E20 – LIZARD ISLAND TO STANLEY ISLAND
Fast trade wind sailing from Lizard Island.
We left Lizard Island with a 20 – 25kt SE trade wind allowing Starlight to really get moving and we pumped along at 7 – 9kts in a 1m following sea as we are inside the Great Barrier Reef and running north on the inner passage.
We bypassed Howick and Bewick Islands and Cape Melville as we were just making such a great passage and I doubted they would provide a calm anchorage in those conditions anyway. This passage would then give us a great run of 80nm for the day all the way to Stokes Bay at Stanley Island in about 11 hours!
As we trucked along, I noticed a light but disturbing grinding sound coming from what appeared to be the rudder as each wave passed under us and Starlight corrected her course. Steering is probably the single most important capability of a sailing yacht and so this started to play on my mind, and would for the next week at least.
Coming around the corner and into the lee of Stanley Island was just beautiful and I pushed us in towards the reef which extends offshore and found a perfectly flat anchorage.
