24/07/2020

We set off before 7:30 in the morning, started the engine, pulled up the anchor, and sailed out of the bay. The wind was quite strong. There were 20 knots and there was no rain. The weather was much better than yesterday. At the beginning, the boat was rolling a lot. It took us great effort to prop up the spinnaker pole and spread the goose wings. The main sail was set on the left and the jib was on the right. But it didn’t take long before we had to jibe. This time we had a gentle granny tack. That is, instead of jibing directly, just head to the wind and then continue to circle around until the boat tacks around. Before and after this, it took a lot of effort to re-arrange. We had to remove the boom holding rope, roll in the jib, lower the pole, move it to the other side, hoist it up, unfold the jib, and fix the boom in position again. While unfolding the jib, it was stuck, so J had to be in front of the boat and pull it hard to make it come out. It is not easy in strong wind and big waves. You must wear a life jacket with tie on a safety rope.

After a while, the clouds started to clear, and finally I was able to soak in tropical sunlight.

Passing on the southwest side of Prudhoe Island, the boat began to go with the current at a speed of 6 knots, and not rolling very much (but only for a while). J said, “The rough makes you appreciate the calm more.”

We passed this island and two nearby rocks at noon, and we jibed again, but this time it was easier.

J was steering most of the time, because the auto-pilot was not doing well today, it always made the boat out of course, then the jib started flapping and boat slowed down, and it became rollier. Lots of things in the cabin were falling on the floor even we tried to secure them before we set off. Fortunately, we don’t get seasick, so we can still jump up and down making tea and meals.

The afternoon sailing reached a speed of 7 knots, and it felt very pleasant to go up and down with the waves. You can imagine yourself as a surfing dolphin.

3pm, we got close to today’s destination Scawfell Island, the island is quite big, the highest point is nearly 400 meters. We planned to anchor in the bay on the northwest side of the island, which is a good shelter for southeast wind. As soon as we turned into that side of the island, wind dropped a lot. Some spots were as flat as a mirror on the sea surface, while other spots were turbulent like washing machine. We tack the boat several times and sailed into the bay, picked up a public mooring rope (a facility in the national park), and it was almost five o’clock. We sailed 52 nautical miles today.

At sunset, a luxury catamaran anchored near us. They started playing ‘Last Post’ first, then the national anthem, after that they played ‘the great southern land’. Don’t understand why people came all the way here to perform patriotism, disturbing the quietness of other people and animals around…

We had Singapore noodles tonight, it was nice!