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LINDEMAN ISLAND, AT LAST...continued |
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Above: Whitsunday Passage from the summit of Lindeman Island |
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It’s not good, it’s simply dazzling. It is hard to imagine better scenery anywhere. And the day is perfect. Even on the exposed summit there is but a gently zephyr. Maybe we can see 50 miles in every direction, and not the tiniest puff of cloud is in sight. Was it worth waiting for? Absolutely!! |
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The best thing about Gap Beach is that it is secluded, so when we got back from the walk to collect the dinghy, a very nice example of topless eye candy was disporting itself, having walked around from the more populated area of the resort (don’t know if I’ll be allowed to keep this paragraph). Sorry, no photos. |
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COMMODORE’S CORNER |
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While cruising we are sometimes unfortunate enough to witness Boats Behaving Badly. Occasionally we are directly affected by the action of other boats and sometimes we are just innocent bystanders. So far this cruise we have had two of these incidents.
BOATS BEHAVING BADLY—PART ONE Catamaran at Shaw Island. We were sailing along in strong winds and large seas on our final approach to Shaw Island in the Whitsundays. Masala had just achieved a new speed record of 10.2 knots. The skipper of this large and expensive catamaran with four men aboard decided to show off. They were scooting along at a rapid pace when they came in from the side and turned to sail directly behind us, planning to overtake close by to show us how good they were. Their plan fell apart when they realized they were hardly gaining on a speeding Radford 415 monohull – us.
They slowly inched their way up our inside, between us and Shaw Island. We wanted to turn starboard (right for you non-boaties) to enter our anchorage at Shaw Island and get out of the wind to get our sail down, but now they were blocking us. For all we knew the cat was heading for the same anchorage as us, so we didn’t do anything at first. As our turning point receded into the distance at high speed and they didn’t alter course, we realized they weren’t even going to Burning Point, so what the hell were they doing sailing so close and obstructing us?
They got so close that we could clearly make out the faces of the smiling men in their cockpit. Surely there’s a law against tailgating on the high seas? Grant called the cat on the radio requesting it give us sea room. Of |