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American Spirit II - Day 213; A Rough Ride from Hamilton Island to Whitehaven Beach; Wednesday, August 6, 2014



Up at 8:00 AM. Coffee and tea.

At 8:45 AM moved the boat up in the slip so our water hose would reach our water tank inlet. The water tank was almost empty.

Breakfast at 8:55 AM: eggs, cut up potato cooked in olive oil in the skillet; and raisin bread.

Departed the Hamilton Island marina at 10:55 AM. We had to be out of the slip by 11:00 AM.

Because the wind was initially on the nose, we motored at first. Once we could turn east we put up a double reefed mainsail and throttled back the engine to 1,600 RPM. The wind was blowing 20 with gusts up to 30; and the waves were rough. It was an uncomfortable ride with a lot of water coming over the bow. Once we turned east the ride got steadier. Top speed was 8.4 knots. We sailed south out of Hamilton Island marina to the south end of Hamilton Island, then turned east, past Surprise Rock; then northeast past Firth Rock then thru the Solway Passage; and finally anchored at Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. With reefs and islands all around us navigational precision was required. 'Surprise Rock' didn't get its name because it was easily seen and never run into.

At 1:05 PM we anchored next to Boingo Alive, another Rally boat. Next to us also was a two masted brig, where the masts were the same height. It departed later and actually sailed with a course and topsail up. Very impressive.

We inflated the dingy and motored in to shore with our electric outboard. The beach had a couple hundred people on it who had been motored over by tour boats. The sand was fine white sand, like flour. Reminded me of Pensacola Beach. On the beach were also pumice rocks, which float and which come from volcanoes. The rocks could come from an underwater volcano or vent, one of which we sailed over on the way to MacKay Bay; or perhaps from the active volcanoes 1,200 nautical miles to the east in Vanuatu.

Back at the boat at 4:00 PM, I took some potatoes and cut them up into French fry size and cooked them in olive oil and spices in the skillet. A pre-happy hour treat.

At 5:00 PM we dingied over to Bongo Alive for the cocktail hour. On board were Konrad, Thomas and Markus; all from Switzerland. Konrad was an electrician and Thomas a plumber. The boat was owned by 5 owners, none of whom were on the boat. Amazing. Konrad also said he was going to sail another World ARC after completing this one. Wow!

At 6:00 PM we called Folie a Deux on the SSB, but the connection was not good. They said they'd sent us an email on their itinerary. I'll do the same to them.

Back on our boat at 6:15 PM, we had blackened steak spiced up by me and cooked on the grill by Joel; and a super salad made by Jeanine from odds and ends in the refrigerator. The salad was so good that I'm not sure which was better, the steak or salad. The texture of the steak was the best we've had since leaving the US. You could actually bite into it without having to chew it a dozen times. Beef in the US IS the best in the world.

At 8:00 PM we watched the movie Act of Valor; and at 10:00 PM Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson. Both good movies watched from the cache given to us by Nexus.

Lights out at 12:30 AM.

Brian Fox



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