Having been invited to sail with Paul and Gloria to deliver "Liberte" to Mooloolaba, we took the bus from our marina up to Sanctuary Cove on the evening of the 23rd. We joined the Scally's and some other skippers and employees of MultiHull solutions for a departure dinner at George's Seafood Restaurant. Frank and Paul got a little carried away and ended up ordering a seafood extravaganza feast for two that cost nearly $300! The platter took up the entire middle of our large round table and was spilling over with lobsters, Moreton Bay Bugs, prawns, calamari, oysters, clams, mussels and accompaniments cooked various ways. It was almost embarrassing as we noticed people at other tables staring at those two gorging themselves and smiling wickedly. They couldn't possibly eat it all so they began encouraging everyone else at the table to help them finish it off. I don't know if we did. After dinner we spent the night on Liberte, setting out the next day for Mooloolaba intending to make it a two-day sail. We hit high winds on the nose as soon as we cleared the protection of land and hit the middle of the bay. Seas were choppy and as I'd never cruised on a catamaran this was a whole new experience for me. Liberte is a large (60 ft) cat. She can get up and go, but with these conditions we did an amazing amount of "slapping" like a rocking horse. I can only describe it as picturing your hand flat, palm down on the water...then you rock your hand heel-to slapping the water with the front of your had. That is what it felt like to me. At one point a rogue wave slammed us and we heard a loud crash inside. Glor and I went to investigate the crash to find shattered fragments of stemware all through the galley and saloon. This was very unusual since the glass was secured near centerline in a top shelf, but I guess the wave hit us just right - or wrong as the case may be.
We arrived at Pont Cartwright andgot a call from Gwyn, a Kiwi friend of the Scallys who now lives here, he was at the Point waving at us and snapping these photos. At approach to the Mooloolah River we dropped the sails.When we entered the calm waterway, Glor and I began putting out fenders and setting the docklines.
Once settled in to our berth, Gwyn joined us for a celebratory rest, then dinner at our favorite fish n chips. We spent the rest of the night visiting back on board Liberte.
Early the next morning, Gwen drove Frank and I to the train station for our return to Gold Coast.
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