Heaven Can Wait - but the rain didn't

What a big adventure.

Cheshire Cat entered the Heaven Can Wait Regatta in Lake Macquarie. The regatta is a fund raiser for the NSW Cancer Council an the Lake Macquarie Marine Rescue Service.
Sunshine to start with
Rain at the end

Our intrepid team, Julie and Terina, Dee, up from Melbourne specially and me, set off from Balmain on Thursday in sunshine. The boat was full of edible and drinkable goodies thanks to provisioning queens Terina and Julie. A seal at the green channel mark near Obelisk saw us off and dolphins accompanied us up the coast. With the sails hoisted we made our way to Coaster's Retreat for the night and an on-shore BBQ and way too much wine. There were only a few tents in the camp ground but lots and lots of wallabies with joeys in their pouches grazing the lawns.

Good winds after Norah Head

Next morning at dawn we fired up the motor and headed for Swansea to catch the high tide across the bar. The wind was too light most of the way to abandon the motor but when it did kick in around Norah Head we stormed up the coast in 20 knots arriving in perfect time to cross the bar at slack tide. I wondered what all the fuss about Swansea Bar was all about.

Tiring work!

Safely inside the channel we waited for the bridge to open and then motored across to Toronto where Mark Cherrington from Balmain Sailing Club who is also one of the organisers of HCW had a spot on the wharf for us. We tied up between 2 Balmain boats with another inside the marina and a 4th to arrive later.

We managed to get the boat a bit wet on the way up the coast so when trying to make a cup of tea the gas alarm went off and that was the end of the mid-ocean cuppa. To get it fixed I went to the bar of the Toronto Royal Motor Yacht Club, as you do, and was directed to Greg (Woodsey) Woods. Greg came to the boat, found the alarm, and worked out how to fix it but needed overnight. So showers in the Club and dinner in the bistro were the solution.

Race day meant another early morning, partly because Greg said he'd be back at 6.30am! We later discovered from the cleaner/barista at the club that mornings are not his best time! He eventually arrived as Dee and I set off for the briefing so we left Julie and Terina to look after Greg. Lucky girls. By this time he'd taken a bit of a shine to us all-girl boat.

Briefing over we tidied up and went out to the start line to do a few runs and test the wind. The start line was a bit protected but the wind was blowing just past the headland. An OK start saw us in a good position out wide so we could avoid a tack. We caught some boats and were looking good. As we were in Division 2 we didn't have to do the full stretch of the lake but were to turn off around Pulbah Island. One boat lost its rig in the 20+ knot breeze and when the rain came we heard another one radio the race committee to say "we're wet and cold and we're coming in".

Bigger boats ahead of us

We were having fun, keeping out of the dead patches and staying in the wind. Strong winds took us across the top of Pulbah and into Belmont where the pressure dropped and we slowed down for a while. There is something to be said for having boats in front because you can see where they lose the wind. The second last mark was at the top of a protected bay and everyone slowed down. Then a quick couple of tacks and we were back across the line and had finished well within the time limit.


It had been wet and cold and strenuous so we did not regret for a moment our decision to do the One Lap Dash and not the 24 hour race.

Back on the marina and Woodsy turned up, most surprised we had finished so early! Being girls and all. While I sat back the crew cooked a feast and Julie's friend Carolyn from Newcastle joined us for dinner and a hilarious evening.

A pre-dawn start was needed for us to make the 6am bridge opening so we could catch the high tide again to cross the bar on the way out of the channel. There was no breeze and it was drizzling as we motored across the lake and we felt for all those hardy 24 hour sailors.

Swansea Bridge at dawn

It took longer than I expected to get to Swansea so we missed the 6am bridge opening and had to wait til 7am which meant we were crossing the bar 2 hours after high tide. I had been told by locals that up to 2 hours was OK. But it was by now blowing steady NE which is the worst conditions.

Ready to head south - a bit of weather about!

The Marine Rescue guy reported the mouth was "becoming rough" and was non-committal when I asked was it navigable so we thought we'd have a look and see if it was safe. A stink boat was going out just ahead of us which was great because we could see how they handled the seas. We all agreed it looked OK so off we went. Cheshire Cat rode beautifully through the swell and before too long we were past the bar and into slightly calmer waters. But now I do know what all the fuss is about. Another hour and it definitely would not have been possible to go. But we were safely across so up with the sails, a reef in both the main and the jib, and we were off.

We flew down the coast with several squalls reducing visibility and speeding us along. Julie had very sensibly kept a log on the way up with headings and times so we knew where we should point and where we were even though we often couldn't see the coastline.

But when we could see we saw loads of whales, blowing, tails in the air, jumping and waving their fins. And some more dolphins.

Thank god for wet weather gear

It was a bumpy ride and hard work steering. And Woodsy's fix of the gas alarm stopped working so we couldn't even make a cuppa much less the noodles we were craving. So we decided to stop off in Coasters again. We collected a small gas BBQ from Terina's boat Firefly so we could cook the spag bol for dinner. The crew were dreaming of hot showers again but when we got ashore discovered that the Parks and Wildlife had blocked the hot taps. Dee was the only one game enough to have a cold shower. We resorted to a sparkling red instead while the dinner cooked.

Next morning we left for Sydney and the promise of lunch at Jenni and Deirdre's. Terina requested a fire and we tried to guess what would be on the menu. The wind was still strong at around 20 knots mainly from the NE so we made excellent time of 3.5 hours head to head. Funnily enough Woodsey rang just as we were coming through the heads to see if we had made it home. I think he's going to come looking for us at Balmain. I'm not sure he understands the significance of the rainbow flag!

With the lunch beckoning the crew did a fab job of packing up and getting everything off the boat at the pontoon in record time. And we were sitting in front of the fire, drinks in hand by 2pm! Full of tall tales and feeling very proud of ourselves. We raised $900 blitzing our $500 target. So thanks very much to all who donated.

And now we know just how well Cheshire Cat handles big seas.