Annie helming to Shellharbour.

On the afternoon of the 1st March 2024, we tied Esprit up at the Shellharbour Marina, with twelve other boats from the RMYC Cruising Division. The 100 nm distance from the Pittwater was broken roughly halfway at La Perouse on Botany Bay, south of Sydney. We had sundowners on “Knot again” after a day of a lumpy big sea and a weak N-E wind, forced us to motor sail all the way.

Esprit route March 2024.

La Perouse anchorage on Botany Bay.

The light winds persisted on the Friday, but we decided to sail despite the lumpy seas. We were rewarded with a pleasant dinner at the Waterfront Tavern in the Shellharbour marina, This man made marina was excavated from a marshy area in the golf course just south of the town. Surrounding the marina is new housing and retail facilities, which is an economic boost for the area and provides a much needed safe harbour for the South coast of NSW.

Dinner at the Waterfront Tavern.

On Saturday afternoon we were treated to an air show which coincidentally, happened at the local Shellharbour airport. There were flyovers from WW2 vintage Spitfire fighter planes, to the latest RAAF F35A Lightning fighter aircraft. The evening was very social with drinks on various boats, ending on Esprit late at night and me doing my Houdini disappearing trick.

Commercial and residential developments around the marina.

We managed to do a few walks along the coast on Sunday. The management of the marina laid on a splendid BBQ lunch with drinks at lunchtime. We were planning to sail further south to Jervis Bay on the Monday, but a southerly wind put paid to that, so we left the marina at 10:00 to sail north. We poled out the jib and dropped anchor at 4pm at Jibbon Bay in Port Hacking.

Apartments next to the marina.

It was short hop to Port Jackson where we tied up to a mooring at Manly Cove. We went ashore and did a walk down the Corso to Shelly Beach and back. Graeme and Jenny Smith joined us for lunch aboard Esprit and we spent a quiet night on the sheltered waters off Manly. A southerly came through on Thursday, so we sailed out of Sydney Heads and poled out the jib. We had a pleasant run up to Broken Bay where we tied up to our mooring at 2pm.

Annie and I walking above Shelly Beach.

Ad for the Sydney Skinny swim for brain cancer on the way to Shelly Beach – should we join?

The following week, we took a bus into Wynyard in the city and walked through the beautiful QVB building to the City Hall, to view a Banksy exhibition – a favourite street artist of ours. We were impressed with the breadth of his art, comprising more than 150 reproductions of his work. For those familiar with Banksy, he has an uncanny ability to use anarchic wit to highlight environmental, social, political, authoritarian and war issues.

The Queen Victoria Building.

Soldiers painting a Peace sign.

Authoritarianism – rude copper.

Consumerism – happy shopper.

Communism – instead of throwing a Molotov cocktail, throw flowers.

Religion – Mother Teresa.

The 24th Biennale of Sydney was also on at seven exhibition locations across the city. We visited the art exhibition at the now defunct, but spruced up White Bay power station. I am glad the power station wasn’t demolished as the impressive spaces with boilers and turbines provides an interesting backdrop for the large installations.

A Turbine Hall poster.

Vast spaces – the turbine hall.

Decommissioned steam driven, electricity generators.

Eight meter tall installations.

In the meantime, I have set my bike aside, bought new Merrell hiking boots and now walk every day in preparation for our silly attempt at walking the Camino Santiago de Compostela in Portugal and Spain in May – 126 km in nine days. I am secretly checking out bus and taxi services in the area, in case I have to develop some ailment to cut down on the distance. I have already managed to convince Annie that her planned 200 km hike over ten days, was madness.

The Enormous Horns in full flight.

On the 22 nd March we joined a full house at RMYC for dinner and a concert by the Enormous Horns band. The evening was a blast with us dancing the night away – if they had witnessed our moves, John Travolta and the late Olivia Newton-John would have thrown in their towels. It took all of Saturday with Voltaren gel and Panadols to recover.

Marcia and Annie dancing back to their boats.

After a relaxed four day recovery at Towler’s Bay, we tested the resilience of our livers on the Easter weekend with a Sailing Division Sail away to America’s Bay. Weather over the Easter long weekend can be dodgy rainwise, but we had sunny weather the whole weekend with lots of activities on land and on “Pearl”, the RMYC floating party pontoon. Pearl was towed to Refuge Bay and was packed with about 70 people on the Saturday, enjoying music, drinks and food prepared by our CEO, Jayson McDonald and his team. A good time was had by all.

One corner of the Pearl.

Jayson and his team.

The party continued on Esprit with 15 people and 2 dogs.

On Sunday, I had planned to clean the bottom of Esprit with my new plastic scraper, donated by Stef Adelbert. Alas, the day was spent reading, due to circumstances not foreseen the day before. On Monday we picked up Graeme and Jenny Smith at Akuna Bay to show them the eponymous Smith’s Creek, where we had a BBQ on board. We returned home on Tuesday, just before it started raining – what good timing!

In the meantime, I received photos from Karen and Michelle about their Easter weekends:

Karen & Evan at the Byron Bay Bluesfest. My favourites, Tedeschi Trucks Band – I’m so jelly!

Michelle and friends – sailing and surfing in the Mamanuca Islands, Fiji.

Michelle on her Malibu board.

Heavy rains battered Sydney for the next three days before it cleared, allowing us to attend the CCCA Commodore’s dinner at Canada Bay on the Saturday evening. The crowd enjoyed a three course dinner with a very good Elvis floorshow and lots of dancing. Annie and I were awarded the CCCA Blue Water award, with a plaque and engraved crystal decanter.

The Elvis impersonator.

CCCA Blue Water award.

Annie dragged me out of bed on the Sunday morning to do a 10km walk along the coast. I suppose I have to break in the new Merrell hiking boots. The bush walks were very muddy after we had a months worth of rain in one day during the previous week.

Warriewood beach from Turimetta Headland.

Above Narrabeen lagoon – and note the new shoes!

On the Sunday arvo, we had one of our regular sundowner events for the residents of 153 Garden Street, to welcome some new residents to the complex.

Welcome Todd and Niki.

The RMC Sail Cruising Division held the next iteration of the  Mediterranean Long Lunch at Bobbin Head on Saturday the 20th April. This event is a culinary extravaganza with much wine and laughter, enjoyed by all the sailors. We worked off the excess calories the next day with a walk from North Harbour reserve through Fairlight to Manly and back.

Manly Sunday markets.

Manly beachfront.

April brought another milestone: Our 37th wedding anniversary and my 77th birthday. To be fair to Annie, we have been together for 44 years – living the first seven years of our beautiful partnership “in sin” as my parents called it. Annie’s mom, being widely travelled and more sophisticated, referred to us as “co-vivants”. This sounded much better.

We celebrated my birthday with a 10km walk from Manly to North Head and back.

View from North Head – 28th April 2024.

We will be flying to Portugal on the 14th May, to visit Lisbon and then walk the Camino Santiago de Compostela to Spain. Following that, a visit to Berlin, then a campervan trip in northern Italy, before finishing with a canal barge cruise in Holland. We will report back in July.

Cheers for now,

Annie and Dirk.