History of Fat Blue Sky
We bought Fat Blue Sky ("The Esky") in Sydney in November 2010 - a Beneteau Oceanis 411 launched in 1999. We sailed her back to Perth from Sydney in January 2011 - going "around the bottom" of Australia - across the Great Australian Bight. The picture above is the Esky arriving in Albany Western Australia after seven days crossing the bight. We took advantage of 5 days of South Easterly winds to straight line from Portland on the South Australian Victorian Border. All good until about 2 days out from Albany - "Huey" sent us a 55 plus knot Westerley front. We deployed the trusty parachute anchor and sat it out for about 6hrs. Refuelled the boat from spare jerry cans, the boys got some much needed sleep, and then we gathered ourselves just before nightfall to push on. The need for a parachute anchor was much debated prior to the trip, but now is accepted as one of the most valuable pieces of safety equipment next to a liferaft!
