Manly to Mooloolaba

Tuesday 20 July 2010
Bye bye 'Privateer' sleeping happily in your pen.

We awoke to the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the deck at 0100hrs. Luckily it stopped before we left our pen at 0300hrs. The air was dead still and the engine was not needed to exit the pen.
Motoring out of Manly harbour the light on the port marker had gone out (new bulb needed) but we managed to stay on the correct side down the channel to our first waypoint from the Beacon to Beacon book. GPS navigation in the dark is an amazing technology (poor Capt Cook who navigated without it). Anne was a bit nervous, with good reason, as all the waypoint were entered in our GPS by Michael (oh ye of little faith).

Motoring across Moreton bay towards Moreton Island in the blackness was most unlike Lake Macquarie as several large ships were at anchor: it was more like being off Newcastle. By the time we were on the Eastern side of the bay the dawn started to break so we put the mainsail up and unfurled the genoa and were making 6 knots (aah for the peace and quiet without the engine).

The ebb tide took us along at up to 8 knots a speed which Saaremaa rarely reaches.
Anne had a particularly enjoyable sail see pic. (No seriously she was enjoying it, Michael).
For the first time on this trip we managed to do most of it under sail alone and reached Mooloolaba crossing the flat bar at 1300 hrs which equated to an average speed of 5.5 knots.

Several large boats were awaiting the pilot to enter Brisbane, who then arrived and we played dodge ship with them as they moved off. Michael noticed later that it is not recommended to pass across the pilot boarding area in the 'Beacon to Beacon' (as we did). Bugger me, its a bit like the Military Exclusion Zone there is all this open sea and the shortest way is straight, across why not? Because it becomes a great game when you are looking down the anchor holes and you may feel somewhat vulnerable. We survived.

Entering the marina pen was once more a challenge with a little scrape on the starboard side as Michael bashed his way into the berth (Its a good job Saaremaa is a tough steel boat with Michael at the helm).
The sunset was absolutely amazing with the 'Mackerel Sky' clouds and the fiery sinking of the sun.
The two stuffed little Saaremaates tied up, booked in and then conked out for a while.