Sailing Log Original Journey: Introduction to Malaika and my first big sailing trip

Sailing Log Original Journey: Introduction to Malaika and my first big sailing trip

This blog post is a brief summary of my first ever multi-day sailing experience aboard Malaika from the Central Coast of New South Wales to Redland Bay south of Brisbane.

I originally included elements of this post in a quick guide to sailing the Australian East Coast. However, since we just completed our 11-week sailing trip, I thought I would update this post with more insights to help cruising sailors.

So if you are interested in reading about our home built sailing ship; Malaika and her first big trip, here you go.

Our ship: Malaika

In the early years, my family worked on a 10-year project to build a home-built, 15m steel motor sailing yacht from scratch. This was born from my father's crazy dream to sail truly self-sufficiently, we all dedicated ourselves to the cause and invested a lot of time into building Malaika.

After 10 years of hard work and dedication, my father's dream became a reality. In 2014, Malaika wet her keel in the Gosford canals for the first time. Consequently, the next few years would be spent exploring the surrounding coastline while teaching ourselves to sail.
Original film collage from The Journey Building Malaika
Malaika Junk Rigging and Sailing on the Great Barrier Reef

READ THE AUSTRALIAN CRUISING GUIDE: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SAIL THE EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA

From New South Wales to Queensland

A few years later from Malaika's christening we made our first interstate crossing from Hardy's Bay in NSW to Redland Bay for 4 nights with some good school mates.

The trip was triggered by my parents' move to sunny southeast Queensland. The best way to get a yacht 400 nautical miles north is to sail it. The plan was to sail day and night with a steady north heading up the coast. At normal cruising speeds we hoped to achieve this in about 4 days and nights.

Highlights of the trip

I have always shared my father's dream of completely self-sufficient sailing. There's something about piloting your own ship and plowing the bow through the waves that inspires a true sense of freedom and adventure. If the dream was sleeping before, this trip has definitely ignited the goal.

Participate in the humpback whale migration

The September months on the Australian east coast are the peak season for humpback whales. During this time, whales make their way from Antarctica to warmer subtropical waters to breed.

Coincidentally, the humpback whales and Malaika shared the same direction. We spotted so many whales that we stopped counting after the first 24 hours. Well over 50. Some whales cruise past us and only allow a single view of their surface. Others seemed to follow us at the same pace and accompany us for hours.

Dolphin greetings

We also saw some huge pods of dolphins that like to surf the bow. Some of the pods contained numbers of up to 40 dolphins. If you listen closely, you can hear them communicating with clicks and echoes.

The best sunsets on the East Coast

It's no lie that the best sunsets can be seen from the sea. If you've never watched the sunset from a boat before, I highly recommend it. It's as if all the colors are exaggerated and the reflections of the water seem to set the sky on fire.
alt="Sunset tankers sail up Australia's east coast">

Landing at Moreton Bay

One of the best memories of the trip was also one of the most stressful. After 4 days at sea we really wanted to go ashore. This resulted in us driving rashly through the shallow sandbanks near Redland Bay at low tide. We knew the channel depths were probably too shallow for the tide, and the amateur decision led to our first grounding.

It was quite funny, we had crossed 400 nautical miles in 4 days and 4 nights, only to suddenly stop just 20 meters from the destination. I had to tie a long rope from the mooring line to the bow cleat and wait for the tide to rise so we could pull ourselves in.

Future sailing plans

The East Coast voyage was our first long crossing and definitely inspired me to plan a life at sea. Although it was only a relatively brief coverage of the East Coast, it definitely packed enough flavor to get me excited about the lifestyle.

My father's dream of living aboard the Malaika and sailing full-time is finally set to come true early next year. If travel plans allow, I hope to join them on further sailing adventures in the Great Barrier Reef.

UPDATE: Fast forward and we have just completed our first multi-month trip to the east coast of Australia. – You can read the first sailing book here.

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