We have spent a wonderful few weeks in  Southern Queensland, meeting with a few old friends and a lot of new friends.

Many people sailing the coast of Australia have asked us about  sailing offshore and how difficult it really is, what to expect in destination countries and how to manage when  something goes wrong or breaks down.

If we have learnt something in our 7 years of cruising, it is that if it can break down, it probably will do at one stage or another.  Even the most carefully maintained boat, can have unexpected equipment failures.  Even the best weather routers can get it occasionally wrong.

When this happens it is important that skipper and crew have knowledge and skills to come up with a back up plan.  Remember you cannot Google how to fix something in the middle of the ocean, at least we cannot and the prohibitive costs of internet at sea will mean that for many sailors Google will remain unavailable in mid ocean at least for a year or two.

You can prepare for these awful moments by doubling up systems on board and by increasing your skills and knowledge.

The Down Under Rally provides opportunities to do just that via two day seminars held:

16 February 2019 in Southport Yacht Club

23 February 2019 in Royal Motor Yacht Club Pittwater

These are two day courses that help people intending to cruise offshore from Australia to deal with vessel preparations, communication methods, people management, weather forecasting and dealing with heavy weather, search and rescue and sourcing products and services at optimum prices.

The cost of these courses $575 for two or $355 for one.

In addition free entry to the information sessions on Sail SE Asia and the SW Pacific Info sessions which will be held from 8.30 to 11.00 am on the same dates.

Interested? Here is the info!

And maybe, you can even come and say hi to the Impi crew as we will attempt to be at one of the locations weather depending.

PS. As I am writing this, WordPress puts a snoring ad down the bottom! No really, it won’t be boring!