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

Debut Whitsunday twilight race

With a birds eye view from the VMR Whitsunday radio room, I watch an excavator extract another Tropical Cyclone Debbie victim from the mangroves. Just like our vessel, it will have to undergo a few repairs before sailing again. While we wait for Lady K to be back in action, it's time to reflect on our debut Whitsunday Sailing Club twilight race last month.

Light conditions for the start

We gave ourselves plenty of time to get organised and get Lady K into the water, and while tied up alongside the jetty we picked up an extra passenger. Not that we could really afford the extra weight given that there was little breeze, but to refuse would have not been in keeping with the spirit of the afternoon. It turned out that Holger was from Sylt, an island off Germany in the North Sea that I visited many many years ago, and he was President of their sailing club. Small world.

Being a multi-hull, Lady K is in Division 1 and needs to complete three laps around the triangle course. Due to the lack of wind, and that we are a small vessel, we were very slow in sailing to the windward mark - we made about 2 knots. The only other multihull on the course was Mad Max, a 33 foot Grainger, and we were delighted we managed to round the windward mark before being lapped.

Trying to keep Mad Max at bay as we approach the windward mark

We picked up a little speed going dead down wind, but not enough to keep the monohulls away.
Eventually we completed our first lap just as the wind picked up with the rain squalls moving through. Raincoats on and a cheer for the wind, we were finally moving at the rapid pace of 4 knots. Not enough to get us around the full course though as the finish horn sounded for us at the end of the second lap - just as Mad Max completed their fourth (they are so fast they get to do four). Fair enough; it was getting dark by then.

Monohulls are catching up

A wet, but faster second lap.

We still have a few things to iron out (much more so now thanks to Debbie!), but we enjoyed our first twilight race and look forward to many more. We proudly accepted our second prize and was politely informed that we only ever have to complete two laps of the course from now on. Guess we'll have a good handicap then!

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