Tiare Taporo III at E Double Bay Lat. 20 degrees 12' S Long. 148 degrees 38; E

Dennis and I had a great sail today from Macona Inlet, Hook Island. It started off fairly disappointingly with a light SE under 10 knots but after negotiating the tricky entrance a short time later the wind increased in strength until it was regularly over 20 knots and occasionally up to 30. Amazing how quickly it changes. We had a broad reach all the way and Dennis helmed almost the whole 15 miles and was in his element. It so reminded him of Wellington and Cook Strait and the old girl performed admirably - just like the old days 30 years ago. She romped along under single reefed main and 2/3 genoa hitting over 7 knots most of the time.
We entered the bay on the mainland where we are now around 1300 and had a beat into the bay where she again showed her prowess hard on the wind. A good sheltered anchorage but fairly featureless like all the mainland anchorages so far.
Tomorrow we leave for Airlie Beach which is only 6 miles as the crow flies but with several beats to windward in store we'll cover much more ground than that. She's good hard on the wind and it will be an interesting sail especially if we get winds similar to today.
It's great not always having to sail downwind legs as we did constantly up the coast from Bundaberg - she doesn't like that. She's better off on tangents - bit like her owner!!
Had some moments of sober reflection at the time of Grandma's funeral today as we were screaming across the top of the Whitsunday Passage - it all seemed a bit surreal.
Now listening to Louis Armstrong - "Louis and the Good Book" which is a collection of Negro spirituals jazzed up in the inimitable Armstrong style. It's a CD which we purchased in Noumea last year and is the same recording exactly which was Jim's father's favourite and which was purchased as a vinyl LP in Tahiti all those years ago in 1960. It was recommended by Charles Coulon who was the manager of Etablissements Donald - Tahiti back then and always remained a favourite.
Well, now to bed and up in good time for the windward passage into Airlie Beach.
Cheers for now and love to everyone...........
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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