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.

Back on the water

Just coming to the end of a project to replace the luff sleeve arrangement on the Core Sound 17's two masts. This project turned out to be much longer and more expensive than I anticipated, but it is almost finished.

Although the luff sleeve arrangement had the great virtue of simplicity - it was quick to set up and visually uncluttered - I found it had several downsides.  I mostly sail with just me and Ozzie the dog, and when the wind kicked up I found keeping the Core Sound sailing flat challenging.  And I really like being able to just drop the sails completely and motor into the boat harbour, without 115 square feet of windage producing sail cloth waiting to push me in some unexpected direction.

I am still refining the set up, and it is certainly taking me a lot longer than it used to, but I can keep practicing and experimenting with leaving as much in place as I can.

Yesterday was a splendid sailing day, despite a rather gloomy forecast.  Andrew who has been a regular at our midweek sailing days came out with me and we pottered around for a couple of hours.  I dropped him back at the beach in front of the yacht club, then headed back out for a bit more tweaking and attaching fittings.  Andrew took a great photo of me heading back out to Kirsty Ann.  You can see me carrying Oz in the extreme left of the picture.

I have a few more projects lined up for the boat.  Next in queue is to make a platform so Oz has a more comfortable space to spread out and sleep. If we are to make some longer voyages, the crew have to be comfortable.

Heading for the top mark

This week I received a newsletter from the lovely people down at South Gippsland Yacht Club, a wrap up of the Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta which is held each year on Australia Day at the end of January. And what do you know, there on page one, was a photo of Jess and I, in Peregrina the trusty Mirror, heading towards the top mark. 

Jess is smiling but also looking a bit worried, as she thought I might be going to T-bone the crash boat before I tacked away.  A great photo to have and I am very grateful to Tim Wilson who took it and Trilby Parise who sent it through.

Good timing

It looked so nice out on the water as Oz and I went for our morning stroll on the dog beach that I decided to take the Core Sound out.  Anne agreed to come for a couple of hours, and we managed to get out on the water by about 11.30. 

The wind was variable in direction and strength, and basically I set up the sails and the tiller and let the boat go where it wanted, heading over towards Williamstown, then south, then over towards Point Cook.  I sailed back in and dropped Anne off at the AYC beach, then headed out again. What had been a grey misty day had developed an increasingly ominous looking sky.

Apparently the poet Shelley liked storms, and would deliberately sail towards them when he saw them.  Looking at those clouds, I could understand some of the fascination - but I remembered Shelley's fate, and decided that it was time to get home. 

As I was waiting to retrieve the boat, three nice young chaps, speaking Arabic, were making a right hash of launching their boat.  One smiled and told me "first time..." as his friend erratically attempted to back their boat down the slipway. 

Probably not the best time to be heading out for their first trip, as just as I packed up, a mighty blast of air tore through the car park. Here is the wind graph for the day. 

The gust was over thirty knots, three times the forecast wind strength for the day.  Which goes to show, keep an eye out, and listen to that voice of caution, regardless of the forecast.

It was good timing that I was back in before the blow, and good also that I went today.  The forecast for tomorrow looks dismal now.

Distance 5.8 NM, top speed 4.9, Moving average, 2.3

Point Cook

The forecast was for light northerlies, swinging round to moderate South westerly in the afternoon, about as good as it gets this time of year. Anne agreed to come out with me today, her inaugural trip in the Core Sound. Our past boating outings have not always gone that well, so I was keen to make sure all went as smoothly as possible.

Light variable winds meant it took a good few hours to get past Point Cook - slow but pleasant. Soon as we turned to go home, the wind kicked up. We followed the coast around, and anchored off a sandy beach. We had lunch and a spot of beach combing for old times sake.

When we set off for home, the wind had picked up, and we surfed along on a broad reach aided by about 15 knots breeze, top speed 6.3 knots. It was fantastic to feel the surge of speed in the gusts. The boat feels wonderfully stable and sure footed in those conditions.

I decided to anchor off AYC to furl the sails but dropped anchor in weed, not sand. The result was a rapid backwards progress towards the sand bar, as the weed choked anchor skidded across the bottom. I managed to get sails furled and engine going before we beached, but it was a bit rushed and I was not as organized as I would have liked to be heading back to the ramp. Moral, make sure there is sand for the sand anchor. I think I was getting a bit tired by this stage, and our docking, while not catastrophic or damaging, was a little clumsy.  Nonetheless overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable sail.  The Core Sound is a lovely boat, and we are looking forward to many more adventures with it. About 11 nautical miles, top 6.3, moving average 2.5.

We read when we got back that a couple in their sixties capsized their boat - a new power boat, not a yacht -today in the bay at Blairgowerie, with the chap now in hospital in a serious condition. A sad reminder that things can go very wrong very quickly on the water.

Pirogueing along

It was a relatively light winds morning, and I only had a few hours spare, so I dusted off the Bolger Pirogue. I can launch it at the local beach, it is super quick to rig and get on the water, and it I dont worry much about scraping it so I go closer to rocks and reefs ghan I would dream of in any other boat. I am sailing it more Duck Punt style, lying down with the windward leg draped over the gunnel. I went a bit over 2 nautical miles, average speed 1.9 knots.

Ozzie is distinctly unimpressed by the Pirogue. A bow wave from an inconsiderate stink boater broke over the front of the boat and splashed him while he was snoozing,  and he was understandably vexed. He will be glad to get back on the Core Sound where he has his own sheltered cubby cabin and where he can stretch out.