Christmas, New Year- Who's heading out?

I only have 4 days off work over Christmas, so we're heading out Christmas eve and spending 4 days at Marine Stadium, relaxing, catching up with other boatie mates and friends, Anybody else on the water over the break?

I've only got four days off as well. Doing the extended family thing on Friday, then going for a Boxing Day trip to Kildala Arm on Douglas Channel. Should be about 40 degrees cooler here.

I'm heading home now for 4 weeks off. Looking at the Adelaide coastal forecast, Christmas will be hot and windy. (35 degrees C and 35 knots). I might wait for the winds to settle down and then spend a week or two around Kangaroo Island if the weather behaves.

We'll be going out one of the days in the next week, but not sure which until the forecast is more certain. If you're just day sailing, and taking some land folk, you want it to be nice and fine.

We have friends who want us to go with them to another marina about seven hours away (for us, not for them). It's a nice marina and we stay for free because the same company owns our marina and this one, but right now, the boat is blocked getting fiberglass repairs, bottom paint, and I hope, compounded and waxed..


Due to unforeseen circumstances and holiday hours, this is taking longer than anticipated and I don't see the boat being back in the water for another week or more.


So - I don't see us heading out.


She is a school teacher and has two weeks off so if the boat gets done and the weather cooperates we might go after Christmas.

Not headed out on the boat but on the 29th, after all the decorations are down and put away, we're headed back down to AZ for a couple of months. I have a 13' Boston Whaler down there to satisfy my boating fix.


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Bess and I have a fair amount of time off and are spending the holidays on the boat. Will we go out? Yea, maybe. It is warm here, but a little gaey. So we will see.

The company I work for shuts down completely from Christmas Eve day to the closest workday after New Years day. So we'll have time to go out, weather permitting. The deciding factor is if we have the boat back from a multi-month round of trouble-shooting and repair of a pretty serious problem that occurred back in early September. The boat is currently back in the yard for the final stage of this process.

Under normal circumstances we boat year round and the Christmas/New Year's break gives us an opportunity to get out in the islands when there are very few people out and about.

Off to Ballet Bay for New Year's Eve, peace and quiet and no wind (I hope).

I'll be hauling butt to Bimini the day after till the 4th.

Wifey B: No....

Actually it's the time of year we have annual commitments and so we leave town tomorrow (by car......yuck). We'll return home on the 28th and be on the water by the 30th, but just on day trips mostly like 50 miles or 100 miles from home. Maybe Bimini for a day or Miami or West Palm. Our next extended cruise will start around the 18th of January.

Going to Charlotte to the Belk Bowl my grandson's team is playing. Then up to Asheville for the Biltmore Estate Christmas evening candle light tour. Probably head home by driving south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Top up this time of course.

Moonstruck said:

Going to Charlotte to the Belk Bowl my grandson's team is playing. Then up to Asheville for the Biltmore Estate Christmas evening candle light tour. Probably head home by driving south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Top up this time of course.

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Wifey B: We're going to Charlotte tomorrow.

Planning going out Christmas eve to enjoy Christmas day onboard,returning early Boxing Day when there is discouraging weather forecast which should make day 1 of the Sydney Hobart interesting. Christmas lunch revisited by the sound of it.
Last year there were very few boats around until Christmas Day mid/late afternoon, then there was a procession of arrivals. Hope we get a good spot before them, somewhere on the Hawkesbury, Yeomans Bay or Castle Lagoon,or Smiths Creek, I`m hoping.
Merry Christmas!

Providing Christmas lunch finishes early enough I'll head over to the Sandhills late in the afternoon. Wind forecast is good for a few days which fits my schedule. I need to be back for the Big Bash Cricket at the 'Gabba on the 29th. I volunteer to help family friends do the pyrotechnics for the game. I get in for free and get to sit inside the fence - works for me. May well be out in the Bay for New Years eve, depends on wind direction again.

Looks like no boating for me for a little while.
Sick mother in law to be looked after.
Have to get the boat down to Gold Coast City Marina mid to late Jan so will be out and about after the new year.

Benn
Hope the health issues can be managed ok for all concerned. Back down for some more stuff, eh?

Actually, let me know when you are heading down. I might follow you down to get Garth and Andrew to quote on some work for me as well that I ought to get sorted before heading north next season.

Merry Christmas all !

Brian and Co on Down Under Page.
Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.
Hope the new year brings more great boating adventures.
Brian will ring you in the next week or so.
Cheers
Benn

I am on the Burnet River in lovely Bundaberg Qld for Christmas till after New years, after spending a week cruising the 'narrows' of Curtis island.
Any locals wanna say hi ??
I'm anchored just upriver from the defunct cable ferry.
Merry Christmas and happy N.Y.

I'll say hi, but from Moreton Bay! Not that local for you.

At the Sandhills ATM but only for one more night. Then the 20-25 kn SE is blowing for about a week, so home until after New Year. So I'll catch the New Years eve fireworks at Southbank instead.

Day sail ...

Christmas Eve we were spoilt for choice of National Parks moorings in beautiful deep water bays on the Broken Bay/Hawkesbury River boating grounds. Around 1pm we picked up a mooring in Castle Lagoon off Yeomans Bay, we had a choice of either, the procession of boats arriving began Christmas Day pm. Castle Lagoon ranks with Pinta Bay off Jerusalem Bay, and Smiths Creek, IMO. A lovely place to spend Christmas.

Sounds good Bruce. We decided not to go out this time of year unless the forecast is for cooool weather. It's 35º C outside here right now. Thank Gaard for Aircon. We are going to take friends out for the day on Monday.

Peter B said:

Sounds good Bruce. We decided not to go out this time of year unless the forecast is for cooool weather. It's 35º C outside here right now. Thank Gaard for Aircon. We are going to take friends out for the day on Monday.

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Pete
I'm on the hook and its just 29º. Have you checked Seebreeze wind forecasts? From Monday its not going to be nice. Unless you just are hiding amongst the islands in the southern bay

Peter, hot weather in Sydney is being displaced by a strong southerly front, my still falling barometer reads 1001 just now. The Sydney Hobart fleet are expecting a tough first night, before that the US sailboat/yacht Comanche claims to exceed 30 knots downwind under spinnaker(you could water-ski behind it if drag didn`t rule it out). The change will head up the NSW east coast, barring blocking systems you should see cooler conditions in Qld.

Insequent said:

Pete
I'm on the hook and its just 29º. Have you checked Seebreeze wind forecasts? From Monday its not going to be nice. Unless you just are hiding amongst the islands in the southern bay

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Good grief! I just checked Seabreeze, the change hits around midnight Saturday and clears Sydney around Monday, but Brisbane is predicted to get nearly a week of SE mischief from Monday on.

Insequent said:

Pete
I'm on the hook and its just 29º. Have you checked Seebreeze wind forecasts? From Monday its not going to be nice. Unless you just are hiding amongst the islands in the southern bay

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Thanks for that Brian. I was under the impression things were looking good for most of the next week, but you are right, (so much for the landlubber forecast), the winds are meant to be light tomorrow with a late change to 15 - 25kn late Sunday into Monday, and for the rest of the week. We might see if we can bring the outing forward to tomorrow.

You will enjoy the fireworks wherever you are, but we have enjoyed taking the boat up the river for those, and then overnighting there in the city on the pick afterwards many times, so we are sort of over it now. But it is a great way to participate. Rather nice to have all the mod cons to hand, including the food & champers etc, then after the hubbub has died down, and most of the other boats, especially the myriad of small ones, have gone home, you virtually have the river to yourself.

Cheers,

Southerly change is through Sydney, coming your way Peter. Wild Oats and others retired after 50 knot winds were encountered, Comanche too until they figured they could repair their damaged rudder and continue. A first ever Chinese entry finished their race in 300M with a nasty collision. The starter`s boat began taking water just before race start and had to be replaced by another that was not sinking.
A word of congrats to our Mods for keeping the Board nice. Checking on the S-H race, I viewed, as a guest, a CF thread on the race. It was virtually 15 pages of bitching over a 2 month period, with the odd sensible post, plus (unsurprisingly) adverts on CF for Mantus products.

BruceK said:

Southerly change is through Sydney, coming your way Peter. Wild Oats and others retired after 50 knot winds were encountered, Comanche too until they figured they could repair their damaged rudder and continue. A first ever Chinese entry finished their race in 300M with a nasty collision. The starter`s boat began taking water just before race start and had to be replaced by another that was not sinking.
A word of congrats to our Mods for keeping the Board nice. Checking on the S-H race, I viewed, as a guest, a CF thread on the race. It was virtually 15 pages of bitching over a 2 month period, with the odd sensible post, plus (unsurprisingly) adverts on CF for Mantus products.

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The worst arguments ever on this board wouldn't even merit a ranking on CF. Two many wildly different types of users there.

possible trailer/vehicle storage around Brissy?

to the Brisbane based boaters,
I wouldn't mind doing a cruise on Morton bay going south to the Nerag river area in the next couple of weeks before I depart Qld waters.
I don't particularly care where the location is as it would be a return cruise.
Would appreciate any info on possible places to store the landcruiser and trailer for around a week that are not seriously expensive..
Thx Brett