Hi there TravDawg
Hope you are back in the waters by now. I'll be sailing my H17 out of Port Douglas as soon as its major re-fit is done, maybe by end September.
It's been a long time coming.
On the list was a re-paint (not deck), paint spars, and jib, re-profile rudders & CB's, re-paint same, repair mainsail, buy jib and all conversion bits, tidy up trailer, make new trailer cradles, new cradles for the beach wheels, repair hole in the port hull, add a heap of new rope, polish up & inspect all stainless & plastic parts (found a cracked chain plate that would have failed
). Fitting a new 6 to 1 down haul, new tramp and rigging some kind of exotic mast rotation system that I don't know how to do yet.
I am really fortunate to have a lot of help from one of the pioneers of Australian catamaran racing - he was back there when c-class were being dreamt up, and amazingly he is still totally passionate about it all.
Oh I digress! Port Douglas has an excellent beach launch from the club back amongst the palm trees. We launch into quiet waves and get driven by the SE Trade winds that start the day at a modest 10 knots and grow to 15=20 early afternoon. Tides are not too extreme and the waters always warm. Man what a place! Maybe you will drag your boat up here one day??
Cheers, and good sailing