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Some good friends of ours joined us for an adventure while we were in Australia and darn it, Gord did such a good job of writing up our time together I decided to have him as a guest author here, rather than getting ChatGPT to paraphrase what he had said. Thanks Gord and Jenny for joining us and Yes, you have made it onto our first-round picks for crew members on Chinook. Jenny and I have just returned home after a three-week trip to Australia. During this time, we were guests of Sean and Kate who were moving a friend’s sailing yacht (Popeye) from Hamilton Island down to its home base in Sydney. Our route Due to time constraints, Jenny and I were aboard as far as Southport, along the Gold Coast (south of Brisbane), a total sailing distance of 700 nm (almost 1300 km)! Sean and Kate are starting a new adventure in their lives where they are having their own boat constructed and are planning on spending the next 10 years sailing around on it. It’s a romantic notion depicted in film an...

They say there are two types of sailors - those who have run aground and those who will! (or 'those who lie about it' is another versions of the saying!). We have run aground in the past, that harrowing time when we put Popeye on a reef in Bawean, Indonesia.  You can read about that fun adventure here ! We were enjoying a stunning day at Whitehaven Beach.  The conditions were idyllic with the sky and the sea competing over who had more shades of blue.  It was our Calgary friends, Gord and Jenny's first Queensland beach and Whitehaven was at her very best. Popeye happily at anchor off Whitehaven Beach We had come in just before high tide and anchored in 8m of water - that's 5m under the keel - plenty of water to allow for the almost 2m tide.   Beautiful Whitehaven Beach We swam in the clear, warm water and picnicked on the sand.  We walked along the beach to the lookout  and watched rays, turtles and fish frolic in the shallow water.  An idyllic a...