Myora New Year 2011

 Rainbow Myora

 Zena and Zeus our "Z"-( I require a tug) code cushions purchased on a trip to the National Maritime Museum in Sydney last September.

 Sunset Myora

 Sunset Myora

 Our Christmas Lights!

 Morning at Myora

Myora Anchorage

After a very wet few weeks (Monsoonal) over Christmas we waited patiently for the weather to improve before finally setting sail for Myora (Western coast of North Stradbroke Is) on Wednesday Dec 29 2010. The day was grey with winds gusting to 36 knots from the South and at one stage I noticed we were travelling at 10.7 knots through the water. Yee Ha! We stayed at Myora for 5 days returning via a short stop at Green Is on Monday 3 January 2011. At Myora we caught up with friends Rod and Sue and family on their Lavranos 56 Etosha and Chris and Sue on their Adams 31 Noahs Ark. Lion Rampant had festive lights this year and looked very pretty after sunset. A new experience for us was a fresh water swim at Myora Springs. Delightful. We only returned to Manly because we ran out of fresh food and clothes!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy New Year!!

Brisbane has been all rain, rain, rain for ages now. We have not let this stop us from going out on the boat though. We were out a couple of weekends ago and had a range of weather from sunny at Horseshoe to storms with thunde and lightning which drove us down to Caniapa for the night and than an overcast Sunday at horseshoe where we met up with Craig and Luci fron Pabati. Last weekend we went out in company with Skimmer and aluminium Sayer yacht. A very pretty yacht with a superb open plan fitout down below. We were impressed and surprised when we discovered it was aluminium.
After boxing day we are hoping that the weather improves so that we can take off in the boat for a week. Doesn't look promising so far.

Blakesleys Cruise

At last the weather was good for a weekend cruise. Winds were from the ESE so we sailed to Blakesleys setting off early Saturday morning arriving at around 9:15AM. Blakesleys is a small sandy beach between Dunich and Canaipa on the Western shore of North Stradbroke Island. The WMYC cruising group arrived at lunch time and we joined them for a chat on the beach with sundowners later on Rob and Annette's boat 'White Star'.

The picture above is all that is left of a wrecked yacht on a sandbank adjacent to Blakesleys. The picture below shows what it looked like back in May 2010.

Back in the water tomorrow!

Lion Rampant will return to the water tomorrow. We felt quite lost not being able to use her this last weekend.

Lion Rampant Repairs!

Lion Rampant being launched with the new paint job last December.

Lion Rampant will be slipped next Tuesday for new antifoul. Should be back in the water by the following weekend.

Perulpa Bay

'Intrigue' at anchor

Roast Pork

The Cobb Barbeque (a recent boat acquisition) was used to cook roast pork and roast chicken! Food seems to be an important part of our boating.

Perulpa Bay is a great anchorage in a Winter westerly!
Had another great weekend cruising around Moreton Bay.

Jessica Watson Welcome Home

Day 3 - The next day we sailed Lion Rampant back down the coast to Manly in 20 to 25 knot SW winds. This trip took 12 hours as we were beating into it most of the way. The crew for this trip was Sally, Martin and Jacqui Valk. It was freezing cold even with mutiple layers under wet weather gear so I will be buying some thermals before next weekend!! Jacqui seems to love extremely windy sailing and had me laughing till I cried at one stage.

Ella's Pink Lady outside Mooloolaba Yacht Club

Indigenous welcome!

Lady Margaret

Ella's Pink Lady coming into the Marina

Ella's Pink Lady surrounded by the welcoming flotilla!

Jacqui Valk

Trevor Hill on his boat Apriori in which he recently completed the Solo Trans Tasman Race placing first monohull. With Trevor are Jen Wilks and Chris Spurgeon.

Martin showing his pink bits! All crews and welcoming crowds made a huge effort to wear something pink to welcome Jessica.

Jessica's secret rig?

Police escort! I have only ever been offered one of these twice when pulled over for misdemeanours!!

Kate Greenwood

Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady sailing up the coast from Caloundra.

Day 2 - On the Sunday Jessica was due to arrive in her yacht Ella's Pink Lady at around 12:30 so we set off at around 9am to sail down the coast towards Caloundra to meet her. The wind was SW at around 20 to 30 knots. We joined a large flotilla of around 50 boats to sail with Jessica up the coast. She was also accompanied by police boats and helicopters. Large groups of people lined the shore to see her sail past. It was a stunning spectacle to see all the boats zipping around Jessica's yacht. Our crew for this day was Sally and Martin plus Kate Greenwood, Lady Margaret and Jacqui Valk.

Lady Margaret, Chris Spurgeon and Kate Greenwood.

Glasshouse Mountains between Bribie and Caloundra!

Kate's extraordinary Duck salad and necessary accompaniments!
Photo Chris Spurgeon

Sally, Lady Margaret and Martin.
Photo Chris Spurgeon

Early morning departure from the marina at Manly for the sail up to Mooloolaba on the first day. Photo Chris Spurgeon

Lion Rampant and her crew have just had a wonderful weekend. Friday evening we stayed on the boat in the marina so that we could set off at first light to sail up from Bisbane to Mooloolaba. We had NW to SW winds of 10 to 20 knots which made it a fabulous spinnaker ride for a lot of the way up the coast. The trip took us 9 hours. Our crew for the trip up to Mooloolaba were Sally, Martin, Margaret (Lady Margaret), Kate Greenwood and Chris Spurgeon.