Out and back

Monday had a reasonable forecast, under 15 knots in the morning decreasing as the day progressed.  I could get the car, so no logistical shuffles required, so I got the Core Sound down to the boat ramp round 11.  Thanks to my new checklist I managed not to forget anything important. 

Rigging is still taking a while, plus people like to come up for a chat, which is fine by me, but it does slow things down.  A nice chap who is restoring a Hartley TS16 pulled up in his van.  He had his dog in the van.  Ozzie barked. We had a conversation which went essentially along the lines of "What sort of  [bark bark bark] ? "  Me:  "Sorry?"  Him; "[bark bark bark] is that?"  Me: "Pardon?"

Michael also swung by, and helped me launch. He probably wisely declined an offer to come along for a sail, as the wind was already seeming to get stronger rather than easing.   I got on the the water a bit after 12.  He took a photo as we headed out.  The boat is there, honest.

I put a reef in each sail and headed out, beating into the wind on the basis that it would be easier once it was time to come home.  Here is the track for the day.

If I had been hoping to make it to Werribee River, it would have taken a bloody long time I suspect. I was about 7 miles off, but tacking into the wind would have more than doubled that.  The wind was gusty and quite a chop built up.  At one point a pilot boat came hurtling towards us, and I wondered if we were about the be rescued from something.  But it kept on to one of the freighters anchored out there, perhaps dropping off a pilot.  A lot of diesel to deliver one person though.

The Core Sound was bounding off the top of one wave and crashing into the next, with some impressive spray and a lot of pounding. 

Looking on the BOM site when we got home, it was gusting up to 18 knots, and it felt like it.  When we turned for home, it was difficult to keep the boat flat without hiking out, and with the bouncing about I wasn't too keen on doing too much of that.  I dropped the main, and we ploughed our way home at about 5 knots on mizzen with the first reef alone. 

I discovered that somewhere along the way my anti inversion mast head crab pot float, which I carried all the way after finding it on the Great South Western Walk, was gone.  Probably just as well I didn't notice that while I was out there.   I have bought some new ones. but they are a bit soul-less.  I also spent a while trying to simplify rigging, so hopefully next time will be a bit less of a tangle.

Reconnaissance

On the basis that time spent gathering intelligence is never wasted, we drove down to Portarlington a few days ago. It was also a relatively sunny mild day, at last , and we had no other commitments.

The boat harbour there looks like a promising destination. Some of the fishing fleet have seen better days though.

The visitor berths were empty, but to be honest I doubt I could a) tie up singlehandedwithout drama to the four corners of the berth, nor b) get off the boat onto the pier once tied up.  Maybe anchoring near the beach might work better.

Sunshine,jellyfish

After the cloud burned off Friday was a beautiful sunny day, with wind around 10 knots steady South Westerly.  Too good to miss, as the forecast for the coming week has strong winds every day. I've learned that if a good day comes along and I can make it, then get on out there.

Notwithstanding it took me most of the morning to get out of bed and get organized.  But when I got out there, it was well worth it, enough wind to move us along 3.5 to 4 knots, but no chop.  The boat sails itself pretty much, thanks to the Huntingford Helm impeder, and I could stretch out in the sun and take it easy.  Ozzie was pretty relaxed too.

It was a very low tide, so low that there was a guy riding his bicycle along the sand bars which are usually covered in water.  We sailed over to the mouth of Kororoit Creek, working on the Riddle of the Sands approach that you suss out the channels best at low tide.  Thankyou Davies, I think I can see the way into the creek now, something to try next high tide.

I experimented with wearing gum boots, on the basis that my feet got really cold last time.   It was good launching but when we landed at the creek mouth, of course, I misjudged the depth at a sandbar, and got both water over the tops of both boots.  So much for warm dry feet.

On the way home we didn't want to stop. and we sailed on past the Red Stick and over towards Point Cook.  There were an extraordinary number of Blue Blubber (Catostylus mosaicus) jelly fish out there.  Inevitably the centre board hits some of them, which is sort of distressing for me and must be much worse for them.  So after a number of jellyfish-centre board collisions, we turned round and headed for home.

The water is getting cold - 12.5 degrees at the moment.  I have been reading up on survival in cold water - I think I will definitely wear my wet suit and thermals from now on, just in case.

By the time I had packed up the boat, my feet had largely lost sensation.  A really memorably good day on the water though, one I think I will remember.

Maribyrnong River with the WBA

Despite an apocalyptic weather forecast it was a lovely day for the WBA river trip up the Maribrynong today.  After Ozzie's Agility training I got the kayak launched near Footscray Park by 11.30.

There seemed to be lots of floating bits of crap along they way, old bottles, polystyrene foam, plastic. I loaded up the front and rear of the kayak with whatever came within reach. Gave me a good excuse to have a break from paddling too.

It wasvery pleasant gathering of wooden boatey type people, lunch made nicer by the unexpected sunshine.

Heading back down river, I paced along with Graham in his pedal driven canoe. He cycles everywhere and is super fit, so it was a workout to keep up with him. Lucky i was only going a few miles, as I don't think I had much left in the energy bank when I got back to my launch spot.

Way cool

The weather has taken a distinctly wintery turn.  Every day for the last week or so has had gale or strong wind warnings, plus rain and thunder storms. Today was an ok forecast, nothing better coming up either, so I got the Mirror out. 

We sailed down towards the mouth of Kororoit Creek, half thinking that we might try to navigate through the maze of sticks and sand bars at the entrance, but when we got there the waves seemed to be breaking right across the whole area with no obvious deeper water.  And it was mighty cold.  I'd forgotten to re-rig the topping lift so rowing would have been a right pain as well.  Enough excuses, we turned round and beat back home.  It was a bit choppy but probably less than 10 knots.  A few cup fulls of spray over the decks though, much to Ozzie's disgust.  One ear up, one ear down, is an eloquent sign of disapproval.

It was good to get out though, and I always seem to bump into nice people while I am rigging up or down.   So all in all it was worth the effort.  I definitely need a few more layers now - the water and air temperatures are way down, and I was cold

Drifting away

Today the forecast was for very light wind, dropping to under 5 knots at midday. Anne wanted the car, hence no launching the big boat. I thought I would wheel the Bolger Pirogue down for a sail or paddle. I took the old inflatable Tahiti canoe along too, as Kate has been wanting to try it out since I lent her Audrey Sunderland's Paddling North.

It was a lovely morning, and we  paddled a bit out to the reef to check out the sea birds, rafted up and drifted for a while,  then landed on the dog beach for morning tea and a reinflation of a leaking chamber on the Tahiti.

Ozzie was very disappointed there were no dogs around to see him make a dramatic seaborne arrival.

It was all very relaxing and pleasant. After we returned to our launch spot, I  ran the Pirogue onto the sand, then carried the Tahiti up onto the grass. I unlocked the club door, opened the air valves on the boat to let the air out, and generally pottered round, till I suddenly noticed the Pirogue quite some distance offshore, drifting slowly away. The sand bars shelve out quite a way, so i ran after it, but couldn't get to it before the water level was too deep to stand. My swimming seemed to be about the rate of drift of the boat, and I was beginning to think I would have to let it go, when a nice chap in a kayak saw my predicament, caught the errant boat, and towed it back to shore. A happy lucky ending to what could have been a bad situation.

I knew the tide was coming in, and the wind off shore. Hard to fathom why I let that happen. Just stupid I guess.

Under the heading "Weird coincidences", I noticed tonight that the AYC web cam has  become stuck and is showing an image from some days ago,  capturing me rigging up the Core Sound.

Half way

The wind forecast looked like it was a good day to sail over to Sandringham - a Westerly in the morning to run over, changing to a South Easterly in the afternoon for a reach run back. On the water it was a lot more flukey, but we made reasonable progress till we reached the shipping channel,  which is just over half way there. We bobbed round in the swell, sails slatting, centreboard banging, for what seemed an interminable time. Tried the engine but the noise quickly drove us crazy. Irrational I know, and against most experience, but the prospect that the wind had packed up for the day made us turn round and start what looked like a long slow trip back. I rowed for a bit, with the sails up and whatever breeze there was, enough to move us in the right direction at 2.5 knots. Then a light but steady breeze kicked up and the sun came out, a wonderful peaceful sail home. Oz found it very relaxing.