Lady K relaunch

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. 

 

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).  

Yay! On the water again. Perfect conditions.

Eloise enjoying sailing on Pioneer Bay

Liam at the helm

Gary relaxing in the deck chair as he manages the lines

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.

Tractor haul out. Photo J. Ford.

On the move. Photo J. Ford

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.

Sunset view from the Whitsunday Sailing Club balcony