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.