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Submitted by john on Mon, 2006-04-24 09:13.After getting to Mooloolaba in Queensland and sustaining the damage to the roller furling we have decided that trying to get around Australia one year is a big task so we have modified our plans and are going to sail as far as Lizard Island in northern Queensland and then turn around and head back down to Sydney. This is meant to be fun after all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Submitted by john on Fri, 2005-11-25 08:14.Did you get any storms?
Yep, but not often. Pilot charts have the percentage likelihood of gales on them, normally 1 to 3 % along our trip. We usually got one gale in a month of sailing.
About Us
Submitted by john on Wed, 2005-11-16 22:52.
Welcome! I am John Banfield, and with my wife, Alison Banfield, I hope to give you a glimpse of what life on a blue water cruising boat is like. We live in Sydney, Australia, and now have a Crealock 37, Liberty, which we will eventually circumnavigate on.
Before that we were the proud owners of True Blue Voyager, a classic 32ft cruising yacht. She is a 1976 Allied Seawind II.
A review of the Crealock can be found at Boat US. Going to a bigger boat was a very difficult decision and only time will tell whether it was the right one. Interestingly True Blue had more storage. The Crealock is a very different boat in that she is narrow for a 37 footer - 10" 10. She is more tender, much faster and points much higher. The bed is smaller but everything else is bigger, including the galley, head and main cabin.
After living in the US for a number of years we left Florida in 2002 for Australia. Our trip took us around the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and across the South Pacific. (Read more about our trip here.)
04 - Hamilton Island to Cairns
Submitted by cruisin on Mon, 2011-09-05 04:57.We left Hamilton Island after spending one night there and headed over to Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach was going to be one of our major stops as we were waiting for our new spinnaker and the last part for our old furler to catch up with us. We decide to install the old furler as a staysail furler so need to arrange for a rigger to come and do the work for us as well. There were also some other minor repairs that we needed to organise as well such as getting the VHF radio repaired.
03 - Southport to Hamilton Island
Submitted by cruisin on Fri, 2011-07-01 03:45.After spending a few days in Southport catching our breath and doing the usual chores of laundry and reprovisioning it was time to move on. We decided to head north by going up the Broadwater to Moreton Bay. This is a meandering waterway with a marked channel that we had to motor through for about 20 miles. It was very shallow in some spots despite transiting it at high tide and we actually touched the bottom in a couple of spots.
02 - On to Queensland
Submitted by cruisin on Tue, 2011-05-10 07:08.
Arriving in Hobart in the dark was an experience. After Sydney where just about every available space is taken up with a private mooring it was a pleasant surprise coming into Sandy Bay to discover oodles of room to anchor and only a handful of privately moored boats. After tidying up we had a quick meal of pasta and broke out the little bottles of Moet that our friend Karen had given us on departure from Sydney. We had made our first major milestone of reaching Hobart.
01 - Tasmania Mania
Submitted by cruisin on Wed, 2011-04-13 07:38.We arrived at Greenwell Point at about 9am after a great overnight sail from Sydney. Greenwell Point is a small fishing village on the Shoalhaven River not far from Nowra on the NSW south coast. Alison's parent's live in Nowra so it was a great place to stop in on the way through for a few days visit. Alison's sister, Laura, and Grant also came down and stayed for a few days so it was a bit of a family get together. We did some unsuccessful fishing and ended up BBQing burgers.
Guest book
Submitted by cruisin on Fri, 2011-03-04 06:55.Please leave general updates and comments here
Liberty - East Coast Australia 2011
Submitted by cruisin on Fri, 2011-03-04 06:10.Welcome to the story of John and Alison sailing their yacht Liberty around Australia.
After buying Liberty three years ago we began to discuss what our next cruising plans would be. A number of thoughts were tossed around which included a trip to Vanuatu, the Solomon’s and Papua New Guinea. Because the boat was fairly new to us and we had not done a lot of sailing with her we decided that a circumnavigation of Australia was the way to go. With this decision made the serious planning began.
