Noon position: 19 11.8 S 146 57.4 E
Course ESE Speed 4 knots
Wind: NE, F3 - gentle breeze
Sea: slight Swell: nil
Weather: sunny, warm
Day's run: 16 nm sailed, 9 miles made good

Our short stop over in Townsville was well worth the effort. I caught up with brother Michael, his partner Tonia, and niece Kaylah on Friday evening at a local pub for dinner, just in the nick of time before Michael and Tonia departed early the next morning for a holiday in Tasmania. Saturday and Sunday I spent doing the usual chores while in harbour - victualling, topping up water tanks and doing the laundry. Also on Saturday I took the opportunity of removing the starboard aft lower shroud and shortening it by one thimble length. I then stretched it out between a couple of cleats on the dock with a come-along overnight, then reinstalled it on Sunday. Now there is plenty of scope on the bottle screw to tension the stay further if needed.

On the social side, a pleasant surprise for the weekend was meeting John and Siv from Elliston again. Coincidentally, their boat was berthed on the marina directly opposite Sylph. Initially I did not recognise them but I eventually made the connection that they had invited me to their place for dinner when we visited Elliston in February last year and I recalled that I had been very impressed with Siv's landscape paintings. While we only had very limited opportunities to swap stories, it was nice to see them again. They are also heading south so we might bump into each other down the track a ways.

With social duties complete and Sylph fully provisioned, this morning we departed Breakwater Marina, topping up our fuel tanks at the fuel dock on the way out.

The forecast is for E to NE winds until Saturday, when a southerly change is due to come through. NE'lies will make for good sailing down the coast though the course out of Cleveland Bay is NE so we have spent the forenoon tacking our way out of the bay. We will be rounding Cape Cleveland very soon and once around this headland we should be able to make the next headland, Cape Bowling Green, 22 miles to the ESE of Cape Cleveland, on the one tack. From there, with a little luck, we will be altering course to the SE to make for the Whitsunday Group and should be able to ease sheets for a close reach, a fast and relatively comfortable point of sail.

My plan is to make the most of the fair winds as long as they last and as long as I can stay awake. We shall see how far we get. Our mission - to make it to Adelaide in time for Christmas.

All is well.