We bobbed round off Point King till we were beginning to wonder if we had misunderstood the plan, but eventually three boats appeared, including Penny and Jim in their Drascomb Lugger. We motored across Lake King, and tied up at the jetty on the West side of Shaving Point. By this time it was round 30 degrees, much more noticeable on land. Anne and I walked over the short hill into town, to buy batteries and wine for later, and had a lemon squash on the verandah of the pub.
When we got back the wind had filled in and we sailed off with the Drascomb, round Shaving Point and across Bacroft Bay.
By the time we headed back across Lake King the wind had kicked up a bit and with it a short chop. The Core sound handled it very surely. It was almost a dead run, and when ever I saw the main loose pressure I could steer us up so we didn't gybe. We parted company at Point King, then gull winged back into Eagle Bay. Speed was 5 to 6 knots most of the way, with a top of 7 somewhere in there, no doubt surfing down a wave.
The wind was up, and I didn't feel lucky, so we started the outboard and dropped sails. I tried essentially the same manoeuvre as the day before, coming in close to shore before making a sharp turn into the wind aiming to come to stop next to the jetty. This time though, I must have gone closer to shore, the rudder hit the bottom, flicked up and i lost steerage at the critical moment, and hit the jetty hard at an acute angle on the port front gunnel, taking out a gouge of hardwood.
The wind was blowing the boat onto the jetty and despite my best endeavours I could not work an arrangement of bollards that would hold it off. In retrospect I could have tied the nose to one of the poles nearby and the stern off the jetty, but there was a fair swell built up so that might not have worked either.
Willyweather was predicting that the wind would stay strong before increasing the next morning so I drove the car and trailer down to the ramp, cycled home, collected Anne and Oz, and we set off into the chop for an exciting retrieval on an exposed ramp. Oz enlivened the proceedings by standing whimpering at the bow of the boat, which was pitching up and down in the waves, as I wound the boat onto the trailer.
Next morning I cleaned and tidied the boat, and we laid low. Dinner at the Paynesville pub with the other WBA gang, then the long drive home through massive storm fronts, wind and rain on Sunday.
It was a great trip. I've patched the gunnel and revarnished it, and sent the outboard off to be serviced. I am very pleased with the Core Sound, and looking forward to more adventures.