Our flight to Hamilton Island left Sydney at 9 am, taking us via Brisbane and arriving at the island at 1.15 pm. Most of the people on the plane seemed to be in some way involved in race week, most likely mainly crew arriving to join up with their boats.
The organisation at the airport was pretty slick, and we had our baggage and were on our way to the Whitsunday Apartments in around 15 minutes. Our apartment is very roomy and looks over Catseye Beach.
View from our Balcony (unfortunately it is low tide)
Once settled in, I gave Steve a call to find out what the plan was for the rest of the day. We are the last of the crew to arrive and the plan is to take the boat out at 4pm to practice setting the spinnaker, as it hasn't been up for quite a while. There are 9 of us on board.
With an hour or so to fill in, we head back to the marina precinct to get lunch (there is a free shuttle bus that runs every 7 mins). All of Front Street is closed to vehicle traffic, and is already very busy, with people wandering around, eating and shopping. You can't go to Hamilton Island without having the famous fish and chips ( and fighting off the cockatoos and seagulls obviously live off the tourists). The food is as good as ever and sitting as far away from the waterfront as possible affords some protection from the marauding birds.
Just after 3pm, we head around to marina arm F , where our boat, Salacia , is berthed. Salacia is a J160, (16m J Boat), that Steve and Cyndy purchased in the USA a few years ago and took a year off to sail her back to Australia. It is a beautiful boat.
After a bit of time spent setting up the rigging for the spinnaker, and waiting for the tide to come in a bit more to give us enough depth to get out without any problems, we head out of the harbour. The breeze is very light, 5-6 knots, so ideal for having a bit of practice with the spinnaker without too much drama.
Once North of Dent Island we raised the kite with no dramas and continued to practice putting it up and retrieving it until everyone had worked out their role. Even in the very light breeze we got up to 5 knots.
There were lots of other boats also out sharpening up their skills, including quite a few very well known ones.
The light wind soon became no wind, so we headed back to the harbour, enjoying a well earned beer along the way.
Steve at the helm
It was then back to Steve's apartment, overlooking the marina, to have a few drinks, dinner and then watch the Bledisloe Cup. I decided to go into town to get some beer for tomorrow, but should have known better. During race week, the bottle shop closes at 5pm, forcing thirsty sailors to drinks at the pub and many other bars set up for the occasion.
Anyway, we had a great meal at the apartment, prepared by the ladies, and settled in to watch the Bledisloe cup. By half time, we were fast losing interest and at the 60 minute mark, we turned off the TV and decided to have an early night.
Tomorrow is our first race, which will take us around the Molle Islands. We are sailing in Cruising Division 1. The forecast is for light winds, so it is going to be a long day, and the tide will play a crucial role, as the tidal flow here is quite strong. At least it should be with us in the morning, but we will be sailing into the tide once we round the Molle Islands.
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