After much discussion it was decided that Ric would sail up with ‘crew’ (a beer loving fisherman and a teenage work employee who had never been to sea, neither of which have ever turned a winch) and I would drive up with the children and meet him on the Gold Coast. 

As much as we wanted to sail out of Sydney as a family we knew that part of the trip would be the most hairy and unpredictable weather wise and would not be a good introduction to sailing for the boys should it go pear shaped………. and it did. Just before Coffs Harbour, Ric and his trusty crew got slammed by 40 knot winds for 6 hours straight in the middle of the night. Completely not forecast on any of the 4 weather sites he was regularly checking. 40 knots is the equivalent of 70 km hour winds or that lovely storm Sydney had recently……

After my pleasant 5 hour drive of donuts, coffee, warmth and singing to the children’s fav playlist on which Motley Crew’s ‘Kickstart My Heart’ has 578 rotations,  we met the guys on the SS Vomitron at Coffs Harbour. They had an early night and were off again first thing in the morning to push through to the Gold Coast which was going to take 24 hours. I had a lovely 4 hour drive and was peeved when it rained for 5 minutes at Byron Bay. Hello inconvenient!!!! 

Ric sailed into the Gold Coast at 7am the next day in perfect conditions and the boys ran up the Seaway chasing him much to their delight. Pizza and champagne at Mariners Cove Marina with a few sore heads…. ok just mine in the morning.