E11 – AIRLIE BEACH TO CAPE GLOUCESTER
Every Voyage Starts Somewhere…
This is where our long distance adventures really started. Tan wasn’t onboard for the trip between Airlie Beach and Cairns due to work commitments, so these first few episodes are a boys only adventure.
In this episode we sailed from Airlie Beach, north past east coast of Gloucester Island checking out a mother and calf humpback whale breaching and playing and then sailed back south along the west coast of Gloucester Island.
Laying Starlight flat!
The northern western tip of Gloucester Island is known for it’s very strong bullets of wind that come crashing off the steep high mountainous terrain of the island with little warning. Although I knew it was possible we’d see a bullet or two and had planned to reef very soon as we rounded the northern tip, I didn’t do it soon enough and a very, very strong bullet hit us and literally laid Starlight flat to 90 degrees. It was a cautionary lesson and well timed as this was the start of the 5,000nm voyage to Thailand and reminded me to be more wary.
Cape Gloucester
We anchored overnight at Cape Gloucester, while the strong SE winds blew over our heads. The bay is gorgeous though and it wasn’t much of a chore to relax there waiting for more settled winds for the offshore passage north.
