Sailing around the World ( Presently in Hamilton Island, The Whitsunday Islands, Australia. )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Tue 3 Aug 2010 22:32
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TUESDAY 3rd AUGUST
2010 ( Lorna O'Driscoll's Birthday ,, Sister
)
We had a very windy night, the boat nearly tore
away from the marina a few times during the night.
We had a good few emails, and it was graet to hear
from Marion in Germany again, minding her horses and collecting the
hay
on her farm, well done Marion,
The skipper had a long chat with Hugh
Gibson on the mobile today, Hugh is a great guy on a boat and very easy
company, always
in good humour and full of the joys of life,
It cheered the skipper up no end.........
08.00hrs, A Nick Cox ( Hans on ) , a well
known sailor from around here and has sailed in Cork Week, came aboard to wish
us well
and have a chat and a cup of coffee. We discussed
all sorts of things, including the good guys for fixing things, and where to
go
in these Islands...... He will be
racing in Airlie Beach week, which is followed by Hamilton Island week,
and our Dave Meagher is an
international jurour at this event,, Its great to
see the Irish get around,,,
Unfortunatly, we will be in Darwin at that
stage.....
Skipper spent some time on the phone trying yet
again to sort out the mechanical bits,, the generator , which just
stopped,
Skipper had a long chat with Aiden Clarke, who is
the main agent for Westerbeke ( Generator ) in Australia, and guess what,
he hails from Kildare .
He was a great help, as he said, we have to look
after our own.
Anyway, it seems that " Chris " can get the parts
for the E120 , which is good news if that unit can be fixed, but the SSB is
basically bolixed
and we have to get a new one,, all this
will be done when we get to Airlie Beach, ( Abel Point Marina
)
13.00.hrs We all piled into the buggy and did
a tour of the Island, First , we went to the very top of the Island and admired
the fantastic views
from there, the weather was very good and
visability was excellent, of course we had lots of photo's taken
.....
The Island has a great collection of White
parrots,, they are everywhere, and make lots of noise.
We then drove ( all very short trips ) to the main
resort on the island, it is owned, as is everything on the Island, by " Bob
Oatly "
He has a super Maxi Yacht parked on the marina next
to us called " Wild Oats" she is 100ft long and
has won the Sidney / Hobart race 4 times in a
row,,, Her mast is so high, it makes us look like shrimps next
door.
16.00hrs, We then drove to the driving range, one
of those where you drive the balls into a lake, but could you imagine this, the
Langer
at the desk said he had no
balls,,, ( well we couldent be consoled )
Later , we had a G & T in the fantastic Yacht
Club before returning to the boat in chilly conditions to cook the
corned beef and cabbage,,, it was all very
good and we listened to the O'Riellys son " Hugh " and his merry musical group
play on
Mary's Ipod... all excellent.
We had an early night,
Thats it for today,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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