Well I finally have something exciting to write about after sitting in Bundaberg for over a month. I have more detailed writing that I will post on the website ASAP but for now I am at an internet café and just wanted to get out a quick (that will likely turn out to be long message!).

I left the Burnett Heads on Christmas day and sailed a nice overnight sail to the Sandy Strait at Fraser Island (you can check the satellite tracker on the website for positions). The first anchorage was a little rough so I just took a nap after sailing all night and then moved to a more protected spot. I got word of another traveler here in OZ looking to crew on the boat so for the first time I took a passenger on for only a few bucks to help cover my expenses (this turned out to be a blessing later). We sailed the Sandy Straits for a few days finding some great anchorages and then headed out Wide Bay Bar the day before New Years Eve to get south down to Mooloolaba. A few miles offshore a toggle that connects the Roller furler and forestay to the foredeck chain plate broke and the entire forestay disconnected. I thought we were going to loose the mast. I had Alan (the crew) hold the helm and keep us down wind to take stress off of the mast while I hand furled the jib onto the stay, and then jury rigged a spinnaker halyard as a forestay, plus put a rolling hitch on the furled jib and winched it to the windlass to get it under control and reinforce the mast. I just couldn’t get it secure, as I would have liked considering there was about 4 to 5 ft seas and squalls at the time. It did however hold as we motor sailed under triple reefed main (it was triple reefed when the forestay broke to begin with so the head of the main sail wasn’t above the lower stays therefore not stressing the rig too much). The cause of the break appears to be corrosion and stress, more on that in another update. Another blessing was meeting “Pirate Ned” and his wife, Aussie Sailors from Tin Can Bay, just south of Fraser Island. After a great New Years anchored together they lent us their boat slip and pointed us in the right direction for parts so the repairs were completed quickly (replaced the toggle with a shackle that seems even better than the old toggle but I’ll have to email James for an opinion).

After the repair we had a great down wind sail all the way to Mooloolaba, its really nice here, a little touristy but short walk to food, internet, VERY nice beach with showers etc… Again, I’ll be updating in more detail on www.SailingSalsa.com but wanted to let everyone know that I’m OK, if you want to here more on this passage you’ll have to check the website in a week or so. Spent New Years with a bon fire drinking cheap wine on a sandy island with great new friends; actually the island is NOTHING but sand and even disappears at high tide!! I plant to sail on to Brisbane as soon as I get a decent weather window arriving in roughly 5 to 10 days.

Hoping everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!! -Kirk

Filed under: sailing

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!