Showing posts with label Lagoon 42 TPI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lagoon 42 TPI. Show all posts
Friday, December 25, 2015
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Sailing in the Whitsundays - A view from above...
After several successful flights of our Mariner Drone from a stationary platform it was time for the next step - aerial images of Lucey Blue sailing.
The task of sailing while flying the Mariner Drone was a little daunting, but the promise of unique photographs helped us overcome our concerns. With Lucey Blue gently sailing out of Cateran Bay we launched the Mariner Drone from the flight deck – our rear solar panels.
The images of Lucey Blue underway were nice and we landed safetly back on the forward trampoline after about 10 minute in the air. However, the majority of the photographs were taken from too far away for the wide angle GoPro camera to show much detail.
Given our partial success the decision was made to haul up the spinnaker and try a second flight. This time the plan was to fly the drone right alongside Lucey Blue. The images from the second flight were substantially better, but there were a few tricky moments - including when the Mariner Drone disappeared from view behind our spinnaker!
Flying a drone blind while sailing towards your airborne position certainly adds to the excitement level. I am glad to say we experienced no mid air collisions and despite running out of battery power before landing back on Lucey Blue we declared our mission a success.
After the Mariner Drone adventure we decided to take a few photographs of Lucey Blue under different sail configurations from the dinghy. Have we ever said we love our new radial sails?
The kids all enjoyed the dinghy ride – you don’t often get to see your own boat sailing and even though we never cracked five knots it was a great way to spend a morning!
The task of sailing while flying the Mariner Drone was a little daunting, but the promise of unique photographs helped us overcome our concerns. With Lucey Blue gently sailing out of Cateran Bay we launched the Mariner Drone from the flight deck – our rear solar panels.
The images of Lucey Blue underway were nice and we landed safetly back on the forward trampoline after about 10 minute in the air. However, the majority of the photographs were taken from too far away for the wide angle GoPro camera to show much detail.
Given our partial success the decision was made to haul up the spinnaker and try a second flight. This time the plan was to fly the drone right alongside Lucey Blue. The images from the second flight were substantially better, but there were a few tricky moments - including when the Mariner Drone disappeared from view behind our spinnaker!
Flying a drone blind while sailing towards your airborne position certainly adds to the excitement level. I am glad to say we experienced no mid air collisions and despite running out of battery power before landing back on Lucey Blue we declared our mission a success.
After the Mariner Drone adventure we decided to take a few photographs of Lucey Blue under different sail configurations from the dinghy. Have we ever said we love our new radial sails?
The kids all enjoyed the dinghy ride – you don’t often get to see your own boat sailing and even though we never cracked five knots it was a great way to spend a morning!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Lady Musgrave to Middle Percy Island - Sailing at speed
We arrived at Middle Percy Island at around 15:00 on the 4th of August after a quiet overnight trip from Lady Musgrave. There was very little wind for the first twelve hours, but a 10-15 knot southwest to westerly breeze kicked in as we passed Island Head Creek so we could sail!
Sam was desperate for some colour so we hoisted our flaming red spinnaker and took off down the coast at a consistent 8.5 plus knots. The wind shifted around causing us to alternated between the code zero and our spinnaker which was fun - our top speed was 9.8 knots. The sailing difference between Lucey Blue from our last trip is amazing - old sails and three bladed fixed propellers would have limited us to 7 knots in the conditions. We love our new gear!
We had expected to find West Bay empty as a strong southerly was forecast to arrive by the 5th of August and the anchorage is exposed. But the bay was packed with small racing yachts making their way up to Hamilton Island for race week.
Despite being a little tired we ducked ashore to check out the beach and A-Frame. We didn't stay long as we were all keen for a hot shower and an earlier night...
Sam was desperate for some colour so we hoisted our flaming red spinnaker and took off down the coast at a consistent 8.5 plus knots. The wind shifted around causing us to alternated between the code zero and our spinnaker which was fun - our top speed was 9.8 knots. The sailing difference between Lucey Blue from our last trip is amazing - old sails and three bladed fixed propellers would have limited us to 7 knots in the conditions. We love our new gear!
We had expected to find West Bay empty as a strong southerly was forecast to arrive by the 5th of August and the anchorage is exposed. But the bay was packed with small racing yachts making their way up to Hamilton Island for race week.
Despite being a little tired we ducked ashore to check out the beach and A-Frame. We didn't stay long as we were all keen for a hot shower and an earlier night...
Lady Musgrave - A departing gift 'Whales off the port bow'
We left Lady Musgrave an hour before high tide on the morning of 3 August. As soon as we had motored out of the lagoon a pod of three humpback whales swam leisurely past the boat within metres!
Just minutes later there were another two or three whales off our port side, leaping and frolicking in the water.
We watched them for about an hour or so before setting course for Percy Island approximately 180 nautical miles to the north. The kids enjoyed the whales and had fun in the sailbag for another few hours...
Just minutes later there were another two or three whales off our port side, leaping and frolicking in the water.
We watched them for about an hour or so before setting course for Percy Island approximately 180 nautical miles to the north. The kids enjoyed the whales and had fun in the sailbag for another few hours...
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Mariner Waterproof Drone - Maiden flight at Lady Musgrave
A while back we purchased a waterproof FPV Mariner Drone (now also know as the FPV Splash Drone) from Rise Above in Sydney to capture our adventure on Lucey Blue from above. We love to muck around with our cameras underwater and the idea of capturing our surroundings from a different perspective was attractive.
Our first few flights on land were rather exciting as we had no experience with this type of kit, but Rafi from Rise Above helped us out when we hit trouble.
We decided to conduct our maiden over-water flight at Lady Musgrave. To be safe we did a test run without the GoPro camera attached. The crew of Lucey Blue were pleased that the Mariner Drone took off smoothly (despite a gentle ten knot wind) from our makeshift launch area (the rear solar panel array) and were further amazed when we managed to land on the rear steps at the stern of the boat. A trial run and we had not even got the Mariner Drone wet despite some wind and a moving landing pad (patting ourselves on the back here)!
With a full battery we bravely strapped on the GoPro camera, set the timer to capture images evey 5 seconds and took off to see what would happen.
We had a successful flight, with a planned wet touchdown (we didn't want to crash the GoPro into the deck if it got wobbly on descent). Some neighbouring yachties zoomed over in their dinghy to return it to us, which was great. As a side benefit, it was a nice way to meet new people, as they ended up visiting us in the afternoon for drinks and snacks aboard Lucey Blue too. We still have a lot to learn, about drone flying, but our intitial flight and photos brought big smiles to all aboard...
Our first few flights on land were rather exciting as we had no experience with this type of kit, but Rafi from Rise Above helped us out when we hit trouble.
We decided to conduct our maiden over-water flight at Lady Musgrave. To be safe we did a test run without the GoPro camera attached. The crew of Lucey Blue were pleased that the Mariner Drone took off smoothly (despite a gentle ten knot wind) from our makeshift launch area (the rear solar panel array) and were further amazed when we managed to land on the rear steps at the stern of the boat. A trial run and we had not even got the Mariner Drone wet despite some wind and a moving landing pad (patting ourselves on the back here)!
With a full battery we bravely strapped on the GoPro camera, set the timer to capture images evey 5 seconds and took off to see what would happen.
We had a successful flight, with a planned wet touchdown (we didn't want to crash the GoPro into the deck if it got wobbly on descent). Some neighbouring yachties zoomed over in their dinghy to return it to us, which was great. As a side benefit, it was a nice way to meet new people, as they ended up visiting us in the afternoon for drinks and snacks aboard Lucey Blue too. We still have a lot to learn, about drone flying, but our intitial flight and photos brought big smiles to all aboard...
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Lady Musgrave - Riding out strong southerly winds...
Ryan and I spent the next few days snorkelling at low tide despite the arrival of stong southerly winds.
There were no more dinghy trips to the island...unless you really wanted to get wet so Sam and Eric (with some help from Emily) baked up a storm - fresh bread, chocolate brownie and other goodies. Emily also spent a far bit of time at the stern desperately trying to catch a fish for our dinner.
We used our Spectra watermaker to top up our fresh water tanks and most days made enough water to keep our tanks full. We can only make about twenty litres per hour, but we don't use much water aboard and we still had heaps of power (despite the clouds reducing the efficienty of our solar array) to run the watermaker for several hours a day if required. The watermaker only draws about 9 amps at 12 volts, but you still need to be careful when you don't have a wind generator to produce power on cloudy days.
Most of the other boats left the lagoon before the wind pickup and during the worst of the conditions two fishing boats anchored on the leeward side of the reef. Sam was despertate for fish and suggested that we take the dinghy out to ask if they had any free. But given the conditons we decided that the idea was not a viable option - there would be no return if anything happened to the dinghy or outboard motor.
Our anchor held fast in the windy conditions and even at high tide we were generally comfortable in the 30-35 knot conditions. We did break one of the anchor bridles as the surf rolled over the reef at high tide, but the rope had been fraid a little anyway so it was bound to fail sooner or later.
All agreed that at least the sunsets were still great!
We used our Spectra watermaker to top up our fresh water tanks and most days made enough water to keep our tanks full. We can only make about twenty litres per hour, but we don't use much water aboard and we still had heaps of power (despite the clouds reducing the efficienty of our solar array) to run the watermaker for several hours a day if required. The watermaker only draws about 9 amps at 12 volts, but you still need to be careful when you don't have a wind generator to produce power on cloudy days.
Most of the other boats left the lagoon before the wind pickup and during the worst of the conditions two fishing boats anchored on the leeward side of the reef. Sam was despertate for fish and suggested that we take the dinghy out to ask if they had any free. But given the conditons we decided that the idea was not a viable option - there would be no return if anything happened to the dinghy or outboard motor.
Our anchor held fast in the windy conditions and even at high tide we were generally comfortable in the 30-35 knot conditions. We did break one of the anchor bridles as the surf rolled over the reef at high tide, but the rope had been fraid a little anyway so it was bound to fail sooner or later.
All agreed that at least the sunsets were still great!
Friday, July 31, 2015
Bundaberg to Lady Musgrave
We left Bundaberg at around 00:30 on the morning of the 26th of July and motored north towards Lady Musgrave. We were at the tail end of a good weather window so there was a light north westerly breeze blowing and calm seas.
The new sails and feathering propellers are great in light winds. We had to add motor power to keep up our boat speed, but we only ticked the engines over at low revs so we hardly used any fuel. Apart from a few fishing boats hunting along the edge of the marine exclusion zones we had the ocean to ourselves - no large ships or other yachts.
Sam took watch at around 0:600 with about ten miles to go to Lady Musgrave. Before I headed down to catch some rest I reeled out our fishing line on the off chance that something would take a nibble as the sun slowly rose in the east.
We took the long-way around the reef system to avoid the marine park and snuck in close to the southern edge to see if we could lure any fish out of the shallows. There were some small breaking waves on the reef flat, but we maintained a safe distance and hoped for the best. Unfortunately we lucked out despite Sam's fish dancing and we did not catch anything before we entered the lagoon.
Sam thinks she saw a whale near the northeast tip of the reef, but the rest of the crew didn't see anything. Sam’s next sighting - accompanied by the call "dolphins at the bow” - was accurate. We all rushed forward to watch a pod of dolphins playing off the bows of Lucey Blue. Eric was enthralled by the strange friendly fish that snorted and leaped out of the water and a lot of fun was had by all.
We entered Lady Musgrave lagoon about an hour before dead low tide and anchored near the island at the west end.
What a beautiful place! Sure there was a southerly change coming and we would be locked down for a few days by 25 to 30 knot winds, but today the sun was out, the water was warm and we had reef to explore…
Bundaberg - The best little big town in Queensland.
Bundaberg is such a welcoming town with so many great features for yachts - amazing fresh produce, plenty of fresh fish and super friendly people - that we could have easily spent several weeks.
Eric loved the subtropical feel of the town and was forever running around offering ladies flowers at the marina.
Emily and Ryan took up fishing with some expert guidance from Peter aboard Acropora and other yachties. They had some success and are likely now hooked on the sport, but we will let them tell their own story in their own words to let you decide for yourself!
We all enjoyed catching up with family and friends - we even managed to have dinner with Mel and Angus from Roar Ege which was fantastic.
One of the many highlights is Lushus Cakes on the main street of town. They have been in business since at least the early 1980s and whenever we are in town we make sure to buy one (maybe two… ok you got me maybe a few more) Peach Blossom cakes. The shop has been flashed up with a new coat of paint but the cake remains as delicious as always.
We zipped to and from town in a borrowed car and apart from a few cane trains there was never any traffic or delay.
If we could stay forever we probably would, but the call of the reef was strong and the crew of Lucey Blue was keen to see Lady Musgrave again…
Brisbane to Bundaberg - Nearly nonstop!
We left Brisbane on the 15th of July and motored down the Brisbane river against the last of the incoming tide.
On the way down we passed another Lagoon 42 TPI - Connect Four, and a range of spectacular properties before we made it to the industrial area of Port Brisbane. The change in scenery along the banks of the river is dramatic and its great to see ships, tug boats, factories and container loading facilities near the mouth of the river. Sydney has lost a lot of this character with most of the city's waterfront now converted to luxury residences.
There was no wind at all when we arrived at Moreton Bay, but ever hopeful we pulled up our new mainsail and set off north via the small boat channel south of Bribe Island. Ryan used the traditional method to pull up the mainsail while Nick used his new electric winch handle - a WinchRite from Sailology- to save energy for more important tasks!
The kids entertained themselves in the cockpit and we were all treated to a spectacular sunset on the way to Double Island Point. We arrived around midnight in pitch-black (there was no moon and plenty of low cloud that blocked out the stars) and anchored in six metres of water.
We woke early on the 16th to dash across the last eight nautical miles to the first waypoint of the Wide Bay Bar. We wanted to make the crossing while the tide was rising, but also wanted to wait for first light so we had everything working in our favour.
Wide Bar Bar was tranquil with no breaking waves in the shallow channel and we were pulled rapidly into the waters behind Fraser Island. We love to hitch a lift when we can as it's nice to see Lucey Blue traveling at about nine knots over the ground when we are only moving at seven through the water!
We decided to try and ride the tide all the way through the narrow channels behind Fraser Island to Hervey Bay. The conditions were perfect, but we needed to maintain the tidal advantage if we were going to clear the shallows near Boonlye Point. We nearly ran aground there last time and had no desire to get stuck.
We passed a number of yachts along the way and managed to sneak through the worst bits just on high tide. By the time we had cleared the Fairway light on Hervey Bay our boat speed across the ground had hit ten knots. We had been sucked in at one end of Fraser Island and spat out the other end in a day which is a record for us.
The crew of Lucey Blue kept their eyes peeled for sealife on Harvey Bay and Eric spent hours seagazing with Dad on the front trampolines, but the whales alluded us this time.
We arrived off Burrent Heads at dusk and gently pulled into the Bundaberg Port Marina at around 18:00 with the help of another yachtie - Gayle from Electra.
On the way down we passed another Lagoon 42 TPI - Connect Four, and a range of spectacular properties before we made it to the industrial area of Port Brisbane. The change in scenery along the banks of the river is dramatic and its great to see ships, tug boats, factories and container loading facilities near the mouth of the river. Sydney has lost a lot of this character with most of the city's waterfront now converted to luxury residences.
There was no wind at all when we arrived at Moreton Bay, but ever hopeful we pulled up our new mainsail and set off north via the small boat channel south of Bribe Island. Ryan used the traditional method to pull up the mainsail while Nick used his new electric winch handle - a WinchRite from Sailology- to save energy for more important tasks!
The kids entertained themselves in the cockpit and we were all treated to a spectacular sunset on the way to Double Island Point. We arrived around midnight in pitch-black (there was no moon and plenty of low cloud that blocked out the stars) and anchored in six metres of water.
We woke early on the 16th to dash across the last eight nautical miles to the first waypoint of the Wide Bay Bar. We wanted to make the crossing while the tide was rising, but also wanted to wait for first light so we had everything working in our favour.
Wide Bar Bar was tranquil with no breaking waves in the shallow channel and we were pulled rapidly into the waters behind Fraser Island. We love to hitch a lift when we can as it's nice to see Lucey Blue traveling at about nine knots over the ground when we are only moving at seven through the water!
We decided to try and ride the tide all the way through the narrow channels behind Fraser Island to Hervey Bay. The conditions were perfect, but we needed to maintain the tidal advantage if we were going to clear the shallows near Boonlye Point. We nearly ran aground there last time and had no desire to get stuck.
We passed a number of yachts along the way and managed to sneak through the worst bits just on high tide. By the time we had cleared the Fairway light on Hervey Bay our boat speed across the ground had hit ten knots. We had been sucked in at one end of Fraser Island and spat out the other end in a day which is a record for us.
The crew of Lucey Blue kept their eyes peeled for sealife on Harvey Bay and Eric spent hours seagazing with Dad on the front trampolines, but the whales alluded us this time.
We arrived off Burrent Heads at dusk and gently pulled into the Bundaberg Port Marina at around 18:00 with the help of another yachtie - Gayle from Electra.
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