Refuge Bay with Dave & ChrisAfter swapping vehicles and loading the AI on the roof rack of the Subi the night before I managed to get an early night. Nevertheless I slept through my 6:15 alarm and found myself 30min behind schedule for my meeting with Dave at Palm Beach. With lunch prepared, snacks and drink packed and a change of clothes loaded I was off.
I managed to get to the meeting point only 10 minutes late and Dave had arrived just ahead of me. We were rigged and on the boat ramp by 9:30, and soon taking advantage of a 10-15 kt southerly on our way around Barrenjoey and on to the eastern side of Lion Island.
The plan was to meet up with Chris near Lion Island at around 10:30, but when we got there, no sign of Chris neither visual nor on UHF CB. So Dave and I played in the 1.5m swell and SSE breeze, followed by a circumnavigation of Lion Island.
By 11:30 it was time to head for our targeted lunch spot at Refuge Bay. Now the wind had turned predominately WSW so we tacked westward towards Patonga where Chris would be launching. As we chatted on the radio, Chris' voice broke through and soon his sail was visible about 1 NM off Patonga Beach.
The winds were very variable, frequently dropping off to almost nothing, so our inboard motors were well exercised.
The waterfall trickling down the cliff behind the three AIs.
Traffic on Pittwater, Broken Bay and Brisbane Waters was greater than I has seen for a long time. The previous warm weather and forecast of a fine day appears to have brought everyone out on this fine Anzac Day holiday - all taking advantage of the last warm day of the season. The moorings in Refuge Bay and America Bay were chock-a-block with numerous boats rafted up and socialising. After a long sail and peddle, the smell of BBQs exacerbated the pangs of hunger, and after picking up a large cappucino from the coffee boat, we were soon beached near the waterfall and scoffing down our lunch (between exhaulting the virtues of our magnificant craft to all and sundry).
The return trip started with a long peddle out of Refuge Bay. As we got out into the middle, a 10-15 kt breeze sprung up from the SSE and we were sailing again, Chris reaching on his way back to Patonga and Dave and I on a leisurely tack towards Barrenjoey. After a bit more of a play in the breeze between Lion Island and Barrenjoey the sun was getting very low on the horizon and we were threatened with shade on our way back down Pittwater. As we entered Pittwater the wind turned to a light SSWester. Dave chose to furl the sail and peddly along the Barrenjoey and Palm Beach shore back to the launch site, whilst I tried making as much of the wind as possible and tacked down the middle of Pittwater.
Trip Log
Ground covered: 20.7 NM
Max Speed: 7.7 kt
Moving Average: 2.7 kt
Time moving: 7 hr 01 min
Tie stopped: 1 hr 23 min
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