It was a gruelling day, bashing into 20+kt headwinds with a short, choppy sea slamming the boat up and down.
At times, there was 1.5kt current against the wind, making the waves steep and close together. It seemed like front half of the boat, from keel to bow, would repeatedly leap out of the water, then come crashing down. The risotto Alex was cooking splashed out of the gimballed pot!
Instead of being able to head straight to Newcastle, they were forced to steer off course, which was soul-destroying to see little progress being made toward their goal.
But eventually, at around 10:00pm AEDT last night (Saturday, 5 April) Rusalka entered the Port of Newcastle! They motored up the river to the Australian Border Force mooring where they had been instructed to wait until Monday morning when Border Force will clear them into the country.
As you might imagine, there was a celebratory drink or two, and videocalls and messages to send before the crew collapsed happily in bed around 2am!
Today is a rest day and doing a bit of tidying up. Tomorrow, they will go to the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club marina where Border Force and Biosecurity will inspect them and (hopefully!) clear them into Australia. And I’ll be making my way up to Newcastle to join them by mid-afternoon!
The story is not yet over, as we still have to get Rusalka home to Tasmania. Stay tuned...
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