Te Moana took advantage of the 4 day Easter weekend to visit Port Stephens in the company of Diomedea and Reliance. We also had the pleasure of Bill Rathmell's company (Amadeus).Good Friday looked like a challenging day with forecast southerly winds of 20-30 knots. We set off at 0645 and by mid morning the Southerly was doing a good job keeping us on our toes.
Maximum observed GPS speed on Temoana was 13.8 knots surfing down a wave. No photos-we were too busy sailing! We arrived safely in Newcastle mid afternoon, followed in later by Diomedea. Reliance had gone straight on to Port Stephens.
We spent a comfortable night at the Newcastle marina (the dry dock was silent for the Easter weekend). We had planned to stay for lunch on Saturday but decided to depart at 1130 after, ahem, encouragement from the marina manager.
The leg to Port Stephens was less exciting than Friday's but still a solid sail as can be seen from the pictures of Diomedea. We met up with Reliance and dropped anchor at Collette, followed by a very good dinner on board Diomedea.
On Sunday, Te Moana made up for the missed Newcastle lunch by having an excellent lunch at the Anchorage - recommended. Monday 0600 we departed for home, motorsailing all the way.
There are currently an amazing number of bulk coal ships at anchor between Newcastle and Sydney. I would estimate 50-60 ships in all. We arrived back at the RPAYC marina at dusk after what was both an exciting ansd restful weekend.
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