Winter is a coming in

 Winter is coming in, some days distinctly chilly, but others weirdly warm. We took advantage of one still day to explore some of the secret harbours over towards Williamstown.  Thanks to the lingering high pressure system, even the high waters were low, and all we could see at the mouth of Kororoit creek were sandbars and puddles full of sea birds.

Ozzie got cold and had to get snuggled up in his coat in the sunshine.

I took to the oars, and got over to the little Williamstown Anglers Club harbour, which I had visited in the Skerry.  It has been made over with a large grant from some government related body ... but in the schlimbesserung tradition that seems to apply to all "improvements" over this way, it is a lot less friendly now.

It used to have a nice notice saying you were welcome to tie up for a bit, but it was a private club so don't get in the way.   Oh well.  Just as well we took the hint though, as when I went back on foot a few days later, the new arrangement has introduced some nasty keel gouging bits of metal which would almost certainly have done "Ysolde" a damage had we tried to tie up there.

Still, it was a lovely day sailing/drifting.  We anchored near the sand bars at mouth of the creek on the way back for lunch.  Chris took a nice action shot mid sail raising after raising the anchor.  You have to move sharpish in that situation, even with light air it is a lee shore and you need to get sailing pronto.

All in all, a lovely day sail. 

Next outing was a very similar day weather wise, the Wooden Boat Association sailing day at Albert Park Lake. My trailer set up is much better now, and I launched the SCAMP without fuss into the weedy swan poo rich murk at the ramp to the lake.  Stephen came along as crew, Chris launched a newly refurbished Stringy Bark.  I rowed, Stephen steered, and Chris paddled along beside us, as we enjoyed a leisurely trip to the St Kilda end of the lake and back. 

Another pleasant if low key outing, but all good practice getting the rigging done, and a good chance to talk about plans for Tawe Nunnugah next February.

There was a bit more wind on Tuesday, which was the only day Campbell could make, and also the last good day for a while according to the weather forcasts.    Chris in Ysolde, Andrew Campbell in Mars, Andrew Laird in Alt Linden the Hartley ts 16, and Campbell and I in Anjevi, got down to Altona.  I said 10, of course every one was there about 9.15.  There was some drama before launching as Andrew and I got embroiled with a homeless couple kicking up a ruckus in the toilet block. Woman shouting for help, we called 000, couple emerged and told us all to f* off, police shrugged wearily and declined further involvement. We were a bit rattled by the time we got on the water.  But a beautiful relatively steady Northerly and some lovely sailing blew the stress away.

Or maybe, for Andrew, replaced one stress with another.  It was his first sail on the bay in his Hartley, and they can be a bit of a handful with all that sail.  He was having to work dinghy sailer like to keep mast side up.  Campbell and I meanwhile were hardly working at all, and the SCAMP was sailing flat and easy.  Not fast though.  Andrew whizzed past us.

*Followed by Chris. Hey ho. Going fast is not why I built the SCAMP. 

We sailed over almost to St Kilda, turned towards the city, then ran back across past T28 where our friends the seals were enjoying the sun.

We had a bit of a start on Chris and Andrew, and enjoyed a splendid down wind sail from here back to Altona.   The SCAMP is an extremely relaxing boat to sail.  Campbell observed that she almost sails herself.  I had the bungey on and a couple of turns of mainsheet round the tiller, and indeed, we moved along at round 4 knots with hardly any human intervention all the way home.  A really nice outing.

Chris made a really nice video of the day.

Meanwhile I am continuing to chip away at small jobs on the boat - a couple of turn buckle type thingeys to hold the footwell grate in place in case of a capsize took the best part of one week.  And inspired by Chris I added a couple of Trangia holder pieces to my cooking board arrangement.  I am now dual fuel, I can go butane gas cooker or meths Trangia.

And, last, the lovely Angela Stringer down in Traralgon who took lots of photos at the Paynesville Rally, sent through some high res images of ANJEVI on her second, exciting sail, in 25 plus knots, tacking up the Mclellan Strait.  Looks like I am saying "Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh"! when she took this one!

Autumn days

 We have been getting classic Port Phillip Autumn weather, ever shorter days with mostly light airs.  Mostly but not always...

The Wooden Boat Association sailing day at Albert Park Lake gave us some good gusts as a reminder that you need to keep on your toes.  I launched the SCAMP and put a reef in the sail, and just as well as with 4 adults in the cockpit, the C of G must be a bit higher.  Or maybe my crap helming.  But we got a fair old lean on a few times when gusts came through, though I never thought we were going to go over.  It was a bit squeezy with 4 sailing - I had to step over the tiller - but still manageable. I think 3 for sailing is probably better though.

On a more typical autumn day a few days later,  Chris, Gerard and I set off from Werribee South, on a falling tide, to explore the mouth of Little River again.  A fair bit of rowing was involved to get round Wedge point.

We anchored in the same spot that Chris and I had lunch the previous trip (the green pin).  

The deep keel Scruffie boats were nervous about going closer in, so Chris and Gerard embarked onto the SCAMP, and we tried our luck rowing in.

A falling tide about an hour off low water, what could possibly go wrong?  We ran aground, and Chris and Gerard took bearings and discussed the possible ways forward, while the tide dropped further beneath the boat, leaving us well stuck.  We did get organized eventually and with a bit of pushing and pulling we managed to get enough water to get back to the other boats.

The wind just about died away and we wound up using the Torqeedos for the long haul back along the coast, while the short day drew to a close.

We didn't get back in till sunset - a long day at the helm, and home in the dark.  

 

I wasn't happy with the trailer set up, so spent a while putting a runner under each skeg.  Anne and I launched from Altona, to test the new set up, and also to give Anne her first sail in the SCAMP.  Unfortunately this day proved to be yet another exception to the still Autumn weather, and we had a stiff chop and 16 knot wind gusts - probably not ideal for introducing the partner to the boat, but the SCAMP, and Anne, both handled the conditions with much grace.

On this outing, I noticed an ominous clunking sound coming from the centreboard case in the swell going down wind.  Hmmm.  Investigation showed that the bushing on the centreboard had parted company from the surrounding epoxy.  

I am waiting for the epoxy to really harden up on my second attempt at this, hopefully it will be better.

As the epoxy was setting, I took the Skerry out for a sail from Werribee South, meeting Chris who was taking Stephen out for a sail.  He was tied up to the visitors buoy when I launched, and Wayne launched a bit later and joined us.  We had a cuppa and watched the incredible bird life goings on near the river mouth - a huge flock of black cormorants and a phalanx of well organized pelicans working the tide.  It is a marvellous spot.   There was not much wind so we got a tow out, rowed a bit, got a bit of wind, and made it up as far as Wyndham harbour, which is only about a mile and a half up the coast.  I have never been inside the harbour, but today seemed like the day.  We tied up the visitor berths, and Stephen bought me a coffee at the nice cafe. It is always more of an adventure when you stop somewhere new on a small boat trip.

All this rowing is taking it out of me though.  My watch told me my body battery was just about empty yesterday afternoon when I got home, and that was pretty much how I felt.  I hope to get the centreboard back in the SCAMP, and that Torqeedo going for future Autumn trips. And ideally some energy back in the body battery.

Cruising

 

Still a bit to tweak and finish on the SCAMP, but the only way to do that is to use it! (thanks Chris for this photo and all your video btw)

I got out with a bunch of WBA boats a week or so back, for a sail over from Warmies to St Kilda for lunch and back.  

It was a good day, except Gavan dropped his expensive Garmin watch over the side at the Warmies ramp when we were launching.   By coincidence, I managed to capture the moment on my 360 camera.  We went back next day and tried diving to find it, but the water was too deep and murky. 

It was classic day sailing, we all sail around videoing one another, straggle off in more or less the same direction, have lunch somewhere (usually a bumpy lee shore but this day sheltered behind St Kilda Breakwater) and then retrieve and go home for a nice lie down.  

We had a tentative sail date planned for Monday, Gerard couldn't make it Monday but thought maybe Tuesday, Chris suggested he was free both days ... so we decided to try an overnighter, up the Werribee Monday night.

The weather was perfect Monday, and we had a grand sail down wind along the coast, anchoring at the traditional lumpy lee shore lunch stop off Little River.  The water isn't getting any warmer, and I wanted to check the reboarding sling arrangement.  Much better to do that before you actually need to rely on it.  So I hopped over the side and indeed, the slings were a bit too short.  Much easier to adjust that standing in chest deep water than bobbing around in deep water. I need to practice and do some more research on technique, but I did successfully reboard from both starboard and port sides which is another bit of psychological comfort - I now know that if I did go in the drink I could get back out again.

Speaking of psychological comfort, there is something about the SCAMP which is extremely reassuring.  Part of it is the stability, thanks to the hull form and the ballast.  It is so nice to have a boat that you can't tip over standing or pulling on the side gunnel.  The high cockpit coaming means you sit right in the boat, and the ergonomics are terrific - you sit really comfortably with a foot in the footwell, another on the opposite bench.  The cuddy offers protection from spray and wind, and a sort of ostrich head in the sand sort of comfort as well.  You don't have to have the hyper alertness that you need in a tippier boat. Hard to describe, but the package is remarkably relaxing. 

Still lots to tweak and refine.  I guess that is the fun with boats, they are never finished.

I watched Mat Conboy's latest video last night, talking to Geoff Macqueen of The Dinghy Spart fame, which is well worth a watch. 

Geoff took six weeks, sailing round the west coast of Tassie from Macquarie Harbour. He had a rule of thumb that he would not go out if the forecast was over 20 knots and if the wind direction did not allow him to reach or run to his destination. Otherwise he would just stay put, which he did for up to a week at a time.  

While the highly adventurous sort of dinghy cruising is appealing, I am more interested in more low key minimalist cruising at the moment.  I would like to explore how little I can do in a day, maybe dry out on the sand bar, sit and have a cup of tea and watch the world go by.  The circumnavigation of Port Phillip is still out there as an aspiration, but I forsee a patch of very micro cruises coming up. 

Relaunch

The trailer registered at last, and a light airs day forecast for today ( how right they were!) so I got organized sort of and down to the ramp this morning. A learning experience, it took over an hour to get rigged and on the water, but that included putting the torqeedo on then taking it off again as I discovered I did not have the necessary locking pin. I had a vision of one expensive battery popping off and sinking to the bottom, and decided to use oars instead. The boat slipped very smoothly off the new trailer.

There was a bit of wind to start with, and I pottered off in a generally easterly direction at round 3 to 4 knots. The SCAMP is very well behaved in light airs, and will sail herself for quite long intervals with the mainsheet wound a few turns round the tiller. Ozzie quite enjoys his cabin, tho I will have to remember to bring a bed for him.

It really is a very comfortable experience sailing the SCAMP. What people say about it feeling like a much bigger boat is true. You can move about, tidy up, open the hatches and get things, have a cuppa, luxury.

After an hour or so the wind faded. We turned for home, 3.5 nautical miles out, but instead of 3 to 4bknots, we were now doing .8, which feels like stationary. So, back to the oars for a long row most of the way back.

Retrieving went OK too, though still some tweaking .

So,  a few things to work on, but I was a bit nervous about launching for some reason, and it is good to have felt the fear but done it anyway.  

Trailing edge

 

The good news is I have collected my new trailer. More good news, it has a seriously long drawbar which hopefully will make launching and retrieving easier. The flat frame makes life easier too.  It came without winch post, which is probably as well as I had not grasped the importance of a longer winch post when I ordered it. But a winch post, winch holder piece and winch will not be cheap I fear. But the bad news is, once I resolved issue with VIN number (the manufacturer had stuffed up) the earliest I could get an appointment was 10 April. Oh well, this too shall pass.

The late, great Cisco Kid had a motto: "always keep another horse in the bushes" . Luckily I have another boat in the bushes. I got out in the Skerry on Tuesday last from Werribee South, with Chris in Ysolde and Wayne in his Windward 15. It was great to be back on the water, by golly I am out of routine. It was not till after lunch, when we were getting organised to sail back, that I realised my life jacket was still in the car. I managed to get those darn lazy jacks in a tangle too. I think I will try a different arrangement: once is misfortune, twice sheer carelessness. Bottom line is, I need to get out on the water more. There are so many little details that get smoothed over with plenty of doing. 

I used Stephen's trailer for one last launch, at the Warmies, for the WBA trip up to Herring Island. Chris came, and brought his torqeedo batteries, and just as well as I emptied my first big battery getting up to Spencer Street. I think headwind and current drained it fast. We were using round 720 watts to go 3.8 knots upriver, round 450 watts to go 4 plus knots coming home over the same stretch. It was a very pleasant day on the water.

Cathy, who was on one of the Hartleys on the raid, was very taken with the SCAMP and took the photo above. For some reason I got photos of every other boat but forgot the SCAMP. 

Really looking forward to getting the trailer sorted and actually getting some good, undistributed SCAMP time on the water!

Parallel universes

 

For a while now I have been intermittently reading "Dirty Wet Dog" the blog Steve over in Corwall who has been building a Welsford Pathfinder.  https://dirtywetdog.co.uk

He is a self confessed "Moany Old Bloke", building a Welsford boat, and he has recently acquired a recumbent trike.

Now, think about the ven diagrams of those three characteristics. "Moany Old Blokes" ... well, that's huge,  there's way too many of us out there. Building a Welsford boat, way way smaller ... riding a recumbent trike ... tiny. All three, well that must be vanishingly small. (Here's Oz waiting not so patiently outside the local shop guarding my trike last week, just to prove I really do still use mine!)

Steve has announced he is going to abandon his blog, and that it will vanish into the ether sometime this year, as he is going to put his energy into his YouTube vlog. Which made me think, as reading of his choices often does, about my own, and about this blog.   

The readership of this blog is vanishingly small to non existent... I sometimes wonder if the hits tally is just me rereading posts from time to time. But I rather like it as a sort of digital diary, with all the benefits that diarizing brings, and it does help to give me a sense of what has happened when. I think I will keep it ticking along. And I might restart my YouTube videos when the SCAMP is launched. Having a SCAMP will probably boost my numbers there no end.

Work on the SCAMP has ground to a halt again, thanks to the heat.The local weather station just recorded 37.2 degrees, and there is a searing Northerly blowing that is like being in front of a heat gun. I really don't do so well in the heat these days.

I got down for my swim early this morning, and the wind even then was enough that I was pretty much dry by the time I got home. I got another coat of epoxy on the centreboard, had a think about what I need to do before the centreboard installation crew arrive tomorrow, then had to scuttle inside into the air on and fan cooled sanctuary. Hopefully I can get the necessary jobs done when it cools down a bit. Meantime I can mull over where to put the bling on the boat. Centre? Starboard? Leave it off? 🤔 

Wading through treacle

 

I am chipping away at the long list of small jobs. It feels a bit like wading through treacle. 

The first round of painting more or less done. I can go back and polish up down the track, but I am happy with a work boat finish. I am drilling filling and drilling all holes exposed to the outside or to water. Takes about 4 times as long as just drill and add a dab of sikaflex or epoxy but it should help the boat outlast my future neglect.

Anne doesn't think much of my colour scheme, and she could be right, but it will have to do for now.

On the jobs list are tasks that are easy/enjoyable, and jobs that are more difficult/challenging. The temptation is to do all the easy jobs but the danger is I will wind up with a nasty pile of things left which could be demoralising. 

The centreboard is definitely one of the nasty jobs. I am a bit worried I have stuffed it up somehow - shape too much out, bearing off centre? - tho I won't know till I install it. Hopefully I can get some extra pairs of hands to get it installed - it is a heavy little number, made from laminated hardwood  with a chunk of lead set in the lower half. I would not want to drop it on my foot.

Here it is, with its little tail in case the boat turtles and the centreboard retracts. You use the bit of yellow rope to get the board out again, which gives enough leverage to get the boat back upright. I am also putting in a downhaul with a quick release cleat, on the belt and braces principle. Something about black and heavy makes me want to move on to a more pleasant job like the rowlocks. Rebate plate, drill and fill and drill, it has taken quite a few hours to get them on, but I have enjoyed that job. Looking forward to finding out how the SCAMP actually rows soon. The hole is to allow the escape of any water that might find its way into the rowlock socket.

I also sent off the registration form to Vic roads, so hopefully I can use an engine at Paynesville if I can get there. The trailer probably won't arrive in time so I will have to adapt Skerry's trailer for the duration. I think I know how that might work. The most critical bit of the puzzle still outstanding is the rudder pintle. Jim only had one of the beefier 4 bolt hole kind. He has ordered another, but it seems it has to come from Jupiter and the space shuttle has been delayed. Gavan has some that would fit though would need different spaced holes. I will hold off for another week. 

Main jobs outstanding apart from the above include: finish mast step and epoxy mast foot in, install uphaul/downhaul hardware, non slip paint in appropriate spots, finish tiller extension, drill fill drill and bolt/screw on all hardware, sikafex on hatches and portholes ... I am sure there is plenty more I just can't think of what they are at the moment.  About 17 more sleeps before we need to be on the road down to Paynesville, 17 more days work, but my productivity goes right down (along with my iq) when the days are hot, and we have a heat wave into mid next week. 

We had a family getaway long weekend down at Walkerville last weekend. Swimming a couple of times every day, hiking up and down the hill from house to beach and back, sitting on the deck with a vista of the Prom and the Glennie group across the water, big sky, lots of feasting, my favourite people ... it was time out of the build, but I have come back energised. 

Onwards though the treacle!