We spent the rest of yesterday under sail, reefing the main and taking down the jib just before sunset as the wind built to 25 kts gusting 30 kts. Sailed through the night, then early this morning started the motor and are now motor sailing. We are so close now - with an ETA of around 2 pm into Fremantle Sailing Club.
What an adventure! There have been a few scary moments (for me anyway) but I am really proud to have made it the whole way. Craig and I would like to thank Peter and Phil for helping us bring Napea home, your guidance, knowledge and calmness was much appreciated. Also thank you for taking on longer night time shifts when I piked out!
To all of our Blog followers - a very big thank you xxx
Knowing that we had family and friends keeping an eye on our progress and watching out for us was wonderful. Sitting down and writing an account of our day was a much needed distraction and reading your comments back to us always made my day. We look forward to showing off and sharing Napea with all of you some time soon.
So for now, this is Napea signing off xxx
Sunday, 7 December 2014
Saturday, 6 December 2014
Our lovely 15+ knot southerly continued for most of yesterday, which meant we were able to sail for most of the day. The wind died out a little around 4 pm, motor started and we then motor sailed (jib down, main reefed) for the night. This morning brought light winds and sunshine, a lovely way to start our final full day at sea (hopefully!!) we continued to motor sail until 1:30 pm, when the jib was hoisted and motor turned off - it is still a beautiful day only now much quieter. As I write this post we are sailing past Cape Leeuwin, the sun is still shining and we again have a lovely 15+ knot southerly. We enjoyed a very nice glass (or 2) of Cape Clairault Chardonnay with lunch, which was ham, egg & lettuce sandwiches and toasted chicken & cheese sandwiches. I have already prepared the Tuna Pasta Bake for dinner so can enjoy the sunshine (it is the first day since we left Sydney that I have had my shorts back on!). This is the sort of cruising that I like!!
Friday, 5 December 2014
A hitchhiker last night
This little guy enjoyed a much needed rest from the wind last night. He stayed there until 4:30 am this morning, didn't like the commotion of the jib being put up!
I don't know why meteorologists bother giving us weather forecasts - they are so often completely wrong! Yesterday, what should have been a strong (but not too strong) easterly turned out to be a strong (25+) SW, which meant that we were once again punching into it under motor, and the sea was again washing machine like. I spent several hours sitting in the inside helm chair listening to Mamma Mia on headphones and aparantly singing badly! By late afternoon the wind had shifted around a little more to the south so we were able to turn the motor off and sail. We had pies for lunch and I managed to heat up the beef stroganoff that I had prepared the day before and some pasta for dinner, without it ending up on the floor in the very bumpy conditions! We sailed through the night on main only, then at around 4:30 am the boys put the jib up which meant our speed increased to 6-8 knots. We are now still sailing with jib and main with a nice 15 knot southerly breeze, and the sea has calmed a little, so a much more pleasant day (so far).
Thursday, 4 December 2014
We are on our way out of Esperance Bay, not much breeze so are motoring for now. Had a lovely dinner at the Pier Hotel last night and an OK nights sleep tied up to the Yacht Club jetty.
Didn't end up getting fuel at Bandy Creek, the entrance to the marina was looking a little shallow to us so decided not to risk bumping the bottom! We are not going to call into Albany, as we did enough provision shopping in Esperance to get us home and the fuel was more "to be sure to be sure", figure that we could motor the rest of the way to Fremantle on the fuel we have, and hopefully we wont have too, as we would like to sail some of it!!
So, we really are on the homeward stretch - although I wont quite believe that until we have turned the corner at Cape Leeuwin.
xxx
Didn't end up getting fuel at Bandy Creek, the entrance to the marina was looking a little shallow to us so decided not to risk bumping the bottom! We are not going to call into Albany, as we did enough provision shopping in Esperance to get us home and the fuel was more "to be sure to be sure", figure that we could motor the rest of the way to Fremantle on the fuel we have, and hopefully we wont have too, as we would like to sail some of it!!
So, we really are on the homeward stretch - although I wont quite believe that until we have turned the corner at Cape Leeuwin.
xxx
A "Where's Wally" style challenge!
I know we have more time on our hands than the rest of you, but we thought we would give you something to do in your "spare" time. The photos above have Maneki cat hiding somewhere - can anyone find him?
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
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