Welcome back to an update on Allusive Sailing Adventures. Last article, together with my wife Julie and sons Will and Oscar, we were in Sydney onboard Allusive waiting out some big breeze and swell before moving further north. This time was spent catching up with friends at the CYC and enjoying some civilization including the Sydney Fish Markets for Julie’s birthday (can’t catch a fish!). Once the swell dropped we sailed out of the heads and pointed the bow north. A tactical decision was made to skip Pittwater to leave some cruising grounds for the summer cyclone season and we sailed overnight in a light northerly to Nelson Bay at Port Stephens. En-route, the crew was told of a possible close encounter with COVID while at Jervis Bay. Defying some logic, advice was given to jump into a taxi bus and get to the testing drive through centre where everyone was tested and required to isolate. Upon negative results and the downgrading of the contact freedom was granted and the crew decided to quickly move further north missing any sightseeing at Port Stephens other than dinner with some sailing friends from the RSAYS.
A slow 24 hour sail from Port Stephens to Coffs Harbor saw the crew catch a Mack Tuna which was hoped would see the end of the terrible fishing luck (or lack of skill). Notwithstanding this fish, the waters along the entire east coast were definitely alive with countless sighting of humpback whales but relatively few dolphins which is always a beautiful sight watching breaches, tail and fin slapping. Coffs Harbor was crowded and we were very fortunate to get the last available berth as the anchorage outside was very rolly. A couple of days were spent at Coffs enjoying walks and taking the kids surfing. By this point in time we had developed a really good routine with school work in the morning and exploring or water activities in the afternoon then onto sundowners and dinner. The home schooling routine was something that we were initially concerned about but has turned out quite easy with the kids enjoying the much reduced school time compared to traditional school for the same amount of content. The pattern of sailing throughout the New South Wales coast saw many overnight passages as distances between safe
24
anchorages were in the order of 100-150nm and the winds were quite variable in direction. We found a good rhythm of leaving around lunch time sailing through the night and arriving in the morning. This seemed to be the least taxing on us, was good for the kids as they slept through a large part of the journey and had us arriving in daylight hours with time to explore. There are many other places that provide safe harbor but with a vessel with a 2.4m draft and a healthy respect for bar crossings we skipped many locations that would otherwise have been lovely to explore in a different boat. At the end of the day every yacht is a compromise and a deep draft is our compromise for our tall rig and relatively fast passage speeds. Once a good weather window opened Allusive slipped the lines from Coffs and sailed the 75nm to Iluka where the crew spent the next week testing the pubs and cafes at both Iluka and Yamba, having sundowners with fellow yachties and even being interviewed by Robbie Standaloft’s (SV Iluka) youtube channel. Another overnight sail found us passing through the famed Gold Coast Seaway at sunrise which was an eye opener for all with vessels large and small belting through the seaway at full speed in the midst of surfers paddling from the south side to the north side of the seaway to reach the famed South Straddie surf breaks. We anchored Allusive in Bum’s Bay next to Seaworld and spent the next few weeks surfing, exploring the Broadwater region and hitting the theme parks. Being able to slow down and enjoy the warm weather was probably the marker for the feel of the trip changing from a large delivery to a true holiday.
Having just got into the holiday spirit a few issues needed to be addressed with Allusive so a trip to Boatworks was inserted into the adventure and the crew spent three or four long and tiring days on boat work. For anyone who hasn’t seen the Boatworks facility it is a phenomenal place with every possible trade on site, beautiful amenities, a cafe and a number of picturesque barbeque areas. Feeling significantly poorer the boat was dropped back into the water and we motored the way downriver past the multi-million dollar mansions of the Broadwater. In the interest of brevity stops along this stretch
