My Crew Travel

17/06/2024

I will be back in Sydney in July and look forward to catching up with friends and clients at the Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia Associates Ladies Night 2024.

I will be doing a short presentation on recent yacht deliveries and in particular Safety at Sea highlighting some key learnings.

Tickets are $28/$30 for non-members which includes a drink on arrival and bar snacks.

Hope you can join me there 🥂

https://events.humanitix.com/associates-ladies-night-2024

06/06/2024

CHEYENNE delivery - Part Nine Port Douglas, to Airlie Beach Queensland

After a quick 15 hour turnaround in Port Douglas we depart on sunrise into Trinity Bay and head south past Four Mile Beach.

After weeks of strong winds and swell we finally have a small weather window to push south.

An absolutely gorgeous day to be on the water - sunshine sparkling, aqua water, green islands, white sandy beaches and the mountain ranges ashore shrouded in clouds.

The land breeze fills in overnight as we pass outside the Dunk & Palm Island groups and then Magnetic Island at dawn.

We cross the bird-filled shallows of Bowling Green Bay south of Townsville to turn the corner and head down the coast past Bowen.

A late night arrival into Coral Sea Marina and up early to enjoy a walk and swim at Airlie Beach.

Days at sea 2
Nautical miles 300

05/06/2024

Great time to grab a special.

03/06/2024

CHEYENNE delivery - Part Eight - Thursday Island, Torres Strait to Port Douglas, Queensland

After a slow-paced week on TI waiting out a strong wind warning we drop the mooring and head out into the channel.

We round the tip of mainland Australia off Cape York and finally sail into the Coral Sea and down the east coast - quite an achievement - particularly in this season of strong SE trade winds.

The first 48 hours are all focused on navigating through the reef. We edge along the designated shipping channel from light to light - marker poles ij the water.

We have a half moon for this leg & the Milky Way smears her stars across the sky. As the breeze eases from 29 back to 25 knots the seaway improves. The tide rushes through the gaps in the reef.

There is a fair bit of traffic using the narrow channel - we stick to the edge to give the 30m beam - 200m long cargo ships and tankers room to overtake us.

We pass the entrance to Cooktown and an incredible dawn lights up the sky. For the first time in ten weeks there is a touch of cool in the air to put on a layer in the evening

As we round Cape Tribulation I see a familiar yacht name on the tracker & it’s great to chat with Scott & Sandy from Sea Moon on the VHF as they head north to Thursday Island to join the Sail Indonesia Rally.

We head into Port Douglas to refuel and head out again on first light.

Days at sea 3.5
Nautical miles 400

27/05/2024

Great news from one of our partners mysail.team 🇺🇸

Thank you Sail-World for covering our recent announcement about MySail's expansion to the USA 👊

It's very exciting times as we expand our global community to offer new sailing opportunities to crew from around the world.⛵️

27/05/2024

CHEYENNE delivery - Part Seven - Gove, NT to Thursday Island, Torres Strait.

We are at anchor in Gove / Nhulunbuy for four days. It’s windy so we put out 40m of chain to avoid dragging.

A town of red dust from the bauxite mine. Shipped overseas and domestically to make aluminum. Built by Rio Tinto in the 1950s with a contract due to expire in 2030.

A town of 4000 people that may stay or be completely removed - hospital, schools, 50m pool, Woolworths, Westpac, airport.

FIFO workers are brought in on charter flights from Cairns or Darwin on a two week on/ two week off roster. Every vehicle has a badge, every person wears a logo of a company or an acronym of a government body.

You must apply for a permit in advance to purchase alcohol throughout East Arnhem Land - there are community limits on take aways in four tiers.

We hear of plans for the Navy to build a base and also NASA a rocket launching site in the area in the future.

The local people, Yolngu, are known for their annual arts & culture festival, Garma, run by the Yothu Yindi Foundation over a long weekend each August.

The Gove Boat Club is about 12 km out of town - great facilities, bar & food. I’m lent a ute to take our jerry cans in to fuel up - been a while since I drove a manual! No problem standing on the tray filling them up here!

We have a couple of days wait for a weather window to cross the Gulf and take a trip out to nearby Yirrkala to visit the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre run by the local Indigenous community to showcase art followed by lunch at the Miyalk Cafe - an engagement and learning centre for locals.

At dawn we head out past Bremer Island into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

A few rain squalls and a rainbow on the bow past Cape Arnhem then its a few days of upwind motor sailing pushing current.

A bright full moon each night over a confused sea. We have left the dry season conditions of Darwin and a low, slate grey cloud threatens during the day with occasional short, sharp rain squall each evening.

As we close the coast and enter the West Cape York Marine park the water lightens to a brilliant aqua and a couple of birds appear. You can hear the radio traffic of ships coming in and out of the port of Weipa - another bauxite mine.

This area and the Torres Strait have a compulsory SRS (ship reporting system) like the Great Barrier Reef.

We navigate through the Inskip Banks on dark and enter the Endeavour Strait. Once again big tidal currents up here in the north as we approach Thursday Island.

In the early morning light and 20 knots of breeze we pick up a mooring off the township ready for the fuel station to open tomorrow morning.

Days at sea 3
Nautical miles 350

27/05/2024

CHEYENNE delivery - Part Six - Darwin to Gove, Australia 🇦🇺

The dragonflies have arrived in Darwin signaling the beginning of ‘The Dry’, businesses are opening up, cruise ships stopping over & tourists are starting to trickle into town.

It’s still over 30 degrees every day and high 20s at night but the humidity and cloud build up each afternoon have gone.

I do yoga on the dock early each morning & we head to the pool at Parap for laps between jobs. We catch up with friends based up here & are lent a car to get around. Darwin Sailing Club remains a favourite for sundowners.

CHEYENNE has her import clearance restriction lifted and we prepare to leave - new gas bottle, more jerry cans, a 200 hour service of the outboards and provisions to last to the East Coast.

We exit the lock at Cullen Bay Marina at sunrise and head into the Vernon Passage.

The breeze is on the nose through the Van Diemen Strait and the big tides create a short chop.

The stars at night put on amazing show once the half orange moon sets early in the morning.

We navigate the passage inside Croker island - a big, brown patterned turtle pops its head up beside the boat.

As we head east across the Arafura Sea tthe breeze shifts enough to deploy a staysail and we rocket along through the night.

There is no traffic up here, few settlements, no phone reception.

The SE trades have arrived and are relentless. The ideal time to cross the top is during the last of the north west monsoons but delays mean we have missed that weather window.

We weave through the Wessel Islands in the darkness and cross the Malay Road into Melville Bay and anchor off the Gove Boat Club.

Days at sea 3.5
Nautical miles 450

19/05/2024

15/05/2024

Great interview.

10/05/2024

CHEYENNE delivery - Part Five - Kupang, Indonesia 🇮🇩 to Darwin, Australia 🇦🇺

A short turnaround to clear out of Indonesia in the port of Kupang on the island of Timor.

A morning departure through the pearl farms accompanied by dolphins and out into the Rote Channel - plenty of wind on tide effect with a short choppy wave.

Things smooth out the further we get into the Timor Sea and we set course for the Beagle Gulf and Darwin.

Mandatory reporting for Australia all complete, we hope to arrive by Friday before Border Force and Biosecurity clock off for the weekend.

There is little traffic on this leg - just a motor all the way into the wind. Up to two knots of current against us until we reach the North-West Shelf.

Just on dawn we cross into Australian waters - we still see Indonesian boats as the fishing permitted zone is closer to the coast. My new record is nine flying fish on deck to return to the water in the

There are two huge natural gas drilling platforms and a couple of tankers moored up off to port over the Undan pipelines - the depth has gone from well over 1000m off Rote to 75m over the banks.

The breeze eases and the sea turns turquoise for the last 24 hours into Darwin.

About 50 nautical miles offshore there is a distant glow of the city on the horizon. Plane lights flash above and more commercial shipping shows up on the chart.

There are big tides in the northern parts of Australia - around 8 metres - so we have assist and then current against us as the tides change.

The last 30 nautical miles have us doing 11 knots over the ground so we dock in Cullen Bay around 6am and update our booking with ABF to 9am.

A few formalities, a bit more paperwork and a biosecurity treatment by the divers.

Our yellow Q flag comes down and we book to go through the lock into the marina at 8pm.

CHEYENNE is restricted to port until the import is completed and then we can continue with the next leg of our delivery.

Days at sea 3.5
Nautical miles 450

06/05/2024

CHEYENNE delivery - Part 4 - Lombok to Kupang, Indonesia 🇮🇩

After a busy few days at the team took the northern route over Sumbawa and Flores to avoid the prevailing breeze.

Stunning scenery of dramatic dark volcanoes, lush green rolling hills, palm fringed white sandy beaches and small reef surf breaks.

Now the moon rises later and the sky is full of stars - a clear Milky Way and the first satellites & shooting stars of this trip.

We come through the Narrows in the early morning and emerge into the Timor Sea with 100nm to sail to Kupang.

Days at sea 3.5
Nautical miles 550

30/04/2024

Cheyenne delivery
Part Three - Belitung to Lombok, Indonesia 🇮🇩.

The team have completed the next 600 nm leg in 4 days.

After refuelling in the photogenic Belitung we continue down the Archepelagic Sea Way between Borneo and Java avoiding the usual logs, nets, unlit fishing boats, passenger ferries and tankers.

Gorgeous yellow moon lit nights and dolphins, sea snakes, turtles, mahi mahi and flying fish to jeep us entertained.

We skirt around the pearl farm and head into Marina Del Ray as the call to prayer is broadcast.

We anchor off and catch an hour of sleep until the guys direct us into the dock.

24/04/2024

CHEYENNE delivery Part Two - Batam to Belitung, Indonesia 🇮🇩

Rainy season has arrived in Batam - I head out with a driver to do the provisioning.

Lots of money being spent on the island - a new 10 lane highway and big data centres are under construction. It’s all private development rather than government.

It’s always a challenge provisioning in another language - I ask random shoppers nearby with plenty of hand actions and miming - is this tea bags or tea leaves? Is this detergent for clothes or dishes? Are these eggs from chickens or something else?
Everyone is always amazing and helpful - I love travelling.

A final drinks and dinner with friends, a live band under the stars, collect paperwork and it’s time to leave. An early morning departure down the Singapore Strait towards the sunrise then a problem - starboard engine failure - followed by port engine an hour later on our return.

Several days with mechanics, parts, tools, driving to workshops, sea trials and waiting to get going.

I use the time for more yoga, laps in various pools, finishing books, sorting out paperwork and working.

Once we resolve the engine issues we depart again - down the Singapore Strait avoiding the tide lines of logs and plastic and into the South China Sea. It’s a calm day only punctuated by the occasional line of fishing nets to avoid.

As night falls a huge yellow moons lights the way as we cross the equator - number five for me so no need to undergo any sacrifices to King Neptune - I’m a trusty shellback already.

Very little breeze in this zone so its a motor sail the whole way. The glow of squid boats all along the horizon.

We have left the busy shipping routes and start to see more passenger ferries that move the population between the many islands that make up Indonesia. The occasional tanker, some gas drilling platforms, small flying fish and a huge thunderstorm, sheets of lightning, torrential rain for about 7 hours.

The water is a deep blue now as we enter the Java Sea - very little rubbish, a few logs and some cuttlefish on the surface.

We glide into Belitung under bright white moonlight - first a blinking lighthouse, a mobile phone signal then the smell of earth.

There are a couple of yachts anchored off - we watch the dawn unfold on ANZAC Day and wait till we can arrange some fuel.

16/04/2024

CHEYENNE delivery Part One - Phuket, Thailand to Batam, Indonesia

The My Crew Travel team depart from Ao Po Marina in the afternoon once our passports & port clearance have been delivered.

Dodging the many fishing traps marked with colourful flags we watch the sunset over Koh Phi Phi as a new moon rises.

The fluro green glow of the squid boats surround us all night through the Andaman Sea.

Dawn breaks over the island of Langkawi - we have left Thailand behind and are now in the Bay of Bengal off Malaysia.

A huge colourful butterfly joins me on watch as we near the coast.

Another hot day and the water gets more polluted as we pass Penang and continue south. The fishing stakes - unlit lines of sticks with nets strung between - begin.
We pass under a procession of planes lining up on their flight path in.

The night watches come as a cool relief in this part of the world - the breeze lightens, the tide turns and the fishing boats looms glow over the horizon.

As we approach Pangkor the squalls of thunder and lightning build as the strait narrows.

The shipping channel traffic increases and plastic rubbish and logs more prevalent as the land closes in on each side of the Malacca Strait. We can see Sumatra up ahead in the cloud.

By sunset we are crossing the TSS - the traffic separation scheme for shipping. This stretch is one of the busiest for cargo in the world but we seem to have timed it well this time and weave between six large tankers to make it to the Indonesian side.

And then it’s on … like a race down the highway… tankers overtaking on the inside under the flashes of lightening and loud thunderclaps. The radio crackles with comms 24 hours a day with pilot requests and overtaking notifications.

The far off glow of Singapore’s lights up the next evening and the ships continue to race on by.

Lightening breaks over the mountains of Sumatra as we head east up the channel to the island of Batam.

After clearing in we enjoy a rest at Nongsa Point Marina - re- provision, refuel and prepare for the next leg.

Nautical miles - 650 nm
Days at sea 3.5

12/04/2024

Two weeks in Phuket preparing the Stealth 13S cat ‘CHEYENNE’ for her export and delivery to Australia.

A couple of sea trials and an overnight at Koh Phi Phi before we receive the clearance to depart Thailand and head south via Malaysia to Indonesia. ⚓️

30/03/2024

The next adventure for takes us to Thailand 🇹🇭 - for our third delivery back to Australia.

It’s so great to be back in the beautiful island of Phuket on the Andaman Sea with it’s crazy traffic, spicy foods, cold Chang beer, funny signs and warm, friendly locals.

We have met the team from Asia Catamarans Co.,Ltd moved the carbon fibre STEALTH CAT 13 S CHEYENNE from Phuket Yacht Club to AO PO GRAND MARINA (ท่าเรือ) and have spent a week preparing the boat for the journey.

As always a lot of running around and paperwork to finalise.

The weather has been record- breaking hot every day, pool swims after work a must.

25/03/2024

Welcome to Secret Men’s Business.

It's beginning to look a lot like Sailfest Newcastle and the Australian Yachting Championship are just around the corner, with Secret Mens Business Yachting safely arriving this morning from Sth Oz. We can't wait to see it take on the new Hooligan, among other strong TP52 contenders. With thanks to our supporters City of Newcastle and NSW Maritime. Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club.

19/03/2024

16/03/2024

The team have successfully delivered the Hanse 458 TRAVELLING LIGHT from to . We travelled via the Sandy Straits inside Fraser Island to then onto . Once the sea state subsided we had a great run down the NSW into Sydney Harbour. ⚓️

15/03/2024

Thanks to Queensland National Parks. 🙏

04/03/2024

The have flown to to deliver the Hanse 458 ‘TRAVELLING LIGHT’ to her new home in Sydney.

After collecting some race gear from storage in Airlie Beach and a stay at we are now heading to after refuelling marina. ⚓️

18/02/2024

The team have spent a week in Sydney catching up with friends and family before the next job.

Every single one of you who reached out and sent a supportive message, email, made a comment on social media, or took the time to sit and listen has been really appreciated.

To the team at AMSA, the crews of the RACQ Capricorn Rescue helicopter & the Queensland Marine Parks Reef Resilience vessel, the Heron Island Resort staff - you all went above and beyond your normal duties to ensure our rescue was successful last Saturday night - in our eyes you are legends.

A credit to the Safety and Sea Survival courses I have received over the years, the fire training as part of my TAFE Digital Maritime Coxswain & Master V qualifications and the yearly proficiencies in first aid & radio at Manlylsc. All of these contributed to the way I was able to respond under pressure.

Thanks to the Australian Sailing Safety Committee, Sailing Women's Network Australia, Live Sail Die, Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Manly Yacht Club for allowing our story to be shared so others can learn from the incident.

After a week of replacing everything - phones, cards, IDs, keys, wet weather gear, ordering laptops & passports, sorting out visas and all the general life admin we are ready to get back to work.

Topsail Insurance were extremely easy to deal with and sorted out & paid my claim within 48 hours - so helpful.

It’s been amazing to receive help with sailing gear from friends, the Wild Thing Yachting team, Quality Marine Clothing and assistance at Musto Australasia.

Captain ⚓️ Larry is making a good recovery from the burns to his legs and we will be back on the ocean soon.

Keep celebrating life 💙

12/02/2024

This short shot is from the stern as I was preparing to abandon ship into the liferaft - Larry is on the port side.

12/02/2024

The team of and .jamieson through good management and quick actions have survived an electrical fire and subsequent sinking of the RP52 race yacht MISS SCARLET.

After 7 days from Auckland we had departed Southport on Friday morning.

On Saturday evening while I was on watch a low voltage alarm sounded - which Larry investigated and observed white smoke in the nav station area.

He moved quickly to put the throttle in neutral while I activated a fire extinguisher and turned off the engine.

By then flames could be observed from up on deck and Larry immediately deployed the liferaft while I grabbed the VHF to start transmitting a Mayday call with our GPS co-ordinates.

Larry received second degree burns to the backs of his legs while escaping the flames and we abandoned ship to the liferaft & I used a knife to cut the tether - within 5 minutes the whole yacht was engulfed and moments later sank.

I activated my PLB and continued to make Mayday calls.

AMSA tasked a plane from Cairns and chopper from Rockhampton.

After 2.5 hours a call came on the VHF from the chopper that a boat was on the way - ETA one hour.

At their request I shot a parachute flare then a red smoke flare to assist them locating us in the swell.

We were picked up by Andrew and the capable crew of the Queensland Marine Parks vessel the ‘Reef Resiliance’ via RIB and taken to Heron Island an hour away by boat.

We were assessed by the paramedic & loaded onto the CQ Rescue 3 chopper for another hour flight to Rockhampton and then to hospital.

Once released we flew home to Sydney with only the clothes we were wearing - everything else has gone - wallets, passports, computers etc

While very disappointed about not being able to deliver the yacht to her new owner in Cairns we know that people are more important than possessions and are working with the relevant authorities and insurance companies to provide as much information as possible.

07/02/2024

The team have successfully delivered the Reichel Pugh 52 race yacht ‘MISS SCARLET’ from in Auckland, New Zealand 🇳🇿 to in Queensland, Australia. Our third double-handed crossing of the Tasman in the last six months. Now awaiting finalisation of import papers before the next leg. ⚓️

27/01/2024

The My Crew Travel team have flown to New Zealand 🇳🇿 to prepare the Reichel Pugh 52 MISS SCARLET (formerly Scarlet Runner) for delivery to Australia 🇦🇺

With one important part missing flew to Melbourne and back in a day to collect it ready for installation by GT Yachting.

Now waiting for a weather window and due to depart from Westhaven Marina on Tuesday morning. ⚓️

18/01/2024

An amazing race to consider!!

My Crew Travel has sailed to Palau & Okinawa and can highly recommend both destinations.

☀️🌴✈️🌅⚓️

Please PM me for details. ⚓️

17/01/2024

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⚓️ Offering Marine & Super yacht uniforms, casual & racing crew outfits, club promotional gear and boatyard & marine workwear.
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07/01/2024

TP 52 delivered from to .

Excellent conditions with a southerly across Bass Strait after enjoying the stunning coastline of Tasmania.

Back in her pen this morning after 700nm and 3.5 days at sea. ⚓️

06/11/2023

The Swan 54 VALKYRIE-LANGKAWI has been delivered from Auckland, New Zealand to Brisbane, Queensland on behalf of her new owner. After a couple of weeks in Port Moselle, New Caledonia the team took 5 days to cover the 950 nm. ⚓️