We hoisted sail, to the amusement of the boats on the other nearby moorings. Then we waited, and waited, until I was sure we were in no danger of drifting into any of them. Maryanne dropped the pendant and we drifted back half a boat length before the wind reversed 180°. Now our sails were set all wrong. We switched them and the wind went back. We switched them back and the wind reversed again. Luckily, the wind was less than two knots right then, so mostly Begonia was staying in place while Maryanne and I walked the sails from one side to the other. Eventually, it became apparent that if the wind didn't make a third shift, we would be in serious danger of at least scaring the guy in the boat behind us. I gave in and started our starboard engine long enough to force Begonia onto a point of sail that would allow us to make our slow escape from the mooring field. Two minutes of engine time at idle doesn't count, right?
The wind thereafter was very swirly, but we were able to slowly work our way out of the harbor into the Pacific Ocean (Tasman Sea). Once we were there the wind stabilized. Best of all, it was from behind. It was a bit of work dousing all of our working sail and replacing it with the spinnaker, but we were soon gliding up the coast.
After a few hours, we passed Bondi Beach. From that point on, we followed the cliffs, retracing the walk we did to there from the start of the 2019 Sydney-Hobart race. We were back in the old neighborhood.
Just before we turned into Sydney harbor, we doused the spinnaker and put our white sails back up. Our timing ended up being rather unfortunate, at least for a couple of sailors who had been out in the boonies for over a year. It was Sunday afternoon (arvo to the Aussies) and the yacht club races were on. Suddenly, there were dozens and dozens of boats coming at us from every direction. Most were fancy (expensive) race boats that were faster than we were. I handed the helm over to Maryanne while I acted as lookout and winch cranker. She did a marvelous job of threading her way through not only the other boats, but also all of the dangerous shallows on the way. The two of us were trying to hold our own amidst boats with large crews who could tack in three seconds. We were on port tack so we had to give way to all of the boats on starboard tack, which suddenly seemed to be all of them. Most of the other port tack crowd was on the other side of the harbor, except for one hydrofoil that was overtaking us. They were the give-way vessel, but we were still trying to stay out of their way. We ended up being in the middle of a 3D scrum as they were being followed by two powerboats and being filmed by a drone that now had our mast to avoid as well.
Arriving back in Sydney - up close with plenty of other boats again!
That woke us up! It was a huge relief when Maryanne found us a big enough patch of water to douse our sails without being run down. We were now just opposite the Opera House, with a plan of crossing through the traffic to anchor at adjacent Farm Cove, where we had been for New Year's 2020.
Most of Farm Cove turned out to be buoyed off to allow room for Opera on the Water. We searched the Notices to Mariners, but could find nothing about it. Eventually, after digging a little deeper, Maryanne determined that it was closed off for an on-water opera event and this was their last night. We could anchor there tomorrow or we could stay outside the buoys in deep water and move farther in tomorrow. We chose instead to head for the nearest free public mooring at Blues Point (Balls Head Bay), just on the other side of the Harbour Bridge. It wasn't the best spot as it was exposed to wakes from every single boat going under the bridge. It was also alarmingly close to an emergency mooring, which was home to a dismasted boat whose mast was still dangling nearby, attached by the shrouds.
In the morning, instead of returning to Farm Cove, we instead opted to go to Blackwattle Bay. We had anchored there on our previously stay in Sydney; it has much better dinghy access to shore, but it was conspicuous for not having our friends Nick and Caitlin from Mahana right next door. They are now in Queensland and we're trying our hardest to catch up.
Hanging out in Blackwattle Bay - a popular anchorage for visiting boats
We did have a dinner invitation from Joe (one of the kayakers we met on Deal Island) and his partner Jacqui. From the dinghy dock, it was a pleasant walk through a leafy part of Sydney where we hadn't previously been. They were great company and both in such great shape that I felt a little self-conscious about not having run a marathon for seventeen years. They are triathletes, so a marathon is the easy bit you do after you've properly warmed up from doing some real exercise.
Since it was our second time in the Sydney area, we felt less of a push to try to see a lot of the usual tourist sights than we did the last time. This visit, we mainly focused on catching up with friends we have met along the way. After visiting Joe and Jacqui, we had a much less stressful week-day sail through the harbor to Manly, on the northern side of the entrance. This time, there were no races on and we only had a handful of boats to contend with. We had one poor chartered tour boat that was going just slow enough to be right in our path at the eastern corner of each of our tacks. We just missed them the first time. The second, I had to signal him with the horn to get him to see us, which caused him to have to throw the thing into reverse. Every subsequent tack, I could see the poor guy trying to guess our movements as we followed every wind shift. Every time we approached, he'd slow down and then start turning each way until we were close enough that it was easy to tell we'd pass ahead. Along the way, we overheard that the event seemed to be a bachelorette booze cruise featuring either karaoke or a lounge singer who is really into Frank Sinatra. I think they were especially glad when they reached their turnaround point and we continued down the bay to Manly.
We picked up a public mooring there, which was very pleasant in a right-in-the-middle-of-the action kind of way. There was lots to keep us entertained. That lasted until the mooring next to us was picked up by a lovely boat with a little dog that yipped so continuously that I thought it must have been some kind of recording for theft or bird deterrence. Then I actually spotted the fluffball on deck. Those people are either completely deaf or they have jobs like primary school teacher that has conditioned them to tune out anything. Oh, to be back in the peace and quiet of central Sydney under the ANZAC bridge.
In the morning, we rowed ashore to do laundry and hit the grocery stores. Then we walked as much of the Manly to Spit trail that we could manage before doubling back to check out our next anchorage at Collins Beach (Spring Cove). There, we were planning a reunion with the Ross family and their boat Muse, who we haven't seen in over a year. It was Hannah's 12th Birthday and she had requested a boat party at the beach there. They have been pretty busy plugging back into 'normal' lives since they got back to Manly, so they were happy to have an excuse to free Muse from her mooring for a weekend.
Aside from chores, we spent some time walking along the coastal trails from Manly too.
Twelve year-old's Birthday parties probably wouldn't make it very high on a list of what I consider my thing, but it was actually a lot of fun. Hannah is the daughter everyone with a daughter wishes they had. In preparation for her party, she baked enough cupcakes so that every kid there (including me) got two. Her friends are pretty cool, too. One big floating mat and permission to jump off of the boat kept them all happy for hours. All we had to do was pass out food to dripping hands on a regular basis to fuel the fun. Every single one of them was so well-mannered that we could have been forgiven for thinking Australians call hot dogs “Thank You”. Maybe humanity isn't quite as doomed as I had thought. As it was now the weekend, the peaceful little cove had morphed into a bit of a Spring Break atmosphere. The noise of a dozen or so kids was certainly enough to drown out all of that as well as the little dog around the corner.
The main point of our Sydney visit was to spend a little time with the Ross family and we were lucky enough to share in Hannah's birthday party fun!
Ashore at Collin's Beach (Spring Cove, Little Manly)
The crowds all left en masse half an hour before Sunday's sunset. The only boats remaining were us, a monohull and a catamaran that Maryanne had met in Sydney. Rod and Cat invited us over and we had a lovely evening of grown-up conversation about boats, cruising and such. Their boat is BEAUTIFUL. It's about the same size as Begonia, but everything is so well thought out and looks brand new. They have a pantry/workshop and a huge galley with tons of storage and counter space. I have a sneaking suspicion that they would also easily beat us in a race. Still, we've got a Portland Pudgy, so it all evens out – kinda.
Before leaving Maryanne squeezed in a snorkel along the cliffs
[Maryanne] Thinking of sailing to Sydney yourself? - It’s a Must Do for visitors to Australia. You can sail past the Opera house, sail under the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and so much more. There are a handful of good anchorages and a host of free 24-hour limit mooring balls (see NSW Courtesy Mooring map); pick up the one that suits your mood (zoo? shopping? whaterver). We can recommend the website (and apps) for Zulu Waterways, A couple of additional websites are Cruising Sydney Waters, and Sydne's top 9 anchorages. There is a lot of traffic (mostly super fast ferries) even on a 'quiet' day, but be warned that weekends and Wednesdays (club sailing) are extra BUSY out on the harbour so keep a good watch and brush up on your rules-of-the-road!
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