The Sailing Brothersvideo
A Dinghy, A Chicken and A Croc Infested River
April 26, 2026 · 21 min · 19K views · Gladstone, Queensland
Crew adjusts sail as dinghy heels sharply on choppy water
What this video covers
Adam and Luke sail the Rival 34 from Bustard Bay to Gladstone, Queensland, to collect a new inflatable dinghy — a Briss 3.3-metre PVC tender at roughly £500 — picked up from Gato Marina.▶ 1:12 The passage covers the approach around Bustard Head, where charts show one to two knots of current, and the 15-mile run up the shipping channel into Gladstone against a four- to four-and-a-half-knot ebbing tide.▶ 2:02 Under 13 knots of wind from behind, the boat makes 6 to 6.5 knots with a reefed main.▶ 4:08 Anchoring options inside the river are limited by shallow water and a 10-minute public dock limit; the crew spends one night anyway before moving to anchor near the Gladstone coal power station, about three and a half miles from town.▶ 8:42 The new dinghy, christened Cheddar, leaks at the bung fitting due to missing silicone, fixed with Sikaflex before launch.▶ 12:32 On the water it planes more easily than the previous 2.9-metre dinghy and uses less outboard fuel.▶ 14:39 Ashore, the crew explores Gladstone by folding bike, visiting the Boyne Aluminium Smelter on Boyne Island and flying a drone over it.▶ 16:37 The practical note: a larger, lighter-hulled inflatable planes earlier and more efficiently than a smaller one, even with the same outboard.▶ 14:42
Boats in this video
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