Two rescues and a protest

 

I got to the Warmies early on Sunday to launch for the Save our Ships protest sail around at Docklands . As I was getting organised two chaps, Vietnamese maybe, cast off in their fishing boat without starting the engine, which of course did not start. They drifted over onto the rocks opposite, making ineffectual attempts to paddle back. Meanwhile, behind us, about half of Victoria's State Emergency Services had arrived, a sea of high viz, inflatables and aluminium rescue boats were bobbing all around festooned with tinsel, marquees being erected, we had chosen the day and venue  of the SES Christmas party. The SES people studiously ignored the two chaps over on the rocks, so I torqeedoed over, got a line from them and towed them back. "Second time out" one informed me.  I said better get that engine - a stonking great 150 HP beast the size of a bar fridge - serviced before you head out again. 

More SES boats arrived, the chaps tinkered with their engine, then, amid clouds of smoke they set off again, got about 20 metres before the engine died again, and once more they drifted onto the rocks. The SES people looked at their phones, checked their watches, and once again studiously ignored the boat on the rocks. I torqeedoed over and once again towed them back. Chris arrived, we set off, and as we were pottering up the channel, the fishing boat with the two guys passed us. Third time lucky I guess.

We had a nice South Westerly behind us for our trip upriver to Victoria Harbour, so we sailed with first reef in. Theoretically one is supposed to be motor powered, but we were getting over 4 knots against the current and I had the engine ready to go. We got to Docklands early, tied up at a visitor mooring and enjoyed morning tea in the sunshine, watching a 40 foot yacht belonging to a sailing school doing practice mooring while the trainees practiced looping a line over the mooring cleat and looping the line round a winch ... Some got it much better than others.

Eventually some boats turned up, Alma Doepel and Enterprize cast off and we all did a few circuits of the harbour, managing not to run into one another,  all very pleasant if it wasn't so depressing.  Mark took this photo of us taking a photo of Alma Doepel.

Chris clocked from the radio that there was a freighter leaving Webb Dock at 12.30 - he can translate the radio chatter on channel 12 which is incomprehensible to me - so we returned to the visitor berths for lunch. Graham joined us. It was a nice lunch spot. 

After lunch Graham blasted off in his little pedal drive canoe, into the headwind and adverse current. While we could motor sail, we almost caught him, once we were head to wind he left us far behind. He can sustain round 4 knots, which is very impressive.  We managed to get up river and around and back on one battery with a bit still to spare. It was a good day. Made me realise how much I miss being on the water. Once these cycles of buying/selling/downsizing are over, I hope I can get in some sailing time. But first, gotta get all this done, no slacking till it's over.

Post and short video of the day here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BaUBEWvM6/

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily ...

 

The weather this November has been very unsettled, so I don't feel I am missing too much sailing.  But I do miss being on the water. This morning there was a predicted stretch of winds round 10 knots, coinciding with a high tide, coinciding with Anne going out, so Oz and I wheeled Barca down to the nearby revetment beach for a test outing.

All systems worked well. The bicycle wheel trolley worked very well.  The tyre wheels get over the sand ok, the friction is low so it is really no harder than walking, and there was plenty of water to launch in.  The boat is relatively light so getting off and back onto the trolley is easy. We rowed round to the dog beach, about 1.4 kilometres. My watch, if I can somehow manage to press the magic combination of buttons, records an impressive series of stats - stroke rate (25 per minute) average moving pace  (round 4 kilometres or a bit over 2 knots per hour), heart rate, even the track. I can see the heart rate and stroke rate go up as I row like crazy across the entrance to the safe harbour, trying not to get run down by the stink boats who have a very liberal interpretation of the 5 knot speed limit and the concept of giving way.

We landed on the dog beach. Unfortunately there were no other dogs there for Oz to impress with his nautical sea dog arrival, but he had a good sniff and explore anyway. 

We picked up various floating bits of plastic, chip packets and other crap as we went along, and said hello to the juvenile Pacific gull that has taken up residence on Frank's boat. I remember when there was quite a fleet of boats moored here, now only one left.

It was a nice row there and back, apart from the stink boats and one moron on a jet ski doing donuts right in front of the harbour entrance. (Why can't they go and be idiots far far away I wonder?)  I am learning to not try too hard rowing Barca. A relaxed easy stroke seems to push it along as well as it is ever going to go, no point wasting effort. 

Oz seemed pretty pleased with the outing, and I certainly was.  I have been thinking more about row boats as a longer term prospect. There is a lot to be said for light, simple, and  fast to get on the water. I will be interested to see how getting to the water and launching a works out when we move. Anyway, I am glad I built little Barca, I am very happy with that little boat. This morning was only a couple of hours door to water to door, but I felt like I had been somewhere. 

Adaptions

 Snapper season has hit with a vengeance. The local ramp carpark is overflowing with monster 4 wheel drives, people parking everywhere, queues of stink boats coming and going on the jetties. Friday I was thinking of getting the SCAMP out, but even on a Friday it was way too busy for me.  I have decided to avoid the little local beach for a while as well, as the last few times I have launched there, I have had run ins with people invading our local seal's personal space.  So, what to do?

I have been reading Colin and Julie Angus's book "Rowed Trip" which recounts their journey from Scotland to Syria using rowboats where the waterways are possible, or towing the rowboats behind them with bicycles.

Their expedition rowboats are three times longer than Barca, and loaded with camping stuff must be at least three times heavier. But they were probably a third of my age when they made the trip, so I figured it all should sort of even out - a bike trailer for Barca should work.  As part of our downsizing I have been looking darkly at Ozzie's bike trailer, thinking it needs to go. But then it occurred to me it might make a good trailer for Barca. And what do you know, with a few modifications like a longer drawbar,  it does!

Road trials so far are good, it works, I can get down to the revetment beach no worries. I will just have to pick the tides.

I should really not have been faffing round with this, with so many jobs to do on the downsizing moving project, but I told myself it is an adaption that will get me through Snapper season without too much aggravation, hopefully, and it will be very useful in our new place where there water is all a bit further away. 

Downsizing

 One dimension I had not anticipated with downsizing is all the strange shreds of the past that get unearthed as you sift through the nooks and crannies where you have hidden stuff.

I am working through a bag that my brother Mike passed onto me, that I have never really looked at. My mum's water colours, dad's degrees, his B Ed thesis on teaching mathematics, pages from  my great great great grandparents Bible...

Three Harriet's on one page, nice to see our little Harriet continuing the line.

There are my paternal grandfather's papers from his houseboat Waterlilly that the family used to sail around Shanghai around 1917.

Thanks to the marvels of Google translate, I can see this is telling officials that Hardy Gu, my grandfather, is a gentleman of good character, and instructing that he should be treated with courtesy.  There are other papers listing all the places not to go thanks to martial law and civil unrest ... Makes sailing on the Bay look very tame.

And there are my disgraceful records of wooden boat association committee meetings.

I do suspect my heart is not really in committee work. 

So much stuff, the thinking about it is harder than actually doing something with it. 

But, we are making progress. Derry went off to a new home, to live in a neat, dry garage with a Eureka canoe for company and a nice young family ... Better than being out in the rain being crapped on by possums, but still a lot of good memories going with her.  Ewaste collection at the council depot today, a pile of stuff gone. Poisons collection next weekend. More books to the Brotherhood...

I wake up at around 1 am most mornings, and often can't get back to sleep as my head starts running through all of the things, a lot to process.  

It seems overwhelming but if we keep on chipping away, just doing the next thing, with luck we will come out the other side. 

Trick or treat

 

Our front porch has been ripped out, pending replacement, leaving a large, cavernous hole for potential trick or treaters to fall into. So I put Barca in the driveway, manned by my dry suit, nursing a scythe. It looked pretty spooky, so spooky in fact that only one small pumpkin, aided by mum, was brave enough to raid the box of treats up fro'rard. Hey ho. I had fun setting it up. 

In between the solid round of tasks - maintenance, lining up the finance, shredding, clearing, ferrying stuff to the Brotherhood, selling stuff, I have managed to get out in Barca a few times. A row for half an hour is plenty to achieve that feeling of well being that getting out on the water and a good row can bring. And Barca has been a hit with some of the regular swimmers down there - Kate and Leonie both took the boat out for a short spin, and Kate liked it so much we lined up another day so she could get out for a longer row. I thought she might be heading for Portarlington but luckily she came back.

Looks like Derry the Skerry has found a buyer. A chap left a deposit last weekend, brought his wife back to inspect and approve, and is picking up Sunday morning. 

I think I will move the Kayak on too simply because of space. I got out for a paddle and sail last week, and it was fun, but I discovered a bit of rot in the deck. I can't maintain too big a fleet. And maybe it will be easier. I recall the Dylan Winter account of the chap who was paralyzed with indecision trying to decide which boat of his large fleet to take out - wound up a vegetable, had to take up golf according to Dylan..

Meanwhile we have been having fun on grandparent duty. Little Hattie is coming along super fast, and we are all getting a bit more adventurous now the weather is warmer. We walked to Newport Station and caught the train to Williamstown beach, Hat's first train ride. She was cautiously solemn but took it all in her stride.  It was a good expedition. She is a lovely being, the highlight of our week, though it takes us a day or so to recover from the minding.

Hey ho, 91 days to go from today till first open day, and we are sure to have many days thanks to festivities, commitments and heat where we won't get much done. We are chipping away, but the mountain ahead still looks daunting. https://w2.countingdownto.com/6638072https://w2.countingdownto.com/6638072

and to settlement, getting the keys for the new place: 

https://countingdownto.com/?c=6689082

It will all work out

 

Last Saturday we bought a lovely old house in Williamstown. Chris our son in law did a nice watercolour of it to commemorate the occassion. 

It is tiny compared to our current house, and some radical decluttering of 26 years plus worth of stuff is now underway. Plus trying to catch up on 26 years delayed maintenance on this place for selling. Plus all the processes for buying and selling. 

I am working 12 hour days, hope we can get there. It is stressful. I read a nice article of a lady in her 60s who packed up everything, let out her apartment, and set off to cycle the world.  She had two mantras: "It will all work out" and "Do the next thing". 

Hopefully here is a countdown clock to first open for inspection 

https://w2.countingdownto.com/6638072

multiplying like rabbits

 The Welsford boat population on Port Phillip certainly is increasing at a healthy rate. Must be something in the water.  There are three Navigators down this end of the Bay, plus Campbell's Pathfinder, a Hopper's Crossing Houdini, Liam's Penguin down in Corio Bay, and Vince in Williamstown is building a Pilgrim, plus the SCAMP contingent - two local on the water plus Geoff's up in Learmonth and three on the way.   We need to organize a Welsford boats day. There would be a great photo opp. 

This week we managed to get a break in the windy September weather to launch Stephen's lovely Navigator "Rakali"

The Navigator certainly is a lovely boat, but I think I am happy with the SCAMP, which is a good old geezer's boat, easy to rig and handle, sheltered and not too demanding to sail. I love the ergonomics of that deep cockpit with the cuddy to hang onto - I hope it is a boat that I can keep sailing for years to come.  For the sort of sailing I like, the SCAMP is pretty good.  A lot of boat for the size.  Here's a still from Chris' video of Anjevi barreling along in quite sporty conditions on Tuesday - my hat managed to jump overboard in a gust before we had even left the jetty.

The question of size is actually becoming quite relevant as we are thinking about down sizing.  One boat on a trailer will be stretching the boundaries of the available space, two is not an option.   Which means some hard decisions looming.

The mountain of stuff we have accummulated here over 26 years is extremely daunting, and so far I seem to have been running round in circles not achieving very much.  But at least we have begun. And we have begun the process of getting some outstanding jobs around the place fixed.  If we are successful at the auction we are really going to have to get cracking though.  I am glad I got an entry in Anjevi's log for September at least. 

Touch and go

 It was a lovely early spring day today, light North Easterlies, no commitments, so I got life jackets and oars and Oz and I set off pushing Barca's new cart for its first trip down to the beach.  The cart has some issues, and it was a real work out getting down there, but once there we set off on a circumnavigation of Wise's Reef.

It was a rising tide, about 2 hours before a not particularly high tide (0.7 m).  There was not much wind, and it was possible to get reasonable idea of what was underneath the surface of the water.  There is a gap in the reef, and I rowed Barca backwards carefully through there.  We didn't hit anything.  

Once through, we pretty soon ran aground on what seems to be a sort of clay bank that runs along behind the reef.  The tide was running with us noticeably, flooding in through the gap.  I tried pulling us along a bit, but the novelty wore off that pretty quickly. So we just sat, and let the rising tide pick us up and carry us along to the next bit, bump, stop, wait, repeat.  According the Charles Stock, this sort of progress is the origin of the expression "Touch and go".  Could be.  Whatever, it was extraordinarily pleasant way to spend a morning. 

Eventually. we got really stuck, with no prospect of moving for a while, not too far from the beach, so I pushed us ashore so Oz could have some shore leave.

He seemed pretty pleased about that arrangement.  I towed the boat along the beach for a bit on a long line, nicer to be walking on the sand than in the mud a bit  further out, which has a nasty black underlayer, perhaps left over from an oil spill sometime in the past.   Closer to the jetty near the Seaholme Beer Drinkers/Boat owners club (as far as I know, none of them own a boat ) the water gets a bit deeper, and we could set off again to complete our circumnavigation.  

The eponymous Mr Wise was still around till recent times, though I have not seen him in the last year or so.  It is not often you meet someone with a geographical feature named after them, though I am not sure how official the name is.  But everyone here knows it as "Wise's Reef".

It was an easy row back, round the outside of the reef, much easier than the course through the shallows.  I loaded up the cart ok, though it seemed even harder to push.  Crossing the Esplanade, we had to hurry as a car was approaching fast.  I hit the gutter, and  Barca slid off the cart with an impressive crunch.  To make it all more interesting, as I was getting organized, being distracted, I must have put my hand on a bee or wasp, as I got stung on the left hand.  I was about express my feeling with a few choice anglo saxon natuical terms, when two nice older ladies came rushing up to help.  Definitely no cursing.  One held Ozzie, the other lifted up the boat while I realigned trailer, and tied on the extra line that I should have tied on in the first place.   It was really nice of them to help, it restores my faith in the general goodness of my fellow humans.

The other piece of news is that my article on building the scamp has been published by Practical Boat Owner.  It doesn't look too bad, and who knows, it might actually encourage someone to build a SCAMP, which would be something.

Dinghy Cruising NZ put a link to the article:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19XGAMdnyV/ 

And last of all, Peter Murphy alerted me to a cameo appearance by me in another video.  Well there you go.  An odd bit of editing, but there you go, there I am, about 0.28

International Maritime Sea Dog day

 

Today, August 26th, is International Maritime Sea Dog Day, so here's to you Oz. He often doesn't think much of some of our maritime pursuits, but he goes along with it good faithful sea dog that he is.  

I have finished "Barca" and launched twice now, once before paint job, just to check that Oz and I would fit in it.  There is plenty of room for him.  I am not sure how we will go getting from SCAMP to Scraps and back again, but so far so good - it is a fun little boat.  I launched again at the WBA sailing day, with a coat of paint and a name plate screwed on - a more official launch.

One nice surprise is that Barca fits in the back of the Subaru Forester.  It is way easier than getting the boat up on the roof.  I drove to Albert Park Lake on Sunday with the boat in the car, and nearly gassed myself with the paint fumes.  But it was a nice first real try out. Barca certainly handles very nicely, I am sure I will have fun with it, and it will certainly be fun for grand children.

The weather last week was lovely, and Chris suggested a sail over to near Webb Dock for a lunch at anchor.  It was a splendid sail, and I am very glad we seized the opportunity, as the weather has definitely packed up this week - the allegedly mythical Equinoctial Gales are upon us I suspect.

You can see from the video that Oz is much happier on the SCAMP - he is grinning his head off as we are getting ready to cast off, unlike the dour expression in the smaller open boat.

Now I have more or less finished Barca, it is catch up time.  I pruned the vines and the fig yesterday, and mowed the lawn.  Today a bit of a tidy up sort out day, slowly finding things I have hidden over the last couple of months.  

Fingers crossed we get some more quiet days so I can continue the Barca experiment.

If at first

 

The months run away like wild horses over the hill. Since my last post, just about a month ago, it has all been a bit of a blur, post COVID maybe, or maybe just getting older. But looking at the Scraps pictures, I can see I must have been doing something. That's one good thing about boat building, it gives some sort of physical  marker of time's passage ... and with luck you get a boat to use at the end of it.

I have quite enjoyed this little boat build. It looks very salty, and being small, the steps are relatively achievable with small bursts of activity. I went from the Turkish delight look stage  (when the epoxy is sanded it takes on a whitish powdery appearance) yesterday, with the boat all sanded, to the shiney stage with the last coat of epoxy on the outside today. Epoxy inside tomorrow, then paint, then launch.  With luck, we are nearly there. 

Thanks to Chris' help, a couple more legs of the round the bay challenge have been completed, not without some excitement. Our first attempt to get across to Clifton Springs was rather more exciting than we anticipated.

The winds were much higher than the forecast, but Anjevi did a great job. We didn't make it into Clifton Springs on this attempt, as the Torqeedo clogged up with weed.

Undaunted, we tried again the next week, from Avalon this time, with much better weather. We managed to get into Clifton Springs, and I managed to break the shear pin on the Torqeedo, but it was a long but much more relaxing day. If at first you don't succeed, try try again.

For completeness, I should probably go around Corio Bay in the SCAMP, launch at St Helens and make sure to cross our course from Avalon. Then the next leg is to launch at Clifton Springs and sail round to Portarlington and back. Then a leg from Portarlington to Queenscliff, if that's not too far to do in a day, maybe split at St Leonards, and that's the Western side of the Bay done.  Logistics for the Eastern side are a bit trickier. There maybe some overnights required.  

Hey ho, hopefully the next month sees "Barca" the Scraps launched and a bit more round the Bay progress.  Perhaps the two are not unrelated.

My log tells me I have been on the water on 61 days in the SCAMP since launch, and covered over 500 Nm. Great little boat, it has more than lived up to my expectations. Good boat Anjevi.  

Out of the fog

 Well, I hope so. The last week has been a bit of a write off, but I got a clear RA Test this morning and I am feeling a bit more lucid.

I haven't been able to get out, beyond the daily shuffles with Oz. We go and inspect the shifting sands down towards the revetment each day. The big excitement this week was Frank's red dinghy taking on water. The pelicans were very worried. He has emptied it out now and the pelicans are very relieved.

I put together a flat pack book case that Anne got for the hallway ... and managed to put all the rear panels on back to front. A clear illustration of the level of alertness this week. Took 5 times longer than if should have, but we got there in the end.

Meanwhile, I  kept chipping away at the Scraps project. Hopefully not too much evidence of mental vagueness encapsulated in epoxy for posterity.

Scraps is a clever design, the seat acts as a sort of check to keep the frames more or less in the right place. The side panel and bottom panel seem ok on a dry fit.  Glue tomorrow. 

I was imagining rowing from the revetment beach out to the SCAMP at anchor today. Hope we get to give that a shot, it might open up some interesting possibilities. 

7

Squeaking it in

 

June nearly slipped away without an entry in Anjevi's log. Couldn't let that happen. Luckily last day of the month the forces aligned - weather, car, commitments - so I got Anjevi out for a splendid sail. 5 miles due south, a comfortable tack, and nice sunshine in the cuddy to keep the crew happy

I nearly got self steering going. I have re-read John Letcher's book on self steering, I will make a serious attempt next time. For longer cruises, being freed from the tyranny of the tiller would be welcome.

Lucky I did get out, and lucky I got down to Bunnings for some ply and some wood, as on the weekend my COVID test confirmed that I have not managed to dodge the bug. Anne caught it at a funeral the week before, and I have been sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop.  It doesn't feel as bad this time round but it seriously interrupts my sleep, which has its own knock on effect.

It has definitely led to some very slow cognitive tempo. There have been long interludes of me standing blankly trying to figure out what to do next in the shed while working on my current project, the John Welsford "Scraps" dinghy.  It feels like real boat building.

I hope I can use it to ferry Oz from SCAMP to shore and back. And get it on and off the roof of the car without too much faffing round. Both might prove unworkable, but it is helping me get through the plague days.

Lifelong learning

 Seems like you never stop learning.  Hopefully all these lessons, one would hope to see signs of improvement.  For the WBA sailing day up the Maribrynong, events unfolded such that I was taking the Pirogue.  I dug out my old curtain rod mast and polytarp sail, and got down to the local beach to do some testing. I tried steering with the single paddle, which was a dud, and with the double paddle which sort of worked though I did tend to go round in circles. It was a fun experiment though, and a very pleasant hour or so's sailing. And I had a good conversation with Leonne, a lady who goes swimming there most nice afternoons.

On reflection I figured I probably needed a rudder, so next day I cobbled together a norwegian tiller arrangement onto a rudder that another of my beach acquaintances had found and passed onto me. 

Sunday morning we were all packed and waiting for Chris who was christening his new double decker trailer.  

I was a bit anxious about parking and whether the local Essendon Canoers would be hostile to invaders.  Goes to show, we probably worry about the wrong things, as parking was no problem and the locals were very friendly. 

Jack was there already with his Acorn with remarkably low boom clearance, and Hamish turned up with his lovely Skerrie.  It was very chilled, and the Sunday morning weather was lovely, light zephyrs to ghost us along down stream to meet the fleet coming up.

I think we made a significant contribution to the entertainment and good humour on the river bank - we got lots of waves, people took lots of photos of us, little children called out to us and got very excited as we sailed majestically by.

What could possibly go wrong?  A few miles down the river, near Footscray rowing club, we met the first of the fleet coming up river.  I got my gopro out, and was fiddling with it, and not watching what was happening on the water or holding onto the mainsheet that well, when a substantial blast of  wind came barrelling down the river. 

Note that the BOM was predicting that the winds would be decreasing.  Oh well, no excuses.  When the blast hit, the mainsheet - a crappy, thin bit of Bunnings cord which I had rigged without any mechanical advantage whatsoever - slipped through my fingers.  The sail swung forward.  Instant roll to leeward. Splash.

I managed to capture the whole event on the gopro and the WBA members in the boats coming up gleefully filmed it all too.  I got to the river bank, with a bit of gentle nudging from Chris in Stringybark - that tugboat captain experience is very useful sometimes -  bailed out, got sorted and headed off again.  As the wind chart above shows, the breeze was really kicking up by this time, and we had to slog back into wind gusting up to over 20 knots.  At some points I was paddling as hard as I could and still going backwards, which was a bit dispiriting.  At least it kept me warm.

We got back to the club pontoon, I retrieved dry clothes, used up my 10 minutes maximum use time in the local exceloo getting dry and changed.  We decided that we would forgo the slog up to the WBA meeting spot about a mile upriver, straight into the headwind which was still blasting away, and had a pleasant lunch in the sun instead, chatting to Jack and his crew member, and then  to Hamish who came back down river to join us.   

At least I had everything in drybags that were sealed and tied on - for once I didn't loose anything or drown anything.    My winter swimming had prepared me for the cold water, and some instinct told me not to take my better cameras. No harm done except to my ego.    It actually was a good little adventure.  And I learned a few more things - particularly, I need to invest in better mainsheet rigging for the sailing canoe ... and take and use the outriggers next time I take that boat out!

Speaking of boats, I have started another build, this time a John Welsford "Scraps"  a 6 foot long pram type dinghy. It actually does look a little bit SCAMP like - an Anjevi minime.  Of course a 12 foot boat needs a 6 foot tender. 

My hope is that it is stable enough for me to get Oz from Scamp to Scraps to shore for his at least twice daily shore leave requirements.  If not, I think the Welsford brand is sufficient that I will be able to at least get my money back.  I am using as many scraps as I can to build the boat, but I suspect this project will wind up with a net increase in the amount of bits of ply and off cut lying around.   Hey ho, I am enjoying the process of the build enormously, it is really good fun.  I think I will add a mast step, rudder gudgeons and a lee board, so it can sail as well.  

The Scraps is built upside down on a strong back.  I have never built a boat that way before, so it is a learning experience!  Lifelong learning in action!

 

Blythely spend the gowden day

 As we have been sliding into Winter, there have been more than our fair share of golden days.  I managed to keep swimming into the first week of June, but got a cold, then got distracted, and I fear I have lost my super power of cold water acclimatization.  

I finished the outriggers and got one sea trial in with them.  I need a few more blocks to get the mainsheet working properly, then I am good for some more serious testing.  I have been very slowly shaping and hand sewing a tent for the SCAMP too.  It looks a lot better than a tarp draped over the boat and hanging down at odd angles.   Next step, ad a zip.  I have not had the SCAMP out for a while, it will be good to get back on the water for some winter sailing soon.

Speaking of SCAMP's, I helped my neighbour Frank, who is 80, collect his SCAMP kit.  It was not so long ago that my SCAMP looked like this:

It really is magical that this turns into a SCAMP!  I have largely forgotten how it all happens, so I better brush up on the manual so I can give sensible answers when asked for advice.

Meantime, we had a nice trip down to Warrnambool to celebrate our anniversary - I haven't been anywhere since Tassie in February, and the longer the interval between getting away, the harder it seems to get.  But it was a good trip, and for just about the first time, it did not rain non stop while I was in Warrnambool. 

I said to the family that this blurry photo demonstrates why they call them whale flukes - it is a fluke if you press the shutter button at the right time to capture them.  Anne points out that in fact it is the pectoral fin of a female whale, which they use to slap the water and send out a signal.  The fluke is the tail.  

Back home, Chris and I got Derry the Skerry launched on the Maribrynong, as reconnaissance for the upcoming WBA river trip.  We established pretty conclusively that launching a heavy-ish row boat, such as was being suggested by a couple of members - would be pretty difficult.    We also managed to discover and visit the mysterious Steele's Creek.  The entrance is very difficult to spot, but the creek itself is quite deep and goes quite a way.  It was a very pleasant, golden day on the water.  These low wind winter days are perfect for rowing, you don't overheat, and you know if you were trying to sail you would be going nowhere fast.

The big event of early winter for us is our lovely grand daughter Harriet's first birthday.  We bought her a nice walker as a present which has been a big hit and has all sorts of possible entertaining uses.

Jess and Chris are wonderful parents, it is so nice to watch Harriet growing into herself in such a  loving, secure, happy environment. It was chilly today, but Hattie's birthday made it indeed a golden day. 

Where's my haliberd?

 The weather has given us a lovely run of balmy days. No rain, not good for the farmers, and more evidence of global warming, but it is hard not to enjoy it. The Bay temperature is more than a degree warmer than this time last year. I have been getting down for a swim most mornings, I might make it to June with luck, though the weather looks a bit grim for the weekend and a string of days with other commitments might finish off my acclimatization.

Geoff brought his SCAMP down from Learmonth last week. 5 boats got out, a nice little fleet. The more boats the more people going in all directions, and the ramp gets crowded. I think 5 is a good number.  Neil Murphy on Andrew's Red Jacket took this photo of the two SCAMPs ghosting along in light airs. Whenever I see a photo of people in SCAMPS from front on, I am reminded of E.H.Shepard's wonderful drawing from "Wind in the Willows":

All we need are some revolvers, haliberds and truncheons to brandish to complete the picture.

I am very conscious that this fantastic weather won't last, and I should be getting as much on water time as I can, but lack of car and sheer laziness have gotten the upper hand. Plus some other jobs ticked off the to do list.

Meanwhile I have been pushing on with the outriggers. Not a brilliant job but good enough I hope. I will be interested to see how they go on Peero the Bolger Pirogue. 

Video of Friday's sail btw:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/191DEtiP8Y/