Tiare Taporo III at Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Is. Lat. 19 degrees 07' S Long. 146 degrees 52' E

Well, today has been a long day, and no mistake!! We were up at 0200 - had some breakfast which at that hour one really doesn't feel like but Gina insisted on feeding the Captain and crew!! At 0300 we weighed anchor which was encrusted in the usual mud but the deck hose, foredeck light and torch took care of that. Leaving the anchorage was easy - nothing to run into and the course was 340 T to clear Cape Bowling Green 30 miles NW. We hoisted the single reefed main in the dark and set off under power to make water and power - as usual!! The watermaker is working well and long may it do so. So different from the aftermath of the Opua cowboys.
The wind was WSW - light at first but then increasing to 25 knots in spite of an easterly having been forecast. The wind increased in strength just south of Cape Bowling Green (a nondescript low lying peninsula jutting out very inconveniently into our course north!!). We reefed the main down to its 2nd. reef during the gale - exciting being on the foredeck in those conditions - and reefed the genoa down to 30%. Then, with the staysail as well we sailed just as fast but more quietly onwards. Then we were awakened by the alarm on the AIS alerting us to a ship heading north on a converging course with us. Jim waited until he had finished his spaghetti and ham before calling them on the VHF to ask whether they had seen us - they hadn't, surprise surprise. However, they were very good and altered course 5 degrees to starboard to give us a reassuringly wide berth.
By then we were in a full gale and hard on the wind on port tack. As usual the old girl ("Tiare" that is!!) revelled in it and plowed on throwing water all over the place. We had turned off the iron sail and were doing at least 6 knots when annoyingly the wind started dropping so on with the iron sail once more. On an ocean passage one wouldn't do that but we had a deadline to get to Magnetic Is. in daylight. The wind came and went - we had some good sailing. It was 77 miles from the anchorage under Cape Upstart to Magnetic Island and we arrived into a lovely calm anchorage in Horseshoe Bay around 1600 so took 13 hours for the passage. We took turns sleeping so that we didn't both fall totally asleep. The other thing which you might find surprising is that it was cold for most of the trip. We had our wet weather gear on to ward off the spray as well as to stay warm. Once the sun came up (beautiful dawn to see) things warmed up a bit but not to the same extent as NZ in the summer. The other thing we should mention is the moon - the moon took on the same orange hue as the rising sun as it set which was very spectacular. It was a full moon too.
All in all a very satisfying day - although wearying, especially at our time of life. Not a few glasses of wine later and something to eat and we are thinking about going into Townsville instead of Cairns for our final provisioning before setting off for Cape York and Darwin but will let you all know.
Lots of love from us.............
Jim and Gina (Jean)
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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