A brave new world

 AFTER seven years of more than full-time media work - firstly as a reporter with one of Queensland's last independently owned newspapers, the Whitsunday Coast Guardian, then as the senior journalist of APN's Whitsunday Times and finally as the editor of News Corp's Whitsunday Coast Guardian and Whitsunday Times - a lot of people have been asking me "what's next?"

The front page of my last Whitsunday Times. This one was about the 2017 Airlie Beach Race Week featuring a drone shot by local company Th3rd Dimension Media.

Coming out of my corporate cocoon it's certainly a brave new world out there, but one I intend to embrace as a freelancer for a while.
The Whitsundays and its watery playground boast a plethora of stories to be told and illustrated.
There are wonderful people and events in our communities with whom I still want to be involved.
Meanwhile just as some things change, others stay the same.
This morning I chatted as normal to ABC Tropical North's Meecham Philpott about all things Whitsundays.

Talking to Meecham Philpott from ABC Tropical North earlier in the year at the Airlie Beach foreshore markets.

And that included the 2017 Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club Rendezvous, which I am heading off to today.

A couple of views from last year's SICYC Rendezvous 'Hands Across the Blue' event, in which participants make a human version of the logo for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia in the waters off Gloucester Passage. 

To keep all my valued readers up to date for now, I've metaphorically dusted off this old blog.
So please follow, like, share and allow me to tell your stories.
Hopefully I continue to do them justice.

Sharon Smallwood
Photo-journalist / Editor / Communications Professional
Email: j-s-smallwood@hotmail.com
Phone: 0402 126 461

Tropical Cyclone Ului

On Sunday 21st March at 1.30am, Tropical Cyclone Ului crossed the Queensland coast here at Airlie Beach. The tropical revolving storm re-intensified to a Category 3 system before making landfall. The following images (courtesy Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Sea Breeze) show the accompanying rainfall and live weather readings from Hamilton Island during the event. (Click to enlarge.)

For several days prior to the cyclone's landfall, we nervously watched the weather reports and formed our cyclone plan. We decided that in the event of a direct hit (of Category 2 or more), we would get off the boat and stay on land. By saturday afternoon we had prepared Brilliant II for the inevitable. Items that could possibly become airborne were either lashed down or removed. Our floating home was secured to her marina berth with no less than eleven mooring lines. We disembarked, leaving our beloved boat to her fate.

We arrived at a friend's flat in Cannonvale with our eight week old baby and two cats. We all went to bed quite early in an attempt to get some sleep.

I woke up about half an hour before the cyclone struck. We lost power and it was stiflingly hot without the ceiling fan. The next thing I remember was the noise - the hissing rain and roaring wind, then deathly quiet as the eye of the storm passed right overhead. In the strongest gusts the building shook, but none of this woke baby Joshua who slept peacefully through the carnage.

It was a tense few hours while we waited for the dawn, worrying now about our boat. We were just about to head to Abel Point Marina when a text message came through from our neighbours. Brilliant II was alright.

Breathing huge sighs of relief we drove home via the foreshore of Airlie Beach. Here we saw that other boats had not been so lucky. The charter yacht Anaconda II lay on the rocks beside the Whitsunday Sailing Club. At Shute Harbour (where we previously moored) the anchorage was devastated. Here Whitsunday Rent-A-Yacht were among the worst affected, suffering substantial damage to their fleet. It was very distressing to see so many boats wrecked, beached and half-sunk. To me they represented shattered dreams.

I felt extremely fortunate to step back aboard our own boat later that day. Although there was no power to the docks, we were in a much better situation than most, thanks to our fully charged battery bank and solar panels. Cyclone Ului left 60,000 homes across the region without electricity and gave Ergon Energy a round-the-clock job for some time.

I am pleased to report that five days later, power has largely been restored and our resilient community is moving on.

To see video footage of before and after Ului struck, click on the play button below.

December 2009 - January 2010

Happy New Year. It was a busy end to 2009 despite the fact that I'm now so pregnant I can barely move! We set sail from Shute Harbour (as seen above) for a trip to Hamilton Island or 'Hamo' as it's often known. Once inside the marina we were given a berth on E arm next to the recently opened Yacht Club.
Our neighbours had just taken delivery of their brand-new custom-built Riviera 70 and we were lucky enough to be invited aboard for the guided tour. The interior finish was impressive to say the least and the fishing gear - well that's another story.
Our main reason for being on Hamilton Island was work. Julian had a shipwright job on the luxury charter boat Zanzibar II, as pictured below.
"If only Brilliant II had a saloon this big", I thought when I dropped by!
Julian spent the best part of a week repairing exterior gelcoat on Zanzibar II so she would look her best for the festive season and beyond.
Meanwhile I made some work-related visits to some of Hamilton Island's more recent additions. These included the Great Barrier Reef Yacht Club, Hamilton Island Golf Club and 'qualia', a 6-star luxury resort. Below are a couple of shots of the Yacht Club and Golf Course.



The Hamilton Island Golf Club (located on neighbouring Dent Island) was particularly spectacular (if a little dry at the moment due to the lack of rain). To read my write-up on the Golf Club please follow this link to Suite 101.

All too soon our five days on Hamo came to an end and it was back to Airlie Beach for Julian to continue renovating our v-berth. No rest for the wicked, or so they say.
Our working Christmas was held in Abel Point Marina. Here we made friends with a new set of neighbours - the crew of a catamaran named Nirvana Seafari. Carlos was fascinated by their dog Lulu, although he disgraced himself by stealing her food.
On Boxing Day we took off for a couple of days r&r to Stonehaven Bay on Hook Island. Here Julian was especially pleased to catch a coral trout.
I took up residence under our Bedouin tent-style awning on the foredeck. Stonehaven is a hilly anchorage where the wind funnels down from the peaks. In tradewind season we tend to avoid it because of these 'bullets' but in the summer heat we're now experiencing it's one of the more comfortably exposed spots.
It was back to Airlie Beach for a tropical New Years Eve complete with fireworks under the palm trees on the beach - a great start to 2010 with lots of excitement ahead.

Shute Harbour - A New Home Base

View across Shute Harbour

Shute Harbour is a little oasis just south of Airlie Beach where we are currently holed up on a rented mooring. Our journey is at a temporary halt while we embark on our latest project - preparing for a family. Our new crew member is due in January 2010. When he is strong enough to set sail we will continue on our travels but for now the best place for him is inside his Mum, although he's starting to get noticed as you can see!

For the next few months the Whitsundays will be our home and right now Shute Harbour is an excellent base. Sheltered from the winds that plague the anchorage at Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour is calm and secure. Moorings are available through Whitsunday-Rent-A-Yacht, one of the longest-running charter companies around.

Other than its stunning scenery some of the great things about stopping in the Whitsundays are the opportunities here. We are currently celebrating the issue of Julian's Coxswain's licence. This allows him to work for the resident bareboat companies in the capacity of a briefer. Briefers instruct the holidaymakers who come here to charter a yacht, catamaran or power cruiser. A good briefer will talk the charterers through all the elements of sailing in the Whitsundays, with particular reference to the type of vessel they have chosen.

Lately Julian's also been doing quite a few de-briefs which involve meeting the charterers on Hamilton Island at the end of their trip and returning the boat to base. This is good fun and a great chance to try out a wide variety of boats. The boat in the photo below is a Perry 43 catamaran - an interesting ride for a die-hard monohull sailor!

I have been busy as usual with various writing and photography projects. My latest assignment is a series of articles for an on-line magazine called Suite 101. Hot off the press are travel pieces about the Whitsundays and Hamilton Island, full of information for prospective visitors on where to stay and what to do. Also just published are articles on sailing Hamilton Island Race Week, visiting Hamilton Island by boat and hiring Whitsunday charter boats and bareboats; essential reading for skippers planning on sailing these seas.

Whitsunday Whales

The Whitsunday whale-watching season for 2009 has now come to an end. It's been a thrill for visitors and residents alike thanks to increased numbers of migrating whales allowing everyone the opportunity for a front-row view. This year we were extremely fortunate. The famous white whale Migaloo showed up in the region, much to the delight of passengers on board the Fantasea Adventure vessel 'Wonder', who received a visit from Migaloo during their day trip to nearby Hardy Reef. It's been a magical experience to hear whale song through the hull at night and witness spectacular behaviour such as breaching. Photographing the whales was surprisingly difficult. Whenever they emerged from the sea it always seemed to happen in slow motion, yet I could rarely press the shutter down in time. I think you're just so amazed by what's happening in front of you it seems a shame to view it through the filter of a lens. Nonetheless here are a collection of shaky snapshots to give you the general idea...

A Race Week Extravaganza

What a week! The 26th annual Audi Hamilton Island Race Week was a windless event; frustrating for the racing crews but fabulous for photographers like myself, who had a great opportunity to capture the scene.

The festivities began on Friday August 21st with the official opening of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club. In actual fact, this new building (dubbed the "Opera House of the north", by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh), won't be properly open to the public until November 2009. Construction was rushed to a reasonable conclusion purely for the start of Race Week, after which it returned to its previous state.

The race for Day 1 was a 'round Lindeman Island' course, taking the fleet some 12 nautical miles south of Hamo beside a backdrop of spectacular island scenery. Light northerly winds marked the start of the week's events and had us anchored in the perfect spot to await the passing of the carbon fibre Armada. From our position in Plantation Bay, we had front row seats, albeit in our own dinghy. We somehow managed not to get in anyone's way, still scoring 3 seconds of fame on Race Week TV. Go to the media section of the official Race Week website and watch the video highlights from day 1. You'll see us (briefly) about 3/4 of the way through.

With the exception of a couple of lay days, we managed to follow most of the week's events including the final 'Molle Islands Race' on Saturday August 29th. To finish off the extravaganza we anchored two miles away from Hamilton Harbour at Beach 25 on Whitsunday Island and dinghied over to join the celebrations on the main street. We were lucky enough to meet the crew of 'Living Doll' who are walking away with this year's trophies for both Hamilton Island and Meridien Airlie Beach Race Weeks' in the Grand Prix Division 1 category. Some of my photos from the event are now on Flickr and here, for this blog, is a short video.

Shaz Hits Hamo!

Hamilton Island, affectionately known as 'Hamo', is the place to be right now if you're anywhere near the Whitsundays. The island is buzzing with preparations for the annual Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with all the pizzazz this high profile sailing event entails.

Brilliant II arrived on the scene shortly after my last blog post. We were windswept and desperate for shelter. The weather hadn't given us much of a break for our arrival in the Whitsundays. Strong southerlies coupled with a nasty cross-sea from the east made us roll everywhere we tried to stop. "Let's head to Hamo", we agreed.

Brilliant II had a berth in the marina for two nights with mega-yachts and giant powerboats for neighbours. The cost was a whopping $105 per night but it was worth every cent. We scrubbed ourselves, our clothes and our boat and hit the town. Right beside the marina are a selection of restaurants and a lively little pub.

In the morning it was down to the serious business of being tourists on a photographic mission. Here's a snapshot of our surroundings.

During our walk around the marina precinct I spotted what would have been my company car had I scored 'the best job in the world'. Its current driver Ben Southall is away taking care of some of the southernmost islands on the Great Barrier Reef on behalf of Tourism Queensland.

Not to be outdone, Julian and I hired our own golf buggy, which is the standard form of transport on Hamo. I can now confirm it is virtually impossible to break any speed limits in these things. I want one!

We took off over the hills to the main resort area for a peek at how the landlubbers live. Things obviously aren't too tough here, as you can see.

I first came to Hamilton Island 12 years ago as a young backpacker, hitching a ride on a passing yacht. On a particularly alcohol fueled night my fellow crew members and I, visited the resort to race up and down in its external glass elevators. I dragged Julian along to the scene of my previous crimes, only this time in daylight (and sober), I was able to properly appreciate the view.

One of the best viewpoints on Hamilton Island has to be 'One Tree Hill'. From here you can see down over the Fitzalan Passage and over to Whitsunday Island.

When our two days of shoreside luxury were up, we motored out of the marina for a sail around some of the other islands in the Whitsunday group and a trip over to Airlie Beach for reprovisioning. We'll be heading back to these spots in due course and since they are all deserving of posts in their own right I'll save them for later.

Meanwhile race week is about to start and it's all action, action, action. Yesterday some friends from the brokerage Yacht Domain came up to Hamo on a business trip. There were no berths available in the marina any more. The only way we could catch up with them was to anchor off Beach 25 on the south coast of Whitsunday Island and take the dinghy over. (This is a distance of about two nautical miles and takes roughly 15 minutes.) It was a fun trip over and even more fun to see our friends. Needless to say it was a late night!

We are now recovering from the bright lights and loud noise at a serene anchorage off Lindeman Island, some 12 miles to the south. Here tomorrow we hope to watch the first of the week's races, which is a 'round Lindeman Island' course.

To balance out the decadence of our visits to Hamo I've also managed to squeeze in some work over the past couple of weeks. I've written a couple of articles to appear in the Australian magazine 'Cruising Helmsman' and started a blog called 'Sailing with the Smallwoods' for the Yaffa publishing website 'My Sailing'. Just for fun I've also created a blog for one of our cats called 'The Adventures Of Captain Carlos'. Happy reading!!