Day 4: Mooloolaba - Double Island Point - Flingtime

At 6:35 it was a chilly 9.5C with clear blue skies when we left the berth and motored over to the public jettty near the Coast Guard . John logged-on with them and collected the latest Wide Bay Bar crossing co-ordinates and description. These were later saved as waypoints and double checked by Navagatrix (Deborah). We crossed the Mooloolaba bar early on the low tide slack as it was very calm.
The wind was expected to pick up to 15-20 from the W-SW increasing to 25kts in the evening. We set off on a port tack under main and jib. About an hour later we deployed the tow generator for the first time as we had a good long deep water run ahead of us.

We had to motor sail for a few hours until the wind picked a little around 13:55 and the spinnaker was set. However, the breeze faded to below 5 knots at 14:50 and the spinnaker was snuffed.
We arrived at sunset which was spectacular once again, and dropped anchor in 5 metres of water at the southern end of Rainbow Beach. We were safely away from any likely swell break and the tidal range was only 0.9 metres.  We deployed 30 metres of chain and set the shallow alarm at 4m and deep alarm at 8m. Navigatrix took bearings of nearby boats for checking relative positions in the night, if necessary. There was a swell but not too bad.
Sundowners was Piña Colada. Dinner was Penne Bolognese and green salad, washed down with some Chapel Hill 2009 Shiraz. All good.