TNS464 – 08/08/2016
Aft port watch checking in here from the bridge … just cleared Sydney
Heads and running a bit further off the coast before turning right –
Melbourne-bound. Sydney put out its best mid-winter sunshine for the
departure – thanks guys! Right now, there’s ‘something’ over to port but
we’re not sure what. Could be wales, could be fish, could just be the
weather playing tricks. We’re promised a nice northerly once we’re out far
enough. With a bit of luck, the seas will be as smooth as they are right now
and we’ll make good headway before nightfall. There’s even talk of catching a
lift on the East Australian Coastal Current, which will add something like
1.5 to 2 knots to our speed. We’re a mixed mob aboard … there’s the
professional crew, of course, a bunch of people who are aboard for the
umpteenth time and absolutely love every minute, and a few (like me) who are
aboard Tenacious for the first time. Being a little anxious about things
that go bump in the night (or bump under the hull) I was very glad to see
how diligent the crew are about safety and procedure briefing, ensuring
everyone knows what to do. Just interrupting that for a whale-spotting
update: we’ve spotted wales! They’re to port, a mum and her calf (or a
mudder and her bebe as of our Irish crew just said) giving us a great show
slapping flukes and rolling about. Fantastic. An hour in to the voyage.
Everyone is feeling happy and so almost no is feeling sick. From AP , Gemma
lucy Dick sandy Helen Lilliana Peter .