We have been much surprised by the abundance of weather along the Queensland Coast. Winds have been strong or stronger, with lots of cloud (though not much rain), driven by large slow-moving high pressure systems which are currently tracking much further south than normal at this time of year, leading to boisterous weather around here. This is a typical day at sea:

 

 

We are heading upwind, inevitably, under staysail (small jib flown from the inner forestay, and acting as our storm jib). The staysail replaces our larger doubled reefed genoa after the wind reaches a constant 25 kts. It requires extra removeable backstays to keep the mast straight, so there is a bit more rope to play with in the cockpit. As you can see in the picture quite a bit of water comes on deck, as winds of that strength are usually accompanied by waves of a metre or more which we have to punch through. Whitsunday Island in the background, not looking at all like the pictures in the brochures. Our guest Louise took it all in her stride, was never seasick but sometimes terrified.