Day 1: 26 December – Leaving Sydney
Arrived at the boat in the morning and packed the boat. After lunch at the marina we left and set sails outside Chinamans beach. Sailed out through the heads and turned north towards Pittwater. A great sail with sunshine and warm weather. Arrived at Iron ladder beach in time for dinner after 5 hours sailing.
18 nm, Wind ENE 15-23 knots and a 4-6.5 knot speed under sails. A couple of tacks, one east past long reef and one east past Careel headland
Day 2: 27/12 – Sunday: Broken bay
We headed off from the anchorage at 11.30 after a lovely sunny morning. Motored north into the channels towards Brisbane waters. A narrow channel and keeping within the channel markers is a must for us with a keel. There was a strong tidal current.
We went to Hardy’s bay where we anchored for lunch and a swim. Took a tour of the bay in the dinghy. Decided to leave before low tide and headed back out at 14.25. This time we choose the channel outside Ettalong beach which was interesting with lots of moored boats, small craft and people swimming to get to the shallow sand in the middle of the bay.
Back out again and set sails to sail to Pittwater and check anchorage for the night. The wind was light and made for a lovely potter about under sails. Lots of swell and wind coming off Barrenjoey headland so we decided to sail back to Iron ladder beach for the night.
We went for a swim from the beach and had an early night as tomorrow we head north for our passage to Port Stephens.
