The plan was to leave Harwood on Sunday morning and sail to Brushgrove, enjoy Jan and Col's hospitality Sunday evening. They generously offered to put on a BBQ for us all. Then sail on up to Grafton on Monday and back to Brushgrove via Ulmarra. Overnight again at Brushgrove and back to base on Tuesday. However it didn't work out that way...
There were 3 starters, Rob White sailing solo on his Hartley 16 Ally Oop, Lea Foster on her 25 ft trailer sailer with Gary McKenzie and Todd Bleech crewing and I had Little Dragon with Cathy Jones crewing. Rob set off from BRSC as Ally Oop gets under the Harwood Bridge. Lea and I launched on the other side of the bridge at the Harwood Hilton ramp.
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| Little Dragon becalmed at Brushgrove |
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| Ally Oop and Keylargo also becalmed at Brushgrove |
We were heading up river against an ebb tide. Most of the time there was no wind. It was stinking hot. When a puff of wind did come it went all round the compass. So we all alternated motoring with some very frustrating sailing. Fortunately there was about half an hour or so of stable light wind on the last lap up to Brushgrove. We had a bimini but the others hadn't on the Sunday and they were all pretty cooked on arrival.
Jan and Col gave us all icy cold drinks before the BBQ and we gradually cooled down and enjoyed a very pleasant evening. Hariet dropped in on her way back from sailing in a regatta at Grafton. Thanks Jan and Col. |
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| Gary McKenzie and Rob White on Monday under their boom tent |
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| Lea Foster's Keylargo with Todd Bleech at the helm on Monday. Note the bimini |
The two photos above show both Keylargo and Ally Oop had sorted out shade protection for the following day. We looked at the weather forecast for Monday, in summary even hotter and even less wind. So we decided to abandon sailing further up river to Grafton and turn round and head back down river with the tide to lunch at Maclean and then on to our respective ramps at Harwood.
As forecast there was no wind in the morning and Keylargo and I motored all the way to Maclean. Ally Oop tried valiantly to sail the last section but admitted over lunch that it was hopeless. After lunch a reasonable SE set in and we beat down river to the ramp at Harwood and at least reminded ourselves that we are sailors.
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| Pam's crew Cathy Jones and yes we had a bimini both days thank goodness |
We ended up pledging to do it all again - maybe when it is a bit cooler and maybe downriver next time. Despite everything I am glad we gave it a go.
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| Far, far too much motor sailing |
