Day 35 So near, yet so far

Mooloolaba

15^th February 2011

So near, yet so far.

After all this bashing to windward we are only one day away from Brisbane but Rona has to get back to Brisbane so our plan is for her to drive down and Dreamagic will stay here until Saturday. Chris has a car here which he has kindly lent her so after a superb breakfast in town Rona headed off and Chris and I caught up with news and future projects. Chris owns Time Lord, a Bavaria 50 which is like our 44 but on steroids. He initially wrote to me after an article I had published in the Cruising Helmsman and we first caught up at Magnetic Island Race Week in 2010. Since then we have been in touch often. He has now brought Time Lord up from Victoria and is currently based in South East Queensland.

We looked at the 2011 race calendar and he’ll probably bring his boat to join us at Airlie and Maggie Race Weeks. For Easter we are both thinking of watching the start of the Brisbane to Gladstone from our respective boats, and following the fleet up to Mooloolaba to spend the rest of that holiday here. It looks like being a great Winter.

Mooloolaba Yacht Club at the Tavern

About 4.00pm Chris and I dropped into the local pub where the Mooloolaba Yacht Club now meets. In a strangely parallel situation to Cairns yacht club, they lost their club house but their club is going from strength to strength. The pub supports the club and they have a part of the bar with their memorabilia displayed. Their club J24 is also liveried with “Adult Sailing Lessons” so the public are very encouraged to join in. They had just finished WAGS and we chatted with them for a while before having dinner at the Mooloolaba Surf Club. A very friendly bunch of guys who really promoted their club. Chris, who isn't a member of any yacht Club decided to join!

Driving Membership

Mooloolaba Surf Club is not unlike Hervey Bay Boat Club, but for young people. The place was packed. The food was great and plentiful, the wine list was  extensive and reasonably priced. Mooloolaba has been well planned and the beach is floodlit. There are free BBQ’s along the foreshore and the local population were out in force enjoying the evening. A truly beautiful place to be.