Heading South to Sydney – Lagoon 40
Fire up the sails…
In the early hours of late October a southerly stung the spring air as the three crew members started their voyage. It was 4:30am on Tuesday and although the wind wasn’t yet in their favour they had a keen eye on the conditions and had faith it would turn their way.
As black turned to blue, the boys set the headsail rounding Tweed Heads. It wasn’t until Cape Byron, around lunchtime, when a neat northerly allowed them to set the main and Code Zero.
From then on the Lagoon 40 sped up to a consistent 8 kts in 12kts of wind, Lagoons can sail quick.
As the sun settled on the horizon it was like a fireball burning through the Code Zero. It was then when the boys decided to tuck her away for the night as a safety measure.
With bushfires in full pursuit t
Mesmerising lights
The wind died overnight only to pick back up to 15-20kts over Wednesday.
Over the course of the trip the men ate, in Rowans words “male food”, simple meals like ravioli and the like. 4pm lay grace to cheese and biscuit hour with a ration of one beer each.
Night time navigation got hairy around Newcastle with ships coming and going, it was time the boys put their collision regulation knowledge to the test.
The highlight of the trip was admiring the glistening ocean in the dark as trails of light streamed in the vessels wake.
As pods of dolphins splashed off the bow the phosphorus light beamed like torpedos charging towards the hulls.
On Thursday morning the thick smoke made navigating difficult. All crew members had to be on high alert, unable to spot a 800ft ship until it was a mere 3.5 miles away.
They pulled back offshore for visibility and to steal some wind until it completely died down.
Sydney heads was a welcome site with wind picking back up heading towards Middle Harbour and finally dropping sail at Castle Rock.
Docking in Clontarf for some viewings before heading back up to Pittwater.
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