7th – 8th November Yamba to Broken Bay, Sydney 289nm

We woke at 5.30am with the sound of the alarm. Surprisingly we both got good nights sleep. Must be all the walking we did yesterday, or the dinner and red wine that did the trick.

We checked the weather forecast with a cup of tea and there were no changes from what we had been expecting. We have a 48 forecast to get to Sydney before another blustery southerly wind change is forecast. If we do not go to Sydney we will have to wait for at least 5 days before I will be able to get the boat back into Sydney. That would push the friendship with Robert who said he has 2 weeks for the trip south.

It is 280nm from Yamba to Broken Bay. We figured we could make it by 2am Saturday about 8 hours before the southerly buster is due. Not a lot of margin for error but in our favour should be the northerly wind and the strong current.

We departed Iluka at 6am along with Stolen kiss and motored out over the bar and set the mainsail. There was not a lot of wind and the bar was flat so we had to motor sail for about 6 hours before the wind strengthened.  Also to my surprise there was no current. In fact at times we had current against us. This is not what we expected as we were relying on the current to assist our journey and make it shorter. I made a course for the edge of the continental shelf where the water depth drops from 100 meters to 1000 meters.  As we approached the drop off we gained a knot of current and as we went into the deep the current picked up to 2.5 knots. The wind slowly increased and we were able to turn the motor off. We were reaching SOG of up to 9 knots for most of the day.

After dinner Robert and I went into our watch system. First I was on watch until midnight and the wind increased and the waves increased. I saw speeds of 14 knots SOG with the current now running at more than 4 knots. Robert took over at midnight and the wind increased and the waves increased. I found it difficult to sleep. We kept the full main and poled out head sail as we surfed down the waves. Robert saw a speed through the water of 14.8 knots which meant our SOG was more than 18 knots.  

 Our max speed of the passage 14.8 knots!!!!

 Robert called me back on watch after 3am and the wind and waves had subdued a little. We were still making good speed with the current but as we came back in from the deep to the coast the current flow south reduced considerably. By day light we were back to a speed of 8 knots and eventually had to put the motor on as the wind died.

 The last Sunrise. It looks like a sunset with all the bushfire smoke.

At 6am I was completing the log book and tracked our progress and discovered we had achieved 216 nm in the 24 hours since we left Yamba. That is the fastest 24 hour passage Billabong has ever made and also the highest speed through the water she has achieved. We averaged 9 knots for the 24 hours.

We were now on target to enter Broken Bay in daylight hours 10 hours ahead of schedule. Also the bureau issued a strong wind warning of 30 knots from the north and this was expected in the early evening. We would like to be in before then but the increasing wind will ensure we will get their before dark.

As the day progressed the wind became stronger and we were able to sail again. As we entered Broken Bay we had gusts above 25 knots. We surfed in across the bay doing 9-10 knots which was a great way to complete the journey.

We arrived into a very smoky/ hazy Broken Bay at 3.30pm. The smoke from the bushfires engulfed the coast line which made for difficult observation and not a pleasant homecoming but we were very happy to be home before the wind got any stronger.

 We completed the 289 nm in 33.5 hours. It was an incredible run averaging 8.6 knots for the entire journey thanks to that great Eastern Australian current for the assistance and to the weather gods for the perfect wind.

I have to thank Robert who crewed for me on the leg from Mooloolaba. Robert was fantastic to have on board with his years of sailing and navigational experience and sailing wisdom. He also showed me a lot of functions my chart plotter could do that I never knew about. I guess after 9 years I should read the manual!!!

We docked Billabong and washed her down as they do with the horses after the Melbourne Cup. I felt Billabong had run a fantastic race down the coast (although we were the only ones in the race!!). The Bavaria 44 is a thoroughbred ocean cruising yacht that is capable of handling the strong sea conditions. At no stage did we feel threatened during the big wind and big seas at night and “George” the auto pilot never missed a beat. I have great confidence in Billabong and her sea capabilities.

Billabong has now completed traveled 11,000nm

The 2013 Coral Coast Cruise has been fantastic. It has been punctuated by Tamara’s operation, my friend Steve’s passing and Graham’s fathers passing. They were unwelcome but you have to play with what life deals you and make the most of your hand which we did and we will have fond memories of this trip. We met some great people who we intend to stay in touch with.

I must thank my friends Peter, Graham and Robert for crewing with me and helping take Billabong up and down the coast when Tamara was absent. Your help is much appreciated and I hope you received the same enjoyment of the cruise as I did.

Also thanks to Rob Starkey of the RPAYC who was the cruise coordinator. The work you put in to enable all participants to be cruise ready is very much appreciated. 

I am really looking forward to seeing our grandson Oliver. I have missed him greatly. Judging by this photo that Marina sent, I think he will require some coaching with the girls.

Oliver - attracted to the girls already!!!

I am not 100% sure when Billabong will undertake the next cruise however we are planning for 2015.

For now it's back to Port Stephens to bring the garden and lawns back up to health and plant a few herbs and veggies. Oh and go fishing!!! I love this retired life.

6th November Maclean to Iluka 12nm

Today is Robert’s 61st birthday but he is not one for celebrating birthdays so we did not have any big celebrations. After breakfast I left him to do more computer work and I took the dinghy to shore and walked up the steep 2.5 km hill to the lookout which overlooks the Clarence Valley. It was worth the walk for the exercise but unfortunately the cloud cover did not present the spectacular view you are supposed to get.

 You can just see Billabong anchored in the Clarence at the township of Maclean

Back to the boat there was just enough time for bacon and eggs and we raised the anchor in time to make the 2pm opening of the bridge that we booked.

Again we stopped all the traffic on the Harwood Bridge and motored down river with the current to the town on the opposite side of the river to Yamba – Iluka. We anchored in behind the training wall and headed off in the dinghy to explore the town. We had an hour to explore before we were invited to 5 o’clock drinks on Stolen Kiss. We met Peter and Cheryl Ainsworth at Maclean and we said we would come to Iluka so they invited us for drinks.

We quickly found there was nothing to see in Iluka except the Heritage Rainforest walk to the Bluff.

 Birthday boy Robert at the Bluff. Access if via the rainforest walk from Iluka

That was 5km round trip so we had a very fast power walk and got back to the boat just after 5. It did not take long and were sitting on Stolen Kiss having a beer celebrating Robert’s birthday. Peter and Cheryl are from Fremantle and spent many years racing on Hitchhiker a well know racing boat in Perth that is still competing. We had lots to talk about. They left Fremantle 10 years ago and have cruised to the Kimberlies in Western Australia and bought their current yacht in Mexico and had a few years there and sailed back across the Pacific. Robert also had mutual acquaintances with them from his travels.

We said good bye and agreed we would catch up with them in Port Stephens in a few days time as they were staying there and we would be back home by then.

I had to cook 3 meals as we were departing tomorrow for Broken Bay which we figured we would be at sea for 2 evening meals.

We had a roast lamb dinner for Robert’s birthday and I also cooked enough chicken pasta for 2 evening meals. The dishes were washed and put away and the yacht was readied for a 6am departure and we retired to bed.

5th November Yamba to Maclean 12nm

It takes approx 2 hours at 6 knots to motor to the bridge so we left after breakfast at 8am. The tide was coming in so we had the current with us and arrived at the bridge at 9.25am – way too early. I turned the motor off and drifted with the current until we were at the bridge. No sign of life on the bridge apart from all the trucks and the cars passing along the Pacific Highway. We cannot believe that we can stop the entire traffic of the east coast of Australia for us to go up river. At 10am there was no sign of anyone going to lift the bridge. At 10.05 I called Craig the contractor who lifts the bridge. He was a little late. At 10.20 the traffic was stopped and the bridge lifted and we passed through. A great experience.

 Harwood Bridge on the Clarence River.

On arrival at Maclean the public pontoon had 4 boats rafted up so we had no option but to anchor in the river and launch the dinghy.

We got dressed for the big occasion of the “race that stops a nation” and took the dinghy to the public pontoon where we tied up and headed to the Maclean Services Club. Lunch was very cheap and the big screen and all the ladies dressed up with their hats made for great atmosphere.

Robert and I ate lunch and placed our bets and waited for the cup to be run and won. We backed Mount Athos to win or a place and it did come 3rd but did not pay enough to recover all our bets. None the less we had a great afternoon despite the small loss. We wandered around the shops and both agreed Maclean is a great country town and very unique. Definitely worth coming back to.

3rd – 4th Nov Yamba

Having a sleep in was wonderful. The wind dropped and was nowhere near as strong as the previous day when we entered.  We both surmised we could have gone further down the coast to another over night port but we would still end up having to wait out the next 3 days of southerlies. I have never been into Yamba so it was a chance to explore and that we did.

In the marina is a house boat converted to a fish monger and we bought some fresh prawns to have a seafood green curry tonight.

The marina is an easy walk into town and the beach not much further.  We walked out to the breakwater at the river mouth to check out the conditions and they were much better than when we entered. No big waves and no big winds. We walked along the beach up to the Pacific Hotel which overlooks the ocean and it was time for a beer.

 Yamba Beach

We sat in the lounge with big windows looking out over the beach and the break wall, so we sat for quite some time watching the ocean. Very pleasant indeed – yes we had a few too many and decided that it was too late to cook so we ordered lamb shanks and ate at the hotel. The prawns were saved for tomorrow night.

The next day was a quiet one and I left Robert to do some work on his computer. He is building a website and needs to do a lot of programming and building a data base. I explored the town and bought some supplies and investigated the requirements to motor up river to a Scottish heritage town of Maclean. I booked the Harwood Bridge for a 10am opening as we needed to be there in time for Melbourne Cup lunch.

We finally got to cook the green curry prawns that we should have had the day before and had a pleasant evening discussing who is going to win the Melbourne Cup with a bottle of red. We had watched the ABC news and the owner of Mt Athos was convinced his horse was going to win so that was our pick.

2nd November Southport to Yamba 104nm

The alarm went off at 1.30am and I felt like I had hardly slept. As usual I was tossing and turning and not sleeping well in anticipation of our early departure. We had a cup of tea and checked the weather and current coastal observations and it all looked clear for our trip to Yamba. The forecast was up to 10 knots variable in the morning and NE winds 10-15 by midday and 15 – 25 knots in the evening. We timed our arrival at the Yamba bar for 4pm which was about 2 hours into the run in tide which helps when the wind is strong.

We made good progress with the Eastern Australia current assisting us at up to 1.5 knots at times before Cape Byron. 

 Cape Byron Light House

After Cape Byron it was noticeably reduced down to less than .5 of a knot assistance. The wind strengthened as forecasted but became 25 knots by mid afternoon. We had a full mainsail up and the headsail poled out and Billabong was relishing the 2 meter swell surfing at up to 10 knots at times.

We approached the bar with anxiety. I have never been through the Yamba Bar and did not expect the winds to be above 25 knots by this time of the day. We saw gusts up to 30 knots on the wind speed instrument and the swells got a little bigger as the water shallowed on approach. We furled the jib and started the engine but kept the main up. We surfed in from a NE direction reaching 9.5 knots on a good wave as we entered. We were both quite relieved to be into calmer water safely.

The wind was still howling as we dropped the mainsail and motored into the Clarence River and negotiated the tight turns and shallow water into the Yamba Marina.

 The entrance into the Clarence River. Photo taken the day after arrival. Wind was considerably less.

We met a fellow boatie on the way to the showers and he advised us that the Yamba Tavern was a great place to eat. They have a courtesy bus which will pick you up drop you back.  We took his advice and caught the bus to the tavern. After a long day on the water the beer always tastes better and we had a couple of beers and ordered our food.

The tavern was very crowded as there was a wedding reception. We have never seen anything like this country wedding before. The bride and bridesmaids were dressed traditionally but the groom and the groomsmen were dressed in white shirts khaki trousers and thongs. The guests dress apparel was a mixed bag from ties and tee shirts and runners and thongs on the men and some of the women had no idea how to dress to impress. It was our entertainment for the night as most of the guests were in different stages of inebriation.

We both agreed the night was not that pleasant and eating on the boat was superior. We caught the courtesy bus back to the marina and had a rum liqueur before retiring.