Tide

Anne and I took the Skerry down to Rye, for the WBA sailing day.  We stayed over in a nice rental, had a really nice day the day before pottering around, swimming and generally lazing about, so we were in good shape to get down to the ramp bright and early Sunday. The wind on the morning was a bit stronger than forecast, a brisk Northerly, and Rye was a lee shore.  The ramp is quite exposed, and was mighty choppy.  None of the WBA gang were keen on risking launching in those conditions.  The Skerry, weighing all of 45 kilos, is a beach launchable proposition.  

We got some WBA volunteers to help us carry the boat to the water's edge, then rowed out through the breaking waves to get some sea room.   Once we had the sails up, with the reef in, we took off and blasted our way along the coast to Sorrento in no time. 

I thought as we were sailing that it was my extraordinary seamanship and boat handling, but in fact it was about 3 knots of tide helping us along.  We landed on a nice sandy beach there.  Peter and Kirsty had driven up to check out the Sorrento ramp, and were on the beach to welcome us, which was very nice of them. 

We had some shore leave and raided the lunch rations and the thermos for a nice picnic in the sun, watching the Sorrento beach walkers, mostly with dogs, parading back and forth. 

When we set out to get home, we discovered that the wind had shifted, so we would be tacking back,  and eased right off.    Now we were heading into it, the affect of the tide also became apparent.  I was lucky to be making 1.5 knots over the ground, and at an angle of about 50 degrees off where I wanted to go.  We could probably have crawled faster than we were actually closing on our starting point. At one point I decided I would row faster, and I dropped the sail.  By the time we were organized, we had gone backwards, to a point we had sailed past a half an hour earlier.  Rowing directly into the current was hard work, and I could barely keep us going at a knot.   Eventually Anne worked out we could "motor sail". she would row with one oar, while I sailed as close to the wind as I could.  

It took us around 4 hours to get back again.  We don't really have to worry about tidal currents down our end of the bay, this was a real learning experience for me.

When we finally got back, Anne went for a swim.  I got persuaded to retrieve the boat from the ramp, which probably was not a great idea, and was the low point of the day, but overall it was a fantastic day on the water.  

 

Experiments

 Not a great day weather-wise but the only day that Gerard could make it, so he and Chris and I launched from Werribee South.

I tried out my ladder roofloader and a prototype dodger made out of blue tarp. The roofloader works ok, but it is slow tying all the bits and pieces on, and it is hard work.  But it does open up the possibility of Skerry Teardrop trips, which we will try hopefully before Easter.

The second experiment was a blue polytarp spray dodger that hooks on over the bow of the Skerry and is held on by a bunny that goes right round under the gunnel.  Ozzie hates being splashed by spray, so I wanted something that would give him some shelter from wind and spray.

Also note the side seats made for Anne should she ever come out sailing in Derry the Skerry. 

I was a bit rushed getting on the water, and I didn't have time to fit the curved laths that are meant to hold the material up. And once on the water, the bunny proved not to be tight enough so one side kept blowing up in the wind. But for all that, Oz seemed to like the arrangement and slept mosytof the way huddled down under it.

I was busy and didn't put much energy into filming. But Chris and Gerard were both very keen and took quite a bit. I think they like being YouTube celebrities.

Festival

 

A small flotilla of WBA boats launched from the St Helens ramp in Corio Bay and sailed to tie up at the new wave Attenuation Barrier and potter round the Geelong Wooden Boat Festival. Some fantastic craft there. A bunch of St Aylls skiffs, a clc kayak with those beautiful akas, the biggest couta boat I have ever seen, plus lots more.

The wind died going back and I rowed most of the way. It was hot out there too. A good day but iamstonkered tonight.

Overnighter

 

Chris in his Stornoway, Gerard in his Hartley ts14 and me in Kirsty Ann set off from Werribee South. Wind was bang on the nose for Portarlington and conditions choppy and a stiff breeze, up to 17 knots. Somehow I was not well organised. Perhaps too early a start. Thermos of coffee still in the bilges, forgot to put sunscreen on, put reef in main and struggled with weather helm for hours till I put a reef inthe mizzen and the boat balanced beautifully. Took us almost 6 hours, and 20 nautical miles to get there, hiking out a lot of the way. My butt may never recover, and I am certainly going to buy some padded shorts next trip in to Whitworths.

Wind still from the south next morning so we aimed for a quartering run out and gybes to run back into Werribee River.  Took us about three hours of splendid sailing to get home. It was a good trip, I learned quite a bit.

 

Rowing

 

My great grandfather, Alfred Hudson, was captain of the Cork Firebrigade and I have always had a soft spot for anything Cork related. So the Cork Harbour Rowing Festival, and it's virtual spin off "5 miles from home" caught my eye. The idea is,you row an out and back 5 mile course and capture the gps track. http://oceantocity.com/

I got the Skerry outyesterday and today to put in some experimental miles. At the moment I can row at an average of 3 knots for a couple of miles. But I am seriously stuffed afterwards. If I could keep that going over 5 miles, it would take me an 1hr 40 minutes. Which is towards the slower end of the virtual field. I will need to put in some serious training to achieve that I think.

Today we rowed from local beach to dog beach. Ozzie made a grand entrance and had a great time tearing around. He was tired coming home. We had a picnic on the boat, anchored off the reef. About 3.5 NM. A really nice day though. I am going to get a new wheel for my trolley, to make the wheeling down part as easy as it can be.

Grey headed paddlers visit Grey headed flying foxes

Somehow, I discover I am organising the midweek paddle up the Yarra from Studley Park to visit the Grey Headed Flying Fox Colony near Fairfield. Oh well.  Jim and Penny suggested a reconnaissance trip,so a couple of weekss ago,on a stinking hot Sunday, we got down to Studley Park Boat Ramp and set off up river. I must confess I had a bit of a bad attitude going in, but it was fun and very interesting. I now know a bit more about the Flying Foxes, and have a new respect for them.  I have no idea how the midweek paddle on the 9th will go. It could be I will be the only boat. But I am cool with that, looking forward to it.

Wednesday wonders

Ian suggested another Wednesday sail at the WBA midweek Williamstown sail last week, and a few of us got out.   It was a great messing about in boats sort of day.  Andrew from the WBA came out with me in Kirsty Ann.  We rafted up for morning tea, tried sculling, with limited success, rowing, the mizzen stay sail and just drifting in the light airs.  I dropped Andrew back at the harbour round 1, then headed back over towards Point Cook to catch the Stornoway and the Hartley who were heading that way.  The wind kicked up, and we got a good rollicking broad reach home.  It was a good day.  Messing about in small boats.