Patagonia, Pools & Pittwater

The first four months of 2026 could not have been better; – from Patagonia to every rockpool on the Northern Beaches we have revelled in every precious moment enjoying being with family and friends while ensuring Joline gets some well-deserved maintenance before we venture north.

This week we took Joline out of the water at Boatworks on the Gold Coast which is the best boat facility we have every encountered. Boatworks provided fabulous service which enabled us to carry out the routine maintenance of antifouling , polishing and under water jobs in record time which has now give me time to reflect on how much we have enjoyed the first 4 months of 2026.

The hardest thing was leaving Pittwater having spent the first five months of Brodies life on the doorstep. It was thoroughly enchanting, -  a joy, the thought of which brings tears to my eyes and simultaneously smiles with deep feelings of love just thinking about it. Brodie is such a happy character surrounded by brilliant loving parents who are a delight to be around.

Brodie was also a regular crew member on Joline sometimes inviting friends to join us. The pleasure of cruising up and around the Pittwater created a beautiful backdrop for days with our new found friends aboard Joline which we met through Avalon church, Avalon sailing club and other local  yacht owners. We shall miss them for a few months,  but we will be back in October.

Christopher and his fiancé Becca were in the mist of a four month adventure around South America and kindly invited their Mums to Patagonia which we  obviously thoroughly embraced. What followed was a whirlwind of adventure in Argentina. It was a huge pleasure to get to know Sara, (Becca’s mum), and Patagonia exceeded all expectations. The  weather was stunning as we  spent a couple of weeks trekking around El Charten where Mount Fitzroy dominated the skyline and glaciers stunned us with their majestic elegance. We obviously snuck in a week in the Mendoza area and some well-deserved wine sampling before  finished up we  with horse trekking in the Andes. Chris and Becca did a fabulous job and organising everything and it would not have been better: a stunning few weeks and fabulous family time.

While I was galivanting in South America Johns sister ,(Clare), and brother in law, (Nick), came from the UK to stay on Joline. John picked them up from the Opera House in the dingy and they spent a few weeks exploring Sydney harbour and the Pittwater. For Clares birthday John arranged for a Beaver Seaplane to pick them up from near where the boat was anchored for a scenic tour. A highlight of their stay was watching Nick and John try and give Dillon Fletcher, (UK Sail GP team), their advice on every aspect of the racing over two days of Sail GP racing in Sydney Harbour. This was after Nick was out in the minicat during a lightning storm racing Dillion during  a Sail GP practice.  Dillion retired due to bad weather while the seasoned Burnham on Crouch veteran was not deterred!  

Having spent time with Chris and Emma I decided a quick trip to Wellington was well over due to see Luke and Nao. Little did I know that Luke had arranged a “One Piece” party!  After cramming in some research on the characters I entered into the spirit of the occasion and had a splendid fun night with Luke and Noas lovely friends and a very beautiful few days in the NZ capital.

 Luke flew back to  Sydney with me to  carry out his uncle duties….and also got dragged into the Rockpool challenge and a bit of board foiling!  Emma, I and Brodie had given ourselves three weeks to swim the 14 Rockpools of the Northern beaches…. A great fun challenge as it always included, lunch or breakfast and some fun walks.

John joined us for the ones that included a good lunch, but generally decided hanging out with Brodie was preferable to encountering the sea water!  I rated North Curl Curl as the most remote and picturesque and Mona Vale as one of the best, but what a fun spirited activity it turned out to be and what a fabulous place to live.

Both John and I love the Pittwater but we also want to explore the east coast of Australia. As the sun gets lower in the sky and the solar takes longer to charge the batteries, it’s time to go north and get out the guide books to the hundreds of islands and reefs that lie north of Brisbane. Our aim is to use the wind to sail with and sun to power our systems to see how far north we can get, bearing in mind we want to be back for Brodies first birthday at the end of  October and we will using as little fuel as possible!