James Craig - Sydney to Hobart

"Anchor aweigh!" is the cry, and our 1.5 tonne anchor is hauled to the
cathead by 5 men & 1 woman on the capstan singing "Paddy lay back!" A
wistful farewell to Carnarvon Bay, and all plain sail is cracked on as soon
as we get out to sea.  Gentle, wooded slopes give way to the rugged,
vertical cliffs which mark the Southern face of Van Diemen´s Land.  We keep
a good offing, as the thought of meeting with those walls of stone are
enough to chill any sailor´s heart.
A good, stiff breeze from the SW, perfect for tacking, so we put her through
her paces.  Hitchman´s lessons are not in vain, and she "tacks like a
yacht", as the late Alan Villiers promised us.  Villiers sailed in ´James
Craig´ from Sydney to Hobart in 1922, and later worked for the famous Hobart
newspaper, ´The Argus´. He became one of the great writers of the sea, and
in his book ´The Set of the Sail´, dedicates a chapter to his time in the
´Craig´, describing her as ´a particularly lovely vessel.´
Storm Bay paves the way to Hobart, flanked by sloping shores, dotted with
charming cottages assuring us city-worn Sydney-siders that a civilised world
does exist!  The prettiest vessel I ever saw sails out to meet us as we
begin to reduce sail and furl the royals. Two of our crew, Sybil & Drew
Edwards seem particularly excited to see it; their sister Wendy and husband
Mike are aboard their wooden ketch, ´Madoc´.
As the last tops´l is furled we let go in Snug Bay, only 14 nautical miles
from Hobart. We´re almost ´home´, and it feels like the night before a
wedding...