Tapas Tie-up 2026

Over the weekend of 14th and 15th February we had 9 boats join for the Tapas Tie-up in Sugarloaf bay. The theme was the Iberian Peninsula, so you choose a country on the peninsula and make a dish and a cocktail from your selected country. Dressing both you and your...

Marinas along the NSW & Qld Coast

Rara has returned to Sydney Harbour, almost 10 months after we left and sailed north. Our trip took us to the Whitsundays and back, a story we will talk about in more detail later (which is available on our blog too). As we sailed up and down the coast of NSW and QLD...

Sailing the Amalfi Coast

After a week visiting the villages of the Cinque Terre area and then a couple of days in Florence, Jenni and I caught the train with our friends Jane and Mark to Salerno to meet up with Cam and Vanessa who were joining us for 7 nights cruising on the Amalfi...

RaRa

Zigzag-ing the Whitsundays Posted on 10 October 2025 22 September to 9 October Places visited in the last couple of weeks – as can be tracked live on NoForeignLand Black Island 22 September After leaving Hook Reef we sailed SW towards Hook Island and found a...
Gotland Runt race 2025

Gotland Runt race 2025

As some of you know, Susanna and I have taken a temporary break from the RaRa cruising, and spent the Aussie winter in Europe, mostly Sweden where we have most of the family. It doesn’t stop the urge to get on a sailing boat though, so when an old friend of mine...
Anchoring

Anchoring

I should have asked Frank Taylor our Anchor Nazi to write this ( the Jervis Bay Division) We have had some anchor scares and issues over the years so, I thought I would just go over what we do on Kai Rani We have hand signals ( hopefully the person anchoring is...
Preparing for our first longer Cruise

Preparing for our first longer Cruise

Susanna and I are about to embark on a longer adventure, sailing north towards the Barrier Reef on S/V RaRa. In preparation for the upcoming journey I have tried to document some of our preparations to the boat in particular below. There are also some significant...
October ’24 Long Weekend Cruise

October ’24 Long Weekend Cruise

With so many of our Cruisers still enjoying their time further north in Queensland or with other commitments here in Sydney, the October Long Weekend Cruise was fairly small, both in the number of boats attending and also the distance we cruised. Three boats came...