Marine Stadium Event  

By Pete Mitchell,      'FEENIX'

June 6 - 8, 2009
 
   

After receiving the terrible news that my hide was required at work the Saturday of June the 6th I made the hard decision that we'd be unable to make it to the much anticipated Sandy Straits event. Also I didn't feel like arriving at Harvey Bay after dark for the third event in a row.
 
When I finally finished work I battled Amberley traffic (Winter nationals at Willowbank) to make it home by 1:15pm to find the Monterey sitting in the driveway ready to go. We hit the freeway and got to Marshall road when we heard on the UHF that there was an accident at Springwood and the traffic was building up fast. We had the 'briliant' idea of taking the Klump road exit and try to get around it only to get caught in road works. It took pleasant 2 hours and 15 minutes to get from Everton Park to Rudi Maas .
 
After another 30 minute wait at Rudi Maas we were finally on the water. I was hoping to follow the GPS path that we plotted on the Australia Day weekend but as it turned out it was on the fritz so we had to follow the Beacon to Beacon directory all the way to Marine Stadium.
 
After all that we still arrived after dark. We motored up the western side and found 2 Whittleys. A Monterey (Allan and Marilyn Vincent in Ourtime) and a Cruisemaster 700. As it turned out the owner of the Cruisemaster was a member of the local VMR but was not an active Club Whittley member. 
 
9am the next morning the weather looked fantastic so Miranda and I took the duck ashore and went for a walk along the spit. As we got to the top you could see dark cloud coming fast from the west. We raced back down to the duck and shot back to the boat just as it started to pour down. Paper towels come in real handy as our old covers leaked everywhere. It was then I started to wonder how much fun they'd be having at Harvey Bay.
 
30 minutes later the storm had cleared and it was blue skys all over so we met up with Allan and Marilyn on the beach for all the cheese and biscuits you could eat.
 
At 1:15 pm we led a glorious fleet of 2 Whittleys from Marine Stadium to Couran Cove. Large cruise boats stirred up the water. It was kinda like trying to drive in a washing machine. Upon arrival at Couran Cove we met a young couple, Russell and Nicole in their 660 Cruiser (4LAZN). We all had a few drinks on the balcony over looking the harbour and we told Russell and Nicole all about our previous Club Whittley experiences.
 
That night we all gathered at one of the restaurants for dinner. Turns out it was all you could eat! The food was great. I lost count how many times I went back for more. We got back to the boat I think it was leaning a little on my side :(
 
Next morning we gathered at the same restaurant for breakfast. Again all you could eat but for me it was more like all you could carry! After breakfast Russell and Nicole were on their way. We hope to see them in future events. We joined Allan and Marilyn for a walk over to the eastern side of the island where you could view the tremendous sand dunes and surf. We then made our way through the rain forest trail and returned to our boats where we headed back to Rudi Maas to beat the crowds while Allan and Marilyn headed for Calypso Bay for another night on the water. 
 
Thus concludes our June event.