Monday - 02/07/2012
This morning at around 0300 hours the wind hit around 25 -30
knots and as we are in a new anchorage from when we moved yesterday I had to
get up and check all was alright. Although we have a GPS on anchor watch I still
prefer to see our track and make sure we are not dragging anchor and we are
secure. The other thing that got me up was the headsail sheets were banging on
the deck due to the strong wind
stretching things out so by the time I got some clothes on and went out in the
cool wind I was wide awake and no chance of getting back to sleep so as I said
yesterday I stayed up and did my scribbles for the blog.
I expected the wind to howl all day by the weather forecasts
however, the early wind came from S/SW which produced a few bullets of wind
around the hills but after the sun was up the wind went around to the S/SE and the
wind dropped at our location being protected from the mainland, the wind at
Hamilton Island was around 25-29 knots. Hamilton can read a little higher by 3
to 5 knots to what is actually happening in the waterways I think they have the
sensors at the airport and the wind accelerates around the hills nearby.
After the wind dropped we went ashore to do a little
shopping and to go for a walk, walking back was a little harder being loaded
down with our shopping but it gives us both good exercise. Needless to say
during the afternoon we relaxed having a read.
(Airlie Bay Beach with the lagoon to the right)
(Part of Airlie Lagoon for safe swimming)
(Pioneer Bay from Abel Point)
Late in the afternoon Rick off 'Neriki' called by he said
his sails were ready and he was going to pick them up on his way back I asked
if he wanted to get the sails back up now. I suggested it would be a good time to
start getting the sails back in place before the winds pick up again. It takes
a little longer to get the sails back in place especially the huge mainsail. I
got my tools and followed him over to his boat, Garry and Mercedes off 'Forever
Dreaming' came over to help . I was leading the group basically because this is
the first time Rick has removed and replaced sails and although Garry has done
it on the catamaran he built this cat is a lot larger and has a different
setup. Unfortunately I could not spend the time to take things slow to show
Rick every detail because we was trying to beat the wind and also sunset before
it got dark. However, I am sure Rick watched everything I did.
We first got the mainsail bag in place and attached the lazy
jacks to the starboard side and lifted that side of the bag to prevent the
mainsail falling over that side of the boom when we haul it in place using the
outhaul and the winch, this drags the heavy sail aft to the end of the boom.
Normally we would have fitted the batons before doing this but all the old
batons had delaminated and Rick had to get new ones but unfortunately the
batons have come in two lengths and have to be cut to size this may have to be
done at leisure once the winds settle. We then started to hoist the mainsail
sliding the cars on the track. (The cars
are units that are bolted via a bracket on the sail and the cars slide up and
down the track attached to the mast). The wind kicked in a little bit but
we managed to get the mainsail on and secured.
When the mainsail was secured and lowered into the sail bag
we started on the genoa (Headsail), this was a lot easier although we had a small
problem which turned out to be a small piece of securing wire that had broken
off at sometime and had got caught in the slide. We just beat last light in
finishing the job. I had a quick beer before returning to 'Alana Rose' for a
quiet night inside out of this bloody cold weather.
Tuesday - 03/07/2012
Today we caught a bus to Centro Shopping Centre, a little
too far for me to walk and get there and back before dark. Centro has a larger
shopping complex with a larger arrange of shops, we did a bit of clothes
shopping to start with and into BCF (Boating, Camping and Fishing Store), then
could not find the all the items we wanted so we headed for the bus and went
back towards Airlie and stopped at the Chandlery/Home Hardware store and got a
few other items. We walked back from there via the Whitsunday Shopping Centre
where we normally do the shopping, we had lunch bought a few other items before
walking back to the public dock loaded up.
That's the trouble coming to a civilised centre you tend to
spend money, you can't do this out at anchor in the islands where there are no
shops.
(The view at 0330 hours in the morning when the wind was howling the moon shining across the bay))
(A yacht from Guernsey in the marina, it is some yacht luxury plus)
We may stay here for a few more days looking at the weather,
the winds are going to get stronger over the next few days and I think we will
be more comfortable here. Looking at the observations today Hamilton Island had
winds between 23 and 27 knots which is alright if we were heading north at this
point but whilst we are in the Whitsunday's you look for the best sheltered
anchorages and with the current conditions we are better off staying here so
there may be little to scribble about for a while.
(This section of the Abel Point Marina, south end 'P' finger at low tide, these boats would not be able to get out in an emergency and the bay with the large hump is never used, wonder if they have ever heard of a dredge? Not bad for the most expensive marina)
Cheers
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