A serious present

 

I aggregated my Christmas and birthday presents for a dry suit, which arrived yesterday.

Steve Early and Bruce Batteau, two sailors of small open boats with much more experience of making extended voyages than me, both have positive reports and both are glad of their dry suits. "Don't get cold, don't get wet" is a good motto. I could probably have used one that rainy day down at Mallacoota. The challenge will be getting into the damn thing. Steve Early speaks of "slipping on" his dry suit. More like a five minute wrestle with a contortionist for me when I tried mine yesterday. I doubt I could get it on or off in the Skerry on the water. And it is quite a sizeable package.

Anyway, it feels quite comfortable on, and I feel like an extra in a sci-fi film from the sixties. 

A message

My back is not so good. We went for a slow, geriatric shuffle round to the little beach in front of the revetment. I sat down on the rock wall for a rest, and Anne spotted this perfect Paper Nautilus shell right in front of us, nestling in the seaweed. 

I think this is the fourth or fifth we have found. Each time, it seems truly miraculous, like an intervention from a mysterious other realm. I think about the conjunction of forces necessary to deliver that extraordinary, delicate object right to the spot at exactly the right time for us to find it. It could be just one of the squillions of random things that make up our world. But it feels like a message.

 

Chop ouch

 

Khiem was down from Sydney and yesterday turned out to be the only day we could get out for a sail. Liem his son, who is a keen dinghy sailor, came with us and helmed ably for most of the trip over to Williamstown and back. Gerard launched his Hartley ts14. Peter was going to get out but pulled the pin after looking at the forecast. Federico was out in his Impulse with a couple of AYC boats, tho we only saw them as we were coming back in. 

It was a grey, choppy day, wind around 15 knots Southerly, but it seemed to build up  some decent swell, particularly off Breakwater Pier and off Williamstown Beach. I was running to help Gerard, then with multiple people on board I was twisting to get the engine up and out of the way. Somewhere in there my back went haywire. Coming home, I could not get out of the car, I just couldn't lift my leg to get over the door sill. I also managed to get my hand caught in the engine raising mechanism. So I am feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself.

Somehow, sailing with other people seems to bring distractions. Rewards too, but on balance I am coming to think the Steve Early/Webb Chiles model is what suits me best.

Khiem made a nice video, though I hate seeing myself on video. Oh well ...

First for the year

 

I got the Skerry out for the first sail of 2022 yesterday. A bit humid but lovely on the water. I was a bit stupid rigging and wrapped the sail round the peak of the yard, which I didn't notice till we were underway. I hove to, dropped sail, untangled snafu, then rehoisted and sailed on. Easy. The Skerry is a very well behaved boat. It was a relaxing sail.

Art, life, cat ketches

 

I follow a couple of maritime art groups which post some fantastic images. The one above and the one below both struck a chord. A bit like how I feel as we head into 2022.

I got some nice footage of the Core Sound from Peter B, and used a hot morning when inside was the only option to run up a one minute cat ketch video. Looks nice out there, and it was.

Sandbar swim

 

I was planning a sail down at Swan Bay with Mike and Khiem down from Sydney for today, 31 December, but it was clear from the forecast it would be too hot for us older geezers, so that has been postponed.  I was going to rest up and get organised for the Swan Bay expedition, but cancellation freed the day up, so I got the Skerry out. Anne wanted a swim, and wanted to come out for a sail. Andrew was down with his laser and took this photo of us getting ready to set out. Which was just as well as I had all my cameras and gps in a lovely new canvas bag Jess gave me for Christmas, but managed to leave the bag sitting on the floor at home.

It was Anne's first sail in the Skerry, and given less flexible knees, it took us a while to find a workable crew distribution. Starboard tack was a bit problematic with Anne sitting to the rear - next time I will get her to sit amidships. Or build some side sears for that forward section. But Port tack was fine. We sailed over to the little sandbar which has appeared behind Wise's reef, and anchored using the little grapnel, with about a foot of water beneath the boat. Anne went for a swim, I experimented with some bits of ply between the side seats. I can lie down and the boat felt quite stable. I think I can camp in it. Next step, work out how to rig a fly sheet. I think I need a pole at the stern, which may require some modifications.

When we got going again, I sailed Anne over to Flemmos beach so she had a shorter walk home. I dropped sail and rowed in,  which was a bit of a circus. I should just have sailed as I can see better where I am going. A chap on the beach was very envious of the Skerry. After depositing Anne I rowed out a way, raised sail, and continued over towards Point Cook for a while, before turning for a great reach back to the red stick and home. 

I think that is the sort of sailing that I really enjoy. I like solo stuffing around sailing. John Welsford in his happy new year post invited his readers to think about what they want to achieve in the coming year and what they will do to make that happen. My aspirations are pretty modest: I would like to do lots more solo stuffing round sailing, and get around the bay with a few overnights. 

My performance for 2021: I got out on the water 62 times, launched Kirsty Anne 21 times, Derry 28 times (not bad as first launch was 5 July), the Sabre and Mirror both sold now accounted for 10 launches, and I sailed with other people 3 times. Given all the lockdown restrictions that's not too bad, but I hope to have a better record in the log book for 2022.

Four go to Williamstown

 

Peter who built my Core Sound rang and suggested a sail on the 29th. On the day, four boats launched, Peter and Kirsty in their newly built Lapwing, Andrew in Mars, Gerard in his ts14, and Jim came along with me and Oz in the  Core Sound. A lovely not too hot day with a steady southerly breeze. We sailed round into Williamstown and back. Gerard needed to be back by 2 to take Jennie to a medical appointment. 

It was a very nice sail.  We were hooting back on a broad reach, going 5+ knots, when Sandra came whizzing past in her Sabre,looking like she was going 8 knots. She has some fancy glasses that can take 30 second video clips.

It was a nice way to spend some of my 70th birthday.