Preparing for offshore sailing
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Darwin is a city that has been completely rebuilt twice. Once after the bombing of Darwin after WWII, and again after the devastating Cyclone Tracy struck on Christmas Day 1975. It’s hot, windy, and dusty at this time of the year and hot and wet from November. We’re anchored in Fannie Bay. It’s shallow! We’re…
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Torres Strait is a place you’re unlikely to visit unless you’re on a sailing boat, working for an airline or for a government department. Thursday Island (or TI as it is colloquially known) is the administrative hub for the Torres Strait. There are no resorts here…not even abandoned ones as we saw in the Whitsundays.…
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We’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mitch and Clancie. They are the young, enthusiastic owners of Makroro, a 32ft West Sail, designed in the the early 1970s by Colin Archer. This couple have a great story to tell! They’re slogging their way up the east coast of Australia heading for Indonesia. They’re loaded up with…
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The wind is relentless. Every day 20-30kts, gusts of 45 and maybe 50 knots of “breeze” as we make our way north. The noise is constant and exhausting, and the boat is always moving. It doesn’t look very far on the chart, but from Cairns to Thursday Island (at the top of the Cape York…
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Rain…4 days of it, and one very disappointed 8 year old, when we took a rain-check on the scheduled overnight sailing adventure. The thought of 5 adults and 2 energetic children cooped up in 42 feet of boat in the steamy, rainy conditions might’ve stretched the cousinly love just a bit. Fast forward 3 days…
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1. The Lagoon – is situated on the waterfront in Cairns. There’s a big pool with a beach, free showers (a great facility for grotty yachties) and it’s patrolled by lifeguards. There are free water-zumba classes (Angus is very excited about that🤣) an outdoor gym and fantastic free BBQ facilities. It’s a bit chaotic in…
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The clear waters of the Whitsundays are now behind us and we’re putting 30 to 50nm under our belt each day as we head towards Cairns. We haven’t set foot on land for four days, just sailed in strong south east trade winds…or motored along in no wind! Then anchored up each evening, had a…
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On Monday the 5th of June, at Mackay Marina, Australian Border Force came and woke us up to officially clear us into Australia. This all happened while I was appropriately attired in pyjamas and they wore their great big hob-nailed boots…this made me twitch with them stomping on our beautiful timber cabin sole! The quarantine…
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We hauled the anchor at 10.30am on Monday the 29th of May, and motored out of Noumea towards the Dumbea Pass. Three of us on board, Angus and I, and our friend Paul. We met Paul and his wife, Mona more than 30 years ago when we were cruising in Tonga. They had sailed their…
Cruising Innocenti 