DAY 1 – SATURDAY 27 JUNE 2020
This weekend was all about last minutes changes. The deteriorating COVID situation in Victoria brought with it a decrease in the number of people allowed at family gatherings, to five, putting a real dampner on the mother-in-law’s 80th birthday celebration. With the Admiral heading to Yackandandah for a weekend with her siblings and their mother, Cabin Boy and I took advantage of a kind offer from one of the other syndicate members for an additional weekend on the boat.
We headed up on Saturday morning, stopping for the obligatory breakfast at Eling Forest Winery Cafe ( https://www.elingforest.com.au). Getting to the CYCA was not a drama – however it was impossible to find a carpark. We eventually found one a few kilometres away and Uber’ed down with our bags and groceries. Once at the Marina it was then time for second breakfast on the boat.
The weather was 10-15 knots from the S / SW, so we headed down the harbour towards Middle Head. We decided to put just the main up, and were soon rocketing along at 6 – 7 knots for a very enjoyable sail.
We ducked and weaved through a fleet of racers making their way up the harbour, gybing back and forth to avoid them. Passing the Heads the swell was significant, so we turned west up Middle Harbour, passed HMAS Penguin and off Balmoral Beach. Cabin Boy was brilliant, picking up his first mooring on his first attempt.
Cabin Boy decided that it would be good to have a swim – not sure what the water temperature was – air temp was around 12-13 deg C. He regretted his choice!
The boat was holding steady on the mooring, facing directly in the mainly southerly wind , however the swell was winding around Middle Head, hitting the boat beam on, and making things relatively unpleasant. By around 1700 hrs Cabin Boy was as green as the towel, so we decided to cast off and head back to CYCA and onto the finger jetty for the night.
As soon as the main was up, Cabin Boy went to sleep, not moving a muscle for the next 90 minutes as I sailed back up the Harbour. At this stage I was really appreciating the chart plotter, although it was fairly easy following the channel markers up the northern side of the harbour – “green to green heading upstream!”.
I woke Cabin Boy up just outside CYCA, as I dropped the main and started the engine. About now I was wishing that I had taken a better look for reference points when leaving – and for the life of me couldn’t remember if it was the first or the second arm after the fuel dock (its the second). This was my first night attempt at berthing.
Dinner on board of roast chicken, vegetables, mashed potatoes followed by apricot crumble – great meal. Ok, to be honest it wasall dehydrated meals and they were excellent. After watching a movie on the lap top we had a great night sleep.
Day 2 – Sunday 28 June 2020
Cabin Boy and I had a nutritional breakfast (Coco Pops 🙂 ) and then he decided he was still hungry so it was up to the Club for a coffee and breakfast burger. With not much wind we decided to head back to Canberra.
Overall it was a great trip – first sail with Cabin Boy, first night sail on Sanity, first solo sail (with Cabin Boy asleep!). And it’s still wonderful to have “step on / step off” sailing.
