Great Easter Cruise
The Easter weekend trip down to Queenscliff was one that all who’d put their hand up for were really looking forward to. It was a maiden cruise for Scott & Clare aboard Sail On and they were first to depart MMYC at 8am on Good Friday followed shortly by Greg & Heather aboard Quiksilver, Mark & Jenny aboard Silver Cloud, Sharyn & Hailey and myself aboard Delta Lady. John & Heather aboard Hot Stuff were the last boat in the group departing from SYC at 9 am to catch us later.
The first drama of the day was a rudder problem on Delta Lady, quickly fixed by Sharyn's ingenuity getting us back under way without much delay. We could see the others well out to sea apart from Hot Stuff as Mark and Greg had both put up their kites. It was light winds at this stage but later in the morning as the wind started to increase Jenny reported a top speed for the cruise on Silver Cloud of 13.5kts. Mind you I’m pretty sure that this was really just surfing down a wave!
By now Greg had managed to sail off into the distance in the light winds - which he does so well. Aboard Delta Lady we were catching up to Scott & Clare as they’d turned the motor off and were now a sail-boat. Considering that they had never had the sails up before they were doing quite well with only the odd round up here and there. We soon caught up to them and gave them a little advise on easing the sails and the rounding up stopped.As we approached the west channel marker we looked behind us and there was Hot Stuff, who’d made great time.
So now it was just a short sail down the West Channel and we were all safely tied up in Queencliff harbor by 2pm. We took the time to wander around the shops in town and as it was still warm Hailey took the kayak out for a spin around the harbor. A little later in the day the weather started to turn, bringing strong wind an rain. According to Mark’s wind instruments 40+kts. During the storm Quiksilver copped a cockpit full of garden mulch whipped up by the strong wind.
The group all went for fish n chips and the evening was spent in the marina lounge with the main topic of conversation being the weather and how it would impact on our plans. Looking at what was expected we decided to stay on at Queencliff for a second night.
On Saturday I had to get Hailey back to Frankston so everyone decided to go on the ferry to Sorrento where we met up with Joe and Jan Barbieri. While everyone else went window shopping and ice-cream eating (Mark!!), Joe drove Hailey & I to Frankston. Following a return trip by ferry we enjoyed an excellent evening meal at the local pub. Then it was time to party. So who was going to be the party boat tonight? Sail On won, with everyone aboard and the party going on into the early hours of the morning (Jenny & Sharyn!!)
Next morning with some very sore heads, everyone left for home. The group of lazy skippers (Eric, Mark & Scott or should we say Sharyn, Jenny & Clare) only put up a single sails for the journey. Anyway we made it safely home. It was a great cruise and congratulations to first timers Scott and Clare. We’re looking forward to the next cruise. Maybe you can join us?!
