There was a great weather window for Galadriel to commence the first leg of the Pittwater to Dunk Cruise. The plan was to sail straight through to the Gold Coast with a delivery crew where Sonia would join me for the cruise north.

 

A 2:30pm departure so we could make use of the lights of the Central Coast and Newcastle on our first night at see. We motored up Pittwater and turned out into the Pacific Ocean. Much to our delight the sea was a flat as it possibly be, in fact there was less swell than you experience on Lake Macquarie.

A nice motor up the East Coast, the only challenge being the east coast current was flowing against us at two and a half to three knots so we hugged the coast.

You can see by the photo the conditions were so good we could even get out the placemats and the table lamp to eat our curry dinner. Thanks to Sonia for the pre-prepared meals in foil packs, it makes it so easy to heat in the oven.

We then settled into to a 3 hour watch.  Can recommend this watch cycle when you have 3 crew, first hour two on watch, then one person only has one hour on their own, then third crew member joins you for the last hour. This means you get 6 hours sleep during the night. Much better than 4 hours on 4 hours off.

 

By ten o’clock the wind had settled in from the north at around 11 knots so we were able to set the main sail and continued motor sailing though the night.