With the unseasonal warm weather continuing in Sydney, we took our Tandem Island for a longish sail on Botany Bay - putting in at Taren Point and sailing past the port and airport, across to La Perouse and Congwong Bay Beach (about 10km) for lunch. The forecast was for a light noreaster, followed by a stronger norwester to bring us home. The norwester didn't eventuate, so it was a slower trip home than envisaged, so we had about five and a half hours on the water.
Cool thing about the route is it takes us past the airport, so planes were landing over our head - neat (see the video shot on the way back). It was still very hazy from the backburning all around Sydney too, so not as crystal clear as it usually is.
The route also takes us past Captain Cook's landing place and around Bare Island and across Cape Solander/Cape Banks heads, so we get a nice ocean swell as part of the deal.
The light and variable winds in the morning (much lighter than forecast) mean we need to pedal a bit to supplement the sail; but we pick up a better breeze as we get around Port Botany and it serve well for an approach to Congwong Bay beach. By the time we arrive, Bob, the two-and-a-half year old, has fallen asleep (there's something about little kids and sailing that puts them to sleep) and he actually sleeps through lunch and a swim, laying on the beach, and then stays sleeping on the tramp most of the way back to Taren Point, stuffed into a little plastic sleeping bag to keep him warm.
The light winds make for a bit of a long trip back with a lot of searching for wind - the TI, with no boom, is tricky to run downwind with, but I found a point of sailing that got us heading in the right direction.
Loving this boat - its giving us a great opportunity to explore our waterways and get to llaces we'd not think of going. Got a few more ideas around Botany Bay to explore in an upcoming weekend!
smith
