Sydney to Melbourne March 2023
After many months of searching for the right boat, Keith chose Hamamas (pigeon for friend) as the boat to buy. He motored her from Newcastle to Pittwater where she underwent a standing rigging upgrade prior to me meeting up with Keith and his friend Tim who was to join us for the voyage to Melbourne. Unfortunately Tim soon succumbed to the mal de mere and so we pulled into Sydney harbour with the intention that if he got over it, and took some anti sea sickness medication hopefully he would be alright. Unfortunately plan A went to plan B and next stop was Port Hacking where we dropped poor Tim off to catch the train home.
Keith and I continued South and despite a few issues with the motor and fuel got to Eden and feeling confident continued on knowing there would be some strong winds in 36 hours time but planned to reach Refuge Cove for shelter. The heavy weather arrived sooner than forecast and with the strong winds and big seas, we lost our motor (air in the line) and the mainsail as despite having two reefs, it shredded around the second top batten. We managed to anchor off Rabbit Is for the night and with renewed energy fixed the motor and with the one remaining serviceable sail (genoa) proceeded to Melbourne where we arrived the following day.
The journey did have its challenges and I think Keith got a little disheartened but in reality, there is a list of jobs which once worked through will result in a wonderful comfortable cruising yacht for Keith and his family to enjoy. I thank Keith for his great assistance along the way and wish them many wonderful sunsets in the future
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