Super light

 

Feels like someone has turned the temperature down. It was 4.7 degrees yesterday morning when I was rigging the boat. But the forecast was for steady Westerlies below 10 knots, a good day for Bjorn's first sail on the Core Sound, and it warmed up as the morning progressed.

Bjorn took some nice photos of the getting the boat in the water phase. I usually have my hands full and too busy to take photos. Altona ramp was very peaceful, despite the blue skies and light winds. The wind must have seen us coming for it faded away pretty much as we motored out of the harbour.

Steve was out in his Impulse, and eventually ghosted over and came aboard for morning tea. 

Bjorn did a great job as both helm and expedition photographer, and I thank him for the photos. Despite lack of wind, it was a good outing.

When I got home and the Core Sound washed and put to bed, I put the second coat of epoxy on the interior of the Skerry. I got most of the epoxy where it was meant to go, but there were a few runs, and some wound up in the dog's fur, on my jacket, on my bench, down my right sleeve, over tools, etc. I think I was a bit tired. But it is becoming a boat I think.

Launching and lunching

 

Peter, who built my Core Sound, launched his new boat at the Wooden Boat Association sailing day on Albert Park Lake today.  

Not much wind, but a good opportunity for him to try out the new boat and rig.

There were some lovely boats there today, including Roger's 120 year old lifeboat. 

The lapstrake panels are made that way to allow for wear as the dinghy was hoisted up and down the sides of the mothership.  After a couple of hours sailing we ghosted back to tie up in front of the club.

Some serious, boaty conversations ensued. After lunch we sailed round the island again, after which the wind died. Time to break out the oars.

I dropped Gerard back in Werribbee, and got home round 4. I am pretty tired now, but it was a good day.

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Sparring

 

Next step in the Skerry manual is to fibreglass the interior. I know that is going to be an intese couple of days, so I thought I would tackle someting a bit less demanding. The boom, yard and mast, how hard could that be? 

Three days and three buckets of sawdust and shavings later, I have three bits of wood the right dimensions. It has been hard work. Day 1 I made  a right mess of things. Day 2 I dug myself out of the hole, and managed to find enough ok oregon to laminate together to make the pieces. I spent today sanding and smoothing with the magnificent No 6 Stanley plane my brother Mike kindly passed on to me.  I judged the last oregon buy pretty well I rekon. I have made all the parts needed, and only a couple of odd slices left over.

I put up an ad for the Sabre down at the club today, and put the word out that it is for sale. The end of an era probably, but I am ready to move on.

Mizzening

 

The BOM did not do a great job with the wind forecast for today. Instead of 8-12 knots, we got 19-23 knots. Oz ate some very bad fishy bits while i was rigging, and barfed repeatedly on the jetty as we were considering our options. Not the most auspicious omen. But there we were, so we set off. I put the first reef in the mizzen, but we still went 4.5 knots,  and managed to overtake Jim with his junk rig.  Thanks Andrew C for this photo, and for coming along in Mars, his tug boat, which was a reassuring presence out there.

We sailed down to opposite the time ball, with some mighty good gusts coming through. I was too busy to take photos, thanks to Khiem for his photos and video.

It was an interesting day, and as always I learned a few things. Don't trust Northerlies might be one important lesson. 

Infinity pool

 

It was one of those calm mornings where the surface of the water seems continuouswith the sky. "Like a giant infinity pool" Anne observed. 

We spent an our ghosting along at under a knot, chasing patches of freshettes of breeze. We rafted up with Ian in Westy for a cuppa. About 11.30 the cloud suddenly burned off and the breeze filled, and we could actually sail. It was a great morning.

Gunnelled

 

I had some carpentry jobs to do over at Vincent's house, which took up a fair bit of the day, but I could not resist taking the clamps off the last rail, and sawing and rasping the gunnels "into a pleasing shape" as directed by the Skerry manual. Well, it pleased me. It seemed to make a big leap in the appearance of the boat. It looks way more solid and boat like. 

I wound up covered in wood and dried epoxy dust. Anne persuaded me to go for a swim. Glad I followed her advice, it was lovely down at Flemmos in the golden late afternoon light.

The dinghy's dinghy

 

Three boats set off from Werribbee River on a falling tide, and a fine but light airs day yesterday, to make another attempt to get into Little River. Of course the falling tide meant sand bars and shallow water, and Jim with his heavy Drascombe was not keen on getting stuck in the mud, so we anchored a few hundred metres off for lunch. I was keen to see if I could get in, so I inflated the cheapie one person vynl toy dinghy and tried my luck.

It was neither dry nor easy to propel in any give direction but it was fun. I rowed in, and squelched through the dubious looking mud for a while, but it looked like the mouth was blocked by a sandbar and was well above the current water level. Thanks Gerard for taking the photos and motoring in to offer me a tow back.

It was a splendid adventure though, it feels very remote and wild down there. We saw dolphins, plus hosts of bird life. A great outing.

And here is some video from the day: