After spending nearly three weeks working on Anui we finally left The Boat Works on 20 January to start our long awaited shake down cruise to Port Macquarie.
We covered the 250 nautical miles in three days. Oh what a sweet three days! Our beautiful catamaran delivered! She is so smooth, so fast! We had to adjust our expectations of daily runs. None of this calculation based on averaging 6 knots and covering 60 nm comfortably. It was more like 9 knots and 90nm in 10 hours of sailing a day without trying hard! Imagine doing overnighters! We are thoroughly impressed.
Leaving the Boat Works at last after nearly thre weeks!
And we are off! Sailing south past the Gold Coast!
Our first day saw us leave The Boat Works at 10.00am, get out of the Gold Coast Seaway after midday, and instead of just a quick run to the Tweed River which was our initial thought, we kept going to Byron Bay. It was a very comfortable and speedy 56nm run under main and jib. The jib is quite small, but at over 100m2 of mainsail, there is a lot of power.
The Skipper is looking pretty relaxed!
Beautiful northern NSW coast
We anchored back to the beach under the Byron Bay lighthouse, on our lonesome. The conditions were calm and we celebrated our freedom under a full moon, sitting in the cockpit, tears of joy in our eyes.
Our second day was about an 85nm run. We had mixed conditions, doing wind speed at times in 10 knots of northeast breeze, followed by a crawl in 2 or 3 knots of breeze when we had to motor sail on one engine for a couple of hours. But then it was back to sailing under screecher again… We particularly like that sail. It could well be our favourite! It is a brand new laminate sail which acts like a big genoa and is set up on a furler at the end of the prodder (the contraption that sticks out forward of the bows). So it easy to use. We intended to stop at Yamba, Anui’s old home port, but it was too early in the afternoon, so we kept going another 30 miles to pick up a public mooring at North Solitary Island. We were on our own again, except for the hundreds of birds roosting there.
Sailing under main and screecher
Dolphins at the bows, just under the prodder!
Arrival at North Solitary Island
Our third hop was to Port Macquarie and promised to bring stronger conditions with 15 to 20 knots north to northeast wind forecast for this 96nm run. We would never have considered such a long run in daylight hours on Take It Easy! The day started slowly, with much lighter conditions than forecast. We went with the screecher alone, then goose winged it with the jib while the breeze was dead astern. We really should have launched the spinnaker, but could not quite remember how to set it up. We’ll have to call Scott for a reminder!
Goose-winged screecher and jib
Eventually, the wind picked up a little and under threatening skies we took off, back under screecher alone! We had all sorts of weather: hardly any wind, then a bit of breeze, squalls, thunder, back to light conditions… OMG, this boat of ours is so amazing. It is effortless, we feel safe on this powerful but slick cat. It feels so different to our beloved Take It Easy. The biggest change is how the boat rides. It is smooth, feels solid and just flows. We don’t get bounced around. The waterline length, the size of the sails, the slim hulls, the daggerboards and her lightness all contribute to delivering a very comfortable and fast ride. We feel so lucky to be the ones who now own Anui. We keep pinching ourselves in disbelief and are totally besotted!
The Black Petrels were beautiful to watch
Threatening yet beautiful skies
We rolled in to Port Macquarie in the early evening, choosing to pick up a courtesy mooring rather than going up river.
Today, Wednesday morning, we are using the incoming tide to cover the last 10 miles up the Hastings River and anchor in front of our friends Waz and Lisa’s place.
Because it was such a special trip, we recorded snippets of our passage on video. So as well as sharing our photos in this post, we have also up-loaded our second video of Sailing Anui to YouTube… We are novices with this video caper, and I am just using my iPhone and iMovie, so bear with me as I learn and improve, but it will give you a feel for how things looked on board. Let us know what you think!
Sv-Anui 
love the video! And well done for getting out of The Boat Works … finally. We are so looking forward to getting back off dock and back to normal. love and hugs to the three of you. Trish and Andrew
Thanks Trish! Glad you like the video… still learning… realised this morning I forgot to do a title page, but it had taken too long to get the clips and voice overs done last night to start again!
It was so good to be underway and so much more comfortable at anchor. Last night was the first cool night we have had in 6 weeks! When are you leaving for Tassie? 💕⛵️😻
I’m glad you guys love Anui! The sails are far larger, beautiful boat!
Yes it’s a large boat but we are getting used to handling her. It’s all about practising! It is such a lot of fun, John!
It’s great to see how smoothly the Anui slices the water. You’re shooting video very steady despite the movement. Thanks for giving me a short ride. 🙂
Glad to take you in a little sail, HJ! Wish it was for real 😊⛵️
Great video Chris. Last time I had a go at video editing was when we built our cat. It was fun but I’d have to relearn it all again now. So glad you are both delighted with your purchase. Your words and pics say it all! Bossa
Hiya Amanda, it is a thrill. It’s funny this morning we were walking around town at Port Macquarie, not really thinking about sailing, and I caught a glimpse of this blue boat… « nice!» I thought, and then realised « OMG it’s ours! » It still has not sunk in!
Filming and video editing is a lot of work… but it gives a better appreciation of what it is like on board.
Glad you are having a ball on your new toy. Looks amazing.
Wade says « If things stopped breaking it would be good », but yes what a thrill!
What a great way to start your adventures in Anui. Glad you are so happy with the big step up. Looking forward to sitting up front holding on to my hat – with both hands!
Better have a tie under your chin, cos you’ll have to hang on to the rigging with your hands! Can’t wait to have you both on board!
Konichiwa Kurisu and Wade-san
Welcome to Port on this terrific day!!
You should be swimming in the shallows off the mooring right now, with the fresh high-tide
Off to Sushiko tonight….after we tour Anui.
Can’t wait to see you all….including Benji and Anui !
Waz
Kinuchiwa Wazzy-san! Can’t wait to show you our gorgeous boatie and just a bit excited about spending time with you both! See you soon!
Looks beautiful and loved the video (well done next one 1080P please). So happy for you
Henry and Brenda
Thanks Henry and Brenda … had trouble uploading in 1080… kept failing. But with more time will look into it! Pleased you liked it anyway!
It is looking great, and sounds like everything is going well. You can really hear the excitement in the words.
Hi Leanne – we are thrilled. After a lot of work and expense, we feel we have done everything we could to ready Anui for some action! It is now time to have fun!
Great to see that Anui is meeting if not exceeding your expectations. Glad you are having fun in cooler conditions
Have fun at the party
Sue
Hi Sue, yes after all the work it is great that things have come together.