Southport to Coffs

Ok - this leg was not the best time we've had on this trip. After a terrific few days in Southport, including side trips Kingscliff, Byron Bay (great), Mt Tamborine (underwhelming) and a Sea World visit (terrific) , we headed out through the Gold Coast Seaway. Having checked the weather obsessively prior to leaving, everything looked in our favour ie. winds and seas dropping.

Sea World

Sea World - how great are dolphins?

Well, the seas didn't drop and after a really uncomfortable day heading into a southerly wind and swell, we headed into our night sail. Around midnight and off Yamba a squall came up with winds around 25kts. It was pitch black and raining. We sat in this for 3 - 4 hours despite our best efforts to move out of the squall using the radar. It was freezing. We had blankets and doonas on deck which were now all wet. So any exhausted sleep had to be found on wet pillows, cushions and under wet doonas. What fun!

We briefly discussed turning back and heading into Yamba but with the bad weather heading into an unfamiliar river was not the safest option. So we kept going and I counted down the hours until daylight. Sunrise found us wet and cold off the Solitary Islands north of Coffs Harbour. Under good conditions  this part of the trip would usually take 2 hours to arrive in Coffs Harbour. Our trip took 6 hours. The good news was we did eventually arrive - hooray!

Coffs Harbour from Mutton Bird Island

Islands of Coffs Harbour from Mutton Bird Island

What's in a name...

Choosing the name for our yacht seem to take forever and with some negotiation required. We didn't want....

• a combination of our names (al la grey nomads) eg Suelott or Scottlen. We've seen plenty...
• a "clever" play on words such as "Profit of Boom" - yes that's been suggested for another boat back in the day
• a name that seems reserved for power boats or racers eg. Assassin, Renegade or our favourite to date Naughty Boy (overhead on a radio call) - "Marine Rescue, this is Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy - Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy, Naughty Boy this is Marine Rescue" did sound funny at the time. 

So we chose a Tibetan Buddhist word, samaya, following a trip to Bali. It has several meanings, one relates to the bond or teachings between guru and disciple, and the realisation of enlightenment but my favourite is the more poetic "living in the heart".

  Southport

For practical purposes, we thought it would be an easy radio call sign and even easier phonetically - sierra, alpha, mike, alpha, yankee, alpha. Simple right?

Well, no. All along the coast the Marine Radio operators (bless their hearts, they do an absolutely brilliant job) have had trouble. We often get "The Mayor", Maya, recently we had "Sami-aya" but mostly we get asked to spell it. Waiting to hear more versions...always good for a smile.