A Very Bad-Hair Day

You'd think we'd know better by now. After a chaotic time ashore rather than casting off in a state of high anxiety and trying to head off, it really would be best to cast off and immediately anchor; chill and basically get ones act together. Did we do this after a week of non-stop action on the hardstand? NO. So the 'Note to self' is a reminder that the tempo must be adjusted and normal breathing re-established before ever again taking off.

We were allowed the extra night in the marina on the proviso we'd leave by 08:00. This created a mad rush to top up the water tanks, have a last shower on shore etc... it was a sprint from the moment we opened our eyes. The arrival the previous day of a particularly wide and handsome new power boat alongside us didn't help The Blokes nerves at all. A cast of fellow jetty-rats helped to walk Zofia out of the pen and release us back into the wild, while the owner of the power boat stood on his foredeck conspicuously clutching a roving fender.

Fellow jetty and hardstand rat - Chris/SV Bilbungara

We had made a small plan to rendezvous with Casablanca at Paradise Point. It was not far from our location and would be sheltered against strongish forecast winds and most importantly had easy access to a Fish and Chip shop. It was Friday and The Bloke likes his Friday treat of Fish and Chips! This is where we envisaged chilling out  for a couple of days. The plan went to custard. The tide was still lowish and the tricky entry had us standing on our keel on a sandbank within 30 minutes of having left the boatyard. Stupid, stupid, stupid. We had no appetite to hang about and try again at high tide and took off through the channels in the Broadwater without any clear objective.

 

Example of some of the water traffic.

 

I had an idea as a back-up plan. We could go up to Tipplers Passage, anchor temporarily and study the charts and cruising guides and regroup. Once there, we found a small patch among several other anchored boats and hoped to find our mojo. So far, not so bad but we'd not taken a lot of care with anchoring, nor had we put out a lot of chain due to the congestion. It was only a temporary measure. It became a more temporary measure very rapidly as the wind picked up and we were suddenly dragging with plenty of targets to smash into. We took off once again and headed north but again without a proper plan. Terrific, we thought - out of the yard for barely 2 hours and we've bogged AND dragged already. This is an episode of Laurel and Hardy and this is NOT our style!

The Bloke trying the "loosen your underpants" approach to relaxation studying the charts.

It's Queensland and meant to be warm but Auntie Al's mohair slippers still needed.

We took off again in a northerly direction and Jumpinpin at the bottom of North Stradbroke Island and traversed more shallow channels looking desperately for somewhere that would provide some shelter from the coming 25-30kn winds. Eventually we found our night anchorage and then focused on The Bloke's medical results. The scan had been done on Tuesday, we received a report on Thursday which was all medico-mumbo-jumbo and had been waiting with increasing frustration and tension for the specialist to phone. At 16:45 on a Friday afternoon and having had the bad-hair day to top all bad-hair days, The Bloke's nerves were shot. A phone call virtually pleading for an 'Opinion' was responded to with a text message. In essence: Scan revealed nothing. PSA level unexpectedly high for someone now without a Prostate. Go sailing and have a blood test in 3-4 months.  We were incapable of digesting this good news.

Anchor watch track off Squire Island.

The orange part was lovely but then we drifted up on the anchor - Lol!

We attempted to think of all the good things and how we were now in a good spot for the week-end. The sun set and the tide changed. The wind chirped up as predicted and suddenly we were sitting in the dark with our anchor chain rubbing against our newly polished hull. Yup:wind against tide.... AGAIN!

Were we in for another episode of keel-wrap and up for a return visit to The Boatworks? We'd been gone just 12 hours!