Five Go Sailing

We have shown pictures of the "Great Ice-Cream Run of 2017" on the blog, but nothing else of that day.

My brother owns a Catalina 35 sailing boat, a 35 foot long American boat designed in the mid 80's. JB's boat is a mark II version, which sleeps 7 people (they would have to be friends...), and has a fully equipped kitchen, a WC, and all the bits and bobs you need for a couple of days' sailing. The boat is moored off Ettalong beach, which is on Brisbane water, part of Broken Bay, where a number of rivers including the Hawksbury enter the sea. It's an enormous body of water, quite beautiful on a bright, breezy summers day.

Not being idiots, we waited until a bright, breezy sunny day, and the the five of us - JB, my sister Elizabeth, her husband Vic, Susan and myself climbed aboard, and sailed off into the wide blue yonder...

First we had to navigate the Brisbane Water Channel, a very narrow and shallow passage between sand banks and rocks, then we headed out to sea and a couple of kilometres down the northern beaches of Sydney, before turning around, finding a pleasant anchorage in Pittwater, and having a barbecue. Befitting the event, when I took the wheel I went a bit Robert Newton, patch and all.

After lunch it was time for a swim, before we sailed across the bay to Palm Beach, which is where the Ice Cream Run happened. Then we wended our way back to Ettalong, a total distance of maybe 35km, and a lovely introduction to sailing for Susan.