2 Sail R's on 2 Continents

Temporarily the 2 Sail R's are on 2 continents.  Russ is with Worrall Wind in Australia, and I am living in Elk Grove, California taking care of my folks in their apartment.  My brother lives only a couple of miles away, and I am happy to be here to lift some of the burden from his shoulders and to provide the 24/7 care that Mom needs, and support that Dad needs.

My mom, LaVerne, has late stage lung cancer and is currently bedridden in her Elk Grove apartment.

As she was when she was healthy, she is always most gracious as she approaches the end of life.  She is a devout Christian and looks forward to being released from this body and being with God in Heaven.  For those of you who know my mom and would like to know her status, you can go to http://www.supportcircle.com.  Key her name LaVerne Monico.  From this site you can receive a daily update, read messages that others have sent her, and if you are so inclined, send her one of your own.  She looks forward to these messages every day.

Russ has stayed with Worrall Wind as we do not know how long we will be separated.  Worrall Wind will need to be sailed south back to Brisbane before the hurricane season.  We are seriously considering listing WW and seeing if we get any bites.  This wasn't a part of the master plan, but given our options of going around South Africa or through Pirate Alley to the Med, we are thinking this might be a viable option while the boat is still in prime cruising condition.  Shipping the boat to the Med is still an option from Thailand if we continue our cruising and our pocket book can afford the expense ($65,000).  We got a quote of $85,000 to ship the boat back to the US, ouch.   While this is tempting, it also tempting to sell the boat in OZ and buy another boat (or not) wherever our next destination.

In the meantime Russ is getting the boat sale-ready.  He and WW are still in Airlie Beach inside the Great Barrier Reef waiting for my return if it is before October.  If not before October, he will be looking for crew to help sail the boat south.  He would very much like to take the boat out and do more sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, but has promised not to solo sail.



If any of you vicarious or real salty sailors want to visit Russ and Worrall Wind for some cruising in the Whitsundays or are interested in crewing with Russ back to Brisbane, or are interested in buying Worrall Wind prior to being officially listed, please contact us.  Check the Worrall Wind - Nauticat 44 Spec Page (left hand column of the blog) for specifications and additional photos when they are available.

Will You Still Love Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I’m Sixty-Four?

When the Beatles sang this song, who could even imagine turning 64?!
I never did.  And today, I am!  Ouch!  


Granted this is written from the young male perspective when 64 year olds must have seemed very old and sedentary, nevertheless this is my birthday poem for this year.  I am happy to say, the answer is YES!  

When I’m Sixty-four

When I get older losing my hair, (Still have lots left, along with my own teeth, yeah!)
Many years from now, (That's today!  How did I get so old?)
Will you still be sending me a valentine (My sweetie does.)
Birthday greetings bottle of wine? (ecards and Chardonnay, Shiraz, Merlot)

If I’d been out till quarter to three (Or on watch, throughout the night)
Would you lock the door, (Hatch maybe closed to keep the water out of the boat, but never you)
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, (I hope so!)
When I’m sixty-four? (Yipes! Still can't figure out how that happened.)


You’ll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah) (Sadly, that's the way it works.)
And if you say the word, (43 years worth of yes from my sweetheart)
I could stay with you. (Yes and sail the world)
I could be handy mending a fuse (And everything else that goes haywire on a boat)
When your lights have gone. (Literally or figuratively?)
You can knit a sweater by the fireside (Ha! Steer the boat through stormy seas, more likely)
Sunday mornings go for a ride. (In our patchwork dinghy)
Doing the garden, digging the weeds, (Not a chance! Maybe diving on a coral garden.)
Who could ask for more? (We certainly can't)
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, (yes, yes)
When I’m sixty-four? (Yikes!!, how about 104?)

Every summer we can rent a cottage (How about a mooring buoy in South Pacific?)
In the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear (Whitsunday Islands are pretty dear)
We shall scrimp and save (That's why we live and travel on a boat)
Grandchildren on your knee (Not yet, we're surrogates for lots of cruisers children and grand pets)
Vera, Chuck, and Dave (More like Misty (dog), Balou (cat), and Noodles (dog))

Send me a postcard, drop me a line, (Email or FaceBook)


Will you still need me, will you still feed me, (not on a feeding tube yet)
When I’m sixty-four? (The answer is YES!  Yeah! Yeah!)
Whoo! (Hoo! - It's been grand!)

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on S/V Worrall Wind

Uh?! Where's the Boat?

Thursday, June 21, 2012, Airlie Beach Anchorage

After dropping Garyn and Jess off at Hamilton Island for their flight home on Saturday, Russ and I spent one night at Hamilton Marina and  two nights in Cid Harbor.  We were finally able to catch up with our friends, Derek and Bele on SV Pandana whom we had met in Vanuatu.  


We enjoyed a nice meet up with them on Sunday evening for dinner,  and were all planning on a geocache hunt on Monday morning.  There is a small island off of Cid where there is a geocache.  When we awoke on Monday, the wind was howling and a one mile dinghy ride in the wind and waves looked unappealing.  So we decided to give that activity a pass.  Next time!


Bele and Derek left Monday afternoon for Airlie Beach, and after completing a few boat projects, we left Cid on Tuesday morning, June 19, arriving at Airlie Beach by lunch.  We had a strong wind and tidal current moving us along at 7 knots with a double reef.  The trip which usually takes three hours, only took us two.  That's a record for us!


Airlie Beach is a large shallow bay that extends from shore outward for a mile or more.  We dropped our anchor in 14 feet of water about a half mile off shore. We would have liked to have been closer but were afraid we would be sitting on the bottom when the tide went out.  The anchor (our new one that we bought in Mackay) didn't set the first time in the muddy bottom.  So we pulled it back up and dropped it again.  This time it seemed to set. 

Because the anchorage is a mix of mooring balls and boats at anchor, we did not lay down as much chain as we usually do because we were afraid that if we did our swing diameter would be too great and we would run into the moored boats.  We stayed on the boat and set the anchor alarm.  The wind was strong and we could hear the anchor pull, but we didn't move.

Looking out on Anchorage

Lovely, Free, Saltwater Swimming Lagoon at Airlie Beach

By the following day, Wednesday, June 20, we felt confident enough to get off the boat for a short walk around Airlie Beach.  We had lunch ashore and returned to our boat, stopping to see Bele and Derek on Pandana.  Unfortunately,  Derek had an infected tooth and was running a fever.  They were hanging close to their boat until Derek could be seen by a dentist.  We returned to the boat.  Worrall Wind was right where we left her.


Gina and Paul Ray on SV Solace, whom we had met at Whitehaven Beach just a few days before, were anchored in front of us.  We invited them over to play dominoes.  Gina won the game.  Instead of a grudge match, we made arrangements to meet up again the following evening on SV Solace to learn a new dice game called Zilch.  


Thursday, June 21, we decided to explore a little further.  Gina and Paul had already left their boat for some land exploration, by the time we left WW at 10:00 a.m. in the morning.  Once again the wind was blowing like crazy, but we had not strayed from our anchor perimeter circle, so we felt confident enough to leave the boat.   We dinghied ashore and took a bus inland a few kilometers to a shopping mall.


We stopped at a sport store and bought a full length wet suit for me and at a pharmacy for some over the counter meds, contact lens solution, etc.  Then we had a nice lunch in a little restaurant and headed back to the bus stop.  


We had purchased an all day ticket, and were planning to stop at a large super market on the way back to the boat and do some provisioning.  While we were waiting for the bus (1:50) which was due in about 10 minutes,  Russ checked the cell phone. We had received a voice message from Gina.  She wanted to know if we were still planning to come over to their boat that evening as it looked like we had left.  Our boat was no longer behind them.  WHAT?!


Russ immediately returned Gina's call.  They had returned to Solace and were busy watching another boat in front of them dragging anchor as the winds were gusting to 30 knots.  It had hit another boat.  She thought that while they were away, we had sought out a more protected spot out of the wind to re-anchor, as our boat was no longer anchored behind them.

UH?  WHERE'S THE BOAT?!  Uh? NO!  We had not re-anchored.  Oh S#@%!  Where was Worrall Wind?

Gina and Paul got out their binoculars and scanned the horizon.  They thought they spotted Worrall Wind about a half mile away as the wind blows, and here we were sitting at a frigging bus stop, miles from the beach while our boat was sailing away!  


Fortunately, our new and now best friend Paul said he would go out to the boat in his dinghy and see if he could stop Worrall Wind's escape to the sea.  Within minutes our nice leisurely day was turning into an unwelcome drama.


Russ and I looked around to no avail for a taxi.  We jumped on the bus for the agonizingly slow ride back to the dinghy dock at the Whitsunday Sailing Club.  Would Paul be able to stop Worrall Wind? Did the new anchor fail?  Did she hit and damage any other boats or people in the anchorage?  Was she damaged?  How much insurance do we carry? And for goodness sake, lady, just pay the bus driver and take your seat!


We arrived at the dinghy dock about 45 minutes after the phone call with Gina.  We hopped in the dinghy and headed for Solace.  Sure enough there was a big open space behind Solace where we had left Worrall Wind.   


We saw a ketch in the distance and headed in that direction.  As we got closer, we could see Paul on the bow and his dinghy tied to WW's side.  It is hard to believe that WW drug anchor as far as she did, through an anchorage of several other boats....and didn't hit one of them!  

Anchor Drag....half mile and no hits!  Amazing!

Fortunately, the anchor finally caught hold in the shallow bay and had stopped on her own accord.  Paul assured us that she hadn't moved since he had boarded.  He inspected the boat and there wasn't any evidence of a scratch that she had hit anything on her way out to sea.  Luck, lucky, lucky!


If the bay had not been so shallow so far out, we could have lost the boat because the anchor would have just dangled in the water as she blew north.  Geez!  We are so fortunate to have met Gina and Paul only a few days before and they were able to contact us and watch over WW.  When we boarded Worrall Wind, we pulled up the anchor.  The anchor shaft and chain shackle had a weird twist in them that Russ had to fix before we re-anchored.  We motored back to the mooring field and set the anchor in a different position, farther out from the rest of the boats.  If we broke loose again, we would have fewer worries with no or less boats behind us.


In a phone conversation later in the afternoon with other cruising friends, Dana and Mark, on Northfork, I joked that they were lucky Worrall Wind didn't smash into them as they were entering the Marina.  Dana said they had seen Worrall Wind way out in the Bay as they were coming into the Marina and wondered why we had anchored out so far?  I guess WW has a mind of her own.


Gina and Paul came over to our boat again this evening as we were reluctant to leave.  We broke out a vintage bottle of wine as a thank you, and enjoyed a nice evening playing Zilch.  Just as we think life is getting a little ordinary, we are reminded that life is never ordinary when you live on a boat, and cruising friends really look out for one another.  We are so thankful!


We had some plans for more exploring tomorrow, but I think we'll stay put until the wind dies down.  If were feeling really brave, we may venture into the Whitsunday Sailing Club for dinner tomorrow night.


Even though we are a little shaken,


All is Well With the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind

Good Bye - We Miss you Already!

Hill Inlet off Whitehaven Beach

Saturday, June 16, 2012 - Hamilton Island Marina

We've had so much fun with Garyn and Jessica onboard, it was really hard to say goodbye today.  We left them at the airport early this afternoon for their flight to Sydney and then back to America.  This morning we arose early and motored from Whitehaven Bay to Hamilton Island.  We arrived about 10:00 a.m. in the morning.  The kids had enough time to fish packing, take hot showers, and stop at the bakery before we walked them to the airport.  So let's back track a few days......

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - Stonehaven Bay

We spend the night in Stonehaven Bay and head to Butterfly Bay the following morning.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - Butterfly Bay - Happy Birthday Abby

Today is cake day because it is Abby's birthday, but we also celebrate everyone's birthday since we are together. We have pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast.  It is so cool and windy  when we arrive at Butterfly, that we are not too interested in venturing far from the boat. . Garyn and Jess do take the dinghy out to explore some of the beaches while I bake a chocolate cake.  So happy birthday to Abby, Neal,  Garyn, Roz, Jessica, and Russ for 2012. We spend the evening on the  same mooring, we had the week previous, playing Fiji Rummy, drinking Margaritas, and eating pizza and chocolate cake.  What a life!

Thursday, June 14, 2012 - Butterfly to Tongue Bay

It is an absolutely still this morning.

Oh what a beautiful morning!

There is no wind and the water is as smooth as glass in Butterfly Bay.  Since there is no wind, we motor to Tongue Bay.  We are foturnate to snag a buoy for the afternoon and evening.  This is a lovely bay and it is flat and calm.

We enjoy watching giant sea turtles and dugongs swim about.  At first, we are not sure what we are seeing when the dugongs surface and do a slow role and dive with a flaked tail down off the surface of the water. Is it a turtle? a dolphin? nope...must be a dugong.

Before the tide drops too low, we take the dinghy ashore and hike over the peninsula to Hill Inlet overlooking Whitehaven Bay.

Hill Inlet, Whitehaven Bay

Whoa!  What a spectacular view of  aqua blue waters layered over white silica sand.  It is truly one of the most picturesque  places we have seen.

Friday, June 15, 2012- Tongue Bay to Whitehaven Bay
We must vacate the buoy we are on by 9:00 a.m. in the morning.  It does not take us long to cast off the lines and be on our way.  All of us are in agreement, that Tongue Bay so far has been our favorite, warm weather, calm seas, dugongs, sea turtles, and spectacular views.  For what more could we ask?

By 11:00 a.m. we are dropping anchor in picturesque Whitehaven Beach.  This is a beautiful white silica sand arching beach with aqua, blue, green waters.  Once the anchor is set, we take a 6 km hike over the peninsula to Chance Bay and back.  We are fortunate enough to see a large lizard and butterflies along the way.

This is a mellow hike.  Russ and I head back to the boat while Garyn and Jess take a long hike down the white beach toward Hill Inlet.    While we are at the boat our neighbors, Gina and Paul from Solace come over to talk with us.  We have all seen one another on the sea, but have yet to be introduced.  Turns out, they are from New Zealand, but worked in Folsom as nurses before cruising.  They too are hanging out in the Whitsundays this season.  I am sure we will be seeing more of them this season.

Garyn and Jess return to the boat about 2:00 in the afternoon.  Garyn musters up the courage to jump in the water for a quick swim, the kids pack up, and we spend a final evening together playing Fiji Rummy.  So far we have played four hands and Garyn beats the pants off of us on the final night.  Jess doesn't really enjoy playing cards, but she has been a good sport and has done a great job learning how to play the game.

It's Been Fun!

Saturday, June 16, 2012 - Last Day
As we pulled into a slip at Hamilton Island, a gentleman came over and introduced himself.  His name is Cliff, and his wife is Lou.  They are staying in the condominiums with their daughter and grandchildren.  He and his wife sailed around the world 20 years ago from South Africa.  We spent the afternoon tidying up the the boat, doing some shopping and  laundry, and worked on some boat projects after Garyn and Jess flew off to Sydney.  Cliff and Lou came over late in the afternoon and we shared some appetizers and wine together recalling our adventures.  We hope to visit our new friends when we visit Perth next spring (October-November 2012).

Tomorrow is Sunday, June 17, 2012.  We will head back to Cid harbor and then to the mainland and Airlie beach early next week.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind

Climb to Whitsunday Peak

Russ and Roz wearing their Marriage Saver Headphones

Sunday, June 10, 2012 - Whitsunday Island

Garyn and Jessica were impressed with our "Marriage Saver" head gear and microphone system.  We no longer have to use hand signals or scream at one another over the roar of the wind, motor and length of the boat while anchoring.  I am at the helm on the stern and Russ is dropping the anchor on the bow. I report speed and water depth as we approach an agreed upon target.  Russ can whisper into my ear, forward and right, cut it, glide, a little to the left, give it a bump, back it down, etc.  We have definitely improved our techniques since the last time the kids were with us.

After our arrival and anchorage at Cid Harbor, we ate lunch and decided the clouds had cleared enough that an afternoon hike to the peak was in order.  It took Garyn and Jessica an hour  in flip flops and us an hour and a half in our hiking shoes to reach the peak.  It was a good climb from sea level to the peak. The views from the top were spectacular and well worth the climb.  

While the climb up really worked our quads, calves, heart, and lungs, the climb down worked our knees and hips.  We reached sea level about 4:30 p.m. as the sun was low in the sky and were happy to take showers and relax.  Back on the boat we bar-b-qued chicken and corn on the cob. 

Monday, June 11, 2012 - Nara Inlet

Look at that!  

We made our way to Nara Inlet on Monday morning.  It was a gentle sail.  Worrall Wind was the second boat in the inlet to anchor.  Nara Inlet is know as a breeding area for Hammer Head Sharks.  Needless to say, no one was interested in swimming here although there wasn't a shark in sight.  Garyn and Jessica did take the dinghy for a ride and went ashore to visit the Ngara Cave. They were the only people on shore.   While they were gone, I baked some chocolate chip cookies!

Late in the afternoon, we sat around ate cookies, drank Margaritas, and played Fiji Rummy.  The Southern Cross and the Milky Way were brilliant in the clear night sky.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - Stonehaven Bay

The weather is cool and clear today.  Several tour groups have come into the bay and made their way to to the Ngara cave.  When we left Nara Inlet, we had a 12-15 knot breeze and were able to sail wing on wing to Stonehaven Bay, arriving about 2:00 p.m..

Wing on Wing

This is the bay where Russ and I snorkeled last week.  It was cool then, but even cooler today.  No one seemed inclined to go swimming, or even leave the boat.  We did enjoy being in the sun when the wind died down, but it was still too cool to really enjoy being outside.

Garyn and Jess gave the hammock a try for awhile, but eventually came inside where it was warmer.  We spent a leisurely afternoon, reading, talking, and playing cards.  Tomorrow we are off to Butterfly Bay.  Our time together is growing short too quickly.

All is Well With the 2 Sail R's, Garyn and Jessica, on SV Worrall Wind

Garyn and Jessica Have Arrived

Garyn and Jessica

Friday, June 8, 2012 - Cid Harbor, Hook Island

Dugong Beach

We arrived at Cid Harbor around noon and after lunch took the dinghy to the beach for a short walk through the bush to Dugong Beach.  At certain times of the year, the dugongs come here to mate.  The bay however today was very calm and we didn't observe any wildlife.

Change in the Weather Coming

The clouds in the sky indicate a change in the weather which corresponds with the weather forecast that predicts strong wind warnings and 40 percent chance of precipitation.  We will leave tomorrow morning and head to Hamilton Island Marina to pick up Garyn and Jessica.

Saturday, June 9, 2012 - Hamilton Island Marina

The wind picked up quite a bit last night and the gusts continually blew us to the end of our chain with a clunk and the boat would snap back into position.  Thankfully, we were stuck tight with our anchor and didn''t move from our perimeter ring.  When we were in this harbor a week ago there may have been 5 boats total.  Last night I counted 25 boats in this all weather bay seeking protection from the winds.

Seas are windy and choppy

We cast off the bowlines about 9:30 and bounced our way through the waves and wind that were on our nose to Hamilton Island.  We arrived at 11:30 and had enough time to dock, eat lunch, clean up the boat a bit, take a short walk down the street through the shops, and walk to the airport.  We watched the plane carrying our precious visitors land at 2:00 p.m., right on time.

Red on the left, Green on the Right - Entrance Channel

Yeah!  They're here and their luggage arrived too!  All is good!  We spent the afternoon walking around sight seeing,

Cast Marble Sculpture

Note the trees blowing sideways

doing some shopping at the grocery store which was well stocked and had everything we needed to replenish our provisions.  While walking around, we caught up with another cockatoo.  This one was enjoying a French fry dipped in catsup.  

Yep! The Perfect Amount of Catchup!

Oh! I'm in Heaven!

He was a good advertisement for the fish and chips shop, so we bought our dinner and brought it back to the boat to enjoy with a salad and cold beers.

We were all in bed by 8:00 p.m.  It had been a long day for the travelers.  

Sunday, June 10, 2012 - Back to Cid Harbor 

It is still overcast and cool, but the wind has subsided a bit.  We left the dock this morning after a quick walk to the bakery for sweet rolls, fresh bread, tea. and coffee.  Currently we are sailing with the wind and current pushing us toward Cid harbor at about 5.5 knots.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's, Garyn and Jess, on SV Worrall Wind

Nara Inlet

Got a Cracker Mate?

Thursday, June 7, 2012 - Hook Island

During the evening, the wind rose from zero to 20 knots in Stonehaven Bay on Hook Island.  We cast off the mooring around 11:00 a.m. and headed toward Nara Inlet.  As we came out from the protected side of the bay, my freshly cleaned pilothouse windows were showered with a constant splash of sea spray.  There were white caps on the water.

We had about a 2 hour journey to our next destination up a well protected finger into Nara Inlet.

Keep Red on the Port Side

I followed Russ's course up to the anchor point, and we dropped our anchor in 27 feet of water.  Shortly after lunch, the charter boat Mischief sailed in and anchored in front of us further up the inlet.  One of the advantages of multihulls is to anchor in waters more shallow than our 2 meter draft allows.  We had seen  Mischief the night before at Stonehaven Bay and heard them on the radio with the charter company earlier in the day bemoaning that they were nearly out of water.  Apparently the tanks had not been properly filled when they got the boat.

Russ and I lowered the dinghy for a little excursion on shore.  The bay was quite calm and it was turning into a lovely afternoon.  Our guide book indicated that the Ngara people lived in this area for 9,000 years, and there was a cultural site close to where we anchored the boat.  We wanted to check it out.  On our trip to shore, we stopped at Mischief to see how they were doing and to see if they needed any water.  We have plenty.

There were two couples on board, Frank and Joanne, and Doug and Lorraine from Melbourne.  They were escaping from the nasty weather south to the Whitsundays.  They indicated they had enough water with no showers until they get to Hamilton Island for a fill up.  We were invited on board and enjoyed a nice chat and chilled glass of white wine before continuing on to the cultural site.

The tide was dropping, so we just tied the painter to a rock before heading up the trail about 170 meters to the Ngara cave and cultural site.   Once a fertile valley 9,000 years ago, Nara Inlet is now a bay (only 20-50 ft).   As the sea level rose inundating  the valleys and converting the mountains to  islands, the Ngara people relied more on fishing than on agriculture.  Eventually, they vacated the area with the advent of European settlements.

Late in the afternoon, we had two unexpected visitors to our boat....two giant cockatoos.  They were looking for a few crackers, but we didn't feed them.

As a no thank you, they just made a horrible screeching caw and pooped on our boat.

Ready?!

Aim!

Fire! 

 We spent a quiet evening on the boat listening to an audio book, Dragonfly in  Amber.

Friday, June 8, 2012 - Whitsunday Island - Back to Cid Harbor

Low tide was at 8:00 a.m. this morning.  To take advantages of the flood current, we weighed anchor at 9:00 a.m.  There are white caps on the water as we head back to Cid Harbor on Whitsunday.  On Saturday we will head to Hamilton Marina.   A film of clouds is blowing up from the south and the forecast is for increasing winds and scattered showers tomorrow.  We decide that we will go ahead and make a berth reservation at Hamilton Island Marina for Saturday evening.  Garyn and Jessica's plane from New Zealand will arrive around 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and it is a five minute walk to the marina.

We are excited about their arrival.  That's it for now.  I want to get this posted before we lose Internet.  Will try to post some photos later.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind.