Aerial of the Great Sandy Straits courtesy of Mile High Aviation.
Take It Easy is in the Great Sandy Straits! Mission accomplished: 900 nautical miles in two weeks, with a 5 day lay over in Mooloolaba for the rudder. This is AWESOME. Well done Wade, Mike and Merv…. OK and Bengie too! We are so proud of you guys!
It is now very hard for Chris, Véronique and Didier to concentrate. Work really gets in the way!
Véro and Didier leave France on Monday. They will reach Brisbane bright and early on Wednesday 15th July. I am catching a plane from Melbourne on Tuesday night and will pick them up with a hire car, then it’s direction Tin Can Bay. It is SO exciting!
Tin Can Bay from above
Given that our sailors have arrived early, they will take the opportunity to have a wander around the Sandy Straits; a bit of fishing and playing tourists, and a well earned few days of relaxation.
The trip up from Mooloolaba was a day sail and they arrived at the Wide Bay Bar on Tuesday night. The conditions were calm enough to get through the notorious stretch safely and they anchored inside the Straits, pretty much in the same spot as Wade and I did in a hire yacht many years ago. No running aground this time, though!
They however had rudder trouble on the trip up. Oh no, I hear you say… Oh yes… It was turning well one way, but not the other. Wade dived this morning to investigate and found the new rudder was 20º degrees out. He drilled new holes in the rudder shaft to realign it. A sea test confirmed all is now as it should be. Phew! Nothing is ever straight forward on a boat.
Sv-Anui 
Congratulations Wade & crew, and thanks for the posts Chris. Enjoy your holiday. So Benjie likes a G&T as well 🙂
Thanks Maree, we will! Yes Bengie was a bit stressed by more rudder hassles and hit the drink😊 last night!
That’s great news, and even better that Wade was able to fix the problem. You will be there before you know it.
Can’t wait! 🚣🏽
You have to have confidence in your skipper as they are all called JACK OF ALL TRADES , now we know why, they always get things moving sooner or later. Great trip in quick time , so go and get some muddies, good luck Terry
Thanks Terry – hope we catch a few!
Well done guys. It will be great for you all sailing around and doing it in a straight line with a newly fixed rudder. I envy the warmth you are expieriencing as we shiver in coldest weather in 17 years. Brrrr! Thanks for the updates Chris
Thanks Sue – the countdown has started in Melbourne and Toulouse!
Boy, you sure have taken some photos…& Chris they are, without exception, very good….Frank
Hi Frank! The photos in all the delivery trip posts are either Merv’s, one of the crew, or your nephew’s! They have done a good job, haven’t they!
Photos in other posts are yours truly. Take care!
It sounds like travel at sea is always an adventure–nothing ever seems to go exactly as planned. It’s great to see the crew arrived at the final destination and that all is well. It was nice to see a shot of Benji too.
Hi Mike – you are spot on with your comment re travel at sea. You really have to be a jack of all trades and be self-sufficient and a bit inventive too! Glad you noticed Bengie and her drinking habit! She is naughty…
Life on the high seas!! Glad they could fix the rudder!
So am I! I had a sleepless night worrying about it before Wade let me know it was all good!
🙂
Hello Chris thanks so much again for all your posts, we have all appreciated them very much! So glad the rudder is all fixed now, that will be a relief for your holiday! You will sure be looking fwd to some warm weather eh….its hard to imagine that it is really warm up there! Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family, we will look fwd to following you as you go. This will have been such a memorable trip for Mike! cant wait to here more about it when he gets back!
Hi Jan – yes the rudder! What a drama but all good now. Can’t wait for next week! We’ll be taking lots of photos once up there and hope to be able to post, but not sure about internet coverage once we get to the reef. Might be a delayed posting! I’m looking forward to chatting to Mike a bit more to get his impressions…. What have you been up to for the last 2 weeks?
Where do I start Chris!! The time has flown, but I have missed Mike! Went to Melb to see family come to live from Perth..at last we have grandchildren not too far away! Very special! Plenty to keep me busy which I love, & in between going to work! All good!
Good news. I’m trying to catch up on my Reader, so am behind in tracking this adventure. Have a good flight on Tuesday.
Thanks Robyn, can’t wait… heaps more adventure to come! I might be the one who falls behind on comments soon… particularly as we leave ‘civilisation’ for the reef!