Riding the East Australian Current From Mooloolaba to Sydney (Pittwater)

The sail from Mooloolaba to Sydney (520nm, 830 miles, 960 km) was rather uneventful. Conditions were light, but the East Austarlian Current which some of you may remember from the Pixar movie "Finding Nemo" gave us a fast ride down.

A fellow traveler on the East Australian Current

And his cousins as depicted by Disney (Finding Nemo)

At night the waters are clearly full of plankton as there is an unusual amount of bio-luminescence. It makes the bow-wave and the surrounding waves light up so brightly we could just about read a book. Sea creatures (dolphins, fish etc.) also were beautifully visible as they swam around us.

The bow wave... (here with flash)

... lights up electric blue as the boat moves through it.

As conditions are pretty calm, the crew is put to work to finish off some of the maintenance that we had started in Mooloolaba.

In calm conditions, the crew is put to work (polishing)

We take a break when we get some visitors

Not everyone is taking cleaning duties totally serious!

Jet enjoys a "clean with a view" as she tackles some of the stainless steel.

We only made one stop along the way in Coffs Harbour. We would have liked to make more stops, but we were in a bit of a rush to get to Sydney before New Year's eve.

Coffs Harbour
Coffs Harbour is a small sea-side town about 280nm (450 miles, 520km) North of Sydney. In Coffs Harbour we held an in-promptu Whitbread Race renunion. Mark Willett flew into town from Melbourne with his son Fergus. By sheer coincidence Bert Visser sailed into port on board Pinta-M on their way down to participate in the Sydney-Hobart Race. All three sailed on Dutch entries in the 1985-86 Whitbread Race.

Mark had brought some surfboards and  lots of enthusiasm. Despite the water temperature getting fresher now that we have left the tropics, Mark and Fergus gave several surfing lessons to Jet and Hein. They have a little way to go before they can ride Maverick back home in California, but it was fun to move from boogie to surf boards.

As Mark joined us South, Judith had a welcome break from night watches, which are not here favourite thing in life! Coming down the coast we were overtaken once every two hours by huge bulk carriers on their way to Newcastle. Off Newcastle we were astonished by the 60+ enormous bulk cargo carriers waiting their turn to be loaded up with raw materials (filthy coal :( ) before heading back North to support China's economy.

To the childrens' delight Mark wears Judith's pink glasses to do some bosun's work.

Left to Right: Fergus, Ewout, Hein, Eltjo, and Mark

It is that male bonding thing

Who is to blame?

Pittwater
Mark directed us into Pittwater, a beautiful Bay off the Northern suburbs of Sydney. We stayed at both the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and then moved over to the Royal Motor Yacht Club. Each had great facilities, but the RMYC had the bonus of a pool and a laundry which makes any stay more fun. As soon as we tied up Tony and Judy in the neighbouring slip started feeding us copious quantities of Xmas cake (almost as good as my mum's). What a delight!

Judith is very disciplined about keeping the children progressing through the Calvert School program. However, Ewout thinks she may have overdone it when she and Jet completed a double helping of school on Xmas day! Will she ever live this down?

Father Xmas had some difficulty finding Bravado, but Jet came to the rescue with home made gifts:

• Ewout: A 12 volt socket that Ewout gave to Jet last Xmas, but which he never got round to installing in her cabin. In the accompanying poem Father Xmas didn't mince his words (ouch!).
• Hein: Hein makes himself a calendar every year. He usually starts next year's calendar by July of the current year. Jet made him a couple of pages for a 2010 calendar, just in case he wouldn't finish on time.
• Eltjo: Eltjo isn't the tidiest Bravado crew member. Jet gave him a coupon for a bunk tidy-up session.
• Judith: A coupon for a pedicure session with Jet (Do we detect some self-interest here?)

The weather was a little cold and rainy as the remnants of a tropical cyclone crossed over us. This meant we spent a lot of time indoors. We were entertained however by watching Charlie Chaplin's classic "Modern Times" and several episodes of Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" a documentary/drama about the volunteers of the Sea Shepherd Coservation Society. With their ship, the  "Steve Irwin" (named after the "Australia Zoo" founder), they harass the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters.

For New Year's Eve we will move 20nm (32 miles, 37km) down the coast to Sydney Harbour proper.