Brisbane to Noumea - Day 3 (Saturday, 20 June)

The glorious break of day greets the contented crew.  All had some rest during the night thanks in part to the lightening of weather conditions overnight easing to 10-15 knots and moving SSW.

Sailing into the Sunrise

Followed by a hearty brunch of eye fillet sandwiches, with brandy and cream sauce – well Salacia is “dry” for the crossing so a little tempting taste of what we can have when we arrive in Noumea, a wee tipple or two, keeps the Skipper and crew amused and content to wait for the arrival in Noumea!   Sure all the livers aboard are happy they too are enjoying a holiday of fresh air and water!?

In the midst of the female crew busy with rags polishing the cockpit comes excitement down below: “time to raise the Spinnaker”!  All hands on deck and up she goes!  A few hours later, the wind drops out again and down she comes, fun while it lasted!

Crew hard at work

Not long before the setting of the sun on another glorious day and we are thrilled by the sighting of a migrating whale to our port side as we come over the sea mount of Capel Bank, only 50 metres of water below us after over 5,000 metres of deep water…. the trawling line just may go out as we go over the Bank!

Brisbane to Noumea - Day 2 (Friday, 19 June)

After an uneventful night at the helm for all of the shifts the happy crew gathered in the cockpit to watch the glorious sunrise of a new day over a hot, fresh coffee and a quick debrief before some headed to bed, some to shower and others on watch again.  Salacia’s routine for the crew for the duration of the crossing had begun and all aboard had settled into the first 24 hours very well.

A magnificent, sparkly day in front of us with pods of dolphins welcoming us into this new day and their Pacific home. 

We continued the sail rig with gusts up to 23 knots and good boat speed between 9-12 knots and variable currents after strong southerly current off the east coast.

Salacia performing beautifully  - we are sailing the blue waters and no land to see!  Yah!!

Brisbane to Noumea - Day 1 (Thursday, 18 June)

Departed Raby Bay 0915 in clear skies and sunshine following a streamlined clearance from friendly Customs and Border Control staff who kindly came to the Everett residence to clear all crew for departure – what an efficient service!

Salacia, Skipper and crew left the home shores, waved onwards by family and friends on Cleveland Point. With little wind around, an excited crew hoisted the Mainsail and the journey began with motor sailing towards Moreton Island with pods of dolphins happily swimming along side to take us out to the North East Channel.

We cleared NE Marker 2 at 1400 then turned towards Noumea with another pod of speckled dolphins swimming off our bow and leading us into the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Dolphin Watching

Following a superb dinner of chicken and mushrooms, compliments of Di, and with crystal clear blue water beneath us, a WSW wind of 10-15 knots filling the Main and poled Jib we happily sailed into the night with a blanket of stars above us – spectacular! 

Sunset

Sail to Noumea and Vanuatu

We are leaving for Noumea this morning, Thursday 18 June. We are participating in the cruising Rally section of the 2015 Sail Noumea race jointly conducted by RQYS and CNC. See www.sailnoumea.com

The cruising section were allowed a 10 day window to elect to leave before the race start on Saturday 20^th.
So after six months of preparation we have been waiting since 10^th June for a suitable weather window.

We are excited about finally leaving.

Salacia's Crew

Good luck for Salacia?

Salacia Ready for sea

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Day 6

Friday dawned bright and early with fresh daffodils for Daffodil Day. We set up at the Yacht Club and Briefing and were well supported by all boats with extra promotion from the Race Committee.  There were two radio interviews with Catherine and Cherie to promote Daffodil Day.

Before the start, due to Salacia's reputation, the media team approached us to have two 'go pros' on board. We can't wait to see the footage.

Friday is the traditional dress up day for the boats and everyone was looking fabulous with crews in tuxedos, dressed as superheroes and as cows, just to mention a few.

The Race Committee changed our start to be at the Southern end of Dent passage, sending us in to a washing machine sea. Nothing we haven't we haven't seem before but never at Hamilton Island. Making for a cold and wet crew before the start, Max asked asked why this wasn't in the brochure.

Luckily, not long after the start the sun came out from behind the clouds and we had a reach across to Long Island at 9-10 knots.  From there we popped our 'wompah' our favourite sail with the dolphin design. We rounded Long Island and went to White Rock then back across to Denman Island and back to Dent Passage to finish.

Once again we got the 'gun' on the finish and were really happy with our race. Unfortunately, a few boats had a great day so not a great handicap result. There is always tomorrow.........

It was back to sell more daffodils and again, we received great support. Another great day at Hamilton Island. Where else would you want to be?

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Day 4 and 5

The very fortunate Salacia crew spent lay day at Whitehaven Beach.  Along with a number of other boats it was a perfect day for a swim, a walk in the beach, and of course a sail.

On Thursday, the sun was shining and the forecast looking great for a 10-15 knot sea breeze.

Unfortunately, we farewelled three of our crew as they head back to the real world. As we went out it was great to feel the breeze and there was a positive feeling on board. We nailed the start and got away cleanly. We turned the corner to head to Daydream Island passing boats as we went.

As we approached Daydream Island, there were a few calls from the foredeck "watch out the reef at one o'clock"   The "reef" turned out to be Salacia's second encounter with the whales this week, with a mother and calf rest in the shallows.

After a great spinnaker run, we rounded Daydream Island in front of our division and having passed several boats in Division 1.  With a great change to the Headsail, we were off to White Rock.

We had a blinder of a sail and everyone was really happy when we crossed the line to get the 'gun', winning our division across the line. Unfortunately, we didn't get a place on handicap but maybe tomorrow....

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2014 - the first few days

On Saturday 16 August, our initial crew of nine arrived at Hamilton Island For Race Week to rainy miserable conditions concerned about how the week would start.  After lots of work to get the boat ready, the sun decided to peak out for our afternoon sail to test everything was working. After a great run down Dent Passage we were ready for racing. Luckily, despite significant flight issues and several missed landings, our tenth man arrived by ferry.

On Sunday, we were off. Well drifting really. With very light and very variable breezes we went off towards Lindeman Island. On a shortened course it wasn't our best day in the water but it didn't stop lots of fun and lots of laughs.

Monday bought the arrivals of new crew and best of all whales. The newly named 'breach bay' was off Henning Island and the crew on the rail were delighted by the show put on by a mother and calf. There are also some rumours we were mentioned in some of the evening news bulletins.  We also had a great sail finishing sixth on handicap.

Tuesday morning and there was more sunshine and the promise of a little more breeze. We got a great start down Dent Passage and a fantastic run with the kite up. We almost missed our mark but came out in second for the run up past Qualia. We had a great battle with Zoe (again) and finished on her tail to be second over the line and third on handicap.

www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au