Finish Sailing

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G'Day mates

February 15: Well our day started out cloudy but humid as we headed to our next stop north towards our Newcastle marina. We travelled with the wind and tide working against us... After six hours of sailing in rain at times heavy, we headed into Refusage Bay in the Hawkesbury River for a rest before we headed out for our all night sail back to Anchorage Marina.

We didn't go ashore because it was raining and the bay so calm and beautiful we just enjoyed the view. After a great steak dinner we headed out at mid-night for our long sail home. Again the winds were coming from the north... we needed them to come from the south to help push a long. Sailing at night is a very different kind of sail... though heading out of Refusage Bay was calm and very beautiful, that would soon be short lived. The guys had the watch has Hilary and I slept to help the guys at daybreak. The seas got very interesting with rolling swells and changing winds.

February 16: The rain did stop from time to time and we could see the beautiful coastline with it's white beaches. The next morning the weather was calling for the winds to change to south at 16 knots... well that's not what we got. As we sailed into a storm cell where the winds picked up to 30 knots and two-and-a-half foot swells with pounding rain. Yup things got a lot more interesting as the sailboat was pitching around Don and Hilary were changing sails only to have somethng happen at the top of the mass... so in a harnass and up the mass in this weather went Don. This certainly got the heart pounding as Don was bouncing around up there. After what seemed like forever things calmed down a bit... and we sailed along arriving at the Marina just before mid-night... we stayed on the boat that night and packed up in the morning and headed back to Don and Hilary's to get ready for our flight to Tasmania.

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Comments

[Marlene]

Great picture...looks like you are both having fun. Still freezing here and I have read 2 books on the bus as I have no one to talk to.