As expected, it was a bugger of a night at Crowdy with surging and the wind thrashing Pilgrim against her lines and occasionally into the dock. Fenders were placed but the movement was pretty large so it was hard to impossible to keep them in position. This meant being up every 2 hrs to check and adjust the moorings and all this in a wet a cold southerly wind. Not a good situation for 2 AM dressed only in light PJ shorts .
Checking the weather early, we set off at 07:00 after some effort to get the lines ready for departure. This because; tying to a wharf tends to involve lines wrapped around poles and awkward knots and so on. Just out of the harbour I set all the sail and we settled straight away into a beautiful 6 kts across a 2- 3 mtr but very consistent swell. The forecast promised sunshine but no such luck. We got glimpse ( see photo at right) but we also got rain. None of this however, detracted from what was a good trip in ‘pretty’ good conditions. This was supported by the fact that Paul survived and was even cheerie once he gained confidence in his stomach.
Arriving at Camden Haven (near Lauriton) was interesting. The bar is reported as friendly but even in these relatively good conditions, albeit for the largish swell, we found breaking waves across half of the dauntingly narrow entrance. Even so Paul was at the helm and using his surfing skills, got us in with only an occasional demand for reassurance from me. Inside the trip to the commercial moorings was all calm but again, dauntingly shallow. With the mooring secured I tidied the boat, check her over and then into lunch. An investigation of weather and tides will probably have us here tomorrow as Northerlies are forecast. This will take us to a late-ish departure Sunday morning to make the tide into Port McQuarie. A peaceful haven indeed!
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