Broadwater, and dissolved into the Pacific Ocean.

Although it was a very well organized and planned rally, it seemed that of the 18 or so boats, there were 18 or so courses taken. Leanne was watching on AIS and Marine traffic and was marvelling at the spread of boats to all eastern directions on the compass. We seemed to be in the middle again, heading due East. Some said this was a good strategy. Me, I was following closely the guy who had been there 9 times before.

It seemed even at that early stage that waiting for the right weather had proved a master-stroke. We had a pretty flat sea except for a small rolling swell and just enough wind to make it worthwhile putting the sails up, while still having to keep 1 motor going. This was fortunate, as Easy Tiger, Leanne and I hadn’t sailed in the actual ocean for nearly two years. By mid afternoon on that first day, the rally had pretty much spread-eagled. We had lost site of most, save for half a dozen immediately around us.

On the first evening, a side on swell had developed as we approached the first lot of ocean table mounts. These are underwater mountains where the sea depth changes rapidly from around 4000metres deep to say 500metres deep. Doesn’t sound much, but the change in depth causes currents that combine with wind to have Easy Tiger doing a kind of bumpy gallop rather than a smooth canter. The result of which saw all on board except Luke, produce burley and feed the fish. Sue was the first to succumb, followed by Ian. On dusk Leanne faded after trying to prepare curry for dinner. Last but not least I was unable to complete my shift after throwing the curry overboard so to speak.

Thankfully, early morning day 2, saw us feeling quite a bit better. We had maintained contact with four other boats, which was comforting. Bossa Nova were one of these, with Neville’s dulcet tones providing encouragement over the radio. Ian says Neville sounds so good on the two-way he should work for the ABC! We had contact with the rally organizer on the vhf radio as well. Once we were well clear of the table mounts the sea flattened out. The wind came and went during the day, which meant more motoring.

By the afternoon of Day 2 we had settled in to our 3hour rotation on the helm. Sue, even if she was still a little queasy, took to the helming and “on watch” tasks with aplomb. Luke showed his skills and proficiency by plotting our position on the paper charts and getting weather updates via satellite email from Metbob. Metbob’s weather reports were compared with the Predict Wind Offshore app that I downloaded each day and from that we formed a plan for our route. That plan normally concluded with “follow the guy who’s been there 9 times before.

At nightfall of Day 2 we had a weather forecast that said the winds could get upwards of 20knots. We decided to reef in the sails for the night. This means that we decrease the sail area to reduce the stress and strain on the rigging. Unfortunately this also means that the boat slows down, which meant that we lost contact with the other boats.

Our third day at sea, the 25^th of May, was my birthday. For me it started early as I completed my shift from 3 to 6 am. My son Luke wrote a nice message in the log book. It was just so nice to have him crewing on the boat. As I sat at the helm as dawn broke I reflected on my good fortune. To have a wonderful life partner who has supported my crazy ideas (such as buying a catamaran and sailing around Australia), my two children who continually amaze me and my great fortune to have been born in the wonderful country that is Australia. 

By midday on the 3^rd day there was plenty of crazy stuff going on, onboard Easy Tiger. There was a bit of a competition to see who had the craziest music on their play list and even crazier dancing and wobbling about as those crazy tunes were blaring. Lot’s of nice birthday wishes came over the satellite communications. It was also nice to no that the crew onboard San Souci had scones with jam and cream in my honour.

At night fall on the third day, there was a beautiful sunset. We had been maintaining a due East course until we received word from Metbob that we could alter course and start easing our way North. That was a nice feeling to be actually aiming at our destination. Also that night we were treated to a lightning show on our southern horizon, that went for most of the night.

Friday, the 4^th day at sea, we ran out of wind and fired up another motor. On my dawn shift I started to ponder many of life’s burning questions, like why are there so many there’s. Could we think of a better word for their, they’re or there. Another of those questions was “if they call them apartments, why are they all built together?”I think maybe I was getting a bit bored or maybe conditions were that nice for sailing along, that I had time to think a bit too much.

Friday was probably the crew’s flattest day too. We did break out a few conversation type games and then resorted to the crossword and Sudoku puzzles in the Brisbane newspaper someone had brought on board. 

Saturday,The knowledge that we should arrive the next morning kept spirits pretty high. Predict Wind, Metbob and the guy who had been there nine times before, all showed a direct route to Amedee lighthouse that is only a handful of miles from Noumea. The wind was constant in direction but ranging from 5 to 15 knots. It kept teasing us to put up our screecher and when we did it would disappear, to have us pack the sail away again.

The sixth day, Sunday, everyone was up and about a bit earlier than usual. There was a real buzz from the feeling of relief that today we would arrive. We made the way point to turn into the pass between two reefs at exactly high tide, 9.30am. We arrived with another rally participant, the lovely ketch Suena Azul. Luke got out his drone and after a really hairy take off was able to get some great pictures of us sailing past the Amedee lighthouse which marks the entry into the New Caledonia Lagoon, which is the second biggest barrier reef system in the world.

At 11.30am we dropped our anchor in the Bay de Oliphant right next to the guy who has been here 9 times before, the organizer of the Down Under Go East Rally, John Hembrow. Their crew aboard Songlines were on board to wave, cheer and clap, as were Bossa Nova, Skellum and the Albatross. 

At midday the champers and beers were all cracked and the arrival celebration commenced. What a terrific experience we all had shared, what a relief that we made it safely, in good weather and had no trials or tribulations to report. How nice it was to be anchored in calm water and to watch the rest of the rally boats arrive one by one.  

So now if you ask me, what was the best part about sailing to New Caledonia from the Gold Coast of Australia? I would answer without any hesitation…arriving.

The Amedee Lighthouse just inside the lagoon of New Caledonia is a welcome sight for tired eyes.

EasyTiger about to drop anchor in a foreign country!

Warm greeting from our mates on the Bossa Nova.

Crewman Ian decided to hand deliver a couple of coldies.

The number of boats in a small area in Noumea was overwhelming, particularly trying to find a spot to drop anchor.

A warm welcome from the guy who's been here nine times before, John Hembrow on Songlines.

Sailing Around Australia; Planning Weather Planning

Bum's Bay  Gold Coast Queensland

17/5/2017

Planning for Weather Planning

So our bags are packed our crew are on board, Easy Tiger is full of fuel, water, essentials and  there's enough food on board to feed the Chinese army. We just need the right weather and off we go on the Down Under Go East Rally to New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

We are even techo-ed up after installing an Iridium Go satellite system. This will allow us to send and receive basic emails and sms, make brief phone calls and show our boat’s track in real time.

Most importantly, the Iridium Go allows us to get weather reports from the Predict Wind Offshore app. This will be vital, not only during our trip but while we are in and around New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

Fortunately the set up of the Iridium Go was reasonably straight forward, all seemed to be a bit easy actually until we tried to send and receive emails and messages to each other. It certainly helped to have Brain Oldfield (B2 from SV Zofia) nearby as his assistance was greatly appreciated. I did feel a bit of a dill though when Brian determined that our problem was the spelling of our password.

Talking among the other Rally participants we heard that a lot of them were using a website called Windyty. This is a visual map of wind patterns and forecasts. It uses similar models of weather forecasting to Predict Wind but is a handy quick check, or if you like a second opinion.

In anticipation of the journey, and with the availability of predict wind and Windyty, all the rally participants have become amateur weather forecasters. Each time we see each other we have been swapping possible weather windows, proposing departure dates and discussing the various weather models.

The apprehension is building and the anxiety is high. Mainly because we are all ready to start this magnificent adventure, but also because many crew have flights booked and other things they need to do. This includes our son Luke who is due to fly from Noumea to Florida on the 8th June.  So, if we leave later than the 28th May, we may be faced with finding new crew.

The rally participants are all sent into a frenzy when the word of a possible weather window appears. Two boats have decided that due to their crew’s deadlines, they would brave the amateur weather routes and departed on Sunday of their own accord. We are all watching their track with much interest.

On top of Predict Wind and Windy, part of our fees and also part of our reason for joining the rally is that we get the services of a professional weather router. The weather routing is done by a New Zealand fellow named MET Bob. It is his advice that the Down Under Go East Rally organisers will take to let us know when the best time to head off, is.

As we wait for updates from Metbob, the whispers of a potential departure send all the rally into a whirlwind of last minute preparations. Marina's are booked, fuel is topped up, provisions are purchased in anticipation of Metbob's go ahead. Then we wait. The email pings and  Metbob's advice is... that conditions would be unsuitable in one or another part of the 1000kilometre journey.

Then marina's are left and fuel and food is consumed as we mope around the Gold Coast Seaway anchorages.

After a few days, we all turn our hand to amateur weather forecasting.  Then someone sees what they think is a window and spreads the word…

Windyty Screen Shot

Predict Wind Screen Shot

Sailing around Australia; Deadlines are deadly

Coomera River, Gold Coast Queensland

1/5/2017

Deadlines are Deadly

Since we have been on Easy Tiger's Sailing adventures the one big thing we have learnt is that you can't plan the weather. In fact you can barely plan for the weather or, plan because of the weather.

Our son Luke  (DIY Sailing) was planning to sail his boat "Alice" from Cairns to the Gold Coast from where he would join us in the Down Under Go East Rally to the South Pacific. The trouble was though that the rally was planning to leave on the first weather window on or after the 11th May.

He had left it very late , flying in to Australia on the 3rd of April,  just days after cyclone Debbie wreaked havoc on the north east coast of Australia.  After having just a few days to acclimatise himself with the boat, pick up his crew from the airport, get provisions and fit a few handy gadgets, he set off from Cairns without being able to wait for the right weather.

Having a deadline on a sailing boat, I think, is a recipe for disaster. As Luke found out, trying to sail into headwinds and oncoming swell is absolutely no-one's idea of a good time. Once "Alice" rounded the cape she was subject to pretty rough conditions. That was when all the little things that the previous owner, the surveyor and the "advisors" said might need attention came to the fore.

By the time they made it to Dunk Island they were a pretty dishevelled lot on board the Alice. Luke's Facebook post from that day said it all.His "encounters" so far included"; 3x underway engine shutdowns , 2x blocked fuel filters, 1x cracked filter bowl, I x torn headsail , 1x torn luff rope on staysail, 1x toilet door dismantle, 1x tender fuel filter burst, 1x bilge pump blockage, 1x autopilot failure , 1 x wind instrument install failure, 50x rail dips, 7x blinding rain squalls, 20x toilet system backing up, 1x hatch leak into cabin, 1x touching the bottom in sand, 2x paint scratches from a mooring bouy, 1x 30m fishing braid caught in the Wind Generator, ONE MASSIVE SMILE ON MY FACE THE ENTIRE TIME (ok, 60% of the time). She's not always glamourous but learning lots about myself and ALICE that's for sure. Couldn't of done it without @howgoodisliving @bonviiie @laralif and my constant contact from moral support of @leanneludemann and mechanical expertise from @Steveludemann and @rhys_bennett101 constant inspiration from @riley.whitelum @elayna__c @sailing_nandji @sailinguma  #yewwwwww.

Sadly, Luke's "encounters" continued on the next leg of his trip, Dunk to Townsville and Townsville to the Whitsunday Islands. This time his list of encounters included drowning his laptop, go pro and hard drive, springing several leaks and a very sea sick crew member. By the time he got to Airlie Beach unfortunately the realisation that he still had two weeks of smashing into the wind and swell just to get to the Gold Coast temporarily removed his smile as well. A day after he arrived, he rang us with the sad news that the weather and the sea conditions had foiled his plans of joining us on the Go East Rally.

We were very sad to get the news of his decision, but were kind of glad that he had made the right decision to give in to the weather. The upside of that is that Luke has decided to come with us on Easy Tiger for the Down Under Go East Rally.

Our plans are also very weather dependent. The Down Under Go East Rally weather router has been in touch to say that May 11th departure is now looking unlikely. We may not be heading out to New Caledonia until the 16th or so, depending on the weather.

People often ask why it has taken us four years or so to sail from Perth to the Whitsunday's, then back to Brisbane. We reply that it's because we are like Mathew Flinders,  discovering Australia's southern shores. However, it's actually taken this long because we have learnt to wait for the right weather before moving off. 

The Happy Captain

The Mighty SV "Alice"

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Sailing Around Australia; Who Let the Cats Out.

Dux Anchorage, Gold Coast

April 2017

Who let the Cats Out.

With Easy Tiger back in the water for a week now, we have quickly got used to floating, anchoring and even more used to 5 o'clock drinks and socialising.

The main event during the week was the Down Under Go East and previous Go West Rally get together. This was held at the Southport Yacht club's Dux anchorage annexe which is just north of Tipplers resort, in Tipplers passage.  It's a pretty busy channel that runs off the Broadwater that runs north from Southport at the Gold Coast.

We arrived (with hundreds of other boats) on Good Friday. We anchored in between Richard and Dawn's "Por Dos" and a few hundred metres from Songlines which is John and Leanne Hembrow, the rally organisers. Within a few minutes of our arrival and dropping anchor, we had our first invite for 5   o'clock drinks.  

At drinks aboard Por Dos, we met Jo and Heidi from the monohull "Huck". These two have sailed from N'Orleans in the USA. John and Leanne Hebrew have sailed through Mexico and South America as well, so some of their tales were fascinating. Leanne and I were inspired. We keep thinking that in our general circle of friends, family and acquaintances that we have done things outside the box, but meeting and chatting with people like Heidi and Jo and John and Leanne makes us think that we haven't really got to the edge of the box let alone outside it.

As with all good 5 o'clocker sessions, we got back to our boat about midnight. No dinner required we went straight to bed for our first night on anchor in more than a year.

Next morning we declined the offers of breakfast at Tipplers resort, in favour of a bit of a sleep in. That didn't happen though as the adrenalin and excitement of being out here "doing it" was still with us and we were up bright and early to check our anchor, our battery levels and generally get into the groove.

Mid morning we went over to John Hembrow's boat for him to download the New Caledonia and Vanuatu "Rocket" cruising guides. I have to say, these are far and away the best cruising and sailing information guides I have used. Sad to say that the rest of the day after I downloaded the "Rocket Guides" was a write  off as I was transfixed with viewing images and looking at routes and tracks that we will be taking over the next 6 months. In fact I probably don't really need to go now as I have seen so much over a couple of days is spent glued to the rocket guides.

Sunday we had a bonfire and barbecue at the Yacht club's shed. Another late night, then Monday was John Hembrow's birthday. A big night was had singing and dancing at the Southport Yacht club's shed.

Quite a few boats  left the anchorage on Monday, as  a few more rally participants arrived at Dux. Skellum, the Albatross, Aqualibrium and More R&R added to the number of Catamarans in the anchorage, while Squander helped the monohull numbers.

Tuesday night was the barbecue for past and future rally participants. There is something nice about meeting people that share your apprehension, nervousness, anticipation, excitement and sense of adventure. It didn't take long for the party to crank up and yet another enjoyable but late night even did the Hokie Pokie at one stage. (It was that sort if night!)

We had  to be up at the yacht club shed for Leanne Hembrow's Yoga for yachties sessions. Leanne's yoga sessions were a really good way to stretch out the unused muscles. There's nothing like throwing a few downward dog, slinking cat, striking cobra and (my favourite) happy baby poses, to work out the late night cobwebs. Really great way to start the day but as a few Cat owners comment. feeling calm and relaxed doesn't help bring on the motivation to get jobs done on board. Each night at Dux had been a late night. I was one cat owner who was starting to feel like a cat, up all night and sleeping during the day.

Today we have retreated to Wave Break Island, near the Gold Coast Seaway. Most of the rally crowd have dispersed to all points of the compass. We are enjoying the calm before more gatherings of the Cat's and monhulls start in earnest early May.

You don't have to be crazy to own a catamaran, but it helps!

Sailing Around Australia; Throwing the toys out of the cot.

Dux Anchorage, Gold Coast, Queensland

April 2017

Throwing the toys out of the cot

Today is Good Friday and a very, very good day it is indeed.  Today we have thrown the lines off and departed the Boatworks dock to motor up to the Dux anchorage, where in a few days time we will meet up with several of the Down Under Go East Rally for this year and some of last years participants as well.

It was with quite a deal of apprehension that we let go of the marina berth, with it’s electricity, water and dry landing, the courtesy car, the assistance and the shops for any small forgotten item. I am not sure the dy will feel the same without a regular trip to the hardware store.

In the last week, since our return from Cairns, Easy Tiger was lifted to the hardstand where she had a nice new coat of anti foul applied to the hulls, sails out of storage closet and hoisted and engines cleaned, serviced and started.

All seemed fine with Easy Tiger as she was lowered into the water for the first splash in 14 months. Then I said it. Yes, I said to Leanne that all seemed good. My apprehension that something had to go wrong with a boat that had been out of the water for so long, had started to fade.

We had been almost twelve hours in the marina berth getting everything sorted when Leanne decided to do a load of washing in our on board washing machine.

The load of washing even went ok, until it came time for the machine to drain the rinsing water. No go. Error 03 it said on the panel. My first thought was that the line might be blocked or something had dried inside the drain hose.

So dangling upside down into the area where the hot water system is, I managed to undo the drain hose for the washing machine. I could blow through it and suck water through it quite easily. Damn. It seemed like it wasn’t an easy fix.

I drained the water out of the washer, spilling quite a bit into the floor of the boat. Now sloshing around in the washing water, I tried to get the machine to do another cycle and see if it had righted itself. No go. Again I had to drain the water manually, spilling even more on to the floor.

So, now it was time to ring the washing machine company. While I was doing this Leanne mopped up the spilt water and then put our de-humidifier into the spare cabin to dry things out.

To be fair the washing machine is probably two years old. The company said that they would send me a new drain pump for free which I was impressed with, but they would not pay for any labour involved in the repair, which I was not impressed with. The new pump arrived the next day, the day before Easter.

While this was being organized, Leanne noticed that the dehumidifier was turning itself off after only running for a few minutes.  I had just packed all the manuals, receipts and information sheets away after searching for the washing machine book. Now there was another frantic search for the dehumidifier book and another Google search for trouble shooting the IONmax dehumidifier. A call to the dehumidifier company revealed pretty much the same as the washing machine. It’s older than twelve months, therefore out of warranty. In fairness to the company, they are quite happy to have you send to Victoria, then charge you the technicians time followed by a charge to send it back. They were even happier to give a basic estimate of $350 for the repair of a $400 machine.

With the information we decided to throw the dehumidifier out and buy a new one. That will cost $389 delivered.

Meanwhile, back to the washing machine. With the new pump in hand I decided to tackle the job head on. Our washing machine is located in a very tight location under the bed in Easy Tiger’s rear cabin. I had to take the door off and then lift the 80kilo machine up on to the bed to then roll sideways to then lift through the doorway to install it. It would take a herculean effort to get it out but that had to happen as the pump is located in the bottom of the machine.

I rigged some straps underneath the machine and positioned myself on the bed with my knees up around my chin. Leanne then squeezed herself into the doorway so that she could do the twisting once I had the weight of the machine.  Surprisingly it slid out of its position quite easily and wedged itself between the cupboard and the door way. With several attempts accompanied by noises normally made by gold medal weightlifters, the machine came up onto the bed lying on its correct side for getting it through the narrow doorway. The problem now being that I was on the other side of the machine to the doorway with it resting on my lap.

With the twisting and wriggling that an Indian rubber man would have been proud of,  I managed to writhe out from under the washing machine and then squeeze between it and the cabin roof to end up face down on the floor, sweaty, smelly and exhausted.

To my absolute delight the drain pump took less than tem minutes to replace with the new one, which meant that I had only a short recovery time before again I was wrestling with the machine to reinstall it into the professionally crafted and exact fitting space we had paid to create for it. Again I lay on the floor pushing at the bottom while Leanne stood above me pushing at the top. After an hour or so of grunting, pushing, and levering we had it right.

Convinced that it was ready to go, I plugged it in and turned the dial to the shortest cycle. The machine burst into life, filled its bowl with water and washed for the next 5 minutes while we watched with baited breath.

Then we heard a whirr and a clunk. We heard water being pumped over board. We high fived each other in glee, thinking the problem solved. Or so we thought. The machine had always drained the wash water and that was what it was doing now. We sat back down. We waited with trepidation. These machines seem to take an eternity to get through their cycle when you are sitting there waiting for them. At last with a click and a whirr, the moment had arrived. Drain. We waited. Come on, drain. Please …drain. Alas it was not to be. Even with a new pump and a cleared drain hose the washing machine would not drain. Cheekily it just displayed Error 3 on it’s red display screen. It just sits there daring you to drain it manually, to spill water all over the floor and to use the dud dehumidifier to try and dry it all up.  But it was late Thursday night, so nothing else we could do but cut the power and kill that annoying red error code. Now facing the fact that being a problem in the electronics and out of warranty, the washing machine may well be the next thing to be thrown over board.

But now it’s Good Friday, we have motored up to Dux anchorage and the washing machine and dehumidifier experience is temporarily forgotten, while we enjoy a sundowner with other boaties.We have all Easter to relax before we ring the company to haggle some warranty or repairs.

Fortunately, it’s only the toys that need to be thrown out of the cot, not anything critical to Easy Tiger’s sailing adventures.

The offending **&^#%86 washing machine

Sailing Around Australia; Cruisas Interruptus

Cairns Queensland

March 2017

Cruisas Interruptus

Its ow been 5 weeks since our great road trip from Western Australia to the Gold Coast to restart Easy Tiger's Sailing adventures.

With Easy Tiger having been in storage for a year, there were of course a number of jobs that needed to be done for for relaunch.

For example,  replacing a leaking through hull fitting and sorting new tie downs for the old kayak and now a new kayak.

Also, we decided that being nearly ten years old, Easy Tiger's inside could do with a makeover which we achieved in two short weeks. As we were whittling away our to do list, we were getting more and more excited about getting Easy Tiger back in the water and heading off wherever the wind took us.

Then our daughter called with some exciting news. No, not grand kids; but they had bought their first house. How lovely it would be for us to go to Cairns and help them move in and get settled. Arrangements were made and tickets were purchased for us to arrive in Cairns the day after their settlement.

Since we were going to leave Easy Tiger for another three weeks, we calculated that leaving her in storage at the boat works was the cheapest option we could find. Plus, on our return we could finish our to do list before antifoam application on the hard stand work area and then into the water she goes.

Then we got a call from our son. He was looking at buying a yacht and sailing for a year or so. He had found one that he wanted us to look at for him. It was in Cairns. So without further ado we were on a plane to Cairns to look at a Roberts 39 sailing boat on behalf of our son.

We arrived in Cairns two weeks earlier than expected. The only bummer about that was that our to do list for Easy Tiger remained. A day spent inspecting the "Alice" and a day spent packing stuff into boxes for our daughter and then back to the Gold Coast.

In the next ten days we installed our Iridium Go, which would give us satellite communications, We cut and polished both hulls, we fitted Nomad matting to our cockpit, serviced our Honda generator, repacked the storage compartments, had our life raft serviced and completed many 5 minute jobs all that took several hours each.

Then we locked Easy Tiger back up, asked the car (the mobile storage unit) and drove to Cairns. 

On arrival in Cairns we helped our daughter and her partner move the last items out of their house, scrubbed their old house from top to bottom and unpacked boxes of stuff at the new place. 

We also attended the survey and inspection plus lift out and hard stand of our son's boat "Alice" and commenced the clean up and odd job list for that. 

While we were doing this Cairns was placed on cyclone alert. So we had to tie Lukes boat on to lugs set int the concrete at the big boat shed, then strip everything off the deck and stow sails etc inside.

Fortunately cyclone Debbie bypassed Cairns and went to the Whitsunday Islands and Mackay instead.

After 20 days in Cairns we then flew back to the Gold Coast, boarding Easy Tiger at 1.00am on the Sunday. At 7.00 am on the Monday morning we were lifted, that afternoon the boat was prepped and Antifouled as I serviced the engines and sail drives, then at 12.30pm on the tuesday Easy Tiger got wet for the first time in 14 Months as it was lifted back into the water.

So now we can catch our breath. We are back in the water anchored at Dux anchorage near Tipplers resort. We have the phones turned off and are enjoying a bit of a midday nap. This is what we paid the dollars for, this is what we had dreamed of, so no more interruptions for a few days.

Lolling about in lovely anchorages on lovely days like these is worth all the rushing, hard work, helping others, spending lots of money and unplanned interruptions for sure.