We have spent this last week in our home waters of Coffs and Yamba and have enjoyed a break while waiting for a suitable weather window to continue our voyage north.

We might not have gone home while at Coffs, but we did the next best thing: we took the ‘inside’ route with Anui, passing the Solitary Islands on the coast side rather than the ocean side as most yachties do, and rounded Bare Bluff at Sandy Beach under sail. We even veered into our home beach for a brief moment. It is different looking at the Coffs coast from the ocean, knowing that we now live there. It certainly confirms it is a good choice for nature lovers like us: not overly populated, Great Dividing Range right down to the long sandy beaches, the Solitary Islands Marine Park to boot…

We let our neighbours know we were sailing past: Tony was on the headland at Bare Bluff waving and taking photos, and Helene was in the water, surfing! We came as close as we dared under sail, waving madly back, then on we went, headed for Yamba.

Our passage to Yamba was a slow sail initially, which we did not mind – the later we arrived, the better for the bar crossing at the mouth of the Clarence River, but then the wind picked up and we were doing 9 knots speed, so had to slow ourselves down. With any bar crossing we normally always aim for an incoming tide and avoid low water, so it was totally the wrong time to get through, but thankfully with no swell nor breaking wave we managed unscathed.

We were anchored safely at Whiting Beach by 3pm and spent the next couple of hours with cruising friends Chris and Suzie on Discovery II who were anchored there too. We had been plotting our get together as both vessels were travelling towards each other and looking for opposite forecasts! So we were all glad the stars aligned and we got to catch up.

We had originally planned to make a move on the Sunday, but the forecast was upgraded from a strong wind warning to a SW gale with the likelihood of breaking waves on the crescent shaped bar, so too risky to exit safely and continue northward.

With time on our hands before the haulout, we cancelled that plan on Saturday, let this window go and instead moved into our berth at the Yamba Marina for a few days. The access to our berth was not as unobstructed as it looks on the charts and we certainly needed a high tide to move around without scraping the bottom. Having to follow the narrow channel around, negotiate the hairpin corner and the shallows into the marina, pivot, avoid the rock wall and the moored boats was interesting, but thankfully the skipper of a neighbouring vessel caught our lines and helped pull us into our berth! It was nice for Anui to be in her home pen for the first time, for us to meet the marina team and enjoy the peace of Yamba for several days.

Yamba is not new to Anui. Her original builders and owners lived here when they launched her 26 years ago. Yamba was her home port before she was put out for sale at the Boat Works back in 2017, and we purchased her in late 2019. She is well known in Yamba and an old photo of her still adorns the Yacht Club. She would have been an outstanding vessel in her early years and still turns heads these days. She is like an old sports car, all curves and classic lines. Here she is with her more recent coral sea livery!

And the funny thing is that our two previous boats, Take It Easy and Medina, are also moored here so the ‘boat family’ is together! You can see the evolution. Yamba just had to be!

We spent five days at the marina, waiting for the next weather window. It was lovely to take a break from daily passage making, relax, walk around, and feel better for it. We got a few maintenance tasks done too: general clean up after a month at sea, check of all the sea cocks and safety gear, glueing a strip of carpet at the top of the daggerboard wells to stop the rattling and undue wear, which meant lifting the daggerboards out – easier said than done! And then there was the scramble to find a different surveyor to the one who was organised as he was no longer able to do it! Since the haulout was organised around that, it was a hassle we did not need, but we lined it all up again… the usual boat maintenance juggles.

On Wednesday at high tide, we left our berth and re-anchored at Whiting Beach, ready for a dawn departure on Thursday. The day started well: sunny, light breeze, drone flight, dinghy across to Iluka on the northern shores of the Clarence river for food shopping.

But by late afternoon, severe thunderstorms lashed Yamba. It was scary: thunder and lightening right on top of us, heavy rain, rough waters all around from the fierce wind against the tidal flow of the river… We saw 67 knots on the wind gauge. Anui was swinging full circle, yanking at the chain… And the noise! It was a tense half hour!

You feel rather helpless in thunderstorms at anchor. As they approached we cleared the cockpit of loose gear, cushions and chairs, turned the engines on, watched the instruments and braced ourselves. We were very glad we had a clear circle around us with nothing to hit or drag into as the winds were violent and came from all directions, the anchor resetting multiple times. Eventually the storms dissipated and calmer conditions returned, albeit with continuing showers. Phew!

Thursday all was calm. But would you believe we picked up a life buoy drifting towards us as we were raising anchor? It must have blown off one of the Clarence River ferries in the 65 knot winds!

As planned, we left at dawn, bound for Byron Bay, 54 nm further. The SE came in but light. We had a nice sail under main and jib, some of it with one engine ticking along. But it did not last. We ended up dropping the sails and motoring into NE headwinds for a few hours – possibly a sea breeze. By evening the southerly was back and we managed to escape the thunderstorms.

Today as we post this, we have crossed the border into Southern Queensland! This last push started at 3.00am, to cover the 46nm to the Gold Coast Seaway before the northerlies get strong… motoring on both engines, not even pretending to be a sailboat! Should get to the Seaway by 9.00am.

It will be a relief to complete another major stage in our voyage and we will celebrate tonight.