One last sail for 2012

Looking out for mackerel movement through the coral spore.

Sunday turned out to be the perfect day for a day sail to Magnetic Island's West Beach.
Vikki, David, Carolynne and Ted joined us early that morning so we had plenty of assistance pushing off the dock and heading out.

Not much to do but relax as we head out of Townsville towards Maggie Is.

A light breeze on the nose put paid to any idea of sailing across but we were able to break out the head sail for the trip back, adopting the 2 knot rule, that is, if we dropped below 2 knots we would turn on a motor.

We weren't the only ones trying for a mackerel.

The morning was spent doing a wide loop out west of the island in the hope of getting another mackerel but, alas, no luck.
We dropped anchor off West Beach for lunch, regretting that stinger season put paid to any ideas of a swim, however the beautiful surrounds and great company more than compensated. It was also way cooler out on the water than on the land.
Monday marked the start of seriously packing up Sea Piper for the cyclone season. We dropped the headsail at first light and flaked it beautifully - best we've ever done. Royden had already removed the bbq and wind generator and the Code Zero had been put to bed after its trip to the sailmaker for repairs.
There's still numerous jobs to do before we head off to Victoria but perhaps the biggest challenge, one that we've been working on for the past few weeks, is to eat all the food on board. This final week is like an invention test with some interesting meals emerging from canned, frozen and fresh combinations.