Past the autumn equinox

 Now we have moved past the autumn equinox the boating weather is perfect for the sort of pottering round l enjoy most. Lack of second car requires some logistical juggling, but I have managed to get out for some excellent on water activities in the last week or so. 4 days on the water out of 7 ... Now that's a good average.

Sunday was the WBA sailing day at Werribee South, I got down there by train and bus, and Stephen kindly took me on as crew in his SCAMP.  Not much wind, mostly a rowing motoring day. I managed to break the rowlock pin on Stephen's oar but it was a good day, with an excellent turnout of boats.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week looked good. Monday I launched Anjevi from the warmies with Anne and Ozzie as crew. We sailed over to Port Melbourne, admired Princes Pier pylons and the stonking great cruise boats tied up at Station Pier being rebadged, then headed back to Williamstown and tied up at Ferguson St pier. Andrew Campbell was standing at the stern of the Castlemaine to welcome us in. Anne got fish and chips, the tram Ferry and Fearless pulled up and scowled at us a bit, as it is listed as a commercial traffic pick up drop off pier only. Oh well. If another commercial boat has turned up I was ready to move. 

It was a very pleasant spot for lunch.

We did a bit of exploring checking out the piers of Williamstown then headed back to the deserted ramp for an easy retrieval. A good day.

Chris contacted me suggesting an impromptu overnighter to Williamstown. He launched at Werribee South, I launched at Altona with a bit of cafr shuffling.  I radioed Chris to suggest meeting for lunch at the little sheltered indentation just round this side of point cook. I thought I was about a mile away, but my estimation of distance was, as usual, wildly optimistic. But I got there eventually and we enjoyed a peaceful lunch anchored in the shelter of the point.

It's 6 miles across to the breakwater pier at Williamstown, luckily a nice southerly filled in, and we had a fine quartering run, the SCAMP was ticking along round 4.5 knots, up over 5 down some of the waves. Off point Gellibrand we reefed, and pottered round to let the freighter traffic clear before heading in.

It was a bit bumpy till midnight when the wind settled down, and a bit noisy from the dock over the opposite side of the shipping channel which operates 24/7, but a lovely morning. Turner would have loved it. Back at ramp by 10, car shuffle, back home by 11. A great micro adventure !

Well being

 

Today I pushed Derry the Skerry down to the local beach on her folding trolley. Oz and I rowed over to the Dog Beach. On the way we met Andrew in Szotka and had a nice chat bobbing round off the red stick. I could see him tacking back from over towards the pier. It's not a race, of course, but rowing straight I beat the laser tacking back to the red stick. I can keep the Skerry moving about 3 knots into about 10 knots headwind.

We pulled the boat up on the sand just past the safe harbour. As Oz gets older, we have not been walking that far, and he has not been there for a while, though it used to be a regular haunt for him. He was super pleased to be back there. He had a good old bark and run around with some other friendly dogs, and a good old gambol in the warm shallow pools that form there as the tide goes out. It was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours.

L. Francis Herreshoff observed "... for almost nothing gives a person a better feeling of well being than a good long row".

More messing about

 The Autumn equinox is coming up, and as usual there is a burst of hot weather, and with it a burst of boating activity.  Campbell wanted to try a capsize test with his Pathfinder "Antares", Ian wanted a sail in "Westy" before heading off interstate, and a few usual suspects were good for a sail. We had a nice little fleet of six boats, and a good day on the water, real messing about in boats stuff but a bit hot packing up. I find my IQ declines sharply when the temperature gets over 30.

The water is just so nice now tho. I have been swimming a bit and got Derry the Skerry out for a row for an hour or two with Anne and Ozzie. Maggie thinks she might like to try it too.

As well, I have been out last two Saturdays with Peter M in his lovely Pocketship "Kelpie". It was Peter's first outing under sail, and the BOM was predicting light northerlies but we got gusty winds up to 20 knots, probably not ideal for a new sailor in a new boat, but the boat and her new captain handled it all very nicely. For the second outing, Chris came along as well, and we got just about no wind.  We explored some of the nooks and crannies of Port Melbourne, very pleasant, but bloody hot by the time we were putting the boat to bed. My brain got cooked again, and I managed to make a right stuff up of a WBA email later that afternoon. Oh well. What are they going to do, fire me? I wish.

So, plenty of on water and in water time so far for March, and with luck an expedition coming up. 

Faithful

 

Chris my son in law sent a bunch of photos he took 4 years ago when I launched Derry the Skerry. It was a lovely surprise and reminder of a special day. I was particularly touched by the photos of Ozzie watching me closely when I took Andrew Campbell out for a row. I think he is all ready to swim out and rescue me if I sank. 

And of course I got a jolly good barking at when we got back to shore. He is such a good boy! 

It was a great day, and Derry looks very nice. I hope to get out for some low key rowing in that boat this year.

Home again

 

Anjevi and I are home safe but a bit tired from the Tawe Nunnugah 25 Raid.  It will take me a while to digest the experience and recover I suspect.

The weather was less cooperative this year, and some days I had to really dig deep to get through. I found it all a bit more pressured this time ... Perhaps because I was in a slower boat. 

I got all the way from Recherche to Hobart on one Torqeedo battery with 6% remaining. The older battery gave an error 45 when I tried to use it so probably ditch it. I mostly used the Torqeedo for motor sailing when there was very light airs, plus a bit of getting into and out of tight spaces like Watermans Dock.  It was a nice thing to have, certainly saved a bit of rowing. 

Anjevi held up fine except for a parted centre board uphaul rope. Bunnings Marine let me down there. I have a plan for an upgrade arrangement, a saddle on the board, a spectra line and thimble maybe for the uphaul line.  Sailing with Dale was instructive, as he has a lot of sailing experience in general and SCamp sailing in particular. And I got some ideas wandering round the Wooden Boat Festival. I have a list of things I would like to upgrade - cushions, anchor stowage, rear compartments. And I will finish my boat  tent, I had to admit it looked a bit funky in the campgrounds on the way home. Cosy tho. Anjevi was very comfortable both to sail and to camp on. 

It has been fun playing "Where's Wally" spotting Anjevi in various festival photos. Just saw us in a pic in the WBA Queensland newsletter, overtaking the Endeavour.

And here we are in a Tall Ships post on Soren Lasen

I am glad to have completed the Raid, but even gladder to be home. It helped me clarify the sort of sailing I want to do in future. I met lots of wonderful people, including John Welsford, who very kindly posed next to Anjevi. Great to have a photo of Anjevi and her designer.

Mat has made a terrific video of the first part of the raid, we actually feature in there a few times, and some of my video included. 

And here we are on the cover for the recording of John's take at the AWBF

Preparations

 Twenty one days till the Tawe Nunugah kicks off, seventeen days till I head off to the Ferry.  We are getting down to the pointy end.  I think I have the boat fairly well dialled in and some jobs I ran out of time for in the rush to get to Paynesville back in February last year have finally been done.  The nastiest, which I had been dreading, was putting Sikaflex round the port hole windows.  As I expected it was a messy job but its done now, and I doubt if much or any water will come in there when I capsize.

I touched up the chips and scrapes, and all in all, Anjevi is looking pretty good.  Here she is for the last sail for 2024.

I took Jeppe and Maia and Eik out for a nice potter, managed to sail into Kororoit Creek and motor most of the way out.  It is too shallow over the outer sandbars to motor, so we had to claw off, with often no centreboard or rudder down, which was a bit of a challenge as it was a lee shore with a south easterly, but we made it, and had a very nice sail.

The loop of rope was caused by one reefing line coming undone.  I need to whip the ends of all the reef lines to make sure that doesn't happen again.   I think I will put in an adjustable outhaul too, just for kicks. And on the belt and braces principle, I will add righting lines with stirrups at bulkhead #5.

Capsize testing is the last item on the sailing check list, I was hoping to try today, and got all psyched up for it, but the weather did not want to cooperate.  It has been pouring rain all morning, and the wind a bit on the high side.  Chris wisely counseled taking a rain check.  I am looking forward to trying a capsize, I know I will feel more confident once I have seen how the boat behaves coming back up. 

Now I need to seriously start thinking packing lists and checking all my gear.

And then there were two

The big event for December was the launch of Stephen's lovely SCAMP "Snug" #667. It was a grand sight, to see two SCAMP transoms side by side in the ramp carpark.

Shakedown sails and sea trials are underway.  There is always a bit of debugging and adjusting and learning required after launching a new boat. First launch at the Warmies, with two other TN25 raid boats, Lugger and Pitthirrit. 

It is nice to have another SCAMP to sail with. I am relieved to see Anjevi performs OK by comparison. I was worried that my relatively rough finish might have a negative impact on performance.

Subsequent Snug launches have been from Werribee River, which works better for Stephen and Chris. Some nice sailing along the coast there. Peter came in Pitthirrit and took what I think these might be the first pictures of two SCAMPs sailing on Port Phillip

Some nice rafting up apres sail at a mooring up the river as well. 

Christmas is looming, and Jeppe and family are staying with us so a switch of gear for a while I suspect. And lots of house and garden maintenance to catch up on. But a nice sailing month to round out a good year.

I sailed Anjevi on 35 days since launching in Feb, and sailed well over 250 nautical miles with her, and enjoyed every minute! I am very pleased with that little boat.