With Graham Giles and Harry Watson Smith as crew, we set off from near the Spit Bridge at 19:22 on Tuesday 1st April for Batemans Bay with a northerly behind us of about 5 knots. Once through the heads of Port Jackson we picked up the south going current and a stronger breeze. The current varied around 5 knots and the breeze 10 to 12 knots through the night. By 6:00am the next morning the wind was 15 knots then 17 knots later in the morning.
With a forecast of a strong wind change imminent we picked up a public mooring in Jervis Bay just after midday for the night. The first night saw some waves from the long fetch down Jervis Bay as the wind strengthened and started its swing. The front hit from the west with winds over 35 knots, gradually easing later in the day as it swung further south. We stayed on the mooring rather than venture forth. Not that Tegwen couldn't take the conditions but we were cruising and not sailing to a timetable.
During the day we visited John Bowman who was nearby on another public mooring with his large motor yacht. His boat had a most impressive engine room, beautifully laid out with most impressive pipework and a variety of water handling options. As the wind swung on towards the south, we became increasingly sheltered by the surrounding shoreline and had a calm second night on the mooring.
At 07:40 on Friday 4th April we set out for the rest of our trip, escorted by dolphins as we headed out of Jervis Bay. Once out past Bowen Island the wind was light from the south and we had a pleasant beat to windward. As the day went on the wind gradually dropped off and had swung round to the east by the end of our trip. We ended up motor sailing the last six hours to reach Square Head and Tegwen's new home on Harry's mooring by 19:45.
Tegwen had shown herself to be a well founded yacht and it was a delightful first cruise with good company as crew.
