Annie at the helm sailing north – read more later.

What better way to start October than joining the CCCA members on the 5th, for an Octoberfest at America Bay. For the princely sum of $10/pp, Pam, Phil and Steve provided us with typical German fare aboard Nahli, rafted up with two other yachts for enough seating space.

On Labour day Monday the 7th October, Ron and Michelle, Russell and Helen joined us at the Basin for a long lunch until 6pm. After my bi-annual skin check and annual visit to the dentist with no problems detected, I was ready for the 98th opening of the RMYC sailing season on the 19th October.

RMYC and RAN flag officers.

This event with its usual pomp and ceremony, band, drinks and canapés, followed by a fleet sail past the RMYC flag officers and visiting Royal Australian Navy officers, is a popular and well attended event.

Clan MacLeod pipe band.

A long standing tradition.

Our daughter Michelle, gave a presentation on the UNICEF programmes in the Pacific Islands, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa and flew back to Fiji via Sydney. We hadn’t seen her for months, so it was great to walk the annual “Sculptures by the Sea” exhibition with her, between Bronte and Bondi on the 28th October.

Michelle being introduced by Chief Justice Nelson of Samoa.

Sculptures by the Sea: A bull made of car body parts.

Quite an extraordinary sculpture – one of many.

This was followed by dinner at her sister Karen in Summerhill. Annie was overjoyed to have her daughters together for an evening.

Michelle, Annie and Karen.

The first week of November was quite busy: Esprit was slipped again, this time at Mac Marine, to have her rudder bearings replaced. We had to do this before sailing to Port Stephens with the Sail Cruising Division.

Lift out at Mac Marine.

The rudder comes out.

The shipwright with the cleaned composite rudder stock and polished bearings.

We had a test run to the Basin afterwards to do a coastal walk with the Smith’s at Coasters Retreat and have a pleasant lunch. We dropped off our friends at RMYC and filled the water tanks and loaded provisions for the sail up north.

Gavin, Frances, Annie, Graeme and Jenny.

On Saturday the 9th November we set sail from Barrenjoey lighthouse in a steady 18 knot SE wind, having a fast sail to Lake Macquarie. We picked up a mooring at the Swansea lake entrance bridge at 2pm, to stay overnight.

Annie sailing past Bird Island.

The following day we had a disappointing 5-10 knot SE wind, which combined with the south flowing east coast current, forced us to motor sail the 35 nm to arrive at Port Stephens at 5pm. We picked up a public mooring in Shoal Bay.

Shoal Bay beach and Tomaree Head.

The overcast weather on Monday was ideal to climb Tomaree Head at the entrance to Port Stephens, up to the summit, to enjoy spectacular views out to sea and inland over the vast Port Stephens waters.

Dense ferns on the lower slopes of Tomaree Head.

Halfway up, looking out over Shoal Bay, with Esprit on a mooring near the beach.

Walkways near the summit.

Looking out to Fingal Island and Fingal Bay beyond the spit..

Looking North with Broughton Island in the far distance on the right.

Trees at the summit, weathered like me.

On Tuesday, a break in the rainy weather allowed us to do a 6 km coastal walk to Nelson Bay and back. At 5 pm, Ian and Lyn from a 40 ft. Jeanneau, “Blue Tango” joined us for sundowners. They were on their way back to Sydney after spending five months of our Sydney winter, cruising in the Whitsundays. 

Next day, we motored to Soldiers Point jetty to pick up Eugene and Adelaide for a cruise around Soldiers Point, Cromarty’s Bay and North Arm Cove, before picking up a mooring in Fame Cove for lunch. After dropping them off later, we picked up an overnight mooring at Salamander Bay.

Historic Wangi Queen ferry passing us in Fame Cove.

Eugene picked us up the following day at Shoal Bay jetty to go sightseeing by car to Boat Harbour and have lunch at their house in Anna Bay. Karen and Evan arrived for a visit and lunch and later dropped us off at the boat in Shoal Bay.

Lunch at Anna Bay with Eugene, Karen and Evan.

After a pleasant four days in Port Stephens, we set sail at 10:00 on the 15th, in a 10-12 knot N-E wind and a 2 metre swell on the beam, to reach Lake Macquarie at 16:30. Overnight, the wind  picked up to 20-25 knots from the east, so we made a 7:00 start the next morning. We set off with two reefs in the mainsail and a 50% furled jib to fly back to the Pittwater at more than 8 knots average speed, to pick up our mooring at 12:00. A good time was had by all!

Sailing back past Catherine Hill Bay.

On Friday the 22nd November the SCD boats assembled at the Basin at 11:00 for the annual Patonga Pub Cruise. This popular event is now held on a Friday to avoid all the weekend day trippers. Leaving lunch, the VW Kombi below was parked outside – iconic!

A well used classic VW Kombi.

By the way, we thank our friend Cath Adelbert for creating a new Blog Archive page for our site. Click on “Blog Archive – Start here” at the bottom of each page, to view all our posts by year from 2016 until the present. This is much faster than my previous static pages. When opening a year, the oldest posts can be found at the bottom of the page, working up to the latest for that year at the top of the page.

That’s it for now. We will post again early in the new year.

Cheers

Annie and Dirk