The slippery slope

 

It was the regular WBA sailing day at Albert Park Lake today.  Anne was heading off to visit a friend, so I took Oz rather than leave him home alone.  He was ok getting back in the boat, first time since our capsize.  He looks fairly relaxed, but perhaps he is just shutting his eyes trying to make it all go away.

Peter was there in his lovely cat ketch, reminding me how good cat ketches can be.  

Jim was there in his row boat.  A couple of chaps I have not met before were launching a lovingly restored clinker built boat.

I was trying to prevent Pitthirrit banging into the trailer when it came time to retrieve, and managed to slip and land in the not too pristine waters of the lake. up to my armpits.  Oh well, someone has to provide the free entertainment.  I was glad to get home and get a shower.  

I made a few tweaks in the balanced lug, which seem to help a bit.  I need to push on with new centre board and engine mount this week.

I got a heads up regarding a Welsford Navigator for sale at an extremely reasonable price over in Mornington. But somehow,I am just not interested. Something has changed in me. Perhaps I amon another slippery slope. But it could also be a glimmering of something like sense.

Ketchless

 Yesterday, Cam from Canberra took Kirsty Ann off to her new home in Canberra. He has been chasing me for years, and just after the capsize, when I was thinking I really should sell as I have not been using the boat, he made contact again.  He is very knowledgeable and a keen sailor. So I am richer, but also feeling quite bereft. I really loved that boat.

I really haven't been using it much though, and it is a shame to see boats fust away. And I don't have to keep berating myself about not using the boat, and making half arsed plans to get out. Plus,I won't miss the ramps which are getting more annoying and crowded. I now have a Torqeedo engine and super battery on my hands, as Cam didn't want it. I will see if I can get it to work on the Skerry and if it does I will register the boat, if not, I can sell the engine and be even more cashed up. 

Hey ho. It is life I guess, things you love pass out of your life. Hey ho. 

Comparisons inevitable

 

Gavan in his Little Tern and me in Derry the Skerry got out from St Kilda Marina on Friday, the only half decent day for a week. The Altona ramp carpark was about 90% full at 6.15 and more cars and boats heading in when Ozzie and I went past on our morning walk. So I headed over to St Kilda with some trepidation, but the carpark was half empty, and there was a much more relaxed vibe.  Perhaps the $14 carpark fee acts as a disincentive. But it was easy launching there. The biggest downside is the long narrow busy channel out to open water, not so good rowing into a headwind as I discovered coming home.

The Bom forecast was for East North Easterlies, which would have been perfect for a run up to Sandringham, but in fact it was a Southerly, so bang on the nose and we had to tack. No doubt, the Tern can point higher than the Skerry. The Skerry could go faster, but as far as VMG is concerned, Tern was better, by about 10 degrees. This could be because of the chap job I did with the dagger board. My new project is to make a new, improved dagger board. I have ordered Oz goose plans from mik storer which has templates for foils, and I think I will add an inch or two to to length and reduce the curve at the bottom of the leading edge. I  will try loosening off the foot of the sail too. If no improvement I can try a new larger rudder, I notice that the Terns rudder is larger. 

Good to have another similar boat to sail with,I would not have twigged there was an issue otherwise, and it would be annoying to find myself on the TN raid with everyone hauling off to windward and leaving me behind.

We had a long beat back and forth alon the coast, and decided to go for the dog beach inside Brighton harbour for lunch.  Quite a few dogs came over hopefully to see if we had any surplus sandwiches, but their owners studiously ignored us. The wind was getting up so we put a reef in the sails and headed off for a fast run back to St Kilda. The skerry, being lighter, seemed faster downwind, and there was some good surfing, up to 6.8 knots catching the occasional wave. 

The wind was blowing directly down the channel so a stiff row back, but the Skerry rows well and we didn't have to work too hard.

Getting home over the Westgate took a while in the Friday afternoon traffic but we got there. All in all  a good outing. I can see more launching over that side of the bay coming up, Black Rock next time.

Keeping on

 

I got out again last Saturday on the get back on the horse that has thrown you principle.  It was a low key pleasant sail.  Oz stayed home.

I am working on upping the amount of buoyancy in the boat, and made a box that will slot under the thwart.  Should be good for putting flares, emergency stuff in. 

As Cam does not want the Torqeedo, I am tossing up whether to keep it and use it on the Skerry, or sell.

I have started to make a bracket but I can see that will need considerable beefing up if it is to work.

The Torqeedo fits quite nicely on the floor of the forward compartment. It should double as  I need to work on some good tie down points, it would be a shame to see it go to the bottom if I capsized again.

I am launching with Little Tern tomorrow over at St Kilda Marina.  A first for me, and I suspect it might be busy, but I am looking forward to trying some new water!

Uh ho ...

 It was a strange day last Tuesday.  Somehow I found myself in situations that I had not planned for and not as anticipated or forecast, and not great communications.

I was planning on taking out the Pirogue, as it was a 10 knots or less forecast.  Andrew texted me saying he was taking his laser out to visit the seal on T28.  I put a message on AYC cruisers, and contacted Gavan to say I was getting out from Altona at 10. 

Greg from AYC said he would come, and we met down there at about 9.30 and were ready to get on the water at 10. Andrew was a bit late, so we said we would get a head start.  Gavan called me about 9.45 but I missed his call. Greg and I headed off, me with a reef in as it was gusting northerly.  The Bom often seems to get Northerlies wrong.

We had a splendid fast sail over to T28, no seal home but we saw a seal head pop up nearby. We were going so well, Greg suggested we head over to St Kilda.  We sailed over to St Kilda Harbour, and spent a bit of time as Greg was not familiar with the area, and headed off towards the marina.  When we were in, we had a cuppa and a leg stretch, and Oz had some shore leave on the nice little island that had formed where we landed.

When it was time to go, the wind had just about died away, but some very ominous clouds were building on the horizon back over to the West.

Roger Barnes has some profoundly sensible things to say about storms:  

"A seagoing yacht can weather a storm out at sea.  A small boat must seek shelter. She needs to be in shelter before the storm hits. So you should always have a plan in the back of your mind how you would do that - where the nearest shelter is, and how you would get to it. But storms do not suddenly hit out of a blue sky.  You always have time, if you are aware of the weather and how it is changing ..."

I did suggest we should run for Williamstown, in a half hearted way.  But we headed on towards it, in the hope that somehow we could squeak through before the storm hit. 

No such luck.  I was tacking between the Gellibrand mark and the cardinal mark for the reefs off Williamstown, when we got hit.  Laverton recorded 41 knot gusts. I had shaken the reef out, somehow I was too stupid or optimistic to even put a reef in, but I doubt in that wind it would have made any difference.  I was trying to avoid heading into the reef, had eased out the main probably further than right angles to the line  of the boat, and we were in the water super fast.  Oz was in the dodger space, and I managed to get the boat up, fairly fast, but with the sail up, we went over again straight away.  I got it up again, but with Ozzie's weight in the wrong place and the narrow amount of freeboard, we went over again, and again.  Oz got a fright, and took off swimming to shore, which gave me a chance to get back in.

Greg was fantastic, and got Oz plus various crap that had drifted off.  I bailed out, we transferred Oz back and we sailed home through a few more storms,downpours and calms. 

Thinking about it all, the social element is a key one.  I would not have made the choices that I did, nor been in the situation I was in, if I had been alone. But if I had been alone I would have been in really deep trouble.  It is the Civilization and its Discontents dilemma.

Coming home, I thought I should sell the Core Sound, as I really wonder, given the trouble I had getting the Skerry up, if I would be capable of getting the Core Sound up and going again.  The very next day, I got a call from Cam from Canberra who offered again to buy the Core Sound.  

The whole episode was profoundly sobering and traumatic. A week later, I am still bruised in body and in ego.  I lost my video camera, and drowned my vhf, but, thank heavens, Oz is ok and I got home.  It is  my second close shave this year. If I was a cat, I think I might be running out of lives.   I have to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.  A lot to think about, and a lot to change.

Sieze the hour

 After a spell of grey, windy, cold,  rainy days, at last the sun came out today. I was free from commitments after 1, and after weighing up the possibility of chipping one more job off the never ending list of things that need doing, I decided to hitch up the boat and go sailing instead.We got on the water a bit before 3, not sure why it took so long. 

Oz has taken to curling up forward under the dodger. I will have to cut some mat to fit up there to make it cozier for him. We practice putting in and taking out a reef, pretty quick and easy with the new cam cleats on the boom. I tore the dodger a bit swaying up the halyard, some stitching required. A great way to spend an afternoon, and great exercise.