At last, we
are back on the water! With the hull damage repairs now complete from Tropical
Cyclone Debbie, it was a perfect Whitsunday winter day when we relaunched
Lady
K. A 12 knot south easterly breeze was
ideal for our International 23 catamaran as we spent the afternoon sailing
around Pioneer Bay with visiting friends.
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| Lady K damage all fixed. Just waiting on a hatch which went missing during the cyclone. |
We hoisted
the mainsail and head sail and reached towards Hayman Island just past Funnel
Bay and then turned back towards the mainland. The beach township of Airlie
Beach was a constant backdrop as we sailed amongst the moored vessels, over to
Pigeon Island, past the wreck of Whitsunday Magic and into Turtle Bay to see if
we could spot, yes, you guessed it, some turtles (which we did).
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| Yay! On the water again. Perfect conditions. |
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| Eloise enjoying sailing on Pioneer Bay |
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| Liam at the helm |
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| Gary relaxing in the deck chair as he manages the lines |
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| The best place on Lady K for a lie down. Whitsunday Magic wreck in background. |
As the Wednesday
twilight racers prepared for the 4.30pm start gun, we returned to the
Whitsunday Sailing Club jetty to haul the boat out while it was quiet. We need
to familiarise ourselves with getting the boat in and out with the tractor, so
twilight racing is out for now until we have a bit more light and we know what
we are doing.
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| Tractor haul out. Photo J. Ford. |
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| On the move. Photo J. Ford |
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| Gary, the tractor master. Photo J. Ford |
After
hosing down Lady K and parking her back on the lawn, it was time for sunset
drinks and dinner on the balcony. Looking forward to our next trip; overnight camping
on an island beach somewhere.
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| Sunset view from the Whitsunday Sailing Club balcony |
