Rockingham

The day after Boxing Day, Mike and I sailed Sirocco south to Rockingham. By the time we got to Fremantle, the waves were breaking over our bow and reaching the cockpit - we had planned on following another yacht, who had left before us, but they called to say conditions were too rough for them, and headed off to Rottnest instead: we decided that there is nothing to fear but fear itself and carried on.....and were rewarded by seeing the tallship "Leuwin" under sail.

The shipping channel out of/into Freo is great - really well marked and deep, we followed it down no problems at at, motor sailing. Here's an artistic photo of one of the markers (just because I can)

Apart from the fact that this was new territory for us, what freaked us out most was looking for the mussel beds marked on the chart and making sure we were well clear of them - which is fine if you actually know what a mussel bed looks like (which we didn't!)

We picked up a mooring in the bay and chilled out for an hour or so.

Then it was into the dinghy, down to the old clubhouse to join Graham and Elaine (Eaglehearts) for a drink to celebrate Grahams birthday!

Next day, Eaglehearts reversed up to us, collected Mike and I and together we sailed to Pig Trough Bay, Garden Island. Our first time on a catamaran, and a generous (or mad!) Graham let us both have a go helming. Oh, I DO like autopilot....! Here's Mike on the wheel.

Once there, Elaine once again astounded us by producing a fabulous lunch, spare bathers, towels and liquid refreshments - she's so organised! We came completely unprepared, as we thought we'd just be going for a quick joy-ride to empty the dunny. Definately hosts with the most.

Tuesday morning, Mike and I left for the sail back to HYC and had one of the most perfect sails we've had on Sirocco to date - we were averaging 6-7 knots in 12-15 knot ESE winds, didn't have to tack once and made it back to Hillarys in just under 5 hours. Perfect.

A great way to celebrate a new year.