Yea verily Yea

My daughter Jess is doing the 4 Rivers bike trail in Korea in a couple of weeks. For a shakedown she and her partner wanted to try a longer bike ride, so we set off last Saturday to ride part of the rail trail from Yea to Mansfield, around 85 kilometres, and back again the next day.

It must be a decade since I last rode 170 kilometres on a weekend, and despite a couple of weeks of desultory training, I was mighty tired when we rolled into Mansfield on Saturday afternoon.

It was definitely a cycle to somewhere.  My $75 Shogun Trailbreaker bike was by far the oldest and probably the cheapest bike we encountered, but it did a great job.  There are two long hills, one up to Cheviot Tunnel and the other to Merton pass, that are a bit of a slog.  We were glad to get over each of them.

The scenery is magnificent, and it is a nice time of year to ride the trail, with lots of green, and blossom, and baby lambs and lamas.  Spring is also Magpie swooping season here, and as I have a black and white helmet, I seemed to get swooped the most.  I work on the basis that life is more a matter of being scared rather than being hurt, so mostly I just ignored it, though a couple of unexpected swoops gave me a fright.

All in all, a great weekend, and I think, a week later, that I have just about recoved.

Gannet day

I got the Core Sound out on Wednesday for a few hours.  I packed everything, but could not find Ozzie's life jacket.  It was a relatively light airs day, so I figured we would be ok, as he has learned not to try to get off until I carry him off. But I lost a bit of time searching, and so I was a bit hurried setting up and launching.  Still, I got on the water, and round to the Yacht Club to meet Kate at 10.30.  And when we opened the door to put her trike away, there was Ozzie's life jacket, as well as my new life jacket, hat and sailing rain coat.  I suspect I was a bit vague when I packed up after my last thwarted sailing attempt. (Last week I went down to take the Sabre out but the trailer wheel packed it in - so I spent that day replacing axle and wheel instead.)

The forecast was for very light winds, and I was worried we would be drifting around with the sails slatting going nowhere fast.  Luckily, there was plenty of pressure, in the form of a steady south westerly, and we made good progress on a tack over towards Point Cook.  There were quite a few gannets out there, dive bombing in spectacular fashion or just bobbing around in groups of three.  Magnificent birds.  It is one of the great bonuses of having a sailing boat that it is possible to get to see them up reasonably close and in action.

Three in a row

I've learned not to let good sailing days go by, even if they are one after the other.  It could be a while till the next one rolls round.

It was a lovely morning this morning, and Paul was out in front of AYC fixing his Sabre when I walked past on Ozzie's morning walk.  The water looked so inviting that when I got home I collected my sailing gear, and headed back down.

I got the Sabre out and on the water by 11.   The rigging went smoothly - I think I have internalized the order of things.

It was around 10 knots South South Easterly.  I tacked out past the Red Stick, then a broad reach along towards Altona Pier.  We were flying along, top speed on that leg 5.8 knots.

It was a beat into the chop to get back round the Red Stick, with lots of water over the bow. I used the venturi, which to my surprise works incredibly efficiently.  There was a reassuring sucking noise, like water going down a plug hole. 

Ozzie does not seem to like the Sabre much. He lies down resignedly facing towards the rear, and spray comes over and wets his fur. But he perks up when we get back on land, lots of excited barking and splashing around through the shallows.

The Sabre is like a sports car in these sorts of conditions.  The Core Sound would have been ploughing along in a stately fashion, maybe 4 knots, while the Sabre feels light and fast, almost like flying as you are closer to the water.

I am looking forward to the sailing season - I hope that we get some good sailing days.

Two day sails

There was a perfect (for me) wind forecast for Tuesday, winds around 10 knots, temperature around 20. I My friend Michael came along, and we set off for Williamstown.  Off course, the wind died, so we did a bit of rowing (I can get the boat moving around 2.5 knots with a bit of breeze helping) and a bit of motoring when we got into the shipping channel.

We tied up at Ferguson Street Pier, and wandered up for lunch in the sun at one of the cafes near there.

It was a bit of a gymnastic feat getting Oz up onto the doc, and more so getting him back down, but we did it.  The doc gives a good view of the top of Kirsty Ann's masts, the Dinghy Crusing pennant on the main mast, and the two crab pot float anti turtle devices on the mizzen.

Somehow, in the excitement of getting underway again, we must have knocked the line that holds the centreboard down off.  Michael was on the helm, and I was getting quite sharp in my instructions to point up, as we were missing every point we tried to aim for.  It wasn't till I took over the helm I realised the problem.  

We passed a mini colony of seals on one of the channel marker buoys and got back around 4.

Driving down to launch the boat, I bumped into a neighbour and friend I have been trying to get out on the boat ever since I bought it.  He looked longingly at it, and said "Tomorrow" - so I got organized and we went out again the next day.

The forecast was for around 10 knots again, and for the first hour or so, that was indeed the case.  At one point I was nearly going to ship the oars. But the wind shifted south westerly and kicked up.  At Laverton the nearest weather station to us, gusts of 21 knots were recorded, just about where I decided to turn around. It was an exciting run back, surfing along around 6 knots.

I remembered to take along a soft bed for Oz, and he is much happier crew when he can get comfortable and sleep.  But there was some spray over the bow today when the wind kicked up, and he definitely does not like that. I quite like having someone steering so I can lounge up the front giving gratuitous advice.

When I tied up the boat at Williamstown yesterday, there was a chap on the wharf watching.  He knew it was a Core Sound and was very complementary - "You've got it set up nicely" he said.  I think he might be right.

Now the weather is getting warmer I can see making some longer more adventurous voyages.

Over the hill

My daughter Jess is aiming to do the 4 Rivers path in South Korea in a month or so, and I have been trying to keep up with her on some of her training rides.  We are going to do the rail trail from Yea to Mansfield and back in a couple of weeks as a shake down tour.  This means I seriously need to build my mileage capacity.  I have ridden into town and back a couple of times (around 36 k round trip for me) and we have gone for some longer rides on the weekends.  Here are our bikes, Jess's lovely Surly gravel bike, and my old Shogun Ninja, at the the top of the local hill.