28th 29th Oct Coffs Harbour to Pittwater RPAYC 234nm

I hate the early morning starts and when the 5am alarm went off I felt I had not slept enough. Never the less you have to get going or it will be a longer journey than necessary.

A hurried cup of tea and breakfast and we were ready to go at 5.30am. The wind had dropped and 4 yachts had already left the marina.

There was a mass exodus of about 11 yachts and a power boat leaving for various destinations down the coast. Everyone had been waiting for the southerly to pass before continuing the journey south.

Out of the harbour the seas were still quite large but little wind. We had the main up to steady the yacht from the rolling swell.

Two yachts got lobster pots wrapped around their propeller within 2 hours of leaving the marina. They were not keeping a good eye out. We maintained a watch all day as we did not want to get one around the propeller.

We saw a lot of whales - mainly mothers and their calves.

At first, we had current against us but by the afternoon we had a knot with us. That helped a lot.

The wind never got more than 15 knots which made it a gentler sail but we had to motor sail the entire way which was a bit frustrating considering the forecast was for a lot more.

Dolphins played with us during the day and at night. Seeing Dolphins coming at the yacht at night with the effervescence in the water makes them look like torpedoes coming at you. It is really a fantastic sight but it is impossible to capture on a normal camera. That memory will be etched in the mind forever.

Sailing into the sunset

It was a peaceful night motor sail as the swell eased down and there were no violent motions so I managed to get some sleep. That made the day easier for me and we motor sailed into Pittwater, passed Barrenjoey Light House at 2pm, and into the basin where we grabbed a mooring and cooked a chicken burger and tidied up the sails.

Once settled we motored into our pen at RPAYC to conclude our Coral Coast 2017 Rendezvous Cruise.

It has been an amazing trip with the weather so kind. We only had 10 days of rain since leaving on 12^th May.

We travelled a total of 3126 nm and used the engine for a total of 422 hours burning 1177 litres of diesel.

We had no real boat problems or issues for the 5 months and it was a relief to be back in the pen safely.

It was sad for the journey to come to an end and I thanked Bruce for helping me with the delivery south.

That’s it for another cruise. Who knows when we will be off again.

Perhaps 2019.