Eden

Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Thu 30 Dec 2010 10:43
37:04.40 S
149:54.14 E

An early departure in the dark after a happy evening with old friends - not a good combination, but they had forecasted those North Easterlies so we went anyway. Shortly after departure it seemed that Merel had caught the Southport Bug after all. Not a happy tummy. Zapped from energy she spent most of the day in her bunk with Geoff doing watches like a single handed sailor. The wind had nothing from the North in it, on the contrary it was on the nose, with in the morning quite a big swell. Luckily that abated in the afternoon and with the aid of the mainsail we managed to motor a a good 8 - 9 knots. We reached Eden just on dusk, not light enough to see what it is like - the impression is a cute sleepy town, lovely calm anchorage. At the end of the day Merel's bug seemed to have dissipated. And after some food the energy slowly came back. This means that we probably will make the dash for Tasmania tomorrow. They are still talking about these Northerlies and we would like to use them to sail across the Bass Strait. It is an odd 300 miles to Wineglass Bay and that should only take us one overnight. This means that we will not catch a glimpse of Paradise. Ah well, there is always Wineglass Bay waiting on the other side!

Cheers from Geoff & Merel