05/11/2020
The first thing I did this morning was to check if that disgusting orange thing had been voted out, but the result was still unclear. It was disappointing and scary to see nearly half of the US people let the dark side of human challenge righteousness. This is also a test for me to see who is still committed to justice and righteousness, and I have blocked all those who showed their support for Trump. It is not a pity at all to lose some “friends” who are pro racism, sexism, religious bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, corruption, environmental destruction, and anti-science… In short, I don’t trust Trump supporters.
Bob’s boat had disappeared and we were ready to head south. We left Double Island Point at 7am, passing again the beautiful white lighthouse with red top on the cliff. This marked the final chapter of our trip.
The morning breeze was from the northwest of the land and the remaining swells from yesterday’s southeast wind were getting gentler. The boat seemed to be going over liquid hills one after another, a bit like watching slow TV.
Jibed once at 10:30am as wind shifted slightly to the north. Still maintaining a speed of about 7 knots. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, making 8-9 knots of boat speed. There was a boat that had been tailgating us for a while. Now we left it behind a long way. At 2pm the wind reached up 30+ knots and we were surfing again! Speeds reached a new high of 15+ knots with the goose wings. Still going pretty steady and smooth.
I challenged the scallion pancake again for lunch, this time it looked a little prettier.
After passing Calondra we adjusted the jib to the same side of the mainsail with wind blowing from north-northeast. Big waves were catching up from behind and the auto-pilot was a bit slow to react. So the caption took tiller and navigated through the waves with skill, only being carried away once or twice, and the centrifugal force causing some items fall out of the shelf in cabin, but the rest was intact.
J said he was very pleased with Mustang’s performance in strong wind and waves, which exceeded his expectations. It was very easy to handle, keeping speed well steadily. The average sailing speed for the following two hours was around 10 knots. Felt like taking off when we passed the corner of Bribie Island. Wish someone had taken a picture or video of our boat from the beach, it would have been awesome!
The wind dropped before sunset, 5-6 knots of speed we all found it slow, and the wind almost stopped for the last part. Went around all the obstacles on the water (buoys, lights, crab pots…) We anchored at Humpybong’s harbor just before dark. In the evening, we had Singapore noodles. Delicious.
We sailed a total of 85 nautical miles in one day. It took us one day and night on the way up. what a ride!
An episode after dinner, we noticed the wind blowing from the side when it picked up a little. Found the anchor rope got caught under the starboard dagger board which we forgot to pull up. Now it was harder to pull up while the rope was pulling under. J used another rope to bear the pulling force, then gradually released more of the anchor rope. Finally it went around and the boat nosed to wind again. Then we pulled both dagger boards up. It’s a lesson for us to remember.
Sea Journal 