Beer and Skittles

Had a real ride down the Mary River with the tide pushing our girl along at 10 knots SOG (Speed over ground) at some stages with only one engine going. Plenty of boats upriver including “Maripi’s” big sister – a Prout 45 “Omazey” (Mal and June). Prout is a world famous British design for offshore cats with the record of nil loss at sea and the first catamaran to round Cape Horn. Their masts are well aft creating a highly manageable rig with the drive coming from the large headsail. As for “Maripi” – her design has been well proven having completed 16 Brisbane to Gladstone races with no forced retirements.
It is not always beer and skittles as ours is definitely an adventure and contrasts of experiences are all important if not guaranteed. You start to get used to the smell of roses when they are always in the room! So, after leaving the relative shelter of Mary River we entered once again into the Great Sandy Straits only to experience less than pleasant conditions with rain squalls reducing visibility and calling for a change of plans for our anchorage for the night. It took 3 shots at securing a good footing in steeply shoaling water rising from 15 metres deep to nothing in no time, with a ripping tidal flow making life difficult. Now combine this with whinging pom who takes it upon himself to try to tell me where to anchor and exactly how to go about it with cries from his boat as I was just doing same!!!! Arhhhh – give me 45 knots on the nose in the middle of Bass Strait any day instead of that!!!! So here we are in Kingfisher Bay, Fraser Island in a sloppy anchorage with Captain Pugwash as our neighbour and 10 other boats seeking what shelter can be gained.
On the “beer and skittles” side, Alana cooked a great stir fry washed down with bourbon and coke. She and Noah are sound asleep and I am about to watch an Austin Powers movie. God is good (but he continues to test us with the bloody Poms)!!!