Joanne Jones

Strong wind NW winds meant a fast run down the coast. Anchored in 5m of water on sandy bottom just past Bird Rock. Not as protected as I expected, still white caps, but safe. Just beat the worst of the rain and hail.

Moderate northerly wind 15-20knots. We were against the tide for the first few hours but made good speed after that. Sailed all the way to Cape Woolamai and motored after rounding the cape up to Cleveland Bight. As it was after dark by this time , followed leads and channel markers up to the Bight. Dropped anchor in 3.5m of water at low tide just outside the moorings. Sandy bottom, good holding.

Light winds. We were under motor for the whole trip. Need to return to marina for repairs

Very light winds meant we motored all the way. Had current with us. Anchored in 6.5-7m…god holding.

Calm conditions heading out through the heads. Crossed on outgoing tide. Light winds for our sail to Cape Schack. With wind blowing from the NE we were forced to motor from the entrance to Westernport up to Somers. Anchored in 5.5m of water just south of the sailing club. Well protected from the NE here and only a slight swell.

A very foggy start this morning. Had to cross the shipping lane and the only way to identify ships was through their fog horns and locating them on the plotter. Had to cut to the stern to a large container ship that we couldn’t see in the fog until we were five minutes away from it. Calm seas and only 5-6knots of winds meant that we motored most of the way to Queenscliff. The sun broke through just before lunchtime and it was a beautiful day after that. Anchored just north of the ferry terminal in 3.8m of water in virtually dead calm conditions…very little swell just the wash from the ferry when it came in from Sorrento. Plan to head out the heads with the slack tide around 9am tomorrow morning.

Quick motor from St Kilda up the Yarra to our home at ‘Pier 35’ for the next week or so while our rig is done. 10-12knot northwesterly wind on the way up, very little traffic. Strong winds expected later in the arvo…wouldn’t want to have been backing into this pen in strong winds.

We were heading into 12-15 knot winds all the way up so were under motor. Planned to come up tomorrow but a late change to the forecast predicted a strong wind warning from sun rise and this forced our hand. Arrived at St Kilda after dark but everything is pretty well lit so no problem navigating our way in to the floating jetty. We were not impressed to find a tiny dinghy locked up in one of the two large berths when the rest of the smaller arms were free and a small mono in the other large pen…some people are just not very considerate!

Left Port Arlington in northerly 15-20knot winds. Had a good sail across Port Phillip Bay with reefed main and jib. Dropped anchor in four metres of water on a sandy bottom off the cliffs at Beaumaris just east of the Motor Yacht Squadron. Good protection tucked in close to the cliffs from the strong northerlies.

Left Rhyll at 8:00am on an incoming tide. Winds were light. Picked up some breeze and current around Cowes and with a south easterly wind we’re able to get a sail up. When we rounded West Head we had the wind right behind us and were able to run with both head sails averaging 6.5 knots in about 10-12 knots of wind. Arrived at the Port Phillip head about 3pm, 0.5-1hr ahead of slack water. Conditions were pretty good going through the heads, swell but no breaking waves. Once we hit Queenscliff it was dead calm and we continued all the way up to Port Arlington under motor and picked up a Parks Courtesy mooring inside the breakwater just after dark(watch out for the large marine farm coming in). There are four courtesy moorings here, of these, two were occupied. Moorings are marked as five days within any fourteen day period. Very shallow water though, our depth alarm was going off at 1.3m an hour ahead of low tide.