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.

Spring is coming

It was a beautiful day today, but mighty cold first thing.  I had wild vague plans that I would get up early and go sailing, but the alarm went off and I rolled over and went back to sleep for a couple more hours.  But when I took Oz for a walk, it looked so nice out there that when we got back we hitched up the boat and headed back down.

Anne came along, which makes it much more of an occasion.  We had a thermos and sandwiches while we burbled along about 3 knots, the best lunch venue imaginable. My new seat add in makes a good tea tray as well.

There was a bit of bad behaviour at the ramp coming in, one boat speeding to get in front of us, some guy with his boat half on and half off his trailer blocking two ramps, another guy taking an interminable time moving while he took photos of his kid with his mobile phone.  But luckily we were totally relaxed, and let it all wash over us.  I haven't taken the Core Sound out for a couple of months, so it was good to get it back in the water, and everything went pretty smoothly.  Although I did forget to take a bed or mat for Oz, and he was not too happy, as he gets very sleepy and he wants somewhere comfortable to take a nap.  I will put a mat on the check list.

Beaufort indicator

Anne needed the car, so Oz and I walked down to the yacht club and extracted the Sabre from its rack, rigged up and went out for an hour. 

It was a Northerly today, gusting up around 15 knots.  This was Ozzie's first go in the Sabre, and there is plenty of room for him but he needs to swap sides when when we tack and get out of the way of the tiller.   I noticed that he is a living Beaufort indicator - when the wind is round 10 knots he is stretches out, yawns, snoozes, and his ears are pricked up.  When it gets around 15 knots, his ears go down, body hunches up, and he gives me lots of reproachful looks. I still think he would rather come along than get left behind at home.

The whole exercise went pretty well today.  The new rudder blade seems to work well, and I managed to extract the boat from its rack, rig, launch, sail, derig and pack away all without any major dramas.  I am sure I will get more efficient at the whole thing. 

I am looking forward to sailing season.

A late Winter's day sail

It was a rare day of mild wind and sunshine on Saturday, in the middle of what seems like a very long streak of grey cold windy weather.  I have been itching to get back out on the water.

None of the usual suspects could get out, so Ozzie and I headed out by ourselves.

I have improved my rigging time with the spinnaker, and it took about 35 minutes this time.

We were on the water by 11, and sailed in one long tack over towards Sandringham, across the shipping channel.  The winds were light, and on this leg we were making about 3 knots.  I got to a point about 3 miles from Sandringham after 2 hours, but I realised that if I continued I would be packing up in the dark and the cold if I was lucky, or worse, still sailing.  I should put a torch on the Mirror just in case that ever happens.

• On the way back, as we approached the shipping lane, I could see way over near the mouth of the Yarra a freighter emerging.  I thought we'd have plenty of time, as I was approaching at right angles at about 3.8 knots.  Of course the wind died, and the freighter was barreling down towards us.  I nearly broke out the oars for a bit of evasive action, but the wind kicked up again, and we made it across with a reasonable margin of comfort.  

I broke out the spinnaker as the wind tended to a very broad reach/run, and we rolled home very pleasantly.  I am enjoying the spinnaker much more than I expected, it is proving to be a good addition for cruising.  My kind of sailing weather, and I am very glad I got out!

Teardropping along

Anne booked in for a writers retreat near Avoca in NSW, so we agreed to drive up with the Teardrop, and Oz and I would knock about for a week then pick her up and drive to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

After a foggy night in Kangaroo Valley I headed down to the coast, and stayed at Husskinsons on Jervis Bay, Sussex Inlet and Kioloa.  I particularly liked Sussex Inlet, a very watery place, which would be fantastic to explore with the Core Sound.  Oz and I made do with the inflatable canoe.

Kioloa had more Kangaroos than Ozzie had ever seen in his life. They were very relaxed and eventually he got used to them.   It was a nice spot, and we camped right on the edge of that National park close to the beach.

After I picked Anne up we drove to Leura. Luckily Anne had booked accommodation for it snowed two of the three mornings we were there.

We drove home via Bathurst and Lithgow, and all the high plains were covered in snow. We stopped at the Japanese Garden in Corowa, which was well worth the stop.

And we stayed the last night at Wagga Wagga, which probably wasn't worth the stop.  It was super cold, -2 at least, probably colder near the river where we were camped.  The camping ground got our award for the most cheerless spot we have camped ever.

All in all, it was a great trip.  We have both come back energised.  The car has developed an ominous sound from some of those brutal mountain passes, but we are philosophical as it is coming up to 300k.