13/08/2012 / Northstar / Kate & Matt

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Around the World

Glorious Hardy Reef – “you never disappoint”

August 10, 2017Cruising Log Friday 4th August, we head over to Hardy Reef, the water is flat and a breeze but we do get a sail on the screecher for about an hour, racing whales again along the way. We arrived at the “waterfall” entrance at about 2.30 p.m. We had to wait til 4.00 […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

24/05/2016/Sail East Malaysia Rally

We left Australia on our Lightwave 38 PSYCHO PUSS about a year ago and joined the wonderful Sail2Indonesia rally out of Cairns. We spent four months in Phuket Thailand and are now on the Sail East Malaysia Rally. We are having the experience of our lives and love our Lightwave! Cheers Rod & Heather.

Pacific Islands and Asia

10/08/2015/ Lightwave 45/ Gemini Lady

Ever wanted to do the Sail Indonesia Rally? Tim & Lea from Lightwave 45 GEMINI LADY are living the dream! Saturday July 25 We debated whether or night to wait a couple of days for wind but in the end we decided to head off at the official start which this year coincided with high […]

Australia

30/4/15 Spy Panda Lightwave 38

This last week we hauled out “Spy Panda” at The Boat Works to anti-foul the hull and props and to have the engines and saildrives serviced prior to our trip to Townsville in June. Geoff did the painting for the hulls with help from Naomi’s father, Rod for the hardest part of preparing the hulls […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

17/10/2013 / Gemini Lady / Tim & Lea

Catching up with LW cruisers, living the dream, is one of our favourite things to do! Always inspiring is their spirit of adventure, and courage to live the dream! Pictured here, LW45 owners Tim & Lea returning from their 5 month Pacific Island cruising voyage & LW38 owners, Rob & Henma on their way South […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

21/05/2013 / Skedaddle / Greg & Janie

Correction! Noumea!! Bon Voyage and happy sailing in company LW45 SKEDADDLE & LW45 GEMINI LADY http://www.sailblogs.com/member/skedaddle/

Pacific Islands and Asia

21/05/2013 / Gemini Lady / Tim & Lea

Bon Voyage LW45 GEMINI LADY sailing with LW45 SKEADADDLE to Vanuatu. Follow their sailblog at http://geminiladyblog.wordpress.com/

Australia

31/03/2013 / LW Raider / Roger & crew

Not quite America’s Cup action, especially in the light conditions, the LW Raider racing in the 2013 AYS Brisbane to Gladstone Ocean Race http://vimeo.com/m/75356946

Australia

10/12/2012 / Brahminy / Kerry & Col

It’s daybreak on a somewhat unremarkable former military bombing range a day’s sail south-west of Darwin. Brahminy sits motionless in the mirror-calm conditions a stone’s throw from the beach as we dinghy in to check out what’s been happening on the beach overnight. Luck is with us! A multitude of tiny tracks leading to the […]

Australia

30/11/2012 / Red Undies / Judi & Ken

Life as a Lightwave 38 Sailing Catamaran When my owners first came to the nursery to pick a new baby, they had very firm ideas on how they wanted me to look. They had chosen Lightwave based on my good looks and the fun experiences they had enjoyed sailing another member of my family, Inn […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

30/11/2012 / Allikat 11 / John & Pam

ALLIKAT II – THE LOUISIADES RALLY 2012 As the sun rises, sandy coral atolls emerge from the indigo blue of the Coral Sea and the colour of the water lightens to turquoise and aqua – Duchateau Islands and the Louisiades beckon and the adventure begins! From the moment the anchor drops in the crystal clear […]

Australia

24/10/2012 / Billaroo / Kerry & Susan

Just had a fantastic week in the Whitsundays with friends from NZ whom we sailed in company with on our world travels. In total we had six circumnavigators on board and so we were very nervous about putting the boat on a sand bank or rocks as we would look pretty useless with all that […]

Australia

21/08/2012 / Out of the Blue II / Chris & Lyn

Lyn & the Ship’s Cat doing it tough in Cairns

Australia

21/08/2012 / Lightwaves in company / Kate & Andrew

Lightwave base. Lightwave base. This is LW38 Delight. Roger? Also have LW38 Muscat, LW38 Salacia & LW38 Highland Dancer. At Monte’s Resort for Shag Islet CYC annual rendevous. 2 days til official start. Nearly 50 vessels now. But no one design more highly represented. Be proud. We are.

Australia

21/08/2012 / Singing Duo / Henk & Maryanna

We have been enjoying our wonderful Lightwave Powercat, we usually cruise at about 10 to 12 knots although we have had sections where we have toddled along at 6 knots and sat up front and with the wind rushing past our ears, we hardly hear the engines and imagine ourselves with the sails up. In […]

Australia

17/08/2012 / Singing Duo / Henk & Maryanna

We have finally commenced our voyage north in ‘Singing Duo’. We are currently anchored at the Great Sandy Straights in behind Fraser Island at an anchorage known as ‘Gary’s Anchorage’. Yesterday morning a Dingo was walking along the beach so now when we go ashore, Maryanna is equipped with an ‘Anti-Dingo Extendable Tummy Tickler’. Not […]

Australia

13/08/2012 / Northstar / Kate & Matt

GOLD COAST – DARWIN NorthStar is indeed safely bedded down in Darwin!! Very relieved to have her here… Alan (professional skipper) proved to be very careful and skilled in his delivery abilities – can recommend him if you are looking for someone for other owners. The trip up was largely uneventful after the horrid weather […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

24/06/2012 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 3 May 28 – June 24 After an eventful couple of days attending the Boat Show and the Whitworths boat show sale, we readied for the midday liftout. Pam, as usual, avoided watching the actual lift. As a matter of form, all boats lifted out of the water are taken to a station where […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

05/06/2012 / Ultimate Dream / Richard & Susannah

On January 13th, 2010 Richard and I purchased our new home Ultimate Dream from previous owners Paddy and Kev and set off from Yamba for the Gold Coast. It was quite an eventful passage for us which you can read about in Multihull World Mag last year. It was here that we prepared ourselves for […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

21/05/2012 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 2 May 2 – May 26 We spent the last weekend of April on Allikat, together with our friends Allan and Ida. Allan had come to help John get the boat mobile. After only four to five weeks on the mooring, we had noticed that there was an issue with the propulsion power on […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

28/10/2011 / Muskat / Nils

LW45 MUSKAT owner, Nils, has just returned from Louisiades. He ran into a nasty weather system on their return but otherwise had an incredible cruise. Nils is a surgeon and participated in an organised charity rally a couple of years ago to Vanuatu were they visited to provide aid and distribute donations. This time Nils […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

05/10/2011 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 5 August 1 – October 2 After a short stint off board, visiting family in Queenstown in NZ, we were back on board to welcome our guests, Allan and Ida aboard. Two days were spent provisioning and preparing the boat (while the winds abated a little), and we finally managed to fill all the […]

Australia

20/08/2011 / Blue Spirit / Michael & Pat

Co-owners Michael, Bruce, Hugh and Leigh all sailed today in the first race of Airlie Race week (although not officially competing). They had an invigorating, exhilarating and challenging sail in 25 knot winds but clearly very much enjoyed themselves in that they pushed the boat to the limit achieving a speed of 16.5 knots with […]

Australia

17/07/2011 / LW Cap / David

Wish I had a LW, TAKE ME THERE moments! East Coast Australia Cruising with friends to Lizard Island (not on a LW) but wishing we were! At least I have a cap… Capturing a LW at Balding Bay, Magnetic Island

Australia

12/07/2011 / Mixd Nutz / Clem & Jim

We finally are Living the Dream and using Nutz the way we always wanted to. She is fabulous to be living on and we are thrilled to be cruising the Whitsundays in her at last. I will attach a favourite photo of her in Wathumba Creek behind Fraser Island, where we found a hole at […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

28/06/2011 / Allikat / John & Pam

Cruising log of second time Lightwave owners, John & Pam, on board their LW45 Grande with Trim Tabs, fitted with 180hp aside. CRUISING AGAIN AT LAST May 27 – June 28 Finally we are on our way north! Sanctuary Cove Boat Show was interesting. As usual, the weather was not the best, with some heavy […]

Australia

21/06/2011 / LW Cap / David

Wish I had a LW, TAKE ME THERE moments! East Coast Australia Cruising with friends to Lizard Island (not on a LW) but wishing we were! At least I have a cap… Newrys. East Coast Australia.

Australia

08/06/2011 / LWCap / David

Wish I had a LW, TAKE ME THERE moments! East Coast Australia Cruising with friends to Lizard Island (not on a LW) but wishing we were! At least I have a cap… Overlooking Jenny Lind Ck

Around the World

09/10/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

HOME SWEET HOME At 09.15 on Friday we crossed our original track (recorded in the log on the 16th June 2006) in Moreton Bay to complete our circumnavigation. It was a very emotional moment for both of us. In my case a lifelong dream to sail around the world and in Penny’s the realisation of […]

Around the World

06/10/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

NOUMEA TO BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA One hundred and thirty eight miles to go before we complete our circumnavigation- yeah!! Although I have a feeling the last 40 miles will be quite memorable and not for the right reasons. The weather forecast is predicting 25 knot winds from the south just as we get into Morton Bay […]

Around the World

02/10/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

NOUMEA, NEW CALENDONIA The journey from Tanna to Noumea took 3 days with an overnight stop in Lifou (Loyality islands). There was little wind so lots of motoring. New Caledonia is probably one of the most advanced economies of the South Pacific – offering an expensive array of French fashion and food and all the […]

Around the World

23/09/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

TANNA, VANUATU It’s a bit of a contrast from the holiday resorts on Fiji to the village life here on Tanna, Vanuatu. The villages surrounding our anchorage have very few amenities – no electricity, a couple of stand pipes for water in the centre of the village and bamboo and woven mat huts. But saying […]

Around the World

16/09/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ON ROUTE TO VANUATU We are on the move again, this time a 470 miles sail from Fiji to the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. So far we have had little wind and lots of motoring. Hopefully we should arrive tomorrow afternoon; again we will need to arrive during daylight as the charts seem miles […]

Around the World

03/09/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

FIJI We had an uneventful 3 day sail to Fiji with light winds and calm seas, but we did manage to sail all the way, although a little bit slowly for our liking. Our first landfall was the town of Savu Savu in Vanua Levu the second largest island of the Fiji group. It’s a […]

Around the World

19/08/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

TONGA The Kingdom of Tonga consists of over 170 islands stretching from Niuatoputapu in the north down to Nukualofa the capital in the south, 300 miles away. The country is controlled by the king whose rule is absolute. Generally the people are quite poor, noticeable by the very poor selection of goods in the shops […]

Around the World

07/08/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ON ROUTE TO TONGA We are now on route to Tonga and hope to arrive there tomorrow. We ended up extending our stay an extra week in Suwarrow as we waited for a favourable weather forecast before heading out to do the next 700 mile leg. Not that it was any hardship in staying – […]

Around the World

26/07/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SUWARROW Our anchorage here in Suwarrow will go down as one of our favourites of the four and half years we have been away. The island is so remote – the nearest inhabited island is American Samoa which is about 500 miles away. The actual atoll is quite large about 10 miles across with a […]

Around the World

21/07/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

We have been at sea now for 4 nights and still have 100 miles to go before we reach the island of Suwarrow; a remote atoll in the northern Cook islands. Although its only 685 miles from Bora Bora – it seems to have taken ages to get there, probably one of our slowest crossings […]

Around the World

14/07/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SOCIETY ISLANDS Over the last couple of weeks we have been cruising the Society Islands in French Polynesia. After leaving Tahiti we returned to Moorea to check out the dive site where you can swim with the sting rays. It was very close to where we had done the bucket diving 6 years ago with […]

Around the World

07/06/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ON ROUTE TO THE TUAMOTU & DANIEL’S BAY, NUKA HIVA We have been at sea now for 3 days and are about 40 miles from our destination, the island of Katiu in the Tuamotu’s. The island chain made famous by the French Nuclear bomb testing. Fortunately we are several hundred miles from the actual test […]

Around the World

26/06/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

TAHITI We have been really busy since we arrived in Tahiti – firstly we took part in the ‘Puddle jump’ Tahiti to Moorea sailing rendez-vous, which is sponsored by the USA magazine’ Latitude 38′ and Tahiti Tourism. It is for boats that have crossed the Pacific, known as the puddle jumpers!!! Normally there are about […]

Around the World

14/06/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

TUAMOTU Our entry in to the atoll of Kauehi in the Tuamotus was easy, we arrived at the middle of the tide with a 3 knot current running out, compared to an Australian east coast river bar it was a piece of cake. We anchored in the lagoon off a small run down village, where […]

Around the World

01/06/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

NUKA HIVA From Hiva Oa we sailed the 40 miles to Ua Hika, only to find that all the anchorages were very rolly and we couldn’t take the dingy ashore as the surf was too high. After one night there we moved straight on to Nuka Hiva the main island in the marquises. Our anchorage […]

Around the World

30/03/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

FAREWELL TO PANAMA Farewell to Panama – yeah!! After being here for 3 months we are finally leaving Panama, although our first stop is the small islands of Las Perlas, which is still part of Panama. We hope to spend a few days chilling out here before heading for the Galapagos Islands. The 40 mile […]

Around the World

15/05/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

FATU IVA Another Ocean conquered! At first light we arrived at Fatu Iva the most remote island of the Marquesas, with only 600 people living here. The scenery is stunning – towering obelisk covered in tropical rain forest; it’s like being on a film set of the Lord of the Rings. After spending 15 days […]

Around the World

12/05/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DAY 14 – SAILING THE MARQUISES Only 2 more nights to go – Yeah!! The last couple of days have been a bit trying as the wind has increased to 25knots and the seas where getting quite big. So instead of gliding along at 9 knots we have had to reduce speed to stop the […]

Around the World

09/05/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DOMINICA 2 After leaving Montserrat we parted company with Freewheel as they headed back to Antigua to get some repairs done on their boat and we sailed south to Guadeloupe; hopefully we should meet up with Julian and Anne again in the ABC islands in June. On arrival in Guadeloupe we took the opportunity to […]

Around the World

08/05/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DAY 8 – GALAPAGOS TO MARQUISES – SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN We have 1190 miles to go, with a bit of luck we should arrive in the Marquises by Thursday, subject of course to weather and no unforeseen circumstance. Our routine on board is as follows :- it starts with the evening meal just […]

Around the World

25/05/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

HIVA OA Our anchorage in Fatu Hiva, was originally called the Bay of Penises due to the towering basalt cones that surround the bay, but was renamed the Bay of Virgins by the missionaries. In the anchorage there are26 yachts most of them we know as they have come from either the Galapagos or Panama. […]

Around the World

04/05/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DAY 5 – GALAPAGOS TO THE MARQUISES – SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN Day 5 and all is well on the good ship Innforapenny. The trade winds have definitely kicked in – giving us a 15 to 20 knot wind from the south east. The only problem is the sea and the swell has increased, […]

Around the World

01/05/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DAY 2 – GALAPAGOS TO THE MARQUISES We have now been at sea for two days and we are just beginning to get into the routine – lots of reading, sleeping and keeping watch. So far we are going along nicely; although the winds have been light, 8 to 10 knot southerly breeze, we have […]

Around the World

26/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ISABELA – GALAPAGOS Isabela is the largest island in the Galapagos archipelago, but has the smallest population, only 2200 people. Most of whom live in the town of Puerto Villamil. As you can image there isn’t much of interest in town; only a few shops and cafes. There are no ATM’s, not even a bank- […]

Around the World

18/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SANTA CRUZ The marine life here is quite unique, with the convergence of three main ocean currents you get huge variation in ocean temperature and this gives rise to a rich marine environment. This we discovered on the last day on the island, when we went on a scuba dive to Kicker Rock, a large […]

Around the World

14/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SAN CHRISTOBAL 2 So much for our Sea lion protection – This morning I came up on deck to see a large sea Lion sprawled out on our cockpit cushions. The sea Lion must have tried every seat in the cockpit before he settled on the one in the corner. There was hair, snot and […]

Around the World

04/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

LEAVING THE LAS PERLAS ISLAND We are sailing along at 8 knots, with a 13 knot wind blowing and flat seas; perfect conditions for our first night at sea. We left the Las Perlas islands this afternoon and hope to arrive in the Galapagos islands in about 7 days, subject of course to weather!!. This […]

Around the World

10/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

GALAPAGOS – SAN CRISTOBEL With the help from a couple of fellow cruising boats, Bristol Rose and Inspiration lady, we anchored safely in Wreck Bay. It’s quite difficult going into an unknown anchorage at night where you have all the lights from the shore shining at you and it is difficult to see the channel […]

Around the World

08/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

FIFTH DAY SAILING TO THE GALAPAGOS We are just about to cross the equator and return to the southern hemisphere, not that we will be able to mark the occasion in any special way as Penny will still be asleep after her 5 hour night shift and I don’t think she will be too impressed […]

Around the World

04/04/10 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DAY 3 ON ROUTE TO GALAPAGOS ISLANDS We are now into our third day at sea and still have 500 miles to go before we reach the Galapagos Islands. So far it has all been uneventful, with good sailing conditions for the first day and then no wind at all for the next 18 hours. […]

Around the World

09/03/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DRAMA’S ON THE HIGH SEAS & THE TSUNAMI THAT NEVER HAPPENED Our leisurely breakfast was interrupted by the local cruising VHF channel going red hot with news of the Chilean 8.8 earth quake and the tsunami warning in our area and details of a tsunami coming our way. Since we were only anchored in a […]

Around the World

27/02/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE PANAMA CANAL The Panama Canal is an amazing engineering project, it was first started back in 1880 and after several false starts and thousands of lives lost it was finally opened in 1914. It consists of three huge locks on the Caribbean side followed by a 20 mile trip across a large manmade lake […]

Around the World

18/02/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SHELTER BAY MARINA When you are cruising never have a time scale!! We still haven’t transited the canal because we found some water in one of the sail drives and we need to lift the boat out to hopefully repair it. The plan is to have it lifted, fix the problem and then back in […]

Around the World

06/02/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CHICHIME, SAN BLAS Our time in the San Blas islands is finally coming to an end. We are booked to go through the Panama Canal on Thursday, 11th February; so we need to start heading back to Colon and start getting ready for our transit. The last month here has been absolutely wonderful. We certainly […]

Around the World

26/01/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

GREEN ISLANDS, SAN BLAS The San Blas islands are a vast archipelago on the Atlantic Panama eastern coast composed of 340 islands. The area is cut off from any road transport and nearly everything has to come in by boat or small plane. The area is inhabited by the Kuna Indians, who are physically very […]

Around the World

10/01/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ISLE LINTON From Portobello we did a short couple of hour trip to Isla Linton a shelter anchorage frequented mostly by yachties who often stay here for months at a time. One Dutchman ended up marrying a local and opening a little restaurant and has been here for 12 years. At places like this you […]

Around the World

05/01/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

PORTOBELLO Our first stop down the coast towards the san Blas islands was a 20 mile beat to windward to Portobello, which was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502. It was the main staging post for the Spanish Main and consequently it was often under attack from pirates, the most famous being Henry Morgan. […]

Around the World

04/01/2010 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SWITZERLAND What did I say about broken bones!! – on our second skiing day in Switzerland I was tearing down the slopes trying to keep up with Jack and his cousin when someone in front of me decided to suddenly change direction. I was going so fast I had no way of stopping or missing […]

Around the World

16/12/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SHELTER BAY MARINA, PANAMA It took exactly 36 hours to get from Cartagena to Shelter Bay marina in Panama – The first 14 hours we had to motor as there was no wind and then the 15 to 20 knot trade wind kicked in giving us a good sail all the way to Panama. After […]

Around the World

13/12/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CARTAGENA After a brief stop in Punta Hermosa we had a pleasant 50 mile down wind sail to Cartagena. We anchored off the Club Nautico, which is located between the two centres of Catagena. On one hand you have the modern high rise apartments and hotels running along the beach and the other the old […]

Around the World

04/12/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

RODADERO & PUNTA HERMOSA From 5 bays we moved back to civilisation with a short 15 mile sail to Rodadero, a resort area for the Colombians, lots of tall buildings, condos and water sports: a mini Gold Coast! We anchored just behind the swim buoys, but within swimming distance of the shore. It wasn’t long […]

Around the World

29/11/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

FIVE BAYS After leaving the windy anchorage of Cabo de La Vela we headed for 5 Bays – 120 miles of fast down wind sailing- It wasn’t the most pleasant of trips as the seas were lumpy with large wave sets coming through every few minutes – at least the wind dropped during the night […]

Around the World

22/11/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CABO DE LA VELA After a day of recuperation Narid, Joule and ourselves continued our journey west along the Colombian coast. One of the yachties at Monjes Del Sur had recommended Bahia Honda as a good anchorage and since it was only 56 miles away we decided to head for that. Narid was the first […]

Around the World

22/11/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

the ROCK We finally left Curacao Marine on Wednesday for a leisurely cruise along the Curacao coast to anchor the night in a small bay in the far west corner of the island in preperation for a 3.00am start the next day. Our destination was Monjes Del Sur 103 miles from Curacao which consists of […]

Around the World

13/11/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CURACOA MARINE The boat is finally back in the water after a couple of frustrating days trying to motivate the boat yard personnel to complete the work that they had been given 4 months ago. In the end Penny had to give the final coat of antifouling to the hulls, just to speed up proceedings […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

28/09/2009 / Tribal / Geoff, Andrew & crew

LW45 TRIBAL participating in the 2009 Louisiades Rally. Results statement. TRIBAL was one of the first to arrive to Louisiades, with another cat ‘Sanctuary’, out of the fleet of15. The Yorkeys to Duchateau Handicap Results are, as released at www.louisiadesrally.com:!!! ‘The BBQ at Panasia Island saw the results of the Yorkeys Knob Handicap established and […]

Australia

19/09/2009 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 4 July 31 – September 19 (extract) On our return to Magnetic Island we decided to stay in the marina to recuperate before going over to Townsville for the lift out to inspect the saildrives on September 1. We met a friendly couple on a 47 Beneteau Osiris II at the marina, Grenville and […]

Australia

14/09/2009 / Muscat 7 / Brian & Annette

STAR NOTICE! Just thought we would let you know that we have been approached by the Producer of the ‘Sea Patrol’ TV series. They will be featuring ‘Muscat 7’ skipper and deckhand in one of the series for early next year. Filming will start off Dunk Island in a couple of weeks. Nice promotion for […]

Australia

14/09/2009 / Ultimate Dream / Kev & Paddy

CRUISIN NORTH 2009. Well here we go again! We left home on the 5/8 had a lovely sail to Iluka harbour in preparation for our journey to the Gold Coast next day. Baz & Lorraine came over to us in their tinnie armed to the hilt with a lovely Coq au Vin & 2 lovely […]

Australia

11/09/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

CAIRNS TO TOWNSVILLE Had a great trip south with excellent weather. Fished and dived at Pelowe , Gilbey, 18-023 & Arab reefs. My crew friends John and Malcolm had a ball mostly fishing with a little diving and i was happy just diving and taking pics every day….+ eating those delicious fish meals..super tasty. CRUISING […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

18/08/2009 / Keshi / Greg, Leanne, Jack

ON THEIR RECENT EXPERIENCE CRUISING INDONESIA & THE SAIL MALAYSIA RALLY The Sail Malaysia rally was a great adventure and something I’d recommend for all cruisers to try. The up side was that you make lots of new friends and end up cruising in small but changing groups. The down side was that at every […]

Australia

16/08/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

HASTINGS REEF Spent 3 nights on the reef , only 24nm NE of Cairns it worked out a good anchorage in 20 knot SE trades. Dive charter boats came daily into the top and bottom of the reef and we anchored in 17meters mid reef 300 meters out so we swung back only 20 meters […]

Australia

07/08/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

MICHAELMAS REEF SAND CAY Winds have been howling up here in Cairns (21 -27 knots) but we found the large sand cay at this popular tourist spot gave us enough protection to sleep comfortably for 3 nights. Bethany enjoyed feeding the bat fish and playing on the beach and we all had fun snorkeling. Andy […]

Australia

30/07/2009 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 3 July 7- July 30 2009 John continued to work on the desalinator installation as we sailed our way up the outer reef. Our next anchorage was Fitzroy reef, a huge lagoon with a tricky dog-leg break in the reef to allow access to the calm waters of the lagoon. As we followed the […]

Australia

30/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

TURTLE BAY Such a nice spot to anchor when the winds southerly. We have had some nice days messing around Cains about with daughter Wendy and B and our good freinds the Barbers. But always lots of wind about!. ANDREW JUMPS Having healed from his whale encounter Andrew has enjoyed a 14,000 ft parachute jump […]

Australia

24/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

MILLN REEF We’ve had a few pleasant days at Dunk Is. and up the Moresby River. Weather has been more blowy, mostly around 15 -20 knot SE trades . When we reached Cains forecast was 15-25 but we were hanging out for another reef experience so we stopped over at Milln reef 30nm SE of […]

Australia

18/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

WHALE WHACKS BOY WONDER We were just 2 n. mile from Lucinda when a 10-12 me Humpback Whale was spottered. I stopped the boat in case it wanted some interaction and sure enough a couple of superb breaches and soon it was circling close to our boat….just beautiful to see. While I was contemplating dropping […]

Australia

17/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

DIVING AROUND THE PALMS The diving around the Palms is fringing reefs and although the visibility is only low at 3 – 5 meters it had a terrific array of soft corals as well as hard corals & sponges plus plenty of marine life. I used the Hookah with Greg and Brett and snorkeled with […]

Australia

16/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

CRUISING THE PALMS WITH SKEDADDLE (LW45) Have had a most pleasant few days mostly around Fantome and Curacoa Islands. Lots of socialising with Greg, Jany, Brett, Janet & Ben. Greg makes a mean beach BBQ and it was all good fun in beautifull weather. Anchorage NW of Fantome was just superb in Southerly winds.

Pacific Islands and Asia

10/07/2009 / Muskat / Nils & Mayte

Hello everyone We have just arrived in New Caledonia after two exciting months in Vanuatu. As you know, we joined the Brisbane to Vanuatu yacht rally. This rally was organised by Dr Alan Profke to address the medical and educational needs of people in the Banks Islands. For this purpose we received generous donations from […]

Australia

09/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

JEFF & ANG GO CRUISIN’ Have spent a few days enjoying the laid back style of Magnetic Island and cruised out to Wheeler & Davies reef with friends Jeff and Ang. Did a little fishing but everyone seemed more interested in the snorkeling ….which was most excellent!!

Australia

05/07/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

CRUISE/DIVE the FISH BOWL We stayed a week around Bowl & Yanky reefs about 60-65nm NE of Townsville. Superb weather 27-30c, calm seas and water temp of 23-24c. Had 7 dives and started to get the hang of handling all the new scuba gear in and out of the dingy . Its alot more cumbersome […]

Australia

26/06/2009 / Flash Dancer / -Robin & Susan

BOMMIE BUMP We took of for the outer reefs late in the day and I broke all of my golden ‘ Anchoring around reefs’rules!! traveling to fast & to close to dusk and one of the limy nasties jumped up from 30 me and clobbered poor Flash Dancer on the starboard shoal keel… just after […]

Around the World

11/06/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CURACAO I’m writing this in Curacao airport, as I sit waiting for my flight home to Sydney. Penny left last week for “down under”, to catch up with her mum who was back in hospital and leaving me to put the boat in storage for 6 months. The plan is to return in late November […]

Around the World

23/05/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

VENEZUELA From St Lucia we quickly sailed south stopping at the islands of Bequia, Union and Granada, before heading westward for 140 miles to Venezuela. It was our first overnight sailing trip since crossing the Atlantic, but fortunately we had a full moon, calm seas and 15 knots of breeze, which helped make the trip […]

Australia

16/05/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

ROCK, ROLL, RAIN REEF TRIP & LOTS OF WIND It was blowing 15-20knots and we didn’t have our sea legs as yet but we were super keen to head out to the reefs ,I was sure the winds would drop…wrong Robin. When our anchor windlass died it was return to Townsville or hang on the […]

Australia

11/05/2009 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

2009 CRUISING SEASON BEGINS! We haven’t actually cruised further than Magnetic Island as yet but we’ve been getting a lot done the last few weeks like a new long range HF radio, shifting the dingy out behind the duck board creating room to set up more 230v power and a new compressor for filling scuba […]

Around the World

25/04/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

MONTSERRAT After a week back in St Martin sorting out our damage claim we finally left the Dutch/French island. Instead of heading north west to the VBI’s, Puerto Rico and Cuba , as originally planned, we back tracked and are now heading for Venezuela and the ABC islands. Our original intention was to leave the […]

Around the World

04/04/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

There is no such thing as plain sailing when you are sailing…if you get my drift.(sorry for the pun!!).On arrival back in St Martin we spent the first week in the marina getting our second auto pilot fitted. Once it was up and running we headed across to Anguilla, a small island just north of […]

Around the World

22/03/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ST MAARTEN You are probably wondering why we haven’t updated the blog for such a long time. We decided on the spur of the moment to go home to Australia for three weeks to catch up with family and friends and of course to be at Mitchell’s first birthday party. We left the boat in […]

Around the World

15/02/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ANTIGUA We have now been in Antigua for nearly 2 weeks and it is becoming harder and harder to leave. We have met up with a really good group of cruising buddies and there always seems to be something on to stay for- a meal out, drinks on someone’s boat, a trip around the island […]

Around the World

05/02/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE PLAN This year we are cruising the Caribbean Islands and then by March head for Cuba and possibly central America. We need to be out of the hurricane area by June, when we intend to leave the boat somewhere for 6 months either Panama or the east coast of the States- we are still […]

Around the World

30/01/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DOMINICA From Martinique we headed north to Dominica, although only 25 miles apart it is totally different. There is an amazing contrast between islands from the rich French islands with all the modern conveniences, large shopping centres and proper infrastructure to the very poor ex British islands that have few facilities, hardly any tourists, and […]

Around the World

13/01/2009 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR IN THE CARRIBEAN We hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish you all a happy new year. This year we had our first Christmas with Emily in four years although we had to celebrate it on the 23rd the day before she flew back to Switzerland. We anchored around the […]

Australia

23/12/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 10 December 11 – December 23 We had allowed a month to cruise leisurely down the NSW coast, stopping off at new anchorages. Alas, it was not to be! We finally ended up with only 4 days. Firstly 10 days at Coomera and then fourteen at Coffs Harbour hadn’t exactly been factored in. The […]

Around the World

23/12/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ST LUCIA Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, but we’ve been really busy celebrating our achievement. Just in case you don’t realise we did arrive in St Lucia and although we were beaten by Snow Leopard another multihull we discovered that they had used more engine hours than us so we ended up […]

Australia

21/12/2007 / Allikat / John & Pam

ALLIKAT has safely arrived back to Sydney Harbour after an eventful 100 days to Cairns and back. Have a Joyous Christmas and Happy New Year – look forward to contact in 2008 when we are off again. Best Wishes John and Pam Wallace

Around the World

07/12/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CURRENT POSITION – Second in the multihull division, and 11th overall out of the 211 strong fleet). The last couples of days haven’t been good for us – not because of storms, rough seas, gales, pirate attacks etc but the lack of wind; the 10 to 12 knot winds have just disappeared, especially at night […]

Around the World

03/12/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

We have been at sea now for eight days and have covered 1400 miles and according to our Raymarine chart plotter we have 1450 miles to go to St Lucia. By tomorrow morning we will be half way!! Although we haven’t been getting very much wind, usually no more than 10 to 12 knots, we […]

Around the World

28/11/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CURRENT POSITION – First in the multihull division, and 17th overall out of the 211 strong fleet. Day 4 – Atlantic crossing Everyone was tired this morning after the shift pattern had been disrupted with a 2.00am sail change. We had the large spinnaker up and the wind started to increase so we didn’t want […]

Around the World

25/11/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CURRENT POSITION: First in the multihull division, and 20th overall out of the 211 strong fleet. Our first 24 hours at sea has certainly been eventful. We had an excellent start, which was no mean feat, considering there were 200 boats all trying to cross the start line at the same time; fortunately we had […]

Australia

22/11/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

8 DAYS OF PERFECT REEF WEATHER We’ve had 8 perfect days on the outer reef with amazing weather…. quite warm , very little wave action and only 5 – 15knots of E – NW winds. Susan and I had a beautiful time together exploring some new reef areas in isolation. Faraday Reef ( 4 days) […]

Around the World

11/12/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

FINAL DAY We have 125 miles to go and subject to any unforseen disasters we should cross the finish line about 04.00 UTC on the 11th December (midnight on the 10th in St Lucia, 1500 hrs on the 11th in Australia). We are now experiencing our best winds to date and we have just cracked […]

Australia

11/11/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Susan

COLI REEF -Top Spot! After much messing about around the Townsville area it was terrific to get back out to the outer reef with Susan. Gentle winds from the north meant Coil reef 63nm NE from Townsville was a beaut spot & we had wonderful diving and snorkeling with 20 me visibility. Coils a small […]

Australia

26/10/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin & crew

CORAL SEA 7 – MARLIN MAYHEM We had just had a boat full of bucking flipping tuna when the next strike felt like a truck heading for the bottom ..then up it came …a 100kg+ Black Marlin leaping out of the water in most spectacular fashion. It was very exciting and experienced Marlin fisho Geoff […]

Australia

09/10/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin & crew

CORAL SEA 5 – FLINDERS CAY What a magnificent sand cay. We anchored 400meters out from it on a sandy bottom in 6 meters of water. Such a beautiful place. On the 200me long cay there were nesting Masked & Brown Booby Birds, assorted Terns, Land hermit crabs & a few copulating Green Turtles (they […]

Australia

04/10/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin & crew

OUTER REEF STOP OVER We stopped over on the outer reef pulling in a couple of Tuna for Sashimi on the way out. I got the guys familiar with Hookah diving . On their first dive they encounted a school of Tuna chasing bait fish, a Manta Ray & were wrapped in the beautiful Coral […]

Australia

03/10/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

I’ve been dreaming of diving in crystal clear waters watching big pelagic and big sharks racing in and out of spiraling schools of bait fish whilst anchored in the middle of Coral Sea. Well with arrival of the crew consisting (from left to right)of me, old mates Colby & Geoff with young Matty & Clinton […]

Australia

26/09/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 6 September 5 – September 25 Lizard Island is a unique place. The visiting boats anchor in Mrs Watsons Bay, just a headland around from Lizard Island Resort, and is much more economical than the $1400 per person per day minimum the resort charges! – and all for exactly the same lifestyle. The catamarans […]

Australia

22/09/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

DUNK ISLAND 18/09/08 We got to return to the Island which we had been to before the year before. Back to the island full on joy and a perfect resort. Although Ii must admit the small pool is way to small. There is a funny story to the way we arrive, at Russell island we […]

Around the World

18/09/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CANARY ISLAND Besides being one of the busiest shipping lanes of the world the Gibraltar Straits is also renowned for strong currents and difficult wind conditions. Consequently I spent a lot of time trying to work out the best time to leave Gibraltar and head into the Atlantic and down the African coast to the […]

Australia

17/09/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

SOUTHERN INVASION 14/09/08 Our daughter Wendy and grand daughter Miss VERY CUTE BETHANY BUBBS have arrived to sample the QLD sun and to dive/fish/cruise with us on our jouney to Townsville. RUSSELL ISLAND (FLYNN & NORMAN REEF) 17/09/08 Arrived after a good journey, Wendy and I went snorkeling straight away. We saw three turtles, one […]

Australia

10/09/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 5 July 19 –September 4 During our week in Townsville, we hired a car for a day and toured the area – it was handy also to have transport to get to chandleries and specialty stores. John developed a block system to allow us to position the spinnaker across to the bows more easily […]

Australia

09/09/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

COBIA HOLE 01/09/08 At the North East end of Watsons Bay in 16 meters is a rocky out crop of dead coral. It deosn’t look much but there are heaps of very tame fish there no doubt tamed from the many encounters with Lizard Island resort guests who use it as an easy dive location […]

Around the World

06/09/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

GIBRALTAR & SPAIN Our first land fall after Sardinia was Menorca, the less commercial island of the Balearics . Here we had the pleasure of meeting up with our cruising friends Ted and Judith who live on the island. A pleasant few days were spent in their company and we even got to sleep ashore […]

Australia

05/09/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

LIGHTWAVE CLUSTER AT LIZARD ISLAND LIGHTWAVE 38′ Out of the Blue II LIGHTWAVE 46’PC Flash Dancer LIGHTWAVE 45’SP Allikat

Around the World

24/08/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SARDINIA From the volcanic island of Stromboli we headed across to Scario on the west coast of Italy, just south of Naples. Here we said our farewells to Jenny and Dave (Alexes) as they had guests arriving from the UK and were planning to spend the next month exploring the west coast of Italy. Unfortunately […]

Australia

21/10/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 7 September 26 –October 20 We spent five days in Cooktown, exploring the township on foot and meeting with crew from other boats. “Scuttlebutt”, the cat that had been berthed beside us in Cairns was finally heading north to Lizard Is (after 12 months). Andrew and Jill from “Endeavour”, an English couple 3 years […]

Australia

18/08/2008 / Ultimate Dream / Kev & Paddy

Hi to all, Well we’re up to 9/7/08 and we’re still at Lizard Island. We haven’t had a lot of good weather really, lots of cloudy overcast days but still pretty warm. We still have our mates from ‘Kinchega’ & our yankie mates from ‘Barefeet’ with us plus an assortment of other yachties coming and […]

Australia

17/08/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

COD HOLE Ribbon Reef Amazing dive location with tame Potato Cod but don’t try opening a bag of fish pieces at 13 meters to feed the friendly fish!! We expected the Red Bass to be a bit bold but since our last trip the formally well behaved Cod have completely forgotten their table manners grabbing […]

Around the World

12/08/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SICILY We left La Castella (mainland Italy) at 0300hrs and motored 11 hours through very lumpy seas to Syracusa in Sicily where we met up with Dave and Jenny on ALEXES. We anchored in a large sheltered bay. We hired a car and went inland to a town called Noto. It’s renowned for its baroque […]

Australia

04/08/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

COOKTOWN, by Andy For me Cooktown was quite boring, because there wasn’t much to do and the city life seemed low. But the town was a great old county town and the Captain Cook museum there was extremely interesting, even for me. CAPE FLATTERY, by Andy Small private sand mining town of 60 workers . […]

Around the World

01/08/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ADRIATIC – SOUTH BOUND We are now in Roccella Ionica a 500 birth marina on the toe of Italy. The great thing about the marina is it’s totally free you just find yourself a space and you can stay as long as you like. It is believed to be originally built with mafia money and […]

Around the World

27/07/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

VENICE Well I thought I was in love with Croatia but then I met Venice. It is the most amazing city. When we arrived we found there was no room in the marinas for us so we tied bow and stern to poles; opposite St Marks Square. Just as we arrived a big thunderstorm came […]

Australia

21/07/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 4 June 25 – July 19 Very heavy skies as we left the lagoon, but it was much easier to navigate through the reef with a falling tide. As we sailed through to North West Island at the top end of the Capricornia reefs, we saw whales again. Two early in the morning were […]

Around the World

19/07/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CROATIA Our time in Croatia is nearly at an end. We will check out tomorrow and head to Venice about 50 miles west of us. The last couple of weeks have been really good fun as we met up in Dubrovnik with Roy, Liz, Graham and Beth (Central Coast sailing friends) who were chartering a […]

Australia

08/07/2008 / Ultimate Dream / Kev & Paddy

LEAPIN’ LIZARDS!!! We’ve made it to Lizard Island!! Hurrah Hi everyone, 22/6 we decided to stay put in Port Douglas for a few more days as the weather forecast was pretty lousy and that turned into a week. We were happy there with lots to do & great company. So on the 29/6 left Port […]

Australia

31/07/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

ESCAPE REEF, from Andy Escape Reef was my favorite because we got great fishing, me catching a nice Sweetlip & two sharks and dad catching bait, although he did catch a big mackerel early morning while i was having my beauty sleep!! I also became friends with a little bird 🙂 . The diving was […]

Australia

02/07/08 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

ARRIVAL OF ME On July 2nd 2008, The Jeffries Family set upon their third and most colorful journey. Just to remind you in 2006 we were at the Whitsundays and in 2007 it was Townsville – Lizard Island. My mother and I flew up to Cairns Airport at 4pm, arriving at 7:30pm. After having dinner […]

Australia

29/06/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

THE ALLIKAT ADVENTURES BOOK II 2008 CHAPTER 3 JUNE 8 – JUNE 24 After counting down the days to the long weekend in June, we were finally winging our way north to Queensland and Allikat at her berth in Hope Harbour. We had unexpected visitors that weekend – Kate, Amalie and Josh, who had come […]

Around the World

28/06/08 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

MONTENEGRO We would like to say that our trip from Corfu to Montenegro, (our first overnighter for some time) was uneventful but unfortunately that was not the case. As I say with sailing its 95% relaxation and 5 % pure stress. We have certainly had our 5% in the last few days. We had a […]

Australia

23/06/08 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Co.

Am having a relaxing time at Yorky’s Knob Marina…a great place to base ourselves for a while. Here’s a couple of my favorite Coral pics taken on the outer reef east of from Cairns.

Around the World

14/06/08 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE IONIAN ISLANDS For the last 10 days we have been cruising the Ionian Islands – The islands are a lot greener and a lot lusher on this side of Greece and the sea can be a beautiful turquoise. The good news is we have finally got some wind, well 10 knots so for the […]

Australia

06/10/2008 / Ultimate Dream / Kev & Paddy

Hello everyone, Well here we go again for the last time. On the 16/8 we left Deluge Inlet (Hinchinbrook Channel) in company with ‘Salacia’ & motored sailed down the Channel heading for Orpheus Is. – absolutely the most majestic scenery with these massive mountains coming right down to meet the sea. WOW!. Kev managed to […]

Australia

09/06/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Co.

DUNK TO RUSSELL ISLAND DUNK ISLAND Had a restfull time anchored of loverly Dunk Island. Hardest thing we did was a 2 1/2 walk up Mount Kootaloo..scenery was superb..Susan required a Nanna nap at the top on the seat!!! MOURILYAN HARBOUR The delightfull little harbour for the shipment of Bulk Sugar is about 23nm north […]

Australia

06/06/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Co.

5 DAY MAGNIFICO REEF TRIP WITH SUSAN Weather forecast was for a week of only 5-10knots winds….Wahoo!!! We decided to give our new Hookah and dive camera a good work over & we ventured out the green zones out from Townsville , firstly to Wheeler Reef 45 nm out then another 13 nm to Bowl […]

Around the World

02/06/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CORINTH CANAL The Corinth canal is 3.2 miles long and it links the Aegean and the Ionian seas. According to the pilot it is one of the most expensive canals per mile in the world. This we can confirm – for a 45ft boat it was 200 euros It is the first time in the […]

Around the World

28/05/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ATHENS We are now in Poros, a small island 30 miles south of Athens. It’s very hard to find marina births close to Athens, especially for a catamaran so we took the opportunity to catch a fast ferry from here to Athens. Athens has over 4 million people living there, which is half the population […]

Australia

24/05/2008 / Ultimate Dream / Kev & Paddy

Hi to everyone, We set sail out of Yamba seaway on 13/4/08 bound for the Gold Coast & the Lightwave Regatta. Had a few days in Bums Bay then on to the Regatta which was a blinding success as usual( weather was very wet & windy) but we had a ball. Lightwave sure know how […]

Around the World

18/05/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

CAPPADOCIA After 4 weeks at yacht marine we are finally leaving – yahoo!!!. Although there are still things to fix on the boat we have come to the conclusion that there is little point in waiting around any longer. Nothing is too pressing as long as it’s fixed before we head across the Atlantic. Our […]

Australia

10/05/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Co.

TRIP TO TOWNSVILLE WITH JOHN & CHRIS Young John and younger Chris, both superb cooks and indifferent fishermen have arrived and are getting on well. GLOUCESTER ISLAND We are tucked away nicely of Gloucester island after a dive in Blue Pearle Bay Hamen Island. John and Chris are currently catching lots of small fish and […]

Australia

06/05/08 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Co.

FLASH DANCER ON THE HARD STAND Flash Dancer has been antifouled, serviced etc, etc,etc,etc. Boy do clean props make a difference , picked up 25% in power..wahoo!!

Around the World

05/05/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

Finally the boat is back in the water. The 300 tonnes travel lift decided to breakdown and was out of commission for over a week. This has meant that all the big boats and the cats couldn’t be launched and when it was fixed there was a massive back log of boats waiting to get […]

Australia

28/04/2008 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Co.

2008 Cruising Season Commences My mate Rob came up to help me take the boat down to Mackay for servicing and antifouling. But first we spent several pleasant days navigating our way around the Laguna Quays golf course..great fun. Then we had a few days cruising around the Goldsmith and Brampton Islands. Checked out the […]

Around the World

24/04/2008 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: Scotland & Switzerland We had a great time in Oz catching up with family and friends and of course being there for the arrival of our first grandson. I had to wrench him away from Penny when it was time to leave! We have just arrived back in Turkey and were pleased […]

Australia

23/04/2008 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 2 April 17 –April 24 We began with dinghy forays around the Broadwater, across to shopping at Australia Fair, to the Fishermen’s Co-op for fresh prawns, and on canal tours behind Surfers. Fortunately, the weather remained fine until we returned to the boat, then the heavens opened (again). Rob from GM Sails dinghied out […]

Australia

01/03/2008 / Flying Colours / Ken & Megan

LW38 ROUND TRIP BRISBANE – MELBOURNE It was early February when we ran into Roger Overell at our Yacht Club in Brisbane. My partner, Ken, told him “We have just got back from Melbourne”. I must say that Roger gave him a look as though to say “And you’re telling me because…..” It was only […]

Australia

12/02/2008 / Red Undies / Ken & Judi

Hi Everyone This is probably not the best shot, (our two red kayaks on the trampoline) but was taken in October when we were sailing out of Middle Harbour heading back up to Pittwater. We had a fantastic sail, and she behaved beautifully. Ken had to race everyone when we sailed from Pittwater to the […]

Australia

01/03/2008 / Flying Colours / Ken & Megan

OWNER KEN FRENCH, COMMENTS ON ‘CROSSING TO THE DARK SIDE’ AFTER BEING A KEEN MONO SAILOR ALL HIS LIFE, AND ALSO RECOUNTS HIS EXPERIENCES WITH BUYING AN EX-CHARTER LIGHTWAVE 38′ SAILING CATAMARAN…. I think a lot of our family, friends and sailing mates were shocked when we told them we were going to buy a […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

23/12/2007 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

REBAK MARINA – THAILAND It’s just 2 days before Christmas and at last we have a plan! We decided to come back to Rebak Marina for Christmas and sail to Phuket for new year’s eve. Should be good. Thought I’d send you this quick update to fill you in on a mountain climb that Terry […]

Australia

04/12/2007 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 7 November 23 – November 30 We had very light winds and glassy seas as we made our way out to the reef, being passed by container ships making their way out the Capricornia Channel. For days now the sea has been covered in thick mats of orange algae bloom, with slicks spread out […]

Australia

23/11/2007 / Allikat / John & Pam

Chapter 6 November 12 – November 22 Guess what? We again woke to a strong wind warning from the south east but decided to head south through the Whitsunday Passage as usually the winds are lighter in the morning – and they were – 25 knots! We had good sailing until the afternoon when wind […]

Around the World

08/11/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

Yacht Marine, MARMARIS Tomorrow we leave for Sweden and then the UK to visit friends and family before heading back to Australia for 4 months. The last couple of weeks have been rather hectic as there seems to be a never ending list of jobs to be done on the boat. Not only have we […]

Australia

01/11/2007 / Allikat / John & Pam

An interesting first day for the Hardens as we sailed through Fitzalan and Solway Passages to Whitehaven Beach with strong winds against tide -good sailing though as we ‘raced’ one of the charter yachts to Solway. After a leisurely swim, we sailed on up to Border Island and then through Hook Passage before anchoring for […]

Australia

21/10/2007 / Allikat / John & Pam

CHAPTER 3 October 5 – October 13 Pearl Bay was a peaceful hideaway – a small keyhole in the coastline. As we left in the morning, a pod of whales were playing off the port bow, a family, as the young whales threw themselves out of the water seeming to try to make the biggest […]

Around the World

19/10/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

KECI BUKI. We slowly making our way south to Marmaris; Innforapennys’ winter home. The emphasis is on slowly as some days we only travel 6 miles. There are so many little anchorages to explore along the coast and now out of season it has become probably one of the best cruising areas of the year. […]

Australia

17/10/2007 / Allikat / John & Pam

THE ADVENTURES OF THE GOOD SHIP “ALLIKAT” CHAPTER 1 September 11-September 23 After returning from a week thoroughly spoiling our granddaughter Amalie (and having a great time with Josh and Kate), we set off to Port Hacking to provision, fuel and water the boat ready for the expedition north. I’m sure Woolworths were very happy […]

Australia

16/10/2007 / Catra / Len & Janelle

a tease for the less fortunate… Marlin … 1 of 2… caught off Hayman Isl…

Around the World

08/10/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

BODRUM. We had an interesting tour around another pile of rocks – The first part was to the temple of Artemis near Kusadasi. This must get first price for the APOR award (another pile of rocks). In the guide book it is described as the greatest temple in all of Asia Minor and considered one […]

Around the World

29/09/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

AYVALIK. We have been heading south to Bodrum now for over 2 weeks. Along the way we have stopped off at lovely little anchorages on the Turkish coast. We usually sail/motor 40 to 50 miles per day. Starting at 7.30 in the morning and arriving early afternoon. For the first time this summer we have […]

Australia

21/09/2007 / Ultimate Dream / Kev & Paddy

Hi Yawl, We left Yamba on 30/8 and sail in flat seas all the way to the Gold Coast on a light N.E. wind and anchored in Bums’ Bay. Met up with Wendy, Keith, Janet & Gary for dinner that night. Saturday went on up to Paradise Point & had lunch with friends. Left next […]

Around the World

19/09/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE BLACK SEA After spending a few days doing all the touristy things in Istanbul with Cynthia and Kylie we said goodbye to them. They headed off to explore some of Europe. We made our way up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. It’s a narrow straight about 15 miles long and at its narrowest […]

Around the World

14/09/07 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

INSTANBUL We have now arrýved ýn Istanbul ‘the gateway to the east’ as ýt ýs called ýn the travel books. Its the cýty of 10 mýllýon people spreadýng eýther sýde of the Bosphorus. So far we have výsýted the Grand Bazaar, whých ýs one of the largest Bazaars ýn the world. Suleymanýye Camýý an ýmperýal […]

Australia

13/09/2007 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

07 CRUISING TRIP CONCLUDES, by Andi. We’ve left the boat in Cairns & Dad will be back in a few weeks to take it further South. For this cruise Dads been cruising on the boat for 5 mnths, mum for 4 months and Andi for nearly 3 months. Dad says………its been a great adventure, no […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

10/09/2007 / Reflections / Russell & Fiona

JOURNEY COMPLETED – Returned to Aussie. Wow – we had the most amazing experience last night – S L E E P – a whole 10 hours of it!! After 7 days at sea doing 2 hour night watches I’ve worked out there’s a sleep debt of around 40 hours to catch up on. But […]

Around the World

02/09/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

LESVOS. After saying farewell to David and Susan (Stella) our cruising buddies, who are leaving the boat in Bodrum for the winter, we moved quickly north – well 60 to 70 miles a day, towards Istanbul and the Black Sea. We have mainly being going from Greek island to Greek islandas it is a lot […]

Australia

28/08/2007 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

PORT DOUGLAS – Up the Creek, by Andi. We arrived. ..anchored were we wanted. ..Saw our neighbor Mr crocodile. slept. ..went to town…ate like a pig. .. nachos. ice cream. chocolate. heaps ..hair cut…short hair. Mum & Dad shopped. Then we went back and did the same before heading off to Cairns in rough seas.

Around the World

24/08/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

MARMARIS. On arrival in Kas, it didn’t take us long to get into the Turkish culture. We had dinner at the marina in a restaurant where a reception was being held for a local wedding. There was a 6 piece Turkish band and lots of dancing and as you can imagine Cynthia was in her […]

Australia

18/08/2007 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

LEAVING LIZARD ISLAND, by Andi. Today i did the same thing as the first day! I started by snorkeling with mum. And then swimming around the boat and jumping and going mad… By the time we left the night time little picnics were growing bigger, with more people coming in and then people leaving. We […]

Around the World

15/08/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ARRIVING IN TURKEY. We have finally arrived in Kas, Turkey, it is certainly good to be here, after two and half months in Greece we felt we were in need of a culture change. We actually left one of the best Greek islands to last as once leaving the heaving tourist spots of Rhodes we […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

10/08/2007 / Reflections / Russell & Fiona

PORT VILA Hi guys Basically all going well, had a few occasions of bashing into the SE trade winds but boat still handling it all well apart from some hobby horsing but it doesn’t seem to worry it, more us as passengers! Oh yes, our Lightwave survived an earthquake – another one you can add […]

Around the World

08/08/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

RHODES After leaving Kos we headed to the volcanic island of Nisyros, which of course is famous for its semi active volcano. The sunken main caldren floor, which is 3km across, consists of a moonscape of smaller craters and blow holes. Jets of steam puff out of these smaller holes, giving off a sulphurous stench […]

Australia

05/08/2007 / Flash Dancer / Robin, Susan & Andrew

BLUE LAGOON LIZARD ISLAND by Andi. We arrived and we went into the lagoon. It was the best looking place ever! Then we went snorkling and saw heaps of fish. There was a small clam and it was awesome. Then we went back to the boat and we stayed the night and then moved around […]

Around the World

28/07/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

KOS Since Patmos we have visited Lipso, Leros, Kalymnos and now Kos, where Emily leaves us to head back to Verbier to continue her travels. The islands are all very beautiful and unique in some way. Our most memorable time was in Kalymnos famous for its sponge divers. Not that any one on the island […]

Around the World

12/07/2007 / Inforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SANOS While in Mkyonos we took the ferry across to Delos, a small rocky island, which in ancient Greek times was one of the main sacred site of the times and by the 1st century BC it became one of the main ports in the Mediterranean. It now consists of a large jumble of rocks, […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

06/07/2007 / Equilibrium, Reflections / Rob & Margie

20/6/07 Hi everyone We have had 3 nights here and are now heading across bay to Easo – a bigger town! It has been very calm here almost glassout. Reef all about, where Fiona & I have snorkelled & seen some very pretty fish, white tip shark, turtles & beautiful coral. Water is beautiful (could […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

06/07/2007 / Equilibrium, Reflections / Rob & Margie

25/6/07 Hi everyone God, finding phones is a pain, can’t believe these people can live without them. Arrived at Ouvea 22\6 after a SE ripped through our anchorage. This island is long & skinny with reef out wide dotted with outter islands. Water quite dirty compared to where we have been on the other islands. […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

13/07/2007 / Reflections / Russell & Fiona

Hi to the Lightwave team. Quick (well long really) update on progress. In a nutshell the boats have both been handling all conditions really well and much prefer rough strong winds than bobbing about in none. Our watermaker has been by far the best investment apart from the boat itself and apart from a few […]

Around the World

01/07/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

MYKONOS Over the last 10 days we have visited Sifnos, Serifos, Kythnos, Syros and now Mykonos – basically any island with an OS on the end of it!! Actually both Penny and I are having difficulties in remembering what day it is, let alone where we have been. All the islands are beautiful, some more […]

Australia

29/06/2007 / Out of the Blue II / Chris & Lyn

Dear all Copy of email sent to family following. We did go into Pancake Creek and had lovely sunny day last Sunday. Salacia proceeded north and Blues Point arrived. Motored on to Gladstone Monday before the rain set in. Sunny and cold since- 9 deg C. inside cat yesterday. Will go further north shortly after […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

21/06/2007 / Equilibrium, Reflections / Rob & Margie

Hi all I got some good shots of our Lightwave’s, Equilibrium & Reflections. I will send via my or Fiona’s email address, on my new camera. We are very recognisable & clearly the most beautiful of all. At the marina in Noumea we had many walk down for a look. We are enjoying the trip […]

Around the World

19/06/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE MINOR CYCLADES From the unihabited southern beaches of Ios we moved the boat up Ormos Milopotamou a bay just below the main town of Hora. Here there was much more action, but still no luck with the nude bathing!!! The old town of Hora is built on a hillside and is incredibly picturesque. It […]

Around the World

13/06/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SANTORINI Santorini, or Nisos Thira to call its correct name is a giant volcano shaped like a new moon encircling a rim of a crater now filled with water. It gives rise to 300 metre steep pumice cliffs with the buildings of Fira perched precariously on the edge of the cliff top. Totally spectacular!! The […]

Around the World

05/06/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

BACK IN CRETE We have arrived back in Crete to continue our cruising. We have 12 knots of wind, calm seas and a warm sunny day as we beat to windward. It’s so good to be back on the water as we head for Santorini, about 70 miles north of Crete. As you can gather, […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

29/05/2007 / Equilibrium / Rob & Margie

Bonjour all For those who didn’t know we had left – it was all a big rush at the end. We were to firstly leave on 15th then 16th then 19th then 21st – all of a sudden it became the 19th. We arrived in Noumea, Friday night 24th approx 2300. Unable to get Radtell […]

Around the World

12/03/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

EGYPT COAST Monday 12 March, 2007 – 00:39 We ended up giving up on waiting for the weather window and just left. And after 3 days and 2 nights of extremely trying conditions we made it to Port Ghalib in Egypt. The wind was blowing 25 plus knots on the nose with really horrible seas. […]

Around the World

03/03/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

RED SEA MARSAS Saturday 03 March, 2007 – 19:43 With the southerly winds progress was quite rapid up the Red Sea – that is until the northerlies kicked in a week ago. The wind is constantly blowing from the north – west 20 to 30 knots, making the seas very uncomfortable. Those boats that hadn’t […]

Around the World

23/02/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

START OF THE RED SEA Friday 23 February, 2007 After 24 hours of sailing we anchored of the Hanish islands, which belong to Yemen located at the bottom of the Red Sea. The island was barren and looked very hostile. There were some natives on shore yelling and hollering. Obviously none of us speak Arabic […]

Around the World

16/02/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

DJIBOUTI Friday 16 February, 2007 – 08:09 by Innforapenny in Default We have all arrived safely in Djibouti; as far as I’m aware no one was raped or pillaged on route. Except for one incident the last 900 miles was uneventful, motoring or motoring/sailing all the way. On the last night we spotted 2 lights […]

Around the World

12/02/2007 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

12/02/2007 Phuket Our land travel trip was nearly over before it started because just outside Phuket the police stopped the bus we were on to check everyone’s passports, but we’d left them back on the boat. Smooth as silk Terry told them they were in our bags in the bus’s hold. Fortunately, they believed us. […]

Around the World

12/02/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

TRIP FROM GALLE TO DJIBOUTI Dear family and friends, another quick update from somewhere in the Arabian sea. This is our 9th day at sea with only 4 to go until we reach Djibouti. The first 1100 miles we sailed solo until meeting up with our delegated group at a secret rendezvous. It was very […]

Around the World

12/02/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THE INDIAN OCEAN Monday 12 February, 2007 – 10:47 We have now been at sea for 8 days and have still another 700 miles to go. We reached our rendezvous point,approx 900 miles from the Horn of Africa in plenty of time and ended up having to slow right down to allow the slower boats […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

12/02/2007 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

Around the World

03/02/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

LEAVING THE MALDIVES Saturday 03 February, 2007 – 12:41 Today we head for Djibouti, a small independent republic at the bottom of the Red Sea, heavily supported by the French. Its about 2000 miles from Male (pronounced Marlee) and should take about 12 days – subject to fair wind and sea conditions. The last 1000 […]

Around the World

25/01/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

ENJOYING THE MALDIVES Thursday 25 January, 2007 – 05:47 We arrived safely in the Maldives without any hassles – it only took a couple of days. We had to motor sail for some of it as the wind was light and as usual right behind us, but we still managed to do 200 mile days. […]

Around the World

22/01/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

Leaving Sri Lanka Monday 22 January, 2007 – 21:31 Tomorrow we are leaving Sri Lanka for Male in the Maldives, 420 miles away. Cynthia has jumped ship and joined our friends from s\y Alexes. Son Richard and his girlfriend have joined us after touring around for a few days. They went on a safari and […]

Around the World

10/01/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

GALLE Wednesday 10 January, 2007 – 22:36 We have now arrived in Galle in Sri Lanka after one of the best sail ever. The boat has been fantastic – we had our new spinnaker up for over 48 hours – skimming along at 9 to 10 knots in 10 to 12 knots of breeze. In […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

07/01/2007 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

Sunday, 7/01/2007 – Ao Chalong, Phuket (N 07deg 49.41 : E 98deg 21.16) Happy New Year! Hope you had a fantastic Christmas and saw the new year in safely with a bang! We spent Christmas with several other yachties at a beach restaurant at Nai Harn on the SW corner of Phuket. Terry had picked […]

Around the World

04/01/2007 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

We have now left Thailand en route for Sri Lanka 1100 miles away. The sailing has been great, 10 to15 knots of wind, shy reaching all the way and at this present rate it should just take over 6 and half days. In the last 24 hours we have seen one cargo boat and a […]

Around the World

25/12/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

THAILAND Monday 25 December, 2006 – 11:42 We have now been in Thailand for nearly 2 weeks – not that we have had much time for relaxing. We had to slip the boat and get it anti fouled, which in itself is a full time job – nothing much happens unless you are there hassling […]

Around the World

10/12/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

THAILAND Sunday 10 December, 2006 – 16:07 For the last week we have been cruising the southern Thailand islands. Our first stop was the Koh Lipe, a small island in the Butang Group. It was bit like going back to the hippy era, a few restaurants on the beach, cheap accommodation and lots of Swedish […]

Around the World

04/12/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

LANGKAWI Monday 04 December, 2006 – 13:33 Today we loaded 8 cases of beer and 2 cases of wine onto the boat Langkawi is a duty free island and a haven for yachties. The idea is that it’s meant to last until we get to the Med. This I think is very unlikely, as we […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

29/11/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

LANGKAWI 29th November 2006 We are still in Langkawi (29/11) but will probably head to Phuket next week. Langkawi is a very special place as you will see by the pics. It has very unique geological features of sandstone, marble and limestone islands, but more to come in Thailand. There are about 90 islands surrounding […]

Around the World

26/11/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

MALACCA STRAITS Sunday 26th November 2006 We made it through the Malacca Straights without any problems – didn’t see one pirate!!! You can’t imagine how busy the shipping lanes are here. At any one time you could see the lights of 30 boats, anything from 500,000 ton oil tanker to small fishing boat dragging 500 […]

Around the World

23/11/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

SINGAPORE 23rd November 2006 Singapore is a very beautiful island. Spotlessly clean, great shopping, fabulous cuisine, and dirt cheap (the food that is)! The contrast to Indonesia is worlds apart. We stayed a few days more than we intended as we were getting our air con replaced which broke down in Darwin. We then risked […]

Australia

17/11/2006 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Crew

WE VENTURED BACK OUT THROUGH THE ISLANDS FROM MACKAY BACK TO THE OUTER REEF IN THE HYDROGRAPHERS PASSAGE. WITH THE WINDS MOSTLY BACK IN THE NORTH, IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE BEING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN AT HIGH TIDE WITH NOTHING & NO ONE WITHIN SITE AND AT LOW TIDE, BEING ABLE TO […]

Around the World

16/11/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

Singapore Thursday 16 November, 2006 – 21:38 After 4 days sailing (motoring) we arrived at Nongsa Point, our last port of call before leaving Indonesia. It’s about 20 miles from Singapore and an ideal spot for some more R and R before we hit the bustle of Singapore. The trip was pretty uneventful, except crossing […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

12/11/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

12/11/2006 I wrote the following letter about a week ago when we first arrived in Langkawi but haven’t been to an Internet café until now. Langkawi hasn’t changed much since we were last here but we have noticed that lots of shops have closed down. Business is not that good here for some reason. One […]

Around the World

08/11/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

Orang Utans Wednesday 08 November, 2006 – 21:23 We got picked up on a boat resembling the African queen; we had a driver, a cook and a guide. Everything was done for us, we had our meals prepared, our beds made and it was great to be waited on. We were advised to only take […]

Around the World

05/11/2006 / Innforapenny II / Peter & Penny

Kumai Sunday 05 November, 2006 – 21:53 We arrived in Kumai River in Borneo after 3 days of sailing. Fortunately the last day we were able to sail with the spinnaker up and averaging 8 knots.. It was certainly great to be under wind power after so many days motoring. In fact, there hasn’t been […]

Around the World

23/10/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter, Penny & Emily

Monday 23 October, 2006 – 21:07 by Innforapenny LOMBOK We have now been in Lombok for a couple of days, anchored in a small inlet on the southern side of the island. The villages on shore seem very poor and we felt a little intimidated when we went ashore, they especially seem to give Emily […]

Australia

19/10/2006 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Crew

Hi Brooke & Peter Thought I’d update you on our last 9 weeks of cruising. Well things have gone well for us, we’re happy with the boat ,the extra speed & versatility of the power cat has allowed us to see lots of the beautiful central Queensland coast with out much hardship. Rooky and the […]

Around the World

18/10/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Wednesday 18 October, 2006 – 15:43 by Innforapenny FLORES After a fare well party put on by the Mayor the rally has now left Kupang to cruise the Spice Islands. Our first stop was a 100 mile crossing to Lembata on the island of Lewoleba, and as usual for this part of the world we […]

Around the World

10/10/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Tuesday 10 October, 2006 – 22:51 by Innforapenny KUPANG Have completed our first leg of the journey out of Oz and, after a very smooth passage, arrived in Kupang this morning and anchored outside Teddies bar. Had a full moon to light our way, sailed for only 12 hours of a 74 hour trip, but […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

28/09/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

Serutu (S 01deg 42.35 : E 108deg 43.23) Thursday, 28/9/2006 We are anchored in a nice little bay with a fresh water creek, which is quite pleasant except for the bullets that funnel down the valley occasionally at between 40 and 50 knots. No village, just the occasional fishing canoe. Arrived a couple of days […]

Australia

22/09/2006 / Spiegel / Alan & Rotha

‘Spiegel’ at Hinchinbrook – This is such a beautiful little bay on the east coast of a very high and rugged Island, not a place to anchor in SE, E or NE windy conditions.

Australia

19/09/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Tuesday 19 September, 2006 – 17:35 by Innforapenny DARWIN We are now in Darwin – its bloody hot!!! The trip through the Dundas straights was certainly exhilerating. We averaged 9 knots in 15 knots of wind – the seas were very disturbed, but the boat handled it well There seems to be a bit of […]

Around the World

15/09/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Friday 15 September, 2006 – 09:13 by Innforapenny in Default GOVE TO CAPE DON We finally left Gove after 5 days waiting for the weather to improve – not a good place to spend too long, unless of course you are earning a lot of money in the mines The next part of the trip […]

Australia

08/09/2006 / Brahminy / Kerry & Col

Hello Lightwave Crew, Thanks for the latest newsletter. It looks great and it’s good to catch up with what’s happening down your end and beyond. Things are going beautifully on our trip back towards Darwin. Have had mainly wonderful weather, mixed with some wet and blustery conditions – but we’re very happy with the way […]

Around the World

06/10/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Friday 06 October, 2006 – 16:56 by Innforapenny DEPARTING DARWIN Its the 6th October which was our EDT until last night when our air con ceased to function.We are waiting on an AC man to come and repair it. Hopefully we will get away tomorrow morning. Have had e nice time in Darwin. Went on […]

Around the World

27/08/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Sunday 27 August, 2006 – 17:31 by Innforapenny LIZARD ISLAND We arrived at Lizard Island 50nm north of Cooktown. Its the loveliest island on the Barrier Reef that I have ever seen.The water is a perfect temperature, its various shades of turquoise with beautiful sand and is surrounded by reefs full of huge fish which […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

25/08/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

Kupang, Indonesia (S 10 deg. 09.57: E 123 deg. 34.50) – 25/8/2006 We arrived in Kupang around midday on 22/8 after 3.25 days at sea. The crossing was excellent, with calm seas and light winds (0-15 knots). We motored 2 of the 3 nights, and 1 whole day, but we still managed to do the […]

Around the World

24/08/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Thursday 24 August, 2006 – 20:46 by Innforapenny CAPE BEDFORD Our next port of call, after the the Low Isles, was Hope island about 12 miles north of Cooktown. It comprises of two seperate sand cays surrounded by coral. It is your typical coral island – about 500 metres in circumfrance with tropical vegetation in […]

Around the World

22/08/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Tuesday 22 August, 2006 – 19:57 by Innforapenny in Default LOW ISLETS We have finally left Yorkeys Knob and are now anchored in the Low Islets – named by captain Cook as he travelled northward. He mentioned in his log that he passed some

Pacific Islands and Asia

17/08/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

17/8/06 Just another quick one before we leave tomorrow (Friday). Here are some photos of us and Alpha Centauri II (a Windspeed 37 stretched to 40) on the sandbar (same place as the sandbar barby last Sunday). It is very soft sand so it was a great spot to work on the bottoms. We went […]

Around the World

15/08/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Tuesday 15 August, 2006 – 15:39 by Innforapenny YORKEYS KNOB We have left Marlin Marina for Half Moon Bay Marina at Yorkeys Knob, just north of Cairns. Here we hope to meet up with the rest of the rally who have just arrived from Vanauatu. They seem to have had a bit of a rough […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

15/08/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

15/8/2006 – Darwin (still) As you can see we are still in Darwin. We are leaving the marina today and will put the boat on the sand for a while so that Terry can clean the props etc. Then we will anchor in Fannie Bay again until we depart, which we were hoping would be […]

Around the World

06/08/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Sunday 06 August, 2006 – 17:54 by Innforapenny CAIRNS We have now been in Cairns for 5 days – staying in the marina which is right in the middle of town. Its very hard to spot a local north Queenslander here as there are so many tourists and all the shops seem to cater for […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

06/08/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

6/8/06 Thought I’d share our Kakadu experience with you. The colours were bold and striking, and the mood changed with the landscape. There was the serenity of the wetlands, the coolness of the rock, the hot, dry heat of the billabongs, and the timelessness of the rivers. We broke the bank by taking a helicopter […]

Around the World

31/07/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Monday 31 July, 2006 – 19:52 by Innforapenny in Default DUNK ISLAND TO CAIRNS After leaving Hinchinbrook we headed for Dunk Island just a couple of hours sailing – or shall we say motering – first time the southerly decided not to blow. Dunk has really been hit by cyclone Larry. Most of the resort […]

Australia

28/08/2006 / Flash Dancer / Robin & Crew

HI GUYS, HAVE SENT SOME FISHY PICS FOR ALL THE BOYS TO DROOL OVER. WE HAD A GREAT TRIP UP TO GLADSTON WITH LOVELY WEATHER, IT WAS SOO GOOD. WE WERE ABLE TO ANCHOR OF FRASER ISLAND FOR 3 NIGHTS AND THE CREW REALLY TAUGHT ME WHAT FISHING IS ALL ABOUT!!! CERTAINLY I THINK THE […]

Around the World

27/07/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Thursday 27 July, 2006 – 19:25 by Innforapenny HINCHINBROOK We have just spent two glorious day anchored off Hinchinbrook Island. The landscape is spectacular. We went down a couple of creeks in our dinghy fishing for barra but no joy. I was more concerned about crocs in the narrow creeks as we were only in […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

26/07/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

Wednesday 26/7/2006 – Cullen Bay Marina, Darwin, NT Well, what an exciting trip it’s been so far. We’ve seen dolphins, dugong, turtles, sharks, mantarays, and crocodiles. We’ve had a Sandpiper (small wading bird) on board as a hitchhiker, walked our legs off, caught a huge Barramundi without using a lure or bait, and been shot […]

Around the World

23/07/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Sunday 23 July, 2006 – 19:27 by Innforapenny PALM ISLAND Left Townsville this morning for the Palm Islands just south of Hinchinbrook. Decided not to stop at the main island – Great Palm island as Alan Lucas (Cruising the Coral Coast) informed us that it was controlled by the Aboriginal council and crime is rampant. […]

Around the World

22/07/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Saturday 22 July, 2006 – 19:51 by Innforapenny in Default TOWNSVILLE After leaving Upstart Bay we headed for Cape Bowling Green the half way point between Townsville. Before we had gone too far we discovered the port steering cable had gone again – not happy Jan!!! Spoke to Roger at Lightwave and gave him the […]

Around the World

17/07/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Monday 17 July, 2006 – 17:46 by Innforapenny CAPE UPSTART On Sunday we finally left the Whitsundays for new cruising grounds. We spent a rainy Sunday night off Gloucester Island – the weather has really been terrible, in the month we have been away we would have had about 4 sunny days. Today we are […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

25/06/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

Sunday, 25th June 2006 (0800 hrs) Hi, Hope you enjoyed the photos. Did you find ‘Dog’ in any of them? That was for the young, and young at heart. Let us know if it brought a smile to your lips. Well, it’s true what they say about cruising. It is going to exotic places to […]

Pacific Islands and Asia

24/06/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

24/6/06 We left Brisbane on 11th June. Arrived Cairns, where it’s WARM, last night (23rd). Expect to leave Monday for Lizard Island. As I believe a picture paints a thousand words I’ve decided to put together an album of highlights so far, starting with our home town Manly (Qld). You should get a better appreciation […]

Around the World

20/06/2006 / InnforapennyII / Peter & Penny

Finally left Lightwave Yachts on the Gold Coast at 1.30pm. A great send off by all the guys and girls at Lightwave. With Penny at the helm we headed down the Coomera River for Morton Bay. Arrived off Macleay island where we anchored for the night. Great sunset, hopefully many more to come

Pacific Islands and Asia

19/06/2006 / Ridgee Didge / Terry & Jan

19/6/2006 Hi Roger, Louise, Brooke and all, Just a quick one to let you know we are safe and well. The conditions weren’t right for crossing the bar so we went none stop up the outside. We arrived in CID Harbour yesterday (Sunday) around 1230 hrs. Great sailing. This cat leaves the monos we’ve had […]

Australia

12/12/2005 / Longtime / David & Norelle

12/12/2005 Hello Louise, We sailed Longtime from Brisbane to the Whitsundays late August & cruised the area until returning late October. We had 25 knot SE on the way up & 20 Knot North on the way back with light NE most of the time up there, so apart from a few storms, you could […]

13 Aug

GOLD COAST – DARWIN
NorthStar is indeed safely bedded down in Darwin!! Very relieved to have her here… Alan (professional skipper) proved to be very careful and skilled in his delivery abilities – can recommend him if you are looking for someone for other owners.

The trip up was largely uneventful after the horrid weather off Fraser Island – which all agreed was the roughest of the whole trip.

I was able to get a friend to drop me and the kids out to NorthStar as she came in on her last day, just lovely! We have taken her out the lock on the marina with no problems and had a day sail. The kids love it (for now)…and we are planning our first family only overnighter in the harbour this coming weekend. Drop in some crab pots and catch a meal…Joy!

We are STOKED with the boat. Alan, a monohull sailor is converted! He loved NorthStar and is planning on writing to tell you guys how bloody clever he thinks you are. She sailed on rails down the 3 & 4m waves with the keels holding good line, he noted the boat doesn’t ‘flex’ in the middle when sailing which means for a more comfortable sail…he couldn’t rave enough about the boat – says a lot for a mono-huller and someone who has delivered several different types of cats around Australia!!

We are so happy with our purchase and think we have one of the best boats around, but also one of the most appropriate for us and what we want to do…couldn’t ask for any more.

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Lightwave Yachts

Lightwave Yachts has long set the benchmark for multihull design and manufacturing throughout Australia, and indeed the World, never compromising on quality, craftsmanship or innovation. Founded in 1996, by Roger Overell, Managing Director of Lightwave Group Pty. Ltd, his passion for developing the ultimate in style, luxury, pleasure, blue water catamarans has evolved into three versions: the Sailing Series, the energy efficient Powercat series; & an engineering masterpiece, a true Motor Sailer version. Expertly creating one of a kind catamarans, Lightwave Yachts builds to order. Every Lightwave is personally crafted for each owner. Proudly Australian Made,Lightwave catamarans are one of the most prestigious brands available Worldwide.