I'm off on Sunday to Darwin in the Northern Territory to join a Beneteau 41
and come back down the West Australian coast to my home of Bunbury.

This is the biggest trip I've ever done - should be about 4 weeks in all.
I've only done races, overnighters and two three-dayers before and all of
these were snug up in a marina at night. The skipper-on-delivery is a
Master Class 4 so he's commercially qualified and from all reports a top
bloke. There are a father and son combination and also the owner's son will
be joining in Darwin with me - I already know him and he's a fine young
chap. So, 5 in all for the first bit.

The easy bit is the top bit around WA's Kimberley region. We then lose one
or two crew in Exmouth (where the US naval base used to be) as they get off
to rejoin the workforce.

I think its going to get hard from about Shark Bay down, as we run into the
prevailing south-west fronts.

I've got pretty much everything organised - rods, reels, lures, earplugs
etc. Will be taking my normal prescription glasses for night time (I use
photochromatic in the day) and got my list of everything I think I'll need
all jammed into one bag.

I think I get something like 2800 miles signed off in my log book by the
time I return. Not sure of that yet.

Would appreciate any appropriate tips on a voyage of this nature.

Hoges in WA