Lady K sailing Pioneer Bay, Whitsundays

Lady K meets Cyclone Debbie

We didn't expect Lady K's new look to be so brief, but it was out of our hands as Cyclone Debbie hit with full force in the Whitsundays earlier this week.

Cyclone Debbie hits the Whitsunday Sailing Club pontoon

Everyone said they had never before experienced such strong and sustaining winds so little wonder our newly acquired International 23 catamaran came unstuck. Wind gusts were recorded up to 263 km per hour, and for over 48 hours the winds were storm force or cyclonic. Once the eye of the cyclone had passed (which took 3 hours), the northerly wind then did the damage to Lady K as she was completely exposed in that direction.

Broken Lady K 

She'll live to see another day though, once both hulls and the portside hatch are repaired.

Lady K 2 weeks prior to Cyclone Debbie

International 23 victory

Lady K has become Lady Luck with a first race win in the Abell Point Yacht Club Warri Cup (Chris Taylor Memorial) on Sunday. No one is more surprised than us! 

First race, first win!

The annual event starts from Abell Point Marina, Airlie Beach to Langford Island 15 nautical miles out, and return. On a windy day it's a fast broad reach there and back, which is perfect for the multi-hulls - the race record stands at 1 hour 31 minutes. However, this year, for the first time in the race's 17 year history no boat even reached Langford Island.

Light conditions were forecast but they were so light they were non existent. It did favour the smaller boats like us though!

We were busy still getting the boat set up and just made the start at 1100 hours, hoisting the sails and cutting the engine as we crossed the line. The breeze was about 5 knots from either the east or north east - it was so light it was hard to tell. We flopped our way in Pioneer Bay, along with 20 odd other competitors until a rain squall came and gave us some fantastic sailing for about 10 minutes. Raincoats came in handy. The excitement was short lived as the rain blew the breeze away and we were left lolling about again with sunshine and blue skies. Given the conditions it was suggested that the race would turn into a stern chaser, meaning that when radioed by race officials all vessels turn around and 'chase' those now in front. 

Where's the breeze?

Rain squall ahead

As Lady K was the smallest and slowest multi-hull of the fleet, we suddenly found ourselves going from being in last position to first position. And as there was no breeze, we all moved along in the current at the same pace of about 2 knots back to Abell Point Marina. 

Relaxing on the trampoline

Heading straight for the finishing buoy off the rock wall at Abell Point Marina

The finishing buoy was in sight for two hours before a stroke of good luck gave us some exclusive breeze, which pushed us across the finish line for a first place in Division 1. Just as we collapsed the sails and rounded the finish mark, the breeze picked up to about 15 knots and all the other vessels came romping home.

Winners are grinners! 

Ironically, Gary sailed on the winning boat in 2006

Division 1 winners Warri Cup 2017

Lady K test sail

We managed to get our International 23 catamaran on the water for a test sail after a month's work tidying her up. Not before we spent a morning putting everything back together, including the trampoline.

Nearly finished!

The arduous task of replacing the trampoline.

The trailer set up worked well for launching the boat, although we have to make sure there is enough water under her each time so a tide table will come handy. 

Trailer set up

Down the ramp she goes

The winds were a favourable 15 knots from the south east, a lovely change from the hideous hot northerlies we can sometimes experience over summer in the Whitsundays.

She floats!

No bottle of champagne for her relaunch, but we did have great sail in Pioneer Bay, surrounded by the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. Gary ran us through some drills of hoisting the spinnaker, trimming sails, tacking and gybing, to get us ready for Wednesday Twilight racing. We made some classic rookie mistakes - wineglass and trawling for prawns just to name a couple, but Gary's expertise and training will put us on track.

Check out the video of Lady K with her spinnaker flying. 

Hose down

After wash down, we celebrated with beer and pizzas by the pool and looking forward to our next outing.

Ready to sail the Lady K

Well a lot has happened in the last 10 days, thanks to the enormous effort and enthusiasm of Adam and Micaela, guided by Lady K's Project Manager, Gary.

Lady K at the Whitsunday Sailing Club - Dawn

With a beautiful backdrop of the Whitsunday Islands, I can think of worse places to sand, undercoat and paint an International 23 catamaran. The grassy area of the Whitsunday Sailing Club has been ideal to give Lady K some much needed attention, all the while making sure we come in under budget. We were keen to get it out for a test sail on Sunday 12 March, so it was early starts and late finishes to achieve our goal.

Micaela the sanding queen

1st coat

2nd coat

Gary prepared the rudders at home, and I even got my hands dirty while coating the replacement hard deck panel with two-pack wood preserver.

Working in the shed

There were a few other bits and pieces to put together before she was launched with a new look, such as putting the boom back in place, fitting the rudders and replacing the trampoline.

Rudder refit

Measuring the trampoline

Also, our newly acquired second-hand spinnaker needed a hoist to make sure she was the right size. Sourced from the internet for the bargain price of $250 from a 16 foot skiff out of Belmont 16 foot Sailing Club, we were chuffed it fitted perfectly.

Measuring the rigging

Does the spinnaker fit?

As the day drew to a close, we were hopeful all the essential jobs would get done prior to our test sail the next day.

Finishing touches

After work drinks overlooking Lady K

Progress report

It was a huge 12 hour day in the hot sun last Thursday, removing the old anti-foul, undercoating and replacing with new anti-foul on our International 23.

Early start - hope the rain stays away!

Ready for anti-foul removal

The plan was to not replace the anti-foul as Lady K is going to be hauled in and out of the water by trailer and not live on a mooring. However, once the removal got underway the plan changed.

We used a soy bean, environmentally friendly product all the way from the US, called Blue Bear, to remove the anti-foul, which was rather messy. The cost of sanding or blasting would have blown the budget, plus it wasn't practical to do so on the green grass of the Whitsunday Sailing Club, so good old fashioned elbow grease with a scraper was the order of the day.

Micaela taking the opportunity to have a lie down

Smurf hands!

Unfortunately the anti-fouling marine paint remover didn't quite produce the expectant results, or perhaps we needed some more product (it's too expensive to find out) so the decision was made to re-do it. An undercoat was painted on, followed by a fresh slathering of anti-foul. A job well done. One more coat to apply the next day and the underside is complete.

Gary stirring the undercoat 

Masked up ready for new anti-foul

Rolling on the anti-foul

Admiring the day's work

Finished job

Great work, team!

Next job, painting the top side.