As I crossed the Harbour Bridge on my way home this afternoon, I was totally overcome by the clear sky and 15-20 kt winds and instead of going to help a friend with a computer problem, my bike diverted to WSC and by 6:15pm I was on the water again.
The evening looked promising with 10-15 kt NNEster to beat into on the way to the heads. With a slight shift in the wind, I got all the way from the southern end of Rose Bay to Olelisk beach on one long tack. Then a couple more tacks and one through a racing fleet heading south from Manly, and I was out the Heads.
As I passed The Gap the wind died completely. I peddled around looking for something to fill the sails, but to no avail and at 7:15pm I turned for home under Mirage power.
Once back inside, I picked up a very slight northerly which propelled the AI along at almost 2 kts - so added peddle assist. Then, just like outside, the wind dissapeared completely. With nav lights rigged, I slowly made my my way back to Rose Bay.
On approach to Shark Island the wind came up from the south at around 5 kts and I peacefully tacked back to home in the twilight.
Another great, relaxing
evening on Sydney Harbour.
GPS Odometer:
Distance travelled 7.9 NM
Max Speed: 6.5 kts (8 kts with no wind, peddling hard riding the swell)
Moving Average: 3.2 kts
.