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70th Edition
Jan. - Feb. 2015
photo by ROLEX Carlo Borlenghi
DELPHIA YACHTS and POWERBOATS
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The cover photo:
TCP celebrates the stories to remember and new stories to be told
Comanche - the “fastest” yacht in the 2014 Rolex Sydney
Sydney Hobart: Mark Richards and his team
Hobart Race - but Wild Oats XI is still number one. See
deserve every award they got for their 8th line
inside for highlights of the 70th year of this world famous race. honours victory. WOW! And Comanche made
sure they earned it. It looks to me that if the
wind hadn’t died in Bass strait, Wild Oats XI
wouldn’t have stood a chance. When
Comanche
was heeled over she was more like
This is a collection of articles from TCP #15 to #57
a catamaran flying a hull than a monohull. Twin
that illustrates the advocacy and educational thrust
rudders and dagger boards. But flat on the
of the paper’s content. This is by no means an
exhaustive or complete assemblage. It is a sampling water she had an excess of wetted area and
willy ole Richo went right by them. Comanche
and reference to the high points.
reported doing 32 knots when the wind came
www.thecoastalpassage.com/papers/issuesissue.pdf
TO DOWNLOAD PDF CLICK HERE:
in but even that wicked speed was too little,
For more see www.thecoastalpassage.com/issues.html
too late.
The "Issues" Issue
Contributors
Brian Bailey, SY Afterglow
Susan Bett, MY Scallywag
Jan Forsyth, u beaut crew
Randall Gypsie Hammond SV Zenith
Alan Lucas, SY Soleares
Sandy Wise, SC Southern Wing
What’s your story?
It can’t be about you
without you!
As always, TCP very much appreciates your letters and other
contributions that provides the rich forum of ideas, issues and news.
For information on feature contribution requirements and awards,
see the TCP web site: “contributions” page.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Classic Cruising: Randall Hammond’s ebook,
Seven Years is excerpted in this edition as an
example of a cruising style that is almost gone
now. That of the Pirate. Long haired bikie on a
boat. I’ll try to do the Asian part of his book
next edition but you are going to have to buy
the book for the spicy bits. WOW! The other
classic cruiser is Afterglow: This story was
sent to us 10 years ago and just never made it
to print back in those space conscious days.
This story is very different from Seven Years. A
flip side of the same cruising coin of the time. I
wanted this/these stories together in this
edition to show the new people the legacy of
rich characters that preceded them.
Can it ever be the way it was? No. Everyone
has to find their own path on the way to
freedom. But it can’t hurt to look to those
behind as you plot a course ahead. The sea has
been the way to freedom for thousands of
years and even Australian bureaucrats can’t
change that.
Bob Norson
The Coastal Passage logo and lighthouse are trademark
www.thecoastalpassage.com
Bob Norson: sometime publisher, editor, journalist, advertising, photographer, etc...
Kay Norson: senior volunteer, ETCP format organizer and semi - retired postie.
The Coastal Passage
P.O. Box 10, Beachmere, QLD. 4510
email: mail@thecoastalpassage.com
All text and drawings in this publication are
copyrighted by Robert Norson, except
contributions where noted. Delivering
contributions infers permission to print.
Contributions may be edited. Opinions
expressed by contributors are not
necessarily that of The Coastal Passage, &
the editor assumes no responsibility for the
accuracy or validity of information. Any
party disputing facts contained within a
feature
are particularly
invited to
respond.
Be prepared to explain or
reference your assertions.
Dear TCP Fans,
Now in its 12th year The Coastal
Passage has been successful because of
its focus on telling the real stories about
real people on real boats and issues real
boaties find interesting and important.
From what we hear and from what our
web statistics program tells us, there
must be many of you that get a lot out
of the paper too. If you are one of
those, how about contributing a little
support for your paper.
Cheers and happy boating!
Kay and Bob Norson
Thank you to the TCP sponsors!
Tony Little
Skipper SG
Shannon & Peter Giller,
SY Tryphena
Chris Ennor,
SC Magic Carpet
Michael Kelly
Roger Davies
William Stephens
Gail Bauld
Phillip Thuaux
Geoff Searle
Peter Woodcock
Jan & Nick Wooller,
MY Yarrawa ll & MY Kuah
Lynne Undraitis
Michael Kalajzich
Bob Burgess, SC B52
Barabra & Paul Jahnz
Peter Freeman
PJ & Steve Halter, SC Cheetah
Terence Culley
Dianne & John Challis,
SC ELAN
Denys Smith
Lesley & Jack Dunn
Sue & Greg Harding,
SY Southerly Miss
Lesley & Jack Dunn
Jim & Sue Baltaxe, SY Tilde
Ann & Philip Rohlf,
SY Lady Hawke
Steve Pope
Graeme Lean
Phillip Smart
John Herlihen
Carol & Stuart Sinclair
Benn Hardie,
MV Tidahapah
Bruce Martin
Allan Denny
Geoffrey Hannan
Sue & Rick Bett,
MY Scallywag
Igor Tumpej
Linda & Steve Nemeth,
ST Star Voyager
Mark Folley, Solitaire,
Wanda & John Hitch,
MC Nutshell
Laura & Bill Kaye
Rob Scales
John Wynen
Phillip Mitchell
Andrew Fuller
Alexander Gooden
Robert van Thie
Jeanette Levoune
Geoffrey Gentil
Andrew Phippen
Brent Martz,
SY (to be announced)
Glynne Attersall
Derek Mayne
Glenn Chapman
Lily & Stuart Mears
John Joyce
Sandy & Julian Way,
SC Cat'chus
Phillip Mitchell
Ian Murray
Glen Hammond
Roz Dolkens
Bob Bower
John Hammond
Allan Denny
Ken Coey, ST Rush lll
Jack Dunn
For details on sponsoring TCP see:
www.thecoastalpassage.com/sponsorTCP.html
MACKAY MARINA- WE'VE GOT IT ALL!
Cruise into Australia's renowned Mackay Marina Village and Shipyard, your friendly home in the north
Mackay Marina Village is an award-winning Marina, Shipyard and
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• 479 berths, available for purchase or rent-including 102 purposebuilt multihull berths of varying size, six x 50m Mega Berths
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Laundry, wireless internet, showers, toilets & security, hire cars on site
Waterfront esplanade of shops, restaurants, cafes and bars
Sandy beach and seawall walk, Yacht Club with pokies
Luxury four & a half star hotel
Five minutes from Mackay city centre
15 minutes from the airport
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Marina: (07) 4955 6855 info@mackaymarina.com
Latitude-21deg.6min.25sec. south Longitude-149deg.13min.54sec. east VHF Channel 16
Reflections
A TCP “Classic”
by Alan Lucas
...the lessons learnt
In nearly fifty years of cruising I have had four snakes aboard, including a death
adder in New Guinea, two black snakes in Cairns and a brown python in
Maryborough; but the one that bit me was in the water just a few metres from
my vessel. It was almost certainly non-venomous, but we may never know
because of the uncertainties of identification. It is this uncertainty-factor that is
worth looking at here for yachties who find themselves in a similar predicament.
During our building of Soleares in the old Walkers Engineering shed on the Mary
River during 1998-9, we initially lived aboard our previous ketch Renee Tighe
berthed alongside a few old piles near the shed. Projecting through the
mangroves, connecting the piles to the riverbank, was a steel RSJ giving us a
narrow walkway. On the dreaded 'day of the snake', the RSJ was out of sight
under a few inches of muddy brown water making successful access dependent
on balance and feel.
Cautiously walking ashore with the morning tea one morning, my ankle was
struck with extraordinary force by what I took to be a catfish until I saw its long,
reptilian body wriggling shorewards. By the time I reached the shed I felt a little
dizzy and the bite area had swollen under two fang marks, one oozing blood, the
other a mere indentation in the skin, suggesting a glancing strike. Not believing
that my life was seriously threatened I made a flippant remark to Patricia about
taking a day off to recover from snakebite.
continued next page...
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Bob’s note: While visiting the Maryborough
water front to investigate another matter, I
nearly stepped on this large (approx 5 feet/1.5
mtr.) and very stroppy snake. It took the photo
being emailed around to Kay’s wildlife group
contacts to finally identify this one as a harmless
Carpet Python. Incredibly, two days later Alan’s
story arrived in the mail. This photo was taken
within a few metres of where Alan was bitten.
Not so flippant was a fellow boat builder who took the matter very
The doctor took a swab from the bite area for pathology, saying, 'because
seriously by doing a most professional job of encasing my entire leg in a
you were bitten in a river, the venom has probably washed off': which it had,
compression bandage after which Patricia drove me to a doctor who
obliging me to remain under observation for twenty-four hours on the
immediately injected me with 50 mg of vitamin C saying, “This is how
assumption that the snake was venomous. I was then transferred to
we treat horses for snake bite”. He then called an ambulance. My
intensive care where vital signs were checked every two hours.
protestations that I needed to clean up and change my paint, glue and
Ten hours later I begged a sister to
resin-splattered clothes fell on deaf ears, as I
release me, using the perfect logic that I
was ordered to lie down, relax and wait.
In the ambulance, I had my second lesson in snakebite
was wasting hospital time and resources,
procedure (the first one being to lie down while everyone
In the ambulance, I had my second lesson
to which she explained that compression
else does the work).
in snakebite procedure (the first one being to
bandages are never removed in less than
lie down while everyone else does the work).
twelve hours after a bite owing to their
Anticipating a thrilling high-speed race
importance in containing the venom, and
through the streets of Maryborough, sirens blaring and dogs scattering, I
then a victim must remain under observation for another twelve hours in the
was disappointed to note the ambulance crawling at a snail's pace to
event of venom being released. She then related the story of a bite victim
discourage, the ambos said, the spread of venom (assuming, of course,
who left hospital prematurely only to be found dead in his home the next
that there was any venom to spread).
day. Having gained my full attention, I stopped planning an escape and even
agreed
to being videoed.
Under way, the two ambos expressed the mutual conviction that my
attacker 'was probably a keel back, you get a lot of them in the
mangroves after rain and they're harmless'. It all sounded strangely
reassuring and, considering the name of the snake and my love of boats,
satisfyingly nautical, but the fact that the keel back's modus operandi is
to look and act like a deadly brown snake left a worrying dent in my
confidence.
Despite arriving at the hospital in excellent health, with dizziness gone
and the swelling retreating, tender caution prevailed as I was slipped
onto a stretcher and wheeled into a ward where, if prizes were being
awarded for the year's daggiest dresser, I would have won gold. And
because I was not allowed to go to the toilet without video surveillance,
a marathon of self-denial began.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
My leg was unwrapped exactly twelve hours after the attack, the event
attracting so much staff attention that I wondered if bets had been placed on
the outcome. As it turned out, the pessimists lost because, on waking up the
next morning I was delighted to find myself still alive.
A week later, we moved Renee Tighe to a better jetty where I was almost
bitten again. On moving our dinghy (stowed on the jetty), a coiled snake
caught me by complete surprise, rearing up and striking at my leg, missing it
by a whisker. Offered an oar as a better target, the snake remained
unrepentant, striking the blade time and time again as I desperately tried to
turn it landward, away from Renee where it might have taken up residence.
This snake had a serious attitude problem, but
at least the protracted battle gave me lots of time
to observe its characteristics, which I later
described in detail to a local wildlife guru who felt
certain that it must be an eastern brown (one of
the deadliest). However, he added, being right on
the waterfront, it may indeed have been a keelback whose defence I already knew - is to act
very aggressively.
This was my first understanding of just how
difficult it is to accurately identify reptiles whose
colours and characteristics can be similar,
sometimes deceiving the experts. Confusing the
issue further was the absence of venom for
pathological identification, but the GP who first
checked me felt certain that it was a venomous
variety whose toxins had been neutralised by the
massive dose of vitamin C.
Personally, my only certainty was that the snake
that bit me and the one under my dinghy were
the same species if not the very same snake. As
the ambos so confidently predicted, I thought it
had to be a keel back.
The intricacies of identification were again
hammered home a few months later when singlehanding Renee Tighe to Sydney for her new
owner. Uncovering the sails under way down the
Mary River, I discovered a two metre-long brown
snakeskin wrapped around the mizzen
gooseneck.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Horrified that it's owner may be below decks, I
closed all hatches and headed for Tin Can Bay
where the skin was handed to a NPWF officer who
added to my education when she said, 'I'll have
to take it to work with me tomorrow to count
scales it's the only method of positive
identification'.
It turned out to be a brown tree snake that had
'probably gone ashore but, yes, it might be still
aboard'. That was the most sleepless delivery trip
I have ever made!
As for the lessons learnt: I discovered firsthand
how difficult it is to identify a snake and how the
firm application of a crepe-bandage can delay the
spread of venom for a long time. Furthermore, I
fully understood why it should not be removed
until medical assistance and advice is found.
Immobilisation by a splint is also very important,
although keeping dead still is an alternative if
splint material is unavailable.
Because most cruising folk enjoy bushwalking
in remote areas, they have the double-whammy
of greater exposure to snake bite and far less
opportunity of reaching medical assistance. A
bandage in the kit may prove the most valuable
item carried, as would a sheath knife for making
a rough bush splint. These basic items could be
the difference between life and death.
Alan
“Must Have” CRUISING GUIDES by Alan Lucas
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(a boatie trivia book)
by Alan Lucas
Sixth
Edition
$25.00
$80.00
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The TCP Ships Store
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mail@thecoastalpassage.com
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Notice to contributors: All contributions that purport facts in a matter of possible contention, should be ready to provide
support for their assertions or the contribution may be refused at the discretion of the editor.
Anyone disputing a matter of fact in any part of TCP is invited to respond as long as the discussion remains one of fact
and the responding writer must also provide support for their assertions.
Personal attacks will not be published and rude or offensive mail will not get a response.
Dear TCP,
Greetings Janice and Nick,
In years past yacht crews have reported upsetting
experiences due to their treatment by Customs and
Quarantine when clearing into Australian ports.
Your report is good to read.
Last night we joined the crews of 4 other yachts for a
convivial Happy Hour. Three yachts and our motor vessel
had entered Australia from SE Asia (one in Darwin and 3 in
Gove) within the previous 2 weeks. All crews were
unanimous in their praise of the treatment we had
experienced.
The officers who dealt with us all were described as
"professional, thorough but friendly, welcoming and fair".
To be fair to all the yacht crews too, all had abided by the
Customs reporting requirements and all had made
themselves aware of the Quarantine regulations and had
their vessels ready for inspection.
We congratulate the Officers involved for their
professional but friendly demeanour and hope that this will
be the standard all yachts entering Australian Ports of Entry
can routinely expect.
Regards,
Janice and Nick Wooller, MV Yawarra II
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
As far as I can detect Customs has been much improved of
late and I do not think that would have happened without
the pressure of bad publicity generated by TCP that
provoked wider investigations that provided ever more
embarrassments. Also because of TCP coverage and the
subsequent international notoriety attained, very few
yachts aren't aware of Australia's particular nautical risks.
To be fair to yachts of the past that got criminally charged,
some had no way to know what to expect and others were
charged for trivial transgressions. “Cracking walnuts with a
steam roller” as a judge in Darwin stated. But even during
the worst of times, most yachts had your experience.
The last line in your letter is the most important one and I
couldn't agree more. Now we know these standards can
be achieved and maybe, finally, are being applied to all
boats, “routinely”. But I will never understand why that
wasn't always true.
Cheers,
Bob
FOR SALE
2 MARINA BERTHS
14m Absolute Freehold
at Hope Island Marina,
Gold Coast
This is a
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ideally suited for Catamaran
or use as two single berths.
Walk to restaurant's,
hotel & shops.
$190,000
CALL: 0415 162 951
EMAIL:
djjokerswild@gmail.com
Tyranny is always better organized than freedom.
-Charles Pe¢ guy
Dear TCPers
I have been reading TCP for years and recently I
came across some quotes that I liked and I bet you
do too, judging from some of the fights you've had
with your government down there. So here they
are; do as you will.
The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who
resists it.
-John Hay (1872)
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the
populace alarmed and hence clamorous to be led to
safety by menacing it with an endless series of
hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-H.L. Mencken
When the government's boot is on your throat,
whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no
consequence.
-Gary Lloyd
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false
front for the urge to rule.
-H.L. Mencken
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences
attending too much liberty than those attending too
small a degree of it.
-Thomas Jefferson (1791)
One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope
that the evils in this world are to be cured by
legislation.
-Thomas B. Reed (1886)
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human
freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed
of slaves.
-William Pitt (1783)
If you are not free to choose wrongly and
irresponsibly, you are not free at all.
-Jacob Hornberger (1995)
I heartily accept the motto' "That government is best
which governs least".
-Henry David Thoreau
The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.
-Tacitus
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation,
the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
-P.J. O'Rourke
The human race divides politically into those who
want people to be controlled and those who have
no such desire.
-Robert A. Heinlein
Just because you do not take an interest in politics
doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in
you.
-Pericles (430 B.C.)
Good intentions will always be pleaded for any
assumption of power. The Constitution was made
to guard the people against the dangers of good
intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to
govern well, but they mean to govern. They
promise to be good masters, but they mean to be
masters.
-Daniel Webster
Be careful of the powers that be Bob. Here in the
good ole USA, land of the free and all that,
independent journalists that dared criticize the
surveillance state or the war du jour all wound up
in jail for one vague reason or another or dead
under strange circumstances. I think if Thomas
Jefferson were to pop into this time zone he would
be disappointed.
Sincerely,
Paul Richard
Phoenix, Az
th
th
Yachts of Yesteryear celebrate the 70 Sydney Hobart in Parade of Sail
By Di Pearson, CYCA Media
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia received
overwhelming support for its Parade of Sail, held
prior to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on
December 26, and staged in honour of the 70th
Hobart and the Club's 70th anniversary.
Up to 40 yachts paid tribute to yachts and crews
that have played a major role in the evolution of the
Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, from its modest
beginnings back in 1945 to its current status as one
of this nation's greatest sporting events.
Historic RAN vessel HMAS Advance led the fleet off.
Two famous yachts from the inaugural race in 1945,
Kathleen Gillett (kindly been made available by The
Australian National Maritime Museum and to be
skippered by Phil McKendrick), and Wayfarer, now
owned by Peter and Gayle Smith, led the yachts.
Avidly watching were two surviving men who sailed
in the 1945 race; Geoff Ruggles, who as a 21 yearold crewed on Wayfarer, and 88 year-old John
Gordon, who sailed aboard Winston Churchill still
actively sails an Access Dinghy on Sydney's Northern
Beaches.
Kathleen Gillett sailed by Jack Earl in the 1945 race
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
photo courtesy of CYCA Archives
Father Mike and twin sister Leilani were aboard Maris with Tiare and it is
hoped both Geoff Ruggles and John Gordon will be able to join in from the
vantage point of a spectator vessel.
There were a few tears when John Walker's Peterson three quarter tonner,
Impeccable, sailed past. Her wonderful owner died in July, and in memory of
their skipper, former crew Shane Kearrns gathered together crew from
Impeccable to race Kearns' restored S&S 34, Quikpoint Azzurro, to Hobart.
Also joining the fleet was Sean Langman's Maluka, the grand dame of the
Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet. Built in 1932 and measuring in at just 9 metres,
she is also the smallest and the only entry in this year's 628 nautical mile race
to take part in the Parade of Sail.
Representing boats from those early races right up to the more modern
versions sailed in the Hobart over the years, it surely has had a lasting
impression on spectators.
Wayfarer Peter Luke finished last in the 1945 race
photo courtesy of CYCA Archives
Others include Archina (Joe Skrzynski and Bill Ferris) from the 1945 race,
Christina (David Foster) and Defiance (Nicole Shrimpton) from the 1946 race.
Tiare Tomaszewski paid tribute to her grandfather, the late great Jack Earl,
owner of Kathleen Gillett and subsequently Maris, named for his daughter and
Tiare's mother.
Tiare has owned Maris for some years and is well aware of the significance of
the Parade of Sail. “We are proud to be able to take part in this historic event
and to represent the family. We were originally going to be sailing to Hobart
before Boxing Day and spend Christmas at sea, but fate must have stepped in
and now we are happy to be able to take part,” she said.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
The whole fleet was dressed for the occasion from a start point off Bradleys
Head, on to a mark near the Sow and Pigs off Watsons Bay, and returned to
Bradley's Head. All yachts were under power.
THE YACHTS:
Leading the Parade: HMAS ADVANCE
An Attack Class Patrol Boat built in 1967 in Queensland. Served extensively
in northern Australian waters as an armed patrol boat. On loan from the RAN,
acted as start boat for numerous early Sydney to Hobart Races. Now part of
the fleet of historic vessels maintained by the Australian National Maritime
Museum
Parade of sail yachts continued...
(The date after name is the first year the yachts raced in the Sydney/Hobart)
1: KATHLEEN 1945
Colin Archer designed, wooden gaff-rigged yawl 13.4m (44ft) owned and
skippered in the inaugural race by artist, Jack Earl - a founding father of both
the CYCA and the Sydney to Hobart Race. Kathleen became the second
Australian yacht to circumnavigate the globe. Restored and gifted to the
ANMM by the Norwegian Government as a Bi-centennial gift in 1976.
2: WAYFARER 1945
12.2m (40ft) Alden Bermudan wooden ketch, built for owner Peter Luke, also
a founding father of the CYCA and Sydney to Hobart Race. Now owned by
Peter and Gayle Smith who are restoring her to her former glory.
3: ARCHINA 1945
A 15.9 (52ft) wooden hulled Bermudan ketch built in 1933 for Phil Goldstein.
One of the trio of inaugural race entrants that amazingly are still very much
part of the Sydney yachting scene. Now owned by businessmen, Joe
Skrzynski and Bill Ferris. Competed in 5 SHR's, the last in 1994.
4: CHRISTINA 1946
A 33ft 5” Cutter sloop, built in 1932 by the Halvorsen brothers. Owned and
sailed by dentist, Bob Bull. Handicap winner of the1946 race. Disqualified
the following year after an incident off Sydney Heads. After a string of
owners, now owned by David Foster.
5: DEFIANCE 1946
International Class 8 metre 49'6” wooden hulled veteran, built in 1935.
Completed 5 SHR's best result 3rd in 1946. Now proudly owned by Nicole
Shrimpton
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
6: GYMEA 1948
A Barber/Larson designed 33-footer built in 1938. Completed the 1947 & '48
SHR's with owner-skipper Geoff Carter at the helm. Now owned by Erin &
Jeremy Sharp.
7: MARGARET RINTOUL 1949
47ft wooden yawl Designed by Philip Rhodes. Launched in Sydney 1949 for Mr
AW Edwards. Competed in 5 SHR's. 1st on elapsed time twice 1950/51 - 1951
time set a record that would stand for 7 years. Now owned by Bruce Gould
and Paul Keerigan she sails regularly in classic events on Sydney Harbour.
8: LAHARA 1951
33'4” sloop built in 1951. Came 2nd that year in her inaugural SHR.
Completed 6 SHR's. before embarking on an extensive cruising program.
Current owner Mike Warner competes regularly in Classic Fleet racing with the
SASC.
9: WRAITH OF ODIN 1952
57ft Alden Ketch, built in 1951 by Alf Jahnsen in Tuncurry NSW. Built for Dr
Brian O'Brien, she competed in 5 SHR's between 1952 and 1969. Sold in 1997
to current owner, Keith Glover who has completely restored her. to her former
glory. Splined in 2010 by the son of the original builder, using unused original
planking, cut on the same bandsaw his father used. Winner of classic events
in Australia and New Zealand
10: LAURABADA 1954
A 49ft Bermudan ketch built in 1954 by owner/skipper Ivan Holm Snr.
Completed the 1954 SHR. A Queensland sailing icon, she has completed 50
consecutive Brisbane to Gladstone races 1953/2002. Ivan Jnr and wife Anne
have restored LAURABADA, and are taking part in this Parade, as a stopover
on their cruise to Hobart for the Wooden Boat Festival.
11: ANITRA V 1956
38ft sloop designed and Built in 1956 by Trygve and Magnus Halvorsen. Has
competed in 13 SHR's winning the race on handicap in 1957. Current owner,
Philip Brown races regularly with the SASC.
Hobart in 1958 for the fabled Jack Earl. Completed in a number of SHR's in
the 1960’s. Ownership passed to Ian Kiernan in 1971. He cruised her
extensively in the South Pacific and competed in 4 SHR's. Now owned and
sailed by Jack's granddaughter, Tiare Tomaszewski in partnership with Lord
Howe Islander, John Green.
12: CAPRICE OF HUON 1957
A 13.72m (44'6”) Robert Clarke designed sloop built in 1951. Competed in
'numerous Sydney Hobarts. Best result, 1972 - 2nd to Ted Turner's American
Eagle. Represented Australia in Admiral's Cup. Current owner, David
Champtaloup has Caprice on the market.
17: SALACIA 1962
A 41ft designed by Sparkman & Stephens, built in Hobart by Jock Muir in
1962 for CYCA member, Bob Rusk. Purchased in 1963 by Arthur Byrne, she
competed in 10 SHR's, 1962 - '69 and 1971 - '72. Best placings, 4th in ''64;
4th in '67; 3rd in'69. Now based in Pittwater where current owners David &
Jenny Lovell have cruised and raced her for the past 28 years.
13: LOLITA 1957
35ft sloop, built in 1946. Competed in 7 SHR's. The most memorable in
1961. Dismasted in Bass Strait, and drifting, she was eventually taken in tow
by a submarine, named Trump, and arrived safely in St Helens. Owner for 52
years Nick Cassim, continues to race Lolita every Saturday with SASC.
18: VALHALLA 1965
A 37'6” Sloop built in 1964. Competed in 4 SHR's with her best placing of 9th
in 1966. Very neglected, current owner, Rory O'Connor has spend years
completely re-building the old girl. He now races her with the Blues Point
Yacht Club.
14: SOUTHERLY 1958
A 35ft Charles Peel designed sloop, built in 1938, and known as “The Great
Floating Hotel” she was owned and raced for 53 years by the fabled Don
Mickleborough. She competed in 14 SHR's, with two 3rd placings. John 'Shero'
Sheridan and Rob McAuley are currently 'caretaking' the old girl.
19: FARE THEE WELL 1965
Alan Payne designed 40 footer built in 1964 for Russ Williams to contest the
1965 Admiral's Cup trials. Competed in 3 SHR's 1965,'67 and'70. Beautifully
built, in a deconsecrated church in Eagle Farm, Brisbane by “Bluey” Williams
she is now moored in Pittwater where her current owner Clive Gregory takes
part in club races and classic regattas.
15: MALOHI 1959
A 35ft Lion Class sloop, built in 1955 for Nev McEnnally. He did six Sydney
Hobarts before selling to sailing legend, Syd Fisher. He did 4 SHR's in her.
Current owner, Maurie Evans, presently races Malohi in the SASC Classic
Division.
16: MARIS 1960
Tasman Seabird 11.15m designed by Allan Payne, built by Jock Muir in
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
20: MISTER CHRISTIAN 1965
A Swanson 36 built in 1965 for the late Peter Kurts. Specially designed for the
SHR, she competed five times, with a best placing of 4th. Current owners
David Salter and Ben Gray campaign, with a great deal of success, Mister
Christian in the SASC's Classic Boat fleet.
21: CAROUSEL 1965
A Seabird Class 35 footer built in 1964. Competed in the SHR twice, in 1966
and '68. Present owner David Malone is an active member of the Drummoyne
Sailing Club.
22: FIDELIS 1966
A 61 foot 'flying machine', built in New Zealand in 1964, designed by the
German naval architect, Knud Reimers. Owner, Jim Davern sailed her to line
honours in the 1966 SHR. She completed 6 SHR's, plus took numerous line
honour and handicap placings in Tasman and Australian offshore races. Clocked
up some 200,000 nm's cruising. Current owner Nigel Stokes has her looking
good, and still sailing like a witch.
23: SYLPHIDE 1967
A 30ft 7” sloop, designed by Len Randal, built by Trevor Gowland in 1963. She
has competed in 5 SHR's. Her current owner is Sydney-based Catherine Kay.
24: DUET 1970
A Swanson 36 built in 1966. Competed in Sydney Hobarts between 1968 -1974.
At one stage owned by former Commodore of the CYCA, Jo Diamond. Joe
apparently sailed Duet to Noumea, where she went on the rocks and was left as
a total wreck. The current owner, James Dalgleish, salvaged and rebuilt her,
and sailed her back to Australia.
25: STORMY PETREL 1970
A Sparkman & Stephens 'one tonner' built in 1970 for Charles Curran. Chartered
by Syd Fisher, Stormy Petrel won the 1971 World One Ton Cup Championship.
She competed in 10 SHR's. the majority with owner/skipper Charles Curran, and
for 3 races with the current owner Kevin O'Shea.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
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26: SURAYA 1978
A Sparkman & Stephens 37 built and
launched in Tasmania in 1967. Purchased by
Carl Scriber in 1988, went on to complete
four Sydney Hobarts.
Best result second in a division. Owner
currently uses Suraya to cruise the east coast
of Australia and to take part in classic boat
regattas.
27 WHITE POINTER 1979
37' sloop built in 1977 to the One Ton IOR
Rule for Keith Le Compte, who still owns the
boat. Competed in 4 SHR's.
Best result, 21st in the 1978 Race. A regular
entry in the Sydney to Mooloolaba races. 15
starts to her credit. Still competes in regattas
and regular cruises along the coast.
28: IMPECCABLE 1981
A three quarter tonner, designed by Doug
Peterson, built by Doug Brooker in 1980 for
John Walker, she proved herself one of
Australia's finest and most successful small
ocean racers.
Owner skipper, John Walker campaigned her
in at least 25 SHR's. He still competed
regularly until at the age of 86, earlier this
year, he passed away.
His crew are taking part in this Parade as a
tribute to their old mate and skipper.
29: MUCH ADO 1982
A 34ft sloop designed by Ed Dubois built in 1982. Competed in a number of SHR between 1982 and 1986
campaigned by owner/skipper, J. A. Rickard. Changed hands a number of times. Now owned by a Sydney
syndicate headed by Tony Wither.
30: SAGACIOUS V 1985
A Farr 40 built in 1987 for Gary Appleby. One of the first carbon fibre yachts built by John McConaghy.
Competed in 10 SHR's Runner up on handicap, 1989. Top finisher 1990.Represented Australia in
international regattas around the globe. Current owner, David Hundt preparing her for the 2015 SHR the 25th
anniversary of its victory.
31: GUSTO 1989
29'6'' Cavalier class sloop, built in 1981. Competed in the 1989 SHR. Current owner, Phillip Denison.
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ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
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32: WILD THING 1993
A15.1m fractional sloop, designed by Australian Jim Inglis, modified by Iain
Murray. Built in 1991 for Melbourne-based Grant Wharington. Competed in
the 993 & '94 SHR's With Wharington at the helm she won the 1996
Melbourne to Osaka Double handed Race. Purchased by Geoff Lavis in 1999, a
little known fact is that Wild Thing is a timber boat.
33: C SYONARA 1995
A 40ft Swanson - designed and built by Ron Swanson 1965.In 70's and 80's,
mainly used for single handed racing and coastal cruising. Current owner,
Greg Maughan, sailed her in the 1994 SHR.
34: KRAKATO 2001
A Young 30 built in 2000. Has competed in 2 SHR's, 2002/03, winning trophy
for fastest small boat 2002. In 2003 sailed in the Transpac race Los Angeles
to Honolulu. Current owner Don Young purchased her in 2005 and has
campaigns her regularly in events on Sydney Harbour.
35: FASTER FORWARD 2003
A Sydney 38, launched in 2001 as Yandoo. Originally sailed as Yandoo and
later as Getaway Sailing. Competed in SHR in 2002 and 2004 under charter
to British sailor, Jakki Moore. Current owner, Peter Taylor will be competing in
the coming Sydney Yachts National Championships
36: MALUKA 2006
Wooden 9m Gaff Cutter built in 1933 by far the oldest boat in the fleet.
Current owner/skipper Sean Langman has taken her to Hobart four times
2006, '08, '10 and '11 each time winning the Plum Crazy Trophy - awarded to
the 1sst yacht under 9.5m LOA to finish. A startling point of interest is that
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Maluka sailed from Sydney to Hobart in 1934 - 10 years before the first SHR!
The only boat in the parade that is sailing in this year's Rolex 70th Sydney
Hobart.
37: SEA GUARDIAN 1969
Formerly the RNLB R. Hope Roberts built in 1969 in Southampton UK. Brought
to Australia in 1993 and renamed ANL Sea Guardian she was stationed in
Wollongong and St Helens. Best known for her rescue work in the 1998
rescue of 10 yachts competing in that years horrendous SHR. In 2007 SHR
she again rescued stricken competitors caught in strong winds off the
Tasmania north coast.
38: ML 168 1937
An RAN 'Senior Officer's Boat, built at Garden Island Naval Dockyard in 1937.
Operated extensively on Sydney Harbour on active Navy duty.
39: ML 1NN 'Geranium'
A similar, but slightly shorter vessel to ML168. Served with distinction on
Sydney Harbour. A part of the Naval Heritage Collection
TCP NOTE:
TCP congratulates The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia for staging this
spectacular parade It is these types of events that keep the spirit of sailing
alive and a chance for the stories of Australia’s rich history of sailing to be
told.
For more information and pictures of these yachts
and more see the CYCA’s website:
www.cyca.com.au
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Sailboat Specialists
For the love of sailing Part 2
Southern Wing shows her best
Words and photos by Sandy Wise SC Southern Wing
SC Southern Wing at anchor
SE Asia is not he best place for internet or phone reception and in a
lot of anchorages to get it at all is a bonus. So why do I start with
that point? Because this story was the sequel to one of my previous
articles and it disappeared into cyberspace, somewhere. So to
continue…
After the rally finished in Ambon, we were invited to join the
Kimodo Rally and were asked to be in Laboun Baju for a “sail past”
for the President of Indonesia. To get there we had to sail south
across the notorious Banda Sea towards the island of Flores.
We were lucky to have mild seas with a 10 to 15 knt east to south
east breeze. So pointing into the wind as much as possible, our first
landfall was two nights later at a picturesque bay called Adunara on
the Island of Flores. Here we went for a walk on a small sand atoll
surrounded by crystal clear water with the backdrop of a smoking
volcano. Incredibly beautiful. Up to this point we had seven days
stay around Saumlaki, five days on Banda Island and six days in
Ambon, all busy. So it had been go go go. Some yachty's chose to
stick with the timetable of the rally enjoying the dinners and cultural
activities that the villages organized for them; others went their own
way, while still others did a bit of both. We couldn't get enough of the rally
activities and socialising and just had the most fabulous time.
As we continued along the top of Flores we pulled into a small anchorage
called Tanjong Gedong. Here, while at anchor, the sea cock for the port
engine water intake pipe broke and was slowly leaking into the engine bay.
Our next anchorage involved going through reef and we did not want to risk
this excursion with only one motor. If there is a strong current and wind
Southern Wing needs both motors to manoeuvre. Fortunately, we had a spare
sea cock but did not have anything to put in the water intake hole, so we
borrowed a wine cork from our sailing buddies on Watusi. At another of our
ETCP 70, Jan.-Feb., 2015
Southern Wing anchored at Adunara bay, Flores Island
anchorages, Belitung Island, where we had planned to stay an extra day, Phil
spent his day again in the engine bay replacing one of the water pumps'
bearings and seals. Unbelievably, our friends Irvin and Jenny on Backchat had
spare bearings and seals for our pump. Otherwise, we would not have been
able to use that motor other than sparingly.
The Real Adventure
Between the main Islands of Bali, Flores and Lombok are the straits which
tend to funnel winds through them. As you go across the strait the winds
tend to increase.
continued next page
We had already crossed the Batahai strait where, with the increased winds,
we had a beautiful sail touching 19 knots. The day we crossed the Alas Strait
(aptly named for us) we were not so lucky. Most of the boats took an early
start as it was a long day to the next anchorage. We were the last boat to
leave at about 7:30am from a place called Medang and set off to cross the
strait to Lombok Island. The difference with this strait is that the second
biggest volcano in Indonesia forms the edge of the strait on its eastern side.
Mt Rinjani is an active volcano, 3626 mtrs high. With mountains near water
there are bullets of wind and all kinds of things going on. There are also
upstanding seas because of the strong currents coming through and around
the islands.
more and I was thinking that we should put in the third reef so I yelled out to
Phil and he agreed. The process to reef in strong winds and rough seas can
be anxiety provoking (to me anyway) especially with a big 95 sq metre main
sail and a seven and a half metre long boom. For all you die hards out there
saying, “What is she going on about?” - I am a novice sailor.
For my non-sailing friends I will relate the process. Depending on what
direction the wind and waves are coming from makes the process harder or
easier. At this stage the wind was forward of the beam bringing the apparent
wind around to close on the wind so we did not have to turn up too much into
the wind to reef the main. However, the swell was only just forward of the
beam which was making for a rocky
We were coming around the end of the
boat. The winds were around 25 knots
The process to reef in strong winds and rough seas can be anxiety
Island from Medang and Phil says, “We
by this time. Phil's part of the job was
provoking (to me anyway) especially with a big 95 sq metre main
will put up full main and genoa”. I say,
to go up to the mast and tighten the
sail and a seven and a half metre long boom.
“Don't you think we should wait until we
lazy jacks (the ropes that keep the main
get around the end of the island before we
from falling off the boom). Then he had
put up full main?” Phil says: “No we have
to winch up the boom with the topping
a little way to go before the end of the island, we can reef it later.” Five
lift so that the main halyard could be released and then drop the main down
minutes later the wind picks up and Phil says, “We better reef.” I tactfully
to the third reefing point. Next, secure the third reef with a hook and cleat it
don't say anything. So we put in a reef. By this time we were getting well
off then winch the main up tight again, winch in the third reef line on the
out of the lee of the island. We were doing 12 knots and the wind was still
boom and then let off the topping lift.
picking up, so we were deciding whether to reef again or put up the staysail.
Depending on the conditions this can take 5 to 10 minutes (certainly not a
We elected to furl the genoa and put up the staysail. If the 45 sq metre
contender for the Airlie Race Week). While Phil was getting ready to do the
genoa is left up in strong winds it can take two of us to furl it. The stay sail is
topping lift I let off the main sheet, turn off the auto pilot and steer the boat
easier to get up and down as it is only hanked on.
so that it doesn't go beam on to the sea and cause the boom to flog from one
Soon after the boat got up to fourteen knots, the seas became bigger and
side to the other. Sometimes it can't be done without the motors. Then when
the wind increased further. I said to Phil, “Do you think we should put in
Phil has finished I secure the main sheet, turn the autopilot back on and we
another reef?” By this time, we had caught up to the yachts that had left
are under way. However, if it is rough I often have my hands full trying to
before daybreak that morning and were starting to pass them. So Phil agreed
keep the boat steady so the boom doesn't flog and Phil has to come back and
and we went through the process of putting in a second reef.
secure the main sheet.
While Phil was at the mast doing what he does, the wind picked up even
So that's our process to reef; one that we generally try
to pre-empt if rough weather is forecast. On this
occasion we were not expecting the ferocity and the
speed at which the wind increased in the strait and Phil
was taking such a long time. I was yelling at him to
hurry up because it was so rough the boat was hard to
hold steady. Phil eventually came back with the main still
three quarters of the way up the mast and all I could say
incredulously and in complete disbelief was, “What are
you doing?” Then to be told…..it was stuck! OMG.
Well this was when the fun really began. I said to Phil,
“What are we going to do?” and he said that there was
not much we could do. That was not what I wanted to
hear! So we got back on course and the wind speed was
still rising, the seas were getting bigger and I couldn't
believe that we were only a quarter of the way across the
strait. We quickly hit 16 knots so we let out the main;
that slowed us down to 12knots.
Shortly after, we hit 16 knots again so we let out more
main which slowed us down to 12 again. Eventually we
had let out as much as we could and the battens were in
the shape of an 'S' around the stays. We hit 16 knots
again and were careering along through 2.5 to 3 metre
breaking seas.
Overcast skies made the seas seem dark more
threatening. The dog was petrified and cringed between
my legs and I was (I must say) uneasy.
Sarsha and Sandy on a quiet day
As we went across the strait the seas changed from
ahead and eventually came around to the side, then to
the aft quarter. So here we were flying along at 16kts
with, at one stage, a beam on 3mtr sea with the wind still
increasing. When we tried to bear off the mainsail filled
even more and we went considerably faster, ie; over 17
knots. The alternative was to turn into the wind
sufficiently to partially feather the mainsail and so reduce
our speed. However, we felt the boat was performing
well maintaining our course and to do otherwise meant
we were heading away from the lee of the island where
we thought the wind might eventually ease so that we
could attend to the mailsail problem.
I could not believe that as we continued across the strait
the wind kept increasing. We have frequently done these
speeds in Southern Wing before but never in such seas
with so much sail and the inability to reef accordingly. I
said to Phil we should drop the staysail but he said it was
giving us balance.
Fishermen anchored for the night at South Tarutao
Eventually we hit seventeen knots again and Phil
decided to drop the staysail. By this time I had given
Sarsha a sedative. We had wave after wave going right over the boat. It was
like a waterfall off the roof and into the cock pit and we still had 3 hours to go
before we got to the other side.
We were both saturated. For me, nightmare material. There were two
actual moments that I was really scared when the boat lurched in the beam
sea. Despite the conditions we encountered, Southern Wing obviously rode
through them with considerable ease as a cup of tea on the cockpit table did
not move the whole time it was there.
Now you say that if that was the case it could not have been so bad. Well
let me tell you it was terrifying and I still cannot understand how this that cup
stayed there.
I was also having thoughts about how we were going to stop the boat when
it came to anchoring. If the wind did not stop we could not stop. Phil is very
good at compartmentalizing and said we do not have to think about that
problem until later as at the time we had enough to contend with.
along with pretty much full sail through such rough seas and strong winds.
Little did he know! The other plus was that we found out what the boat could do
and she performed exceptionally well.
We would never have tested her out to that degree by choice. Also, we realise
that if we did cross the Indian Ocean we might put in a fourth reef point in the
main sail because even with three reefs and no foresail, the boat would just go
too fast in fresher conditions and down the face of the seas that occur in the
Indian Ocean. We have spent most of the trip trying to slow down because of the
many nets, logs, fishing sticks etc. that a boat is likely to hit in these waters. Phil
felt confident after this experience that Southern Wing could handle crossing the
Indian Ocean to South Africa.
A fishing village
After 3 hours of “exhilarating” sailing we came up to the north eastern
corner of Lombok under the lee of Mt Rinjani and within 10 minutes the
wind dropped from 30 knts plus to nothing. We had to turn on the motors
and there was no hesitation in motoring straight for the shore. Phil went
up the mast and found a screw had come loose in the sail track and
stopped one of the main sail cars from coming down the track. One tiny
little screw caused such a big problem.
There was a funny part to the story when we came up behind a monohull.
As we were flying along we cut across the back of him and went past at a
hundred miles an hour with three quarter main and staysail up. He had
about one foot of sail out and was plugging through the seas at about 5
knots. He must have thought we were mad catamaran people sailing
So…, that is our adventures up to Lombok. Since then our brand new outboard
vibrated loose off the dinghy and fell into 7 metres of murky water. Fortunately,
our friends Tom and
Colleen on Mokisha
were divers and found
it again. We rinsed it
out with fresh water
and it has worked ever
since.
Before we left
Australia, my girlfriend
Pam gave me a t-shirt
which she said was
lucky. I think that it
has been working hard
and even with all these
adventures I have had
the most fantastic
time.
Sandy is continuing her
adventure in Asia on
Southern Wing with her
best mate Phil and
second best mate
Sarsha, their dog.
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Sunshine Coast on the beautiful Mooloolaba Harbour.
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Saturday 8 am to 12 pm
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2014 ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE
70 years and still a world famous event!
The race start
photo by ROLEX-Daniel Forster
Wild Oats XI - in a class of her own
Wild Oats XI's
historic eighth line
honours victory
Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI has done it again,
and in claiming Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race line honours for an eighth time at
15.03.26 hours today, in the time of two
days two hours three minutes and 26
seconds, goes down in the race's 70 year
history as the only yacht to ever achieve this
amazing feat.
Wild Oats XI has outdone the efforts of
Morna/Kurrewa IV, the holder of seven line
honours titles during the 1950's and her last
in 1960.
After a revealing start in which Comanche
left the rest of the fleet in its wake, Mark
Richards and his crew persevered to the end,
Comanche chasing her and narrowing the
gap to 10 nautical miles at Tasman Island,
as Ken Read and the crew on the American
yacht owned by Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze,
Clark did all they could to overtake the Mark
Richards skippered Wild Oats XI.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
A rivetting Sydney Harbour start to the race as Wild Oats XI
chased Comanche, to an equally riveting finish where the roles
were reversed as Mark 'Ricko' Richards and crew went into
overdrive in the light airs of Bass Strait and overtook their quarry.
Despite reports of soft winds, Wild Oats XI made good time up the
Derwent, her spinnaker full and boat speed between 12 and 16
knots, while Comanche was averaging 14-15 knots. Richards
looked remarkably calm at the helm, he and the crew smiling and
waving to the incredible spectator fleet, including the usually gruff
Iain Murray.
A couple of gybes later, just prior to 3pm, the spinnaker was
dropped as “The Oats” two-sail reached towards the Castray
Esplanade finish line, throwing in three more gybes before
crossing the line four hours inside the 2 days 6hrs 6mins 27secs of
last year, but well outside her 2012 race record of one day 18hrs
23mins 12secs.
Richards was all smiles as CYCA commodore John Cameron
handed him the champagne and presented him with the J.H.
Illingworth trophy. All thoughts of the start when he remarked
“look at that thing go,” were forgotten.
Wild Oats XI enjoying the breeze denied to Comanche
“The boys did a wonderful job in overcoming Comanche which led
for the first night. I can't believe I'm standing here today,”
Richards said. “To win a Hobart is a great honour, but to win line
honours for an eighth time I'm so proud.”
At 2.10pm, an announcement over the loudspeaker in Hobart alerted locals
that Wild Oats XI was in the River Derwent, the crowds gathering quickly to
greet the nine year-old yacht that has proved almost infallible, even to the
brand new American raider in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 628
nautical mile race.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
You can't deny the class of the Oatley boat. Even
the purported 'fastest super maxi in the world',
Rambler/Perpetual Loyal could not overcome her
rival last year. Sadly, Anthony Bell's yacht
suffered hull damage and retired yesterday.
Bob Oatley was effusive dockside as his yacht
was brought to the dock by the Royal Yacht Club
of Tasmania escort vessel: “It's a miracle and we
will be back next year, yes, we'll definitely be
back next year, a clearly emotional Oatley said.
“She is the best boat in the world; she's proved
that.”
lot of big plans and I just don't know whether
we'll make it back or not, we'll have talk to the
crew and see what they think.”
On board Wild Oats XI, Steve Jarvin, who works
the main traveller on the yacht, was celebrating a
record 13th line honours victory. They include the
two treble wins scored by Bob Oatley's yacht in
2005 and 2014 respectively. He was perhaps also
reflecting on his son Seve, racing in competition
to him aboard Perpetual Loyal, not making the
finish line.
By Di Pearson, RSHYR media
And Ken Read and his crew on the new 'aircraft
carrier', dubbed so because two of Wild Oats XI
narrow stern could fit inside that of Comanche's,
found the same problem, unable to recover the
ground it had lost in Bass Strait.
Dignified in defeat, Comanche's owner, Jim Clark,
said: “Wild Oats and Mark Richards ran one hell
of a race and it's a really excellent boat.
Disappointed we got stuck in that high pressure
system, but they managed to sneak through it.
And you've got to give them credit, that's the
nature of that boat, they've got the balance.
Will he bring Comanche back to the race? “We'll
see if we're back next year, not sure. We have a
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
In July 2015 Wild Oats XI plans to be racing to be
first to finish in the famous 2,225 nautical mile
Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
The Transpac Race will be a joint venture
between Bob Oatley and prominent Californian
yachtsman, Roy Disney.
After completing the Transpac Race the plan is to
sail Wild Oats XI directly to Hamilton Island for
Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August next
year.
Photo by Andrea Francolini
Wild Rose - a wild win
Wild Rose declared
overall winner
Who could have known at any stage
of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race that boats touched by Bob
Oatley and both bearing the name
'Wild' in their title would take line
honours and overall corrected time
honours in the 70th edition of the race
and the 70th anniversary of the
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia?
That is exactly what happened today.
Wild Rose, Bob Oatley's first grand
prix ocean racer, sailed into Hobart
yesterday, her owner Roger Hickman
having to wait until today to be
declared overall winner of the race
with the 29-year-old yacht.
What it says is that two yachts with
the Oatley name attached have won
line and overall honours in the 2014
Rolex Sydney Hobart.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
This is not the first time Hickman
has won the race with the yacht that
he affectionately refers to as “the
old girl”. With his partners Bruce
Foye and Lance Peckman,
Hickmanwon the race under the old
IOR rule. It was in conjunction with
an IMS overall winner, Cookoo's
Nest.
With 38 Sydney Hobart races under
his belt, Hickman, from the host club
in Sydney but a Tasmanian by birth,
can claim the title for himselfand his
boat alone in the boat he bought
from Bob Oatley for next to nothing.
“I feel lucky and privileged to have
Bob Oatley's boat,” Hickman said
this morning. I sailed with Bob
Oatley on this boat and with Hugh
Treharne (America's Cup winner
1983) and Rodney Pattison (English double Olympic gold medallist). “I did
three Hobarts with Bob on this boat. When I bought the boat from him in
1991, he almost gave it to me,” a clearly emotional Hickman said. “I was a
young merchant navy officer then. I was honoured and privileged to sail with
him and the others. Six years later when I went to buy the boat, I only had
half the money, so I asked Bob if he could wait while I tried to raise the rest.
He said to me, 'Roger, you were the only guy to ever go to the bar and buy
me a drink, don't worry about the rest'. He was so gracious and I wouldn't
have been able to get involved in that boat at all without that generous offer,”
Hickman said, with tears in his eyes. “Bob Oatley has helped me and Ricko
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
(Oats' skipper Mark Richards) and so many
others get where we are today. “So now
we have Wild Oats XI and Wild Rose in the
winner's circle the Ricko and Hicko show,”
he said.
Following the race's briefing on December
24 at the CYCA, Hickman and other older
and small boat owners were rubbing their
hands in glee, knowing the weather
patterns would play right into their hands.
While it was never a guarantee, the
forecast did give hope. “It started about
three to four hours after we left Sydney,
the concern about Love & War and it still
hasn't stopped,” he said.
Love & War (Simon Kurts) along with South
Australian entry, Enchantress (John
Willoughby), were among the handful in
contention to win the race overall, but in
the late stages, stopped to give assistance
when a light plane crashed late yesterday near Cape Raoul. “We felt we had
enough distance, but not enough time on her. It's not a pleasant feeling,
waiting to be told whether you have won. The anxiety goes up. To win this
race is difficult at the best of times, to deal with this waiting game now …. I
certainly feel empathy for Loki and others I've kept waiting; now I know what
it feels like. I also feel sorry for Bruce Taylor - he's had to wait around yet
again,” he said of second overall placed Taylor with his Chutzpah.
Hickman's mother died recently, which
was a huge blow. But having his
younger brother Andrew and younger
sister Lisa aboard the yacht for their
first Hobart races was special. “At my
mother's funeral, I got up to do the
eulogy. I was the one to get tearful
and emotional, so yes; she was on my
mind today. “To win with my sister
and brother, is a bizarre but wonderful
experience. Imagine winning the
Hobart on your first try,” says
Hickman who admits he has spent
more time with his siblings during the
race than he has in the last 30 years.
“Usually when you win, you ring a
member of your family to share it
with, well with my mum gone, and
Lisa and Andrew with me, I had
nobody to tell.”
“Rolex is a wonderful sponsor and we're
so pleased to have them they have
made our race so special,” said Hickman,
who won the CYCA's Ocean Racer of the
Year in December. “We are going to
th
have 30 birthday for Wild Rose this year.
We are waiting to hear from the builder
to know its exact birthday.
Of his Wild Rose, with which he has
continued to win major races over the
past 23 years, 'Hicko' said: “She's
absolutely the best. She was built by
John McConaghy and he said to me
repeatedly, 'This is his absolute best
boat, the best I ever built'. Bob Oatley
gave McConaghy a blank cheque and
said, 'Build me the best boat and name it'
so McConaghy did and that's where the
Wild Oats came from.”
Hickman changed the boat's name to
Hickman also praised Samantha
photo by ROLEX-Daniel Forster Wild Rose after its 1993 Hobart victory
Scott, the 18-year-old daughter of his
because it was confusing for people. “We
regular crew member, Andrew Scott.
Roger Hickman pays tribute to his crew (pic. in no order): Peter Inchbold, Phil Endersbee, Phil
always think of people who are not with
Warburton, Jen Wells, Kim Ketelbey, Sam Scott, Andrew Scott, Dan Morrow, Antonia Fong, Jackie
“She was brilliant. It was her first
White, Daniel Williams, Lisa Hickman, Andrew Hickman “I couldn't have done it without them,” he said. us when we are racing. We had a little
race, and believe me, nobody wanted
bear, Alice, who used to be on board with
to be doing the race for the first 24
Sally (Sally Gordon, Hickman's partner
hours, but she kept smiling and asking what she could do to help.” “When we
who died in the 2009 Flinders Islet Race with Andrew Short with whom Gordon
had our whoopsy - when we laid the boat over - we wiped out a couple of times.
was sailing) and she was with us. It's a good win for little boats. It just keeps
We put pressure on the helm to get back on our feet, and that's when the
the interest if one can win every 10 years or so, I will dedicate this race to
stainless steel fabricated piece that joins the cable to steering broke. It was the
them, they add to adventure and character of race.”
first time we've ever seen the keel.
By Di Pearson, RSHYR media
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Final finisher - Southern Myth
Race. The crew had one day's food to spare,
having packed for the yacht's average five-day
trek south. They crossed the finish line in four
days and two hours the last of the 70th fleet
to do so.
How did the yacht stare down time and win?
“We have a fantastic crew,” owner Peter
Riddell said of his six crew, just before tucking
into a scallop pie at Constitution Dock in
Hobart. “It demonstrated to me what real
sailing's about. I'm not interested in the
money and the glitz and the rest of it. It's
about teamwork and we had a fantastic team,
a group of people who hadn't sailed together
before and were able to bring themselves and
start working as a team. No one person can
do everything, we are absolutely dependent
on each other.”
Age no barrier for the final finisher
So much for getting slower with age! The 60-year-old wooden sloop Southern
Myth today completed her 15th, and her fastest, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Back in her home city of Adelaide, in South
Australia, Southern Myth was touted as the
'little boat that could' and today she proved
she's the little boat that can. As is always the
case, for the smaller boats taking on the 628-nautical mile course, they tend
to cop it two or three times more than the front runners that finish in less than
half the time. That was certainly the case for Southern Myth.
Final finisher - Southern Myth
Veterans Day
As they raced from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and
turned right out of Sydney Heads they were whacked with a
southerly that made the 40-footer bob like a cork. But she
prevailed. “The boat is absolutely beautiful, solid as a rock,”
Riddell said. His skipper John Taylor added: “There is never
any doubt, she lived up to her expectations.”
They survived the second walloping on Tasmania's north-east
tip, but the third and final almost had them when they fought
the wind pushing them tenuously close to the edge of the
Iron Pot lighthouse, with about 10 miles to go. “We just
weren't sure we were going to lay it or not, with the extra
breeze we were just a bit pressed,” Taylor said. “We had all
hands on deck sitting on the rail, just trying to sneak around
the rock. We were caught by surprise, but we should have
known, that's what a Hobart's all about.”
Riddell said crossing the line meant he'd met his three aims;
keeping his crew safe, finishing the race and doing the best
they could. Finishing last wasn't a bother. “Irrespective of
where we came in the race, looking back on the history of
Southern Myth, we've just done the fastest trip to Hobart.
This is a great feeling.”
Southern Myth was the last of the 103 yachts to complete
this year's race, after Tasmanian yacht Landfall retired today
with sail damage.
By Danielle McKay, RSHYR media
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
In these days of modern
lightweight carbon fibre flyers
it is a trio to savour.
Love & War
Have a look at the IRC standings; the list of
boats leading the Rolex Sydney Hobart overall
on handicap; it's a long time since such
venerable names have graced the top of the
list enmasse as they do today.
On December 29th, leading on handicap was
Roger Hickman's Wild Rose, a 29 year old Farr
43. In second place Simon Kurts' Love & War,
the beautiful S&S 47 that first graced the
ocean racing scene in late 1973. And then
there is Sean Langman's 82-year-old Maluka
of Kermandie, the oldest and smallest boat in
the fleet, in third place.
Normally the bigger, faster
boats race away from the
smaller and heavier
displacement yachts, and then
when the big guys are safely
tucked up in port, Huey is just
as likely to throw a monster
southerly front through the
back half of the fleet for good
measure.
This year, though, when southerlies made an
equal fleet, light weather plagued the big guys
in Bass Strait while further back fresh
northerlies whipped the little fellas along.
Love & War has won the Hobart three times
already, in 1974, 1978 and 2006. She also
won the Veterans division in 1994 and 2004.
She is a heavy, powerful IOR boat, in her
element on Friday when the fleet bashed its
way into a strong southerly and spiteful seas.
Maluka of Kermandie
AAPT never managed to run down the big maxis, but it was always fun. He
moved up to the maxis for a time, but found them staid after the thrills of
AAPT and surprised everyone when he began racing the little timber Maluka of
Kermandie to Hobart in 2006. After all that big-boat glamour he had found his
love in a little 30-foot gaffer.
Roger Hickman has been in love with Wild Rose since she was first raced by
Bob Oatley of Wild Oats fame. There may be no fiercer or cannier competitor
in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. He is famous for driving his boat and
crew to the limit.
All three boats are displacement boats. They go through the water, not over
it. In big winds they can be a little too exciting though, as the bow digs in and
the mast suddenly lies parallel to the water. “We had a massive broach in 30
knots this morning with the spinnaker up,” Jenifer Wells, Wild Rose's navigator
reported. “We laid her over a couple of times, broke the steering cable and it
was looking very dicey. We got out the emergency tiller and pulled the kite
down, repaired the cable and we were back racing in 12 minutes.”
Kurts leads a crew with huge experience, including the legendary Lindsay May
as navigator. Sailing his 41st Hobart, nobody knows the east Australian
currents better than May, who exploited them to perfection to skipper Love
and War to victory in 2006.
Sean Langman is one of the great characters of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. He
first came to fame in the so called skiff on steroids, the 66 foot Zena, later
known as AAPT that seemed to set new standards of daredevilry each year.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Wells admits that dark memories of two previous dismastings in similar
conditions were going through their minds, “but we're trucking again and
getting bursts of 20 knots over the ground.”
Everyone on board is excited about the position Wild Rose is in as she closes
in on Tasman Island. “It is absolutely fabulous,” Wells said. “We got a message
from someone in France saying this is an example everyone should follow - a
29-year-old boat and still competitive in one of the world's most famous
races,” she said. “To have Wild Rose, Love &War and Maluka fighting it out is
fabulous.”
By Jim Gale, RSHYR media
Comanche on warpath for revenge
Comanche - have not thrown in the towel
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
As far as the America's Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill is concerned, there is now
unfinished business between Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner Wild Oats XI and the US
supermaxi she beat across the finish line, Comanche.
Spithill was one of six helmsmen on Comanche. “We
can't leave it at that,” he declared after finishing in
Hobart. He says that on his watch this morning the boat
reached a top speed of 32 knots and knows what she is
capable of. “Everybody got to see the true potential of
this boat at the start.”
“I remember looking up at Kenny (Ken Read, the
skipper) and he just had this huge grin from ear to ear.
Unfortunately we just didn't see those sort of conditions
again until the end of Bass Strait.”
Of course, young James doesn't pay the bills. Logistically
it is impossible for Comanche to come back to Australia
next year but is 2016 likely?
Skipper Ken Read deferred to co-owner Kristy Hinze
Clark who said it was a matter for the Big Chief, husband
Jim Clark.
Ken: “Kristy, they want to know if we'll be back next
year?”
Kristy: “They'll have to talk to big chief!”
Ken: “Big chief is not going to talk about that now!”
Read reflected on the crucial point of the race the high-pressure ridge
in Bass Strait. “We were about a quarter of the way into Bass Strait and
expecting a westerly breeze, and all of a sudden Stan (navigator Stan
Honey) came up from down below and said, 'I just got a new weather
file, this is not looking good.’
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
“We were two miles ahead of them, in bumpy seas, and they literally
went by us, probably going a knot or two faster at the time, and they
just sailed into more pressure and just kept extending on the whole
fleet. Both boats sailed a flawless race; but they had their day. They
had 12 hours where they had Wild Oats' weather, but that's racing.
You can already see Comanche is already changing sailing as we speak.”
So after this first race have they identified
any changes they will make to the boat?
“Here's the start of my list,” Read said,
holding up a piece of paper with top-secret
to-dos written on it. “It's brand new,
we're just starting. Before this race
started, we didn't know what we didn't
know. We knew we had a good boat right
off the start line, the way it just took off
on that windy reach. Unfortunately we've
always known we had that one blemish in
light air, and that became a dominant
feature in the race, so that's unfortunate
for us.”
Designer Xavier Guilbaud said he couldn't
take his eyes off the yacht tracker,
keeping notes as Comanche changed
angles and the wind circled the compass.
And, he was a bit more forthcoming with
his list.
“I'm excited to see Ken's list, but on top of
my own list, what I can see, is work on
the weight of the boat to try to lighten her
up a bit more, to increase performances in
light winds,” he said. “I'll discuss with the
guys here, a little later, the little bits and
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
pieces on the deck to improve
manoeuvres, how the boat is sailed. Then
on the sail configuration; how to use each
sail, in which condition and improve the
sail shapes. I think we do have a record
breaker on our hands. The real answer will
be in June next year when it does the
Transatlantic Race. I think the boat is
really fast.”
Perpetual Loyal,
Wild Oats XI
and Comanche
Read was effusive in his praise of the Wild
Oats' crew. “Wild Oats deserves all its
success,” he said, though fate had been
against them on Day 2 in Bass Strait when
Wild Oats made the better of negotiating a
weather ridge that proved the defining
moment of the race. “This was their day;
they had their 12 hours; they had Wild
Oats' weather; but that is boat racing,” he
said. They deserve their eighth record,
Lord knows we tried hard to take it from
them. This team, our team, did an
unbelievable job, and special credit to the
boat builders and the design team
because Lord knows we tried to break it,
and it wouldn't break.”
By Bruce Montgomery, RSHYR media
photo by Andrea Francolini
Victoire's daring crab-pot adventure
Hodgkinson bounds up from the depths of his boat clutching a
scrappy bit of green rope attached to two deflated rubber buoys.
“Look at this. I've got to show you my new trophy. It will go in
my trophy room alongside the Tattersalls Cup. We were going so
slowly and Pretty Fly III went right past us, and we couldn't
work out what was going wrong. We'd had problems with our
speed all night, and there had been a funny noise. Then the
boys saw we had this crab pot around the keel. And my
bowman, Micky Slinn, an ex-British military guy says lower me
over the side on a halyard and I'll get it. It's one of the bravest
things I have ever seen in my life. I was scared stiff. We're
going at 11 or 12 knots and he's dangling down the side, head
down, dripping wet, and we pull him back up - and there's our
trophy - Incredible.”
photo by ROLEX - Carlo Borlenghi
As the boats dock in Hobart so do the stories. Everyone has a tale to tell,
some funny, some of outright terror, some apocryphal to tell about the Rolex
Sydney Hobart. This morning Daryl Hodgkinson jumped off his Cookson 50
Victoire with a yarn about crabs, pots and British pluckunder fire. Looking
more like a teenager than a respected Sydney plastic surgeon,
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
The nuggetty Slinn would have nothing of Hodgkinson's praise
this morning, dodging past the media with a grin and a “nothing
to say: name, rank and serial number only.” However, for his
skipper, the whole thing said volumes about the quality of
Victoire's crew. “It was a magic moment. He didn't have to do
that. My attitude would have been that we would have been
okay on handicap but no, they had to get this thing sorted,” he
beamed, in talking about the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's
70th edition race.
Victoire's wasn't the only fishy story to wash ashore in Hobart this morning,
with a shark reportedly struck and those damn sunfish getting in the way
again too.
BALANCE
Onesails Racing was clocking about 22 knots in a belting northerly and looking
set for a strong divisional finish when the boat shuddered to a screeching halt
off the Tasmanian coast. The terrifying sound of shredding carbon had the
off-watch crew jumping from their bunks in their thermals to inspect for
damage. With the hull OK, they looked to the appendages.
“I'm pretty sure we hit a sunfish and that brought the boat to a shuddering
stop,'' owner/skipper Ray Roberts said.“She went into a wild gybe; we laid her
flat in the ocean, got a lot of water on board. The good thing was none of the
crew was hurt, and fortunately we still had one rudder, though it was hard to
steer.” The yacht was forced to limp at about 8 knots, well shy of the 20 plus
she'd hoped to maintain until the finish. “But at least we made it,” Roberts
said.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
While all this was
happening Patrice skipper
Tony Kirby was having
flashbacks to last year,
when his then brand new
Ker 46 broke in rough seas
off Tasmania's coast and
retired. This time, just
near Maria Island, the boat
hit a bump, her steering
became impossible and she
felt oddly heavy. “We got
this shark caught around
the rudder and went from
18 knots to not much,”
Kirby said. “Losing
steering in 35 knots at
night is pretty scary. We
dropped the spinnaker and
photo by Steve Christo
spun her around. While
this was going on, Pretty
FlyIII was racing towards us at about 22 knots, so we were pretty quick to
radio them and warn of our position. Luckily, and I don't know how, we didn't
break the rudder. We saw the shark just flop off, and swim away. So, we
were both ok. But my worst thought the whole time was that it had happened
again, we might not finish. But the crew was great.”
Onesails Racing
Balance skipper Paul Clitheroe served up some squid with a shake of
skepticism “The only fishy story, which is true, is because the waves tend to
break down the full length of the boat here, we did end up with some decent
sized squid,” he said. “We tend to get fish and stuff caught in our life rafts.
Impaling sharks? Yeah, right, and I saw a Martian.”
With their hopes of an outright win dashed, the mid-sized boats settled
down for some serious divisional racing. Victoire and Pretty Fly III
engaged in a close-fought match race that would see them cross the
line 400 miles later just a minute and a half apart after an engrossing
duel up the Derwent River in a light breeze. “Who would have thought
you could match race up to the very last after 628 miles,” a delighted
Hodgkinson said. He thinks he has won the match race and the division,
Division 0.
The Victoire crew has a remarkable Hobart record. “We've done the
race four times in the last five years and won our division each time, as
well as winning the race overall last year. I'm proud of the boat, our
crew, the record of our team, and I've forgotten already all the terrible
things that happen.”
By Jim Gale,
RSHYR
media
Daryl Hodgkinson
Victoire - one of many fishy tales.
The winners of last year's race, the crew on Victoire knew their title defence
was over early on Saturday morning, before they even got to Bass Strait.
They could see that this was to be the year of the small boats, and there was
nothing the 50 and 60 footers could do about it. “We could see that they
had a breeze to bring them down the New South Wales coast, while there was
a hole in Bass Strait we couldn't avoid,” Hodgkinson said. “Fortunately the
other boats in or division were in the same hole too.”
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Rob and Scarlet's Big Adventure before Rolex Sydney Hobart
By Jim Gale, RSHYR media
Ocean sailors are daft; why else would you think it a good
idea to take a modern ocean racing yacht around the world on
her own bottom to compete in lots and lots of races, some
thousands of miles long? “We'll all be dead one day,” declares
Melbournian Robert Date. What more is there to say?
So Date will have his Reichel Pugh 52 Scarlet Runner back
on the Rolex Sydney Hobart start line on Boxing Day after a
truly astonishing, and astonishingly fun, circumnavigation.
And during that circumnavigation Scarlet Runner raced from
Cape Town to Rio, San Francisco to Hawaii, and all over
Antigua.
Of course, cruising yachts circumnavigate the world all the
time. Heavy, comfortable boats that pamper their skippers
with kindly sea keeping manners and cold G&Ts. But RP52s
are another matter. They rattle, they thunder, they skip across
the waves unburdened by galleys, plumbing; any of life's
pleasantries really. Great for racing, but ocean deliveries?
Date insists Scarlet Runner is different. “We have cushions
below decks,” he says. Indeed in the Melbourne based yacht's
glossy white, space-age interior there is a galley, a freezer, a
water maker and enough plumbing to provide a flushing
toilet. “She is a bit heavier than a standard RP52,” Date
admits. “A bit more luxurious.”
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
photo by ROLEX Daniel Forster
Scarlet Runner - has been around the world.
There is something Pythonesque about Date's definition of luxury though.
Don't think Swan. And she is fast. “So you don't have to spend as much
time at sea as on other boats. Across the Indian Ocean she averaged 13
knots. From St Martin to Panama, 15 knots, so you are traveling at a real
clip with the autopilot on, but she's still comfortable. And she is the original
flat bottomed girl, very beamy, so that gives you stability and keeps the
speed up. She's very full in the bows so that keeps the bow up and
everyone dry; and downwind we can carry full sail in up to 40 knots.
Speeds of 30 knots are not unusual. She is a great ocean boat, but we are
not the greatest upwind and we struggle in short course racing. So years
ago we thought we'd look at the world's ocean races.”
Date's eyes turned across the Indian Ocean, and the 3500 mile Cape Town
to Rio epic and for 10 days they soaked up the South African sunshine.
“Every day there is a lead-up function. Every day there is a barbeque with
hundreds of people. Because we were a foreign boat, every time we went
out to practice there was a media boat.”
Finally they started racing: “On the first day we headed across Table Bay
towards what was expected to be a big storm,” he recalls, but this was no
ordinary storm. “We had all our sails down except for a storm jib and we
were still doing 30 knots! One crewmember was washed down the deck and
smashed into one of our steering wheels. We only had one wheel for a long
time.”
Tragically one of the crew of the Angolan boat Bille died when swept
overboard. Of the 38 starters nine turned back to Cape Town.
Scarlet Runner pressed on despite losing their satellite communications.
They were out of contact for 15 days, but after 4500 miles they reached Rio
in second place. Then came a win in the Guadeloupe to Antigua and a
second in the Around Antigua.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
April and May sped by in a welter of Caribbean joy. “We got great suntans,
drank too much rum, and ate a lot of crayfish,” Date, from Sandringham Yacht
Club said. They rented a couple of houses to accommodate all the friends who
flew over for the party. Everyone got a sail. “We'd race against paid crews with
grannies on board.”
Then it was time to head through the Panama Canal and up to San Francisco
for the Pacific Cup, from San Francisco to Hawaii. Unlike the Rolex Sydney
Hobart, this is a staggered start so that all the boats arrive in Hawaii together.
“When we finished we were 90 percent sure we'd won. There were only a couple
of 27 footers still to finish, though they did get a big northerly and nearly beat
us. When you finish the Hobart you may not know for a while how you've done.
But the Hobart is still the best finish because of the crowds. It's the most
exciting, spectacular finish. In Rio, it's days between boats finishing, so no one
is around. It's a bit lonely. In Hobart all the sailors from the other boats
congratulate you for actually finishing.”
Because, despite that day on Table Bay, and its relative shortness, Date rates
the Rolex Sydney Hobart as the toughest race; “Especially if you get 24 hours of
upwind work. You have to prepare the boat and the crew for that. Hopefully we
can get in a day's sailing before the first southerly comes through so that
Chrissy tummies have time to settle. Seasick crews make mistakes, tear sails,
and don't finish the race.”
So would Date do it all again? “The exercise did cost a couple of dollars. I need
to build up the bank a bit,” he jokes. “But it was a lot of fun - a travelling circus.
We didn't get to do the Hong Kong/Vietnam race, and one day I'd like to do the
Rolex Fastnet and Middle Sea races - maybe with a boat you could put on a ship
more cheaply.”
The man behind the camera
The photographer who has been with WILD OATS XI since the time of her conception
By Rob Mundle
If you are into sailing in Australia you will probably know his name, and you will no doubt have seen his
images hundreds of times. However, for the majority of sailors, putting a face to his namewould be an
impossible task.
The man is Andrea Francolini, and as you might guess, the 43-year-old is of Italian descent. He was born in
Milan, but after 14 years of being in Australia he now considers himself to be as much an Aussie as he is an
Italian.
Today he stands tall in the world of yachting photographers. He has more than 140 cover shots to his credit
in Australia, and for the past three years he has been a finalist in the international Mirabaud Yachting
Photographer of the Year awards. That's high recognition for someone whose entrée into that world of
yachting photography literally came by accident.
Andrea revealed an aptitude for artistic creativity during his school years, and this led to him pursuing a
career as a graphic designer. There was a problem however: his talents didn't extend to being able to draw,
so he soon turned to photography to illustrate his thoughts and theories.
About the same time a cousin who was an avid sailor asked Andrea to join him aboard his small sailboat at
the picturesque Lake Como, 40 kilometres to the north of Milan, for a day's outing, and Andrea agreed. He
took his camera with him to get some nice shots of the magnificent scenery around the lake, but fate
intervened and the life of a yachting photographer emerged… literally, with a splash.
As Andrea was preparing to step from the dock onto the boat a gust of wind suddenly filled the sails. Equally
suddenly, the boat took off, so Andrea decided to make a leap for it. Unfortunately though, by the time he
was in mid-air, the gap between dock and the deck had expanded far too fast, and his pier-head leap failed in
spectacular fashion. Instead of being “on” Lake Como, young Andrea was then “in” it.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Andrea Francolini
For some unknown reason the cousin kept sailing away, so a sodden and
somewhat embarrassed Andrea clambered back onto the dock so he could
drip-dry in the warmth of the summer sun. It was while he was standing there
that he became captivated by the symmetry and motion of the boats sailing
on the lake, so he took out his camera which he'd somehow managed to keep
dry and began photographing them. Before long people were coming to him
on the dock asking if they could buy copies of the images he was taking, and
from that moment the life of a commercial yachting photographer was born.
Andrea's work soon came to the attention of one of the greats of
international yachting photography, Carlo Borlenghi, and this led to the multilingual Andrea was working with him as an assistant. He could not have
wanted for a better tutor.
After two years with Carlo, Andrea decided it was time to go solo, and for
reasons he can't explain, he found himself heading for Australia in late 2000
to look for work. He arrived in Sydney on December 12, and 14 days later he
was on the harbour photographing the start of the Sydney Hobart race.
On Boxing Day this year 14 years after he arrived in Australia Andrea will
be at the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart race as official photographer for
Bob Oatley's supermaxi, Wild Oats XI, as well as one of the yacht's principal
sponsors, Audi. He has been the official photographer for Wild Oats XI from
the time prior to construction starting in 2005, and has held the same role for
the Oatley's, and for Audi at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, for the past
decade.
Today seventy-five per cent of his business is marine related everything
from dinghies and skiffs to supermaxis and superyachts. The remainder of his
photographic work is commercial, social and scenic.
Inevitably, his work as a yachting photographer has had some hair-raising
moments, none more so than the time when the photo boat he was aboard at
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Andrea Francolini's favourite photo of Wild Oats XI taken soon
after the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2012.
the Swan Cup in Sardinia ran out of fuel just as the fleet was charging towards
it from metres away. The driver panicked and jumped overboard, but
miraculously, disaster was averted.
Beyond photography Andrea has established a charity, My First School, to
help children in remote regions of Pakistan get a better education. The money
he raises goes primarily towards providing facilities, including furniture and
small buildings, but this year he has also been able to provide enough funding
to guarantee the education of three youngsters for the next five years.
TCP Note: The writers and
photographers do a first class job
covering this race. We believe that
is what makes the Sydney Hobart
so unique as well. The stories.
Thank-you to all of you that work
day and night to write the stories &
take the photos for enthusiasts
around the world to read and
enjoy!
Perpetual Loyal
For all race results, many more
stories and photos go to the
ROLEX Sydney Hobart
2014 website:
www.rolexsydneyhobart.com
To celebrate the 70th year of the
Sydney to Hobart Race, The
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia
has a 7 part video series of the
races over the years. See the
home page of the Clubs website to
view “CYCA TV”:
www.cyca.com.au
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
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Learning about “cruising” on Afterglow
A TCP “Classic”
Story & photos by Brian Bailey, SY “Afterglow”
Afterglow is a 41 foot freedom rigged schooner. That is it has
two equal sized masts both unstayed with each supporting a
main sail. We call the front one the main sail and the rear
one the mizzen main. In addition it is shoal draft drawing 1.1
metres making it able to traverse waters unobtainable to
other yachts.
Built in 1982 by David Hazelgrove at Kempsey in N.S.W. It
was then sailed to New Guinea. In 1985 it was sold to Alex
and Paula Smith in Townville. Alex and Paul lived and cruised
on Afterglow until it was sold to the current owners Brain and
Cristina Bailey. The boat has done many sea miles including
Brisbane to New Caledonia, The Louisiades and back to
Cairns before covering the top end of Australia and the
Kimberly.
Brian and Chris have only just taken to the water and this is
their account of their first adventures on Afterglow.
Sunday 6th November 2005
We are sitting in the Daintree River about 200 metre
downstream of the vehicular ferry. We have been here for
two nights now and are planning our downstream descent for
high tide today. We are not sure whether we will go over the
bar today or wait until high tide tomorrow.
Afterglow at Magnetic Island
The locals all talk up the
crocodiles. It must be good for
there business as there is a least
half a dozen river cruises to choose
from that go crocodile and wild life
sighting. They keep warning me
about the dogs (hairy chickens)
which are pretty high on the
crocodile menu. Keep well back
from the waters edge and be careful
when launching boats. Do not hang
over the side etc.
We were in Cairns for just over a
month after a series of unfortunate
incidents that can be blamed on
nothing except bad luck and the
aging gear on the vessel. And
listening to the wrong advice.
We left Townsville in late
September. The general plan was to
head north with the South East
trades and then return to Townsville
for the cyclone season. Lizard
Island was the place of aspiration of Afterglow at Daintree River
most sailors heading north at that
time of the year although we just wanted to be on the boat cruising and could
accept where the weather sent us.
I had first noticed the outboard engine overheating in Mourilyan Harbour. I
had only just had it serviced with particular attention to the cooling system.
Mourilyan was amazing. A hole in the
mountains about 100 metres wide and
20 metres deep and then suddenly it
opens up inland into the Moresby River
basin. A magic little haven and also a
sugar port for the Innisfail area. A ship
was loading 24 hours a day. We left
there at 4.30am and headed for the
Johnston river mouth to cross the bar
at 6.30am. There was only about 8ft of
water under us at the high tide.
Alan Lucas's book (Cruising the Coral
Coast) was now becoming very dog
eared as we used the pilot map for the
river to enable anchoring at Innisfail.
It is 6.30am and the bats have
returned home. Thousands and
thousands of them take off every
evening and head west it literally takes
hours for this stream of bats to abate. I
guess there is a good food source
there. I found there roosting area (or is
it battery after rookery). It is just a
couple of hundred metre up the
Daintree Road.
The outboard chucked it in on the first trip from our anchorage about 500
metre downstream form Innisfail centre. Wouldn't you know it, strong current
and rowing against it to bring it back to the boat for inspection. Yes it had
overheated and cut out, what next.
A quick opening of the leg to check the impellor (with instructions from the
servicing agent in Townsville after an annoyed phone call). There was nothing
wrong. The impellor was OK. I put it back together, but because it wouldn't
start I took it to a service man in Innisfail on the Johnson River to place in his
queue for repairs. A queue means a wait and it took at least three days for
the repair. What can happen in three days
your might ask?
What else can go wrong??? You shouldn't have asked because that night
while I was walking the dogs and had left Chris monitoring the auxiliary
engine that was recharging batteries (filling them with amps), and charging
the fridge and freezer with coldness, something did happen. When I came
back Chris said, “Did you see all the smoke around the boat?” No I hadn't.
A good friend once advised me, “If it is broken and
you pull it apart you can't hurt it but you might fix
it.” The odds were even.
It was the week before the semi finals and
the home team (Cowboys) had made it to the
semi finals for the second year in a row. North
Queensland had footy fever. We had been
watching the run up to the finals on our little 340mm TV, the evening news
being a way to keep in touch with what insane people do with themselves.
Then suddenly the screen diminished (Phewt!!!) to a little green dot in the
centre. I'll look at that in the morning. There are some replaceable parts and
I have spare internal TV fuses on board.
A good friend once advised me “If it is broken and you pull it apart you can't
hurt it but you might fix it. The odds were even. The next day I opened the
TV up and gazed at millions of unidentifiable components. The TV tube yes;
the speakers; yes, and there right in the corner was the little fuse.
Astonishment - the fuses were not blown. It was now well beyond my
repairing capacity. What is a 340mm TV worth these days versus what is a
repair cost. $65.00 for a repair quote versus $165 for a new set. Mmmmmm.
I choose reliability as we don't want the TV going off in the middle of the
game. Did you know there was only one shop in Innisfail that sold a TV that
would go in the hole where this one had been.
No car - a bloody hot walk and then to lug the TV back to the dinghy and
take it to the boat. The old TV got ceremoniously dumped in the rubbish tine
on the Johnston River Dock at Innisfail.
I had been learning about the history of
Innisfail in one of my many walks with the
dogs. It used to be called Geraldton after
some fellow Fitzgerald but they changed the
name of because there was already a place
called Geraldton in West Australia.
Let's look at the auxiliary motor. A 5 Hp Yanmar diesel. Reliable to the end
nothing can go wrong with a 5 Hp Yanmar I had been advised. Except this
was the end. It had been reliable. It had water in the cylinder. Had it taken
a drink through the exhaust pipe? We were in brackish water and probably
floating deeper. This could be true. I checked the water levels internal - yes
this may have happened. I was able to manually turn the engine over by hand
and pump the water out. There was no visible oil in the water (yet). With
difficulty it started for the last time and it did not sound good. We decided to
leave it until we got to Cairns where we could get expert help.
The next morning we departed for Cairns crossing the Johnston River bar
under motor. There was no wind and so we motored northwards towards
Russell Island. “What's that?”, says Chris. I said, “The batteries are not
charging very well”. I had been monitoring these quite attentively as this
was our last source of power other than solar and wind power. For putting
those blessed amps into the batteries. I stopped the motor. “It's a loose belt”,
I said, “I can fix it”.
Half an hour later we are under way again, Lucky there was no wind and it
was calm as I don't enjoy working below while at sea. The charging was still
low and I felt uncomfortable about the situation.
There was a lovely early morning breeze that gave us a reach across Mission
Bay and around False Cape. Cairns was now in view and we had been in touch
with the Coast Guard to inform them of our dilemma. I don't know why as
they had no rescue boat operating despite it being a
Saturday. “If you get in trouble just drop your pick
Chris is amazingly calm. Whereas I
anywhere”, they said. “It is a muddy bottom and good
have thousands of “what if?” questions
holding”. It was at least a comfort talking to someone.
“What's that? An overheating alarm”. I
charged down stairs and turned the engine off.
On inspection I could see the belt I had just
tightened was broken. It must have been on the
going on in my head.
way out. Oh well we had spares so I proceeded
to change the belt. Who designed this silly Volvo
engine anyway? Why would you have to take a heat exchanger off to put a
belt on over three pulleys? Actually two pulleys and one wonky pulley.
What's wrong here? A quick call to Townsville to establish the wonky pulley is
a collapsed bearing on the fresh water pump and that continued running may
cause major damage. I put the new belt on and started to motor to see if it
would go yes it did. I turned it off knowing that we had the main motor in the
event of an emergency. We would now have to sail.
Chris is amazingly calm. Whereas I have thousands of what if questions going
on in my head she can accept what is happening and embrace the only
alternative and that is to sail onwards to Cairns. The wind was picking up and
we could probably make Fitzroy Island by late afternoon. Actually we did
better than that and sailed around Cape Grafton and moored in the eastern
end of Mission Bay. I was even able to take the dogs for a walk on a lovely
uninhabited sandy beach.
Do you know when the main motor is not working it is wise not to use your
anchor winch as it draws more than100amps and we now didn't have the
ability to recharge the battery with that sort of power. A manual lift you might
say. The first of many. How does an 80lb anchor with 3/8” chain sound
bloody heavy. Any way we'll get the motor fixed soon and we may not need to
do this again.
As we rounded False Cape the breeze tightened on our
port bow leaving us with the options of a possible tack or
two in the channel on the way up Trinity Inlet. Our final motor was at this
stage untried being a 15Hp long leg Mercury on a special bracket on the
transom of the boat. We had invested some time ensuring it would be secure
on the bracket earlier in the morning. After two tacks and finally the use of
the outboard we moored in Trinity Inlet opposite the Trinity Wharf. Our son
Travis had been able to advise a position to moor as he was on the Coral
Princess II which was tied up at the Trinity Wharf. We used the radio a couple
of times to contact larger tourist vessels seeking excuse for being on the
wrong side of the channel. Afterglow being a double cat rigged equal masted
freedom rigged schooner, does not point high when going to wind.
The anchor is safely down in 5 metres of water in good holding. Nothing can
go wrong until we get those repairs done.
Saturday night we had our son Travis come over for dinner. He enjoyed the
fishing even though he let all the cat fish go. We spent Sunday waiting and
walking dogs.
On Monday it was all action. We went to down town Cairns and hired a car.
First to the Volvo agent. “What? 3 days before you can look at it?” They gave
me a diagram of how to pull it apart. Maybe I can pull it apart and take the
bits in for repair. Next to find a Yanmar agent.
I had a choice of two places. The second place was able to dispatch
Both functions were not carried out well. It had four belts that were
someone almost immediately. That afternoon we had Craig come over and
connected to a starter motor (Dynastart), compressor (fridges) water pump
pull the head off the 5Hp Yanmar, while I fumbled with the water pump on the
(cooling and condenser for fridge) and alternator. It was a mechanical
Volvo. Craig was fast and good. He had the head off the Yanmar before I had
nightmare of misaligned belts spewing chewed up rubber into the oilly bilges
even started. It was a blown
of the boat. Chris was right - if you want to transmit power do it
head gasket. He offered to do
by a 240 volt electric chord with no mess, but how.
A good sleep does wonders to relax the mind
the work on the Volvo and within
and cogitate on the facts and turn it into
2 hours had completed both
A good sleep does wonders to relax the mind and cogitate on the
dismantling jobs (3 hours in total
meaningful strategy.
facts and turn it into meaningful strategy. Those little sealed
including travel time). It was
compressors at the back of the tuckerbox freezer and then air
good value as it would have taken
cooled condensers. No need to worry about a through the hull
me all day. He knew what he was doing.
fitting (a calamity waiting to happen). Just plug it in a marina to lower the
temps before you go and then two to three hours a day with the Honda 2KVA
Next day we went to the workshop for the news. The Yanmar was all
generator (whisper quiet??). The problems with the mechanical compressors
corroded in the water jacket and was virtually irreparable. A new engine was
were to become a thing of the past. It always had leaking seals and hoses
a solution. We would have to talk this over.
that let air and moisture into the lines. It never worked well.
The Volvo water pump was corroded through the housing and required a
total new pump. So, a fresh water pump on a car is about $180 - this should
be no big deal if we can source one. What? $832 for a replacement (non
genuine part) plus gaskets plus other bits plus labour about $2000 I reckon.
We'll think about this as the old Volvo is getting old (1982) and there are
other expensive bits and pieces that are not looking good (a heat exchanger
for $2,000 and a new exhaust system).
In a blonde moment. Chris says, “Why can't we just turn the fridge's on?
After all there are two of them about the size of a small Malley's tucker box
freezer?” A fridge and a freezer. I still have vision of an electric motor driving
the compressor by the belt system.
The Yanmar motor had two functions. It drove the back up refrigeration
system via a compressor that charged separate eutectic plates in each of the
fridge and freezer, and it charged the batteries via an 80 amp alternator.
What about the battery charging. We had a 10 amp smart charger working
from the generator. Not enough guts - we need something that can really
throw the bats into the batteries. How about a 40 amp true charge smart
multistage battery charger. The trouble with alternators unless they have
smart regulators is that the top up batteries with a constant voltage with a
diminishing charge over time. This battery charger keeps the amps up until
80% full (bulk charge) and then hold voltage as the charge diminished
(absorption charge) and then maintains the battery on a float charge. A
much more effective solution.
It also needed the 240 Volts 2KVA Honda to drive it. Can we run all this on
the Honda 2KVA? Yes, providing the fridges are started first and separately
as the fridge starting current is high. Then plug the boat 240 system in which
drives the battery chargers and other things.
What else can go wrong? Well it takes time to put all this together. The 12
volt fridge systems were working overtime and it is hot in Cairns. The freezer
system could just hold zero to minus one. Everything thaws at this
temperature as meat seems to need about minus six to minus eight to freeze
to stay solid. And I thought zero was the freezing temp of most water based
things.
The 12 volt Danfoss controller in the refrigerator decided to shit itself. I
mean couldn't it be considerate and just hang on a little longer? To keep our
refrigerator cold it was now bags of ice and more ice, about 4 bags a day just
melting away in the fridge. What food it couldn't keep cold was destroyed by
sogginess. The plus side was there was always ice for the drinks. This went on
for nearly two weeks before we could get the refrigerator mechanic to look at
it.
OK we've sorted out the refrigeration and power charging strategies. We
have a refrigeration mechanic lined up to do it, and it is hard to get
refrigeration mechanics who want to work on yachts. They are small, poky and
hot down below.
What about the main motor? A $2000 dollar repair or what? This took
commitment. After discussion we agreed that the $2000 repair could be a
deposit on a new motor with 15 year reliable trouble free boating to look
forward ahead of us. About what we need I reckon. “Bugger it, lets go for a
new motor - but what? It is only $15,400 and we've gotta do it in the next
few years in any case” The choices came down to a friendly Yanmar dealer
with lots of information or a Nanni Kubota with limited information on the
internet albeit a cheaper purchase price but no local agent to install it and give
further information and advice..
The Yanmar 4JH4E had 4 gear boxes to choose from each with two reduction
ratios. The full power curves were available and after much graphing I was
able to find a gearbox that would be able to match our existing propeller and
give a balanced performance. We'll go for that. What? - four days to get it out
of Brisbane? OK I'll get the travel lift organized. What? - 1 week waiting time
for the travel lift? OK Friday week at 6.45am there is a high tide.
The currents in Trinity inlet (Smiths Creek) are severe and the Cruising Yacht
Squadron only allow for 2 or 3 lifts a day at the top and bottom of the tides.
We batten down for a week in the inlet with good holding in the anchorage.
Nothing can go wrong. Except it would be nice to have an engine if it did.
When we had first entered the Trinity Inlet and chose the mooring spot it was
a gaping hole and we felt quite comfortable with the mooring space available
to us. However the currents in the inlet
are quite strong. Our boat is shallow
draft and responds to the wind before
other boats with larger keels that
respond to the current. I learned that
the old rust bucket next to us was the
subject of a legal battle and no one
was going near it. Someone's dream
boat turned sour and rusty with lack of
attention. We also learned that the
warp on this boat must have been
about 80 metres (we had 20 metres
out) as it kept turning up in different
location depending on tide and winds.
Finally after a night when it had
decided that its bow sprit needed to
enter our cockpit several times we had
had enough. The next day it was up
with anchor (manually) and motor with
the outboard to a new hole amongst
the moored boats. The hole we had
chosen was next to the mooring piles.
The outboard put to good use
Everything was OK until the
northerlies blew and we would
have swung back into the piles if
we hadn't shortened the warp.
The trip up Trinity Inlet to
Smith's Creek should have been
uneventful. I had rung to confirm
the courtesy berth was available
for the afternoon/overnight so we
could position ourselves in the
travel lift at 6.45am the next day
at the top of the tide. We were
under mainsail only assisted by
the 15HP outboard. On arrival we
discovered the cour tesy berth to
be taken by someone else. I
phoned the squadron who said
Out it comes...
they would sort it out. We circled
the area several times before we
decided to go up stream and to
drop anchor and wait. No sooner had we got the anchor down when the
squadron ran to say the berth was now available. “No problems, we will be
straight down”. After another 10 metre lift of the 80 lb anchor by hand we
were off and were able to tie to the berth for the evening.
The lift was uneventful. The operator was skilled or so he told me when I
was advising him that the boom of the travel lift was colliding with the front
mast. “I've done 5000 lifts before - I know what I am doing and I don't need
you to tell me what to do. So just shut the !#@! up.” I shut up and watched
him wipe the front of the mast with the boom nearly taking one of the fittings
off. That was Friday.
There it goes...
We sat until Monday before the engine was lifted out. We had dismantled
the dodger and binnacle during the weekend before the crane arrived. Now
that was a skilled crane operator working his jib and the engine around the
cockpit with clearances of just millimetres to spare.
What a mess under the motor. I think they spilt half the oil out of the motor
lifting it out. It took 2 days to degrease and clean the bilges out where both
motors had been. We took opportunity and cleaned everything properly and
repainted the entire bilge in the Engineer room with Jotamastic 87. It now
the cleanest part of the boat.
The new motor went in on the Tuesday a week after they had
lifted the old one out. The rest of the week was spent fitting the
motor and connecting all the systems. While the boat was on the
hard we had the fridge/freezer strategy implemented ($2500)
installing the 300 watt air cooled Danfoss 240 volt system to drive
both the refrigerator and the freezer. The rudder was also removed
and re-bushed on the two main bearing points.
Because of the slow turn over of the lifting it is necessary to book
the lift back in to the water 5 days in advance. Getting everyone to
agree that they will finish on a deadline is not easy. Our vision of a
7day stop was easily extended to 14 days and then 17 days in total
(another $1000).
At last it is back in the water on the Monday night. We were lifted
into the travel lift pen and had to remain until 7.45pm for the top of
the tide until we could move to the courtesy berth. This enabled
the mechanic to complete the final adjustments and start the
engine in the water.
The next day we completed the sea trial. All that work matching
the power of the engine and the reduction ratios of the gear box
with the prop had paid off. The motor gave us better performance
at all revs and was well balanced delivery good power at top revs.
We were all happy. There was one glitch and it was put down to
the improper bleeding of the fuel line during installation. At highest
revs the motor cut out with an airlock in the fuel system.
We left the Cruising Yacht Squadron at 1.00pm (Melbourne Cup day). Chris
wanted to cruise around the Trinity Inlet. We went down Smiths Creek; then
up the inlet; into Redbank Creek, where we ran aground going around the
island in Redbank Creek. We then went further on up the inlet to overnight
near Swallows Landing. On the high tide we headed over the shallows of
Afterglow at the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron slipway
Smith Creek to and passed the Cruising Yacht Squadron again. We stopped
opposite Trinity Wharf to fix up a few details and collect few bills. Chris was
keen to get going so with 20 to 25 knot breezes we headed out of the inlet
and northward towards Double Island.
Double Island was a rolling berth and the wind whistled over the top all night.
I went for the restart with an electric priming pump turned on. I hoped (I'm,
Early the next day we headed north. Off Egmont Reef we passed Tap Dancer (a
not smart) that the air would clear itself. The engine started and ran for 30
Townsville Boat) heading south. They had been to Lizard and had had the
seconds and died. Chris was anxious and so was I. She wanted the anchor, I
stated wow of a time. They were coming from an overnight at Low Isles. We
went for the bleeding option. The nut on top of the secondary filter was
could see Low Isle so we changed course for the isles with an option of a day
loosened with the electric priming pump running. Air bubbled out of the system
stop and then back to Port Douglas for the overnight. Low Isles was a pleasant
followed by diesel squirting into my clean bilge. I quickly nipped up the nut and
stop and a good anchorage and so we decided to stay for the night. Once again
hit the starter. Yes, and it sounded good. We were off. Apparently we had
the wind whistled over the top all night. It would be easy going north but what
drifted sideways considerably. Chris had been very anxious with good reason.
about coming back. The next good anchorage that we could see was Hope
Once over the bar I tried for radio contact to confirm our existence on this
Island about 40miles to the north.
planet with Coastguard Cairns. There was no answer - that's strange?
It would be OK to get there in a day
Port Douglas didn't answer either. It wasn't until we were in Dickson
Are
we
going
north
so
we
can
say
we
but coming back against the wind in
Inlet that we were able to talk to Port Douglas Coast Guard on the radio.
the Afterglow would be a slow going have been there or are we just cruising?
Port Douglas doesn't change with its tourist focus with shops and people
and for us it was unfamiliar waters..
etc. We arrived at 2.00pm and Chris wanted to go to the supermarket
Are we going north so we can say we have been there or are we just cruising?
I thought we were just cruising, so after discussion we decided we would trust
Allan Lucas and head out of the wind and up the Daintree River. Alan Lucas's
work is pretty good and it got us up the river to the ferry crossing. There was
no radio phone TV or internet access up the river so it was quite peaceful for
several days. I needed it as I was licking the wounds of the installation bills I
had picked up in Cairns and it gave me a bit of time to digest them ($11,000 for
installation????!!!!!***)
We headed out over the bar the same day we had descended the River. The
wind had abated and the new trusty reliable engine was performing well smooth
and quiet with good speeds. We had just passed the starboard marker and
were to head over the bar for the fairlead buoy. We had 7 feet of water
underneath. No problems lets do it quickly. At top speed 3000 rpm it's a cinch,
but remember that teething problem on the sea trials. It wasn't bad priming.
There is obviously an air leak when the lift pump is working at high speed. The
fuel line sucked air and so did we. Stalling in 15knots wind in 7 foot of water on
the Daintree River bar was not my idea of fun. The millions of options resolved
to three. Restart, bleed the air and/or chuck the anchor out.
before it closed. It was Sunday and the shops were all open. We hadn't
had lunch and so I agreed on condition that she bought me a meat pie. Now
that's a treat.
Why is the tinnie leaking along the transom seam? “They do that when you
tow them a lot”, said Gary at the Port Douglas Yacht Club. That figures
,something else to go wrong. Does it need welding? I'll look at it tomorrow
morning maybe I can get someone to weld it in town. I pushed some Selley's
“All Clear” into it the following morning. It didn't stick while it was wet like the
add said on TV so I had to dry it properly before it would stick. That'll keep it
going till we get to Townsville.
We had decided that having lost 5 weeks in Cairns that to travel northwards in
the Cyclone season was tempting fate. We don't have a track record of luck at
the moment so we decided to test the new engine and motor south. The first
day was to head towards Cairns. We actually made Turtle Bay south of Cairns;
a delightful little bay although not immune from the swell as the Lucas book
had suggested.
The next day was to be to
Kent Island in the Barnard
group of islands south of
Mourilyan Harbour. We would
be able to make Dunk Island by
Wednesday night where we
could surprise our son Travis on
the Coral Princess II. We made
Kent Island for a late lunch. It
was a shocking mooring and I
doubted that I needed two
rolling berths in a row so we
opted for another 2 hours travel
to Dunk Island. We had met
people on a boat called
Laughing Buddha while on the
hard at the Cruising Yacht
Squadron and they virtually
travelled in tandem with us to
Dunk. By this time we had
established that the two way
Radio had a transmission
distance of about 50 metres
and we were grateful to Jim
and Nancy of Laughing Buddha
who were able to convey that
Missionary Bay Creek
message to Coast watch when
they called us. I learned later
that the transmitting IC was burnt out.
Dunk Island was as always pleasant. Now this was what cruising is meant
to be about - no pressure, don't push anything to hard just take it easy.
And plenty of familiar ground to run to it
we have to.
Travis on the Coral Princess II was late.
It had been an afternoon high tide and the
Coral Princess II could only enter the
southern end of the Hinchinbrook Channel
on the high tide. That left them half the
afternoon and the evening to make Dunk.
It was dark when they got there. The
mobile phones (2) where still working and
so we rang the Coral Princess II to talk to
Trav. He was excited and was able to get
the night off to have dinner with us. Chris
really enjoys Travis's company. We
celebrated his birthday belatedly with
freshly caught fish entrees and
Champagne. He had turned 24 the week
before.
Another day and night was spent at Dunk
before we headed for Port Hinchinbrook via
Wheeler Island for a luncheon stop. The
family group of islands is magic when you
have the time to take them in.
We stayed at Port Hinchinbrook for two
nights while we stocked up on groceries
hardware and wine. Yes I took delivery of a
new VHF radio ($300) and fitted it before we headed out. We still have 4
nights in credit at Port Hinchinbrook and so the plan is to stay around the
north of Hinchinbrook before we head south.
A piece of advice I had picked up
while at the Cairns Cruising Yacht
Squadron was that if you are living
on your boat and using your fridges
etc. full time then you probably don't
need you solar panel regulators. The
short period of overcharging will not
hurt the batteries provided that you
keep the electrolyte levels up in the
batteries. When the regulators cut in
they shut the charging off. The
problem is that if the batteries are
full the entire 12 volt system will be
at the full 18 volts provided from the
panels. When we left the Daintree
River and tried to make contact with
the world by two-way radio we had
been motoring down the Daintree for
two hours. Our batteries were fully
charged and it was a bright sunny
day. T hat first burst of radio contact
with the system at 18 volts could
have been enough to burn the
transmitter IC out. I noticed when
installing the new radio that it is
imperative to keep the supply voltage
below 16 volts. Another expensive lesson learned that advice is worth what
you pay for it.
We are currently at Garden Island where we have been for 3 nights. It is
delightful and sheltered. C hris found orchids growing on the eastern rock
faces as she paddled her canoe around the Island. The island is administered
after by the Cardwell Shire and has four
campsites. There is a water bore on the
island although the pump was not
working when we were there. We
seemed to be able to catch all the fish
we need. Last night we had a carpet
bag chicken with some of the biggest
oysters I've ever seen harvested from
the island foreshore
Our plan is to spend some time in the
Palm Island group before we head
south. I reckon we will be back in
Townsville in the second week of
December. Our mission from now on is
to take it easy and to go with the
weather.
Yesterday I finished reading Paulo
Coelho's book The Alchemist. Basically
his message was that when you are on
life's personal legend (your life's
mission that is in tune with the soul of
Afterglow and crew at rest the world) then the whole world or the
soul of the world conspires to assist
you. I have noticed this in the past.
When things are meant to happen everything goes like clockwork. I could be
negative and say that on this cruise I have personally dragged that 80lb
anchor the whole way, but on the other hand some of those nasty things that
were going to happen on a future trip have already happened and we now
have in place some reliable systems plus the knowledge and experience we
have learnt along the way.
Where is the Curtis Coast and why do I need to have
Noel Patrick's CURTIS COAST GUIDE on my boat?
The above question gets asked sometimes when TCP gets enquiries
from our list of Cruising Guides sold through the TCP Ships Store (yes
we are shamelessly promoting our books - they are all a "must have"
on your boat!).
Noel Patrick's Curtis Guide thoroughly covers cruising grounds from
Bundaberg to Mackay. Lynne Kornbrekke, who after her father Noels
passing has taken the helm in updating and keeping this book in
production.
the fact they are passing by grounds arguably superior to what will be
found further north.
Certainly this is true in regard to the Curtis Coast coral reefs, coastal
anchorages and creek systems. The like of these in such profusion or
quality simply does not exist elsewhere.
The area covered in this book is suitable for all, whether in ocean borne
yachts, ot trailer craft, sail or power. The variety is wide, satisfying all
possible tastes.
Despite the protestations of the locals, who realise what gems are theirs,
"The Curtis Coast" reveals all to those who like to mess around in boats."
The following is and excerpt from Noel’s book:
Introduction to
"Curtis Coast", by Noel Patrick:
"Undoubtedly the entire Queensland coast offers great cruising and
boating playgrounds, drawing visitors from around the world. Except to
the knowledgeable, one section, the Curtis coast, of which Gladstone is
the centre, has not received the attention its attractions deserve.
Hurrying past, by sea or road, hell bent on "seeing the Reefs and
Islands", can be seen yachts and trailer boats in their hundreds, blind to
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Along with the many large maps, photos and explanations of each area,
the front section has chapters on Navigation, Marine Parks, Mangrove
Country, Hazards, and a special section, "The First Curtis Coast Voyage".
This section is an extract from Lieut. James Cooks, "Voyage Around the
World", obtained from an original copy published in 1773. The extract of
Cooks Journal, on the ship, Endeavour, begins Tuesday 22 May, as he
approached Queensland somewhere around Baffle Creek and ends
Saturday, June 2 1770, as Cook left Cape Hillsborough on his northbound
journey through the Whitsunday's.
Get this guidebook, you won't regret it!
See the next page for information on how to buy this book.
The TCP Ships Store
All Prices Include gst & shipping
(within Australia)
A quote from Noel Patrick: NOEL PATRICK & ALAN LUCAS GUIDES - Don't leave port without them!
“Over and above all other
reasons for starting this book, is
the realization that this section of
the Queensland coast offers
more, in most respects, than any
other to the boating enthausiast.
A person making such a
discovery generally wishes to
share it so others may find equal
enjoyment.”
only $80!
$80.00 each or buy all 3 for only $200!
Use your credit card to order online! go to:
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Washing Day Blues
By Jan Forsyth, SY Sea Wanderer
Oh how I envy those boats with washing
machines.
Where the only effort on washing day is to gather
and place the load into a little white box and wait.
Where the mighty sheets and towels are tamed and
cleaned with mechanical competence below decks
and sheltered from the harsh elements. Where
washing day is simple and effortless.
The laundress can retire gracefully after little
exertion to drink coffee and read while the
mechanical genius works diligently for her. When the
cycles are complete and the wash spun dry there is
not a bead of sweat on her cool calm forehead. Her
hair remains in place and she maintains hands of silk
and energy to burn.
On the other hand, the washerwoman without
mechanical assistance has to attack the chore on
deck where physical and debilitating effort is
required.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
A TCP “Classic”
She must have a contingent of water containers lined up ready to take the wash, a large secure hat
and hard hands. She must appreciate the value of water and not toss the rinse water over the side
until it is used as washing water for the next load. Even so, that precious resource - wasted so much
on land - but respected and carefully metered out at sea, is scarce.
Raina on Matariki cannot understand the extreme exertion of her fellow cruisers without machines as
she gathers gracefully her pile of laundry and places it into her large machine in her well-appointed
laundry on board. I tell her about my laundry day on deck but her eyes glaze over at the thought of
so much effort and I have to change the subject.
The first process the manual washer must attack is the soak cycle. Some items such as pillowcases
and sweaty clothes are best kept soaking for a period of time in order to remove the sweat and grime.
Barbara on Baker Street suggests a large green garbage bag filled with soapy water and laundry.
Left on deck for a time while the boat is in motion will do wonders for the wash. The sun heats the
water while the boat's movement agitates the contents. I did try Barbara's suggestion, which in
principal is a great idea; however, my garbage bag was of a poor quality. Unbeknown to me while
cooking in the hot tropical sun down at the stern, it leaked slowly but consistently leaving the contents
damp and smelly by the time I remembered it two days later.
Into the first bucket of soapy water with the load, swishing, slapping, and trying to act like a
machine with the hands, feet are good at this action when the hands begin to ache and peel with the
harsh detergent.
Having two kids on board and no mechanical assistance, Sarah of Blue Moon of Oz discovered that a
plumber's plunger works wonders and saves the hands and feet. This simple little tool provides her
with many hours of happy laundering as it sucks and plungers the clothes and linen clean. I tried it
and loved it, and have conscripted it into my regular washday routine. But a word of warning; don't
use it on the delicates or those lacy bras and knickers will be just bras and knickers without the lace.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Raina on Matariki
After the final and by now torturous wring, the laundry is ready to adorn the rigging, and fly about
in the wind. Only the heaviest duty pegs are employed on board, as the cheap type are not geared
for strong wind or endurance in the destructive sun.
After the first and sometimes second wash, the buckets are hauled up from the deck and the
contents hurled over the side. At times small items like knickers lurking at the bottom of the bucket
in murky water are heaved out and vanish forever in the swirling sea.
Cursing at the loss of a favourite pair of undies it is then onto the next stage of wringing. Flexing
the fingers and wrists it is time to twist the soaping water out. If a laundress is very lucky and can
grab the “Skipper”, who will on occasion, assist with the wringing process. Towels especially are a
nightmare and hands can ache for days after wringing, however I read somewhere that if looped over
the lifelines and twisted a towel can be squeezed with much less effort than wringing by hand. The
skipper on “Silent Wings” installed a mangler on the aft deck for his washerwoman. How thoughtful
to replace his hands with a machine!
Margaret on “Tonic” waits until tied up in a marina to tackle her wash, sitting sedately on a plastic
stool she minimises the pressure on her straining back. While yet another boat incorporates both
worlds of washing by cunningly using the finger of the marina as a laundry.
Rinsing is a breeze after the initial wash and if there is sufficient water supply there may be two
rinses. Now the end is in sight and the final ordeal is to get every ounce of wet out of the wash.
Items of substance are squeezed with extra vigour in order to dry as quickly as possible. The shorter
the time on the line the better to save sun damage, wind destruction and lost pegs.
Once again, the bucket's contents are hurled overboard after rinsing. I used a large round plastic
container at one time, that when full was extremely heavy and difficult to manipulate, but great for
large items. Picking it up after one particularly heavy wash, I bent my back and twisted around.
Spasms shot up and down the spine resulting in a seizure that kept me at 45-degrees list for a week.
That particular washing bowl has now been retired to reside on deck as a container for all things
surplus to current need.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Barbara on Baker Street
I remember hanging out the wash while
anchored in Cooktown some time ago. On this
particular day the wind was howling and after
being slapped and stung by wet sheets and
pillowcases, I retired down below to sooth my
wounds. As time passed, the wind intensified and
when I thought to attend to the serious flapping
going on above me, I looked on in horror at what
remained on the line, which was minimal to what
was adorning a nearby sandbank.
Afloat and Adrift begins on the West Coast of Australia
when a discontented career woman begins to question
what life should really be about, she makes a courageous
change that sets her adrift from financial and personal
security.
Moving to the east coast of Australia, and then on to
New Zealand, she searches for answers.
But it is in the South Pacific, when she becomes part of
the world of oceangoing yachts and the people who have
made the sea their home that she finally finds what she is
looking for.
In this adventurous but somewhat dangerous world,
maintaining her place sets new challenges, and she
almost loses everything she has gained.
Fitted bottom sheets are the worse offenders, as
the wind turns them into parachutes, and if strong
enough it can force them with ease from their
grasping pegs and up into the air, sometimes
never to be seen again.
When the final item is pegged the intrepid
washerwoman is satisfied she can retire. Hands
are gently massaged with rejuvenating cream, a
litre of water is consumed to stem the dehydration
of working on deck in the hot sun and the tired
body drops onto the nearest support - exhausted.
Not so her smart neighbour with the machine,
she is cool and calm, ready and able for action
after her wash. She has read most of her book,
enjoyed a cool drink or two and if her neighbour is
able to communicate in a socially acceptable way,
she will invite her over for a chat and drink
probably to talk about the cost of washing
machines.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Afloat and Adrift is a journey of inner resolution, life
contemplation and interpersonal discovery peppered with
conflict and romance.
Afloat and Adrift is now available at
The Coastal Passage Bookstore
for $29 inc gst& s&h in Australia:
Or buy direct from the author.
Email: janforsyth@yahoo.com.au
Margaret on Tonic
Books by Stuart Buchanan
$47.00
The TCP Ships Store
mail@thecoastalpassage.com
$41.50
$42.50
$38.00
All prices include gst & shipping (within Australia)
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Romance of the sea
Inspiring excerpts from books
Sailing Ships
There is little man has made that
approaches anything in Nature, but
the sailing ship does. There is not
much that man has made that calls
to all the best in him, afterwards;
but the sailing ship does. There is
little man has done, these modern
years of rush and nerve-rack when
beauty is sacrificed to useless
hideousness and art to the
monstrosity of the daubers, when
books are churned out as soullessly
as the presses that print them, and
the theatre is given up to bawling
shadows there is little that man has
to inspire generations, and carry on
the loveliness and sweetness of
glorious and efficient beauty.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
The sailing ship does these things;
old, and battered, and sea-worn,
and a little unsafe too, if one is
frank about it, as the Grace Harwar
was that voyage, there was an
inspiring loveliness and a grand
pursuit of difficult and dangerous
duty about her, and loyal devotion,
and steadfast, noble carrying-on
through all obstacles and despite all
difficulties, that lifted one
completely from the misery of the
sodden gale and compensated a
million-fold for whatever hardships
there might have been associated
with it.
By Way Of Cape Horn, by Alan
Villers
First published in 1930
Sunset
We had a sunset of a very fine sort. The vast plain of the sea
was marked off in bands of sharply-contrasted colours: great
stretches of dark blue, others of purple, others of polished
bronze; the billowy mountains showed all sorts of dainty browns
and greens, blues, purples, and blacks, and the rounded velvety
backs of certain of them made one want to stroke them, as one
would the sleek back of a cat. The long sloping promontory
projecting into the sea at the west turned dim and leaden in
spectral, then became suffused with pink-dissolved itself in a
pink dream, so to speak, it seemed so airy and unreal.
Presently the cloud-rack was flooded with fiery splendours, and
these were copied on the surface of the sea, and it made one
drunk to look upon it.
Following The Equator, by Mark Twain
First published in 1897
A few boaty quotes
Sailing alone soothes me because the sea is fair, not cruel. It judges
only your ability. It does not care who or what you are. It does not ask
your age, colour, sex, address, sexual orientation, education or IQ,
but only your competence. It requires only that you can sail. If you
can, you survive. If you can't, better stay ashore. That's fair, more fair
than most of us experience on land...and refreshing."
Bernard Moitessier in The Long Way
"To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go. The tales of
rough usage are for the most part exaggerations, as also are the tales
of sea danger. To face the elements is, to be sure, no light matter
when the sea is in its grandest mood. You must then know the sea,
and know that you know it, and not forget that it was made to be sailed
over."
Joshua Slocum
"Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good
sailor to do it drunk." Sir Francis Chichester
”The winds are mad. They know not whence they come, nor whither
they would go. And those men are maddest of all who go to sea.”
Robert Burton
"As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote.
I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts."
Herman Melville
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
These pages inspired by
Paul Richard, see letters
“There is more to sailing than ropes and winches, cleats and bulging sails.
There are faraway places and the ever changing light, and the silence, and a
great peace at the bottom of your soul."
Ferenc Maté
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood or
assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless
immensity of the sea.
Antoine de Saint Exupery
"We had shaken out all reefs, and now tore along at full speed, with the
spray-drift sparkling in the sun, and a frolicsome jubilant sea. The delights
of going fast when the water is deep and the wind is strong - ah! These never
can be rightly described, nor the exulting bound with which your vessel
springs through a buoyant wave, and the thrill of nerve that tells in the
sailor's heart, 'Well, after all, sailing is a pleasure supreme.'"
From The Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy by John MacGregor, 1867
"Sailing a boat calls for quick action, a blending of feeling with the wind and
water as well as with the very heart and soul of the boat itself. Sailing
teaches alertness and courage, and gives in return a joyousness and peace
that but few sports afford."
George Matthew Adams
More quotes, questions & “answers” and a toast
Q: How is it possible to have a civil war?
A: Say “excuse me” after every slaughter.
A few good quotes from Susan Bett's
Great Ideas Galley Guide:
Q: If a deaf child signs swear words, does his mother wash their hands
“Bite off more than you can chew, then chew like buggery.” Paul Hogan
with soap?
“Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket.” Mark Twain
A: Nope...the eyes. Never underestimate the cruelty of a loving parent.
“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” Tanner
Q:Where do Forest Rangers go to “get away from it all”?
A: The MSQ division of MENSA
“We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being
confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and
Q: If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?
wealth with happiness.” Tom Waits, musician
A: No, you would be a parallel universe.
Q: If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
A: Both, You’ve been elected.
Q: Can an atheist get insurance against acts of God?
A: Only one that can.
Q: What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an
endangered plant?
A: Kill them both... Hell, it’s your last chance!
Q: Why are haemorrhoids called “haemorrhoids: instead of “assteroids”?
A: That’s genuis! No further comment.
Answers by Bob Norson
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside
in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming, Wow! What a Ride!” Hunter S. Thompson
“If you don't have a plan, nothing can go wrong.” Spike Milligan
May the breeze be fresh and a fair one
May your life be long and a good one
May your death be easy and a quick one
May your beer be cold,
Let's have another one.
(author unknown)
Great ideas Galley Guide
by Susan Bett
This handy little recipe book has been compiled especially for those would be cooks who have not
much time, not much experience in the kitchen or galley and possibly not much imagination when it
come to making a great meal.
A comprehensive 120 pages of great ideas, the contents include an A-Z guide on effective
provisioning, storage and cooking hints. Over 60 simple recipes, the majority of which use only one
burner or hot plate. An absolute bible for boaties and happy campers.
A can of tuna, a can of tomatoes and garlic is transformed into a yummy and healthy pasta sauce or
an inexpensive red wine added to chicken makes a great Coq Au Vin.
From these simple recipes to more adventurous meals such as Sweet Chilli mud crab or decadent
Carpet Bag steak with oysters, both sure to gain compliments, but like all recipes in this book, very
easy to prepare.
Due to popular demand this is the third print of the Great Ideas Galley Guide. It is simply the best
value and most informative recipe book ever compiled.
The TCP Ships Store
Use your credit card to order online! Go to: www.thecoastalpassage.com/storebooks.html
only $25.00!
inc. s&h & gst in AUSTRALIA
OR Send cheque or money order to:
The Coastal Passage,
PO Box 10, Beachmere, Qld. 4510
OR
Call us: 0429 633 069
We can now take your credit card payment via phone
Seven Years
Bikes, Babes, Booze and Boats
This is an excerpt from the ebook by Randall “Gypsie”
Hammond. I think the following story is all true. Besides
the fact I have known the writer for some years, I know it
could be true knowing the times and culture that existed
then. Are you ready for some gritty action and avarice?
Let me know what you think.
Bob Norson: bob@thecoastalpassage.com
Never to return
We sailed away from Australia on the first day of
August, 1998, and it would prove to be another
one of the best choices I made in my life. Our
little ship was totally prepared for what was the
start of an around the world voyage but the
finances were not entirely up to scratch. We had
the equivalent of US$1,200, a credit card, my
tools, and the confidence that we could make
our way.
Our departure, unfortunately, was not without
incident on that historic day; we were no more
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
than ten miles out when I
spotted a launch steaming
up behind us. As she drew
near, I noticed a police officer standing on the
bow and as the vessel came alongside, this
same police officer asked me to "heave to". I
dropped the jib, hardened up the mainsheet,
put the helm over and hove to with the bow
slightly up wind. Two police officers came
aboard over the bow, one overweight sergeant
in uniform and a young plain-clothes detective.
We had been accused of stealing a sail and an
outboard motor but the police immediately
realized their folly and the Sergeant was
apologetic as he sat chatting in the cockpit with
my wife and kids; he was genuinely envious of
our trip to Indonesia. The young detective,
however, tried to put on a show and was below,
pulling up sole hatches, and going through our
sail locker, but that did not last long.
Seven Years
Whilst in this position, side on to the swell, our
old steel yacht had developed somewhat of a
roll, and soon enough, the young detective was
at the stern, looking quite green. We managed
to bundle them back onto the
launch without incident; I
unfurled the Genoa and
watched happily as the launch
slowly disappeared out of sight.
It was on that day, the 1st of
August 1998; I vowed never to
return to my country.
(But before all that….)
It was on one of those
marvellous Christmas days long
ago, when Great Grandma,
Grandma and my mother spent
all morning preparing an
enormous baked Christmas
dinner, complete with bread
pudding and other assortments,
when I received my Christmas
present; a world atlas. It was to
be my constant companion and
I carried the dog-eared book
with me to school and showed it
off in Social Studies classes. The
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
pages that displayed the continents and island
nations sported a grid of lines, drawn like those
on a sea navigation chart. These lines were of
course the result of my own hand whilst
daydreaming of imaginary voyages along
uncharted coastlines. I regaled my travel
intentions to classmates about the countries I
would visit; these dreams, stories and plans,
were the beginnings, I am afraid, of that curse,
that is most aptly described by the MerriamWebster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus as a:
strong longing for or impulse towards
wandering- WANDERLUST
The mixed up kid with wanderlust, forth from left, second row.
Travel, I am sure is the best
medicine. Travel wets the appetite for
an endless amount of different things
to see and do. Travel opens up a
continuous variety of opportunities to
the point where one tends to get
quite blasé about it all. Travel, along
with the passing of time, opens up
your mind to other opinions and
allows the reactionary ways of ones
past to be swept away without too
much pain and humiliation. In my
travels, I was opportune to meet
some rich folks, Australian, Thai,
Arab, Chinese, Japanese, America,
English and more, but it seemed that
the life of the rich is far too restricted
by their social obligations. There are
some, who take full advantage of
their prosperity and do some good in
the world, and I take my hat off to
them. Most of the folks I met are
poor, struggling from day to day just
to survive.
Seven Years
The majorities were Asian, from Kupang to Kuala
Lumpur, Gili Air to Gujarat, and Singapore to
Shanghai. Among appalling poverty, I experienced
generosity. In desperate hopelessness, I experienced
strong family values and in a world that is full of hate
and bitterness, I found people with generous hearts.
Unfortunately, there are just as many, if not more
shameless fiends with no love or empathy for their
fellow man and if there is a hell, I do hope not to be
burning alongside them. Living and working alongside
the poorer folks has taught me some valuable lessons
in this journey of life- respect, family values, and
selflessness. I am not a rich man, nor do I think I
shall ever be, but I have been exceedingly fortunate.
I still lead an eventful life, and I am happy to have
gained the respect and admiration of the poor but
honest folks with whom I have lived and worked in
my travels. I am more than pleased with that. Perish
in the thought of what type of person I would be had
I not sailed away from Australian shores. I am happy
in the knowledge that I have the wanderlust, which to
this day remains a driving force within me and
provides me with the tenacity to take on any situation
with no fear. Along the way, I have managed to make
a few enemies, and a handful of true friends, and I
have a few stories to tell.
Incredible Journey
One Sunday morning way back in 91, I awoke early
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
with an intense feeling of
unease that I just could not
explain, like there was a
power guiding me along, as
if in a dream. On most
mornings, I would be up at
first light enjoying a cup of
coffee on my veranda facing
the ocean and watching the
birds scurrying among the
branches of the paper bark
trees, that stand tall and
wide among the coconut
trees scattered along the
shoreline. On this particular
day, I just went downstairs,
got in my car, and drove off.
I was just going with the
flow and let the invisible
hand guide me through the
quiet streets of Mackay and
eventually hit the road that
led to the Harbour; the deserted four lanes heading
east into the rising sun gave me cause to lower the
visor. To my left and right, the tall palm trees swayed
to the slight South East trades, and that sweet, salty
aroma of rotting seaweed drifted along with me until
eventually I could see the waves surging up against
the harbour wall where a couple of fellows were
fishing with long fishing rods.
I turned left and cruised slowly past the slipways
and shipwrights sheds that lay idle at this early hour.
These sheds had always seemed a
mysterious place to me. I had never gone
there, however I did later, dragging yacht
parts from the loft of a disgruntled
shipwright. Perhaps he thought he had
better give up the things that I demanded
rather than argue with this tattooed biker.
Seven Years
I parked my car and walked towards the open
gateway of a boatyard; the south Easter was
picking up and, I knew, was promising 35 knots
by noon. The sound of the waves was muffled; a
soft distant booming and the salt air assaulted my
nostrils, whilst the invisible hand guided me along.
I ventured into the yard and walked straight up to
a small yacht lying on her side, abandoned and
deserted.
She was fibreglass and seemed sound enough;
she had no mast, rigging, no fittings; she was free
of any furnishings and indeed was just a shell, but
I knew in my heart that I had to have her.
From fervent inquiries, I soon learned that the
little yacht belonged to a biker whom I knew well;
this was a little surprise to me as I could not
imagine what an ex-Hells Angel would want with a
small sailing yacht. I went to see Rocko; he was
the manager of a drug rehabilitation centre. His
appearance was, as one would expect an outlaw
biker to be, with greased black hair, moustache,
pockmarked face, short but solid build and
wearing the leather, biker, cut-off jacket. The
buildings were a mess; there was lots of trash and
a poor folks stink about the place. When peering
through a dirty window, I half expected to see
junkies loitering.
"Hey Rocko, what’s the go with this little yacht; I
hear you own"? I inquired. He answered with that
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Clark Gable smile and told me that, sure enough,
he owned the yacht and he went on to enlighten
me about its colourful history. After he was
through with his barely believable story, he
agreed to let me have the little yacht for what he
owed the boatyard. The next day, I paid the
boatyard $1,800, hired a flatbed truck and, with
my little ship secured to my liking, I followed the
truck along the highway. The convoy arrived at
my house after negotiating the narrow streets and
overhanging tree branches, much to the
amusement of my friends and neighbours.
The Launch
It was getting close to launching time, so I
arranged a trailer to take my vessel to the water;
I advertised free beer and a barbeque for all
helpers. Christ, one young fellow turned up at
eight in the morning, still drunk from the night
before and wanting more beer; I whacked him in
the mouth and told him to fuck off until later.
Eventually, they all arrived, my biker friends and
the local hillbillies and what a motley crew they
were. At the end of the day, they managed to
drink every bit of alcohol in my place, ate all the
food, left an absolute mess, and blew up my
stereo. We dug the trailer into the ground and
winched the newly painted yacht onto it with a
Come-along (endless chain block). Then we
hooked up a borrowed tractor and towed the
whole shebang down to the large grassy area next
to the beach where I spent the next week
stepping the mast, installing the jib furler, anchor
and chain and a multitude of other tasks. I
worked tirelessly well into each night. I knew,
deep down, that this latest achievement was the
biggest ever in my life.
I towed the rigged yacht on the trailer out to the
low tide watermark, unhooked the trailer, returned
the front-end loader to the shore and waited for
the flood. The excitement boiled inside me as I
watched her float; I started the engine and was
amazed to see the water exhaust actually
working. I motored away from the sunken trailer
and headed out to deeper water, put up the
mainsail, unfurled the jib and turned off the
engine. I put the helm over, and she was soon
bubbling along as I brought her hard up into the
light south Easter. My actions were automatic,
handling the sheets and tiller as I checked out the
slight luff of the mainsail that told me my shiny
new yacht was sailing as high into the wind as she
would go. I glanced around at my little yacht and
the feeling of achievement, the exhilaration, and
the sheer joy of the experience was incredible. "I
did this; it works!", I said to myself over and over
again as I tacked out to sea to clear the point,
before easing the main and jib sheets to run
downwind towards Seaforth Creek where a
mooring lay waiting. I saw a few people watching
from the point and I was a proud man indeed,
very proud.
Seven Years
Before finally sailing away forever, I packed up
all my tools into my trailer, hooked it up to my
car and left the lot on a farm for safekeeping.
Meanwhile, things had deteriorated with my
friend Mick; he had his own problems and so I
saw less of him. I gave my dog to some folks to
keep, let the house go, rowed my dinghy out to
my little yacht with my stores, slipped the
mooring and got underway.
I was cruising; yes, I was cruising. I was sailing
my own yacht, now low in the water with my
own stores, independent of the land and I was a
happy boy. I sat on the push pit seat, guitar in
hand, foot on the tiller and played and sang with
tears in my eyes, while my little sloop danced
along on her maiden voyage towards those
islands that had been out of my reach for so
long.
I eventually anchored in Shute Harbour
alongside famous old yachts and assorted
tourist vessels. I should have kept going. I
should have pushed further north but no, I was
in for the adventure of my life. I was to become
a shipwright, like in another life.
When I say "like in another life", I mean that
when I started work as a Shipwright in Airlie
ETCP 69, Nov. - Dec., 2014
Beach, I just knew what
to do. The first project
was crew
accommodation
modifications in a portly
old wooden motor yacht,
bunks, lockers, doors,
cabin sole modifications
and more. I was amazed
at what I was achieving.
Of course the experience
of building my own boat
had given me confidence
and some experience,
but there were times
when I would stop and
wonder at some aspect
of the work I was doing
and think to myself "how did I know how to do
that"?
As it turned out, I had fallen into an opportune
moment in Airlie Beach, as there were no
shipwrights around and the work was there for
the taking. I retrieved my car and tools, set up
a workshop and established myself at the
Whitsunday Sailing Club bar that I used as my
office. I had some decent breaks from the start;
I ran into an old biker friend who owned a
sizeable charter yacht and he introduced me to
the owner of a famous racing yacht. The owner
The first little boat on the hard, Whitsunday SC.
of this graceful sloop agreed that I should install
a teak and holly cabin sole to his vessel and
then promptly left for the US.
On his return, he was ecstatic with the work
that I had done; I was impressed with the work
that I had done. The newly varnished teak and
holly flooring looked fantastic and was to remain
in the vessel for many years; the owner showed
his friends and the next thing I knew, I was in
business.
Seven Years
We were married beside the
Whitsunday Sailing Club on the lawns
overlooking Muddy Bay under the tall
trees full of chattering birds and there
was a collection of the appropriate
people from the yachting lifestyle we
now both led. Presiding over the
affair was a funny old bloke from
Proserpine, who performed civil
weddings throughout the Whitsunday
area. I chuckled as he likened the
whole affair to the workings of a car,
glove box of lust, etc.
My business card read
Good with Wood, Yacht
Interiors, Exotic Timbers.
Life was peachy, but
then I met an old
girlfriend. The plan was to
make the money, make
the little ship ready and to
keep going. Unfortunately,
there were other forces,
stronger than my resolve
it would seem, that tied
me to this society.
We had a Jimmy Buffett
style courtship, sailing
around the islands on my
little yacht, making love
on the deck, the beach, by
the waterfall, everywhere; and how
we used to talk and dream about
sailing the world.
I moved off my little yacht and
moved into her apartment with her
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
and her kids. Not a long time had passed
since I had first navigated my newly built
sloop into the Whitsunday Islands, and
now I was making a name for myself
around Airlie Beach with my shipwright
skills.
Afterwards, we had the run of the
Yacht Club for the reception, a Maori
band, Zak, and Leo and loads of
mates who kept the Yacht Club bar
staff extremely busy. We danced my
new wife and me. She in her white
wedding dress and me all done up
like the proverbial pox doctors clerk. I
tore her garter off with my teeth and
we fell on the floor laughing whilst my trusty Maori friends
kept the rock and roll happening. Then we did the Airlie
Beach club scene dragging along a drunken entourage until
the wee hours.
Seven Years
town of Bowen. It was September 17th
1994 and the start of one hell of a voyage.
We had left it a bit late in the season and
so the south east trades had all but
subsided, but we managed to make
headway into light nor-westerlies.
My wife and I became
regulars at the Sailing
Club, Wednesday race
nights; I played
harmonica with the jazz
band on the veranda on
Sunday afternoons and
just doing business. To
all concerned, we were
looking more like the upand-coming couple of
Airlie Beach.
We talked about
getting a bigger boat
and, indeed, we were
looking forward to
purchasing a lovely
Sparkman and Stevens,
thirty-four foot sloop; she
had beautiful lines and
sailed well. Unfortunately,
she was sold too soon and
so we opted for a 32 foot
cutter in need of a refit.
On completion of the refit,
I planned to paint the
cutter red and wanted to
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Red Girl undergoing re-fit
rename her Ginger Mick. On the morning of the day we were to
perform the renaming ritual, my red-headed wife, quietly
cuddled up beside me and told me that she did not want to call
the yacht Ginger Mick. Therefore, we decided on the name Red
Girl.
It was a quiet morning with no fanfare; we just upped anchor
and motored in flat calm to a long, wide bay at the southern
end of Gloucester Island, directly east of the sleepy coastal
Renaming the new ship, Red Girl
Seven Years
Red Girl with figurehead in the Whitsunday Fun Race
Bowen Yacht Club Marina is located on a low
coastal area a little way from the town and is a
rather a stuffy affair. After securing Red Girl in
the small marina we enjoyed a few drinks in the
club house whilst enduring the hostile mood of
the club patrons.
A couple of days earlier, we shared an
anchorage at Gloucester Island with an odd
couple on a bilge keel ketch. The same ketch
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
could now be seen entering the
marina, was quickly secured,
and the odd-looking occupants
headed towards the club. Hippy
looking they were; bloody sea
pirates would be a better
description. A colourful parrot
perched on the fellow's
starboard shoulder; he did not
see the need to remove his
shabby hat as he entered the
dark interior of the yacht club
whilst quickly noting the Happy
Hour sign. His woman, with a
brat in tow, wore a looseflowing stained white dress that
for a moment became
transparent in the light of the
doorway, enough for all to see
that she wore nothing else. The
staff looked horrified but said
nothing.
Once free of the land, we enjoyed ourselves
immensely; not much to worry about except the
time or the date to fill in the ships log and listen
to the weather. On the 30th we slipped anchor
and headed north to Townsville.
Anchored that night at Cape Upstart and with
the moon well down, we experienced strong
Easterlies and were thankful that the nowdarkened bay provided us shelter; otherwise we
would have had no choice but to move off a lee
shore and continue into the night. The run to
Magnetic Island, I decided, was more than a
day's journey as I plotted the course on the
chart in the warm safety of the saloon
surrounded by the aroma of curry on the boil.
The anchor held but not so the vessel off to
starboard; there was frantic activity on-board as
their anchor dragged and the unfortunate vessel
was heading for the shoals.
0400 hours saw us underway; the light norwesterlies had returned, and so we sailed close
hauled under full sails maintaining the Rum line
I had drawn on the chart the previous evening.
The coastline to port that, for a long time had
been featureless, now became more impressive
in the morning light; steep mountains slid to the
waters edge coated in a noticeably thinner layer
of green. The passage was becoming more
exciting as we cleared Cape Cleveland, we could
clearly see the white-colour buildings of the Port
of Townsville way off to port, but the wind
veered abruptly to the east so I decided to run
for Picnic Bay at the southern part of Magnetic
Island.
Seven Years
Walking along the beach enjoying
the warmth and solitude, we came
across a houseboat; an aluminium
pontoon craft with an Atco Donga
(construction office) perched on top.
There, in the shade of a large awning,
sat the owner of this mobile
establishment in a chair made from
mangrove tree roots; he looked like a
modern-day Robinson Crusoe. Potted
plants of all sizes and descriptions
surrounded him and knick-knacks
hung here and there acquired over
the years of his life as a beachcomber.
It was interesting to note that when
strolling towards this spectacle on the
beach, we noticed that whoever we
happened upon seemed to be
avoiding going near or even looking
towards this odd-looking craft
perched on the high-water mark. It's
funny that my wife and I, with our
usual adventure in our hearts, made a
beeline for this strange site, as soon
as we laid eyes on it. Our man
introduced himself as we came near
and invited us aboard. There we sat
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
for most of the morning. Bob had some stories to tell, not
all exciting but a multitude of tales that flowed forth like
the waters of a bursting dam. After about two hours, I
stopped looking around to slow the tsunami of fables
enough to bid farewell; but not before our new friend,
Bob told us of the story of the locals who did not like him
or his lifestyle at all and indeed had caused him physical
harm on some dark evening as he returned to his abode.
Coffee, ah the sweet aroma of it is a welcome
introduction to any morning anchorage; we were soon off
on another adventure.
The weather report indicated a southerly change as we
motored into a narrow channel
between two small islands.
Word was that these islands
were off-limits, supposedly
used by the military as a
bombing range. We laughed
nervously about this whilst
attending a barbeque and
drinks, ashore with the crew,
Arnold and Jan, from the yacht
Magic Flute that lay at anchor
not far north of us, just off the
rocky shore.
It proved to be an
uncomfortable anchorage until
after midnight; the southerly
change came in with the
change of the tide, so we slept the rest of the
night in calm waters.
We sipped on morning coffee as we watched, in
anticipation, the crew of Magic Flute, in a
desperate effort to disentangle their anchor
chain that had wrapped itself firmly around a
coral outcrop. It did not surprise me as both
yachts had been sailing 360s around the
anchorage due to a wind against tide situation,
until the southerly change in that bombing
range known as Rattlesnake Island..
Red Girl Cruising the Queensland coast
Seven Years
Pioneer Bay was as good as it gets; we were
convinced of that. The crystal-clear water, the
diving, fishing and the socializing aboard
neighbouring vessels and sundowners in the
cockpit full of floating neighbours was a
fantastic time. Oh what days they were! There
were smiling, sunburnt faces, Hawaiian shirts
and the women in various tropical garb with
carved trinkets on beaded thongs, platted hair
lengths with feathers and a constant chatter
one can only get among close friends, despite
the fact that we had just met.
Ships Log; September 14th 1994,
anchored Zoe Bay in company with a very
modern-looking catamaran of perhaps
46ft.
She had a raked mast, a small jib, and blunt
bows and Wind Rider painted across her aft
cross member. She looked very neat indeed.
We met the Skipper and his wife ashore, as my
wife and I headed for a water hole about which
we had heard so much. Loaded up with soap
and towels, we idled along a jungle path until
we came upon a magnificent waterfall and a
swimming hole. We stripped naked and
plunged in and, whilst surrounded by hundreds
of curious little fish, we lathered up; our skin
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
just tingled as we returned to explore the
beach. Back on-board, I decided that we had
time to motor to Lucinda, so we upped anchor
and were away in no time. Ashore, we hit the
pub and had a fantastic night. Next day we
hitch hiked into the sleepy hollow known as
Ingham for some supplies before sailing up the
Hinchinbrook Channel. Another night at a pub
and we met the amused locals, some of whom
were real characters; they referred to us as
Hippies of the Sea.
Top end…
It was blowing hard, from the south east, as we
anchored beside five other yachts off the
fragrant and mysterious shores of Muralug
Island, located just to the south of Thursday
Island in the far northeast of the Australian
continent. All these cruising vessels lay in wait
for the wind to subside before venturing across
what was to be the widest expanse of water we
had attempted so far. The idea of going ashore
and exploring this strange place excited us, but
the local police advised us not to go ashore at
night because of the crime among the blacks
who lived in basic conditions. These supposedly
dangerous folks could be seen getting about
through the day; we could see their simple
dwellings through the coconut trees and it all
seemed so exotic to us, we, who had never
seen such things. Sundowners are always an
enjoyable time when anchored off tropical
shores, especially true on our boat where we
had jam sessions that went on well into the
night. We quickly gained a reputation as the
party boat and soon people from the shore
along with the other yachties turned up for
sundowners. My wife loved to entertain, cooked
up some delicious feasts for us all as we played
music and sang and told stories into the night.
Except to recover from the night before, there
was not much to do through the day in this
anchorage. Later in the afternoon, we would go
ashore to the pub and mingle with the blacks,
who played pool and just lazed about.
Lizard Island
Seven Years
Now, before venturing into this mysterious
group of islands, we had heard that there was a
lot smuggling of marijuana from Australia's
neighbour to the north. The recently elected
conservative government, in their infinite
wisdom, had disarmed the whole country after
seemingly overreacting to a staged shooting in
Tasmania. Therefore, there was a bit of business
going on in this part of the world; the militants
in New Guinea were trading guns for Ganja.
"Hey man, wanna buy some New Guinea Gold"?
Said one Bob Marley character as he stumbled
past where we sat. I replied, "No man; we is
ok", not because I would not mind having a little
smoke, but because I was not too keen to do
business with these wild looking folks. However,
my South African friend informed me that he
wanted to buy some as he was planning to sail
directly to Durban from here. "Christ" I thought,
"Durban is about three thousand miles away". I
naturally assumed that he would have had
experience doing business with the blacks and
could handle himself and knew what he was
doing, but no, he wanted me to introduce him to
the Bob Marley type. So there I was, in this
island pub, probably assisting some guerrilla
war effort in the jungles of New Guinea, making
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
of it all right and I knew from that
strong musty aroma, that this stuff
was primo grade. I passed the
one-pound bag to my friend and
incredulous as it might seem he
told me to give the fat guy some of
the shit back. I returned a couple of buds and
then my friend says, "Give him some more". As
I passed some more back to the black guy, I
saw the smile on his chubby face. That night we
got stoned and I think I made hot love with my
wife, cannot be sure.
He asked me to accompany him ashore to pick
up the dope and then told me that he had paid
these people already. "Are you serious"?
inquiries to get our hands on some of that Ganja
about which we had heard so much. Shortly
after, I left my friend to negotiate and was
happy to be out of the situation; too dangerous
for me. Later on, he came aboard my boat
joining my wife and I, and countless other party
animals; we were well into sundowners. He
asked me to accompany him ashore to pick up
the dope and then told me that he had
paid these people already. "Are you
serious"? I said to him in disbelief.
It was another one of those beautiful
tropical evenings as we motored against
the fast flowing tide, in my dinghy,
ashore to the jetty; we climbed the stairs
to the top and waited nervously, under a
single light, for these guys to turn up.
Sure enough, four Bob Marley types
arrived in a dusty, red, Toyota four-wheel
drive. The fat one, in the front passenger
side, passed me a bag of Ganja. Standing
beside the Toyota, I pulled a seedless
head from the bag and I put it to my
nose to make a show of checking the
quality. However, I recognized the smell
"Hey man,
wanna buy
some New
Guinea Gold"?
Seven Years
Eds note: Randall and his bride sailed on to
Gove where they changed boats. Red Girl was
out and Zenith, a steel yawl was in. As it
turned out they needed the additional room of
the bigger boat as his brides 2 children joined
the crew. From Gove it was the Kimberley and
beyond.
Jus Havin fun!
There was an incident that can only be described as
the most stupid thing I have ever done in my life.
We were hanging around the beautiful Yampi
Sound in the Kimberly region in the far north west
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
of Australia and had settled into a comfortable
anchorage off the mouth of Crocodile Creek. On a
high rocky section of the shore, about a mile up
this tidal creek, lived a lovely, crazy couple called
Phil and Marion. We were in absolutely gorgeous,
wild country. The crocodiles and the fish were
plentiful and there were very few people around
other than other yachties and a few locals and the
sailing was superb. It was at one of the parties we
attended in this lovely place we heard of the
Horizontal Waterfalls. I had seen
a documentary about the place on
TV some time ago, and so we
decided to go take a look. This
amazing phenomenon was
situated in Talbot Bay, a huge
expanse of water that extended
deep into the sparse landscape;
there was a narrow entrance from
Yampi Sound. There is no
hydrographical chart available for
the bay; we did manage to obtain
an old army map and some local
advice on how to get there. We
were advised to go with the tide,
normal in this part of the world
where ten-meter tides are
common. Early in the morning, on
what promised to be a beautiful day, we upped
anchor and headed towards Cockatoo Island at the
end of which we had to pass through a narrow gap.
This was exciting stuff indeed, as the whole ocean
turned left into a fast-flowing river in which our old
steel yacht became helplessly trapped until we
were spat out the other side into Talbot Bay. We
stuck to the middle of the bay as we cruised at 12
knots over the ground running with the tide. Either
side of us, raised mountainous rugged hills,
covered in red rocks and spinifex bushes; and not
a soul or a building to be seen. The current pushed
us on for the morning, deeper into this uncharted
bay; later, when deep into this immense waterway,
as instructed we took a turn to port. This lead into
a narrower section; ahead, I could see a
disturbance in the water. I had to act quickly, I
thrust the lever forward to full throttle, the engine
responded and, just in time, we changed course to
starboard; the disturbance in the water to port
showed a reef that projected half way across the
waterway. God knows what would have happened
to us if we had run aground on that reef at such a
speed in this isolated place. The narrow channel
opened up into a huge bay that went back into the
barren hills and right in the middle was a big pearl
farm. We motored through this farm; there was no
sign of life and in the late afternoon we anchored in
a shallow area off a low wooded shore at the far
end of this enormous bay. We could hear the roar
of the Horizontal Waterfalls in the night and it was
with excitement we pushed off in the dinghy the
next morning to go and see this momentous
natural phenomenon. The two bays fill and ebb, ten
metres every six hours, through narrow gaps in the
sheer rock face.
Seven Years
It was spectacular to see the waters of
this bay fall into the next; we motored
back and forth across its mouth far
enough away so we were not caught up
in the rushing current. "Well let's go and
take a look", said my wife. "We can't go
down there", was my reply, but she
insisted that we should "take a look". I
looked at her face and could see that she
was serious, so I said "Ok" and without
considering the consequences, I turned
the dinghy bow towards the roaring
Horizontal Waterfall.
We went down and down, following the
falling water at an alarming rate, the
dinghy, out of control. The kids were
hanging on for dear life, screaming. I had
that old Johnson outboard motor flat out
trying to get around what seemed to be a
20-foot high wall of water looming above
us as we hit the bottom. We had no
sooner found a way around that lifethreatening situation than we found
ourselves in a huge washing machine
with millions of tons of water cascading
into it, a bubbling cauldron of immense
proportions. I could hear the transom of
ETCP 70,
69, Jan.
Nov. -- Feb.,
Dec.,2015
2014
our 12ft aluminium dinghy cracking under the
strain as the bow thrashed from side to side
as I attempted to motor around the edge of a
massive whirlpool. We made it to calm water,
short of breath and with our hearts thumping;
I thought we were goners for sure and if our
dinghy had flipped over nothing would have
saved us. To our astonishment, we then
noticed another dinghy further across this
deserted bay in the middle of the Kimberly. It
turned out to be some blokes from the pearl
farm doing a bit of fishing; they had had the
good sense to enter the bay at slack tide.
"You guys are fucking crazy", was the remark
from one of these rough looking fishermen as
we neared their position. "We could not
believe it when we saw you guys coming
down there", said another, and with that
remark, we looked back across the bay at the
massive waters cascading down through that
narrow gap. On the other side of the bay was
another, narrower gap through which the
waters of this bay squeezed into the next; we
decided that we did not care to explore this
other phenomenon. We waited for some hours
for the bay to fill and for slack tide before
motoring back to Zenith, still anchored where
we left her. We were lucky to be alive.
See next issue for the conclusion of this very
condensed version of 7 Years - Bikes, Babes, Booze
and Boats as our hero bores into the dark heart of
Asia and against all odds finds success and a lot of
intrigue! Or better yet go get your own copy of the
whole thing, the complete edition with all the stuff
even we wouldn’t dare publish!
For Amazon Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008V1CL7A
OR... the ebook from Randalls own website
direct
http://www.randall.asia/SEVEN%20YEARS.htm
Randall “Gypsie”
Hammond is a
professional timber
fitout artist specialising
in luxury yachts with a
career including
shipyard management
but it all began with....
Bikes, Babes, Booze
and Boats
Mobile Yacht Fitout Specialist
* Available on your build site NOW
* Design, fabricate and fit of all vessel interiors
Phone: Randall: 0419 448 230
email: mailto:randall@randall.asia
Website: www.randall.asia
Southport Yacht Club wins prestigious Goodwill Cup
Celebrations are well underway at Southport
Yacht Club after the club's powerboat division
regained the prestigious Goodwill Cup from Royal
Queensland Yacht Squadron following an
absence of four years.
Making the result even sweeter was the fact that the SYC
team won the historic and ornate gold trophy by one of the
biggest margins recorded in the contest's 52-year history.
The Goodwill Cup is a navigation challenge designed to test
the skills of the helmsmen (and women) as well as the
navigators and observers. It is the premier annual competition
between the two prominent clubs.
Such was the superiority of the Southport Yacht Club team
this year that club boats filled four of the top five places in the Southport Yacht Club's Goodwill Cup team winners of the Goodwill Cup 2014
two divisions. The courses were set on the waters around Peel
Island, in the southern region of Moreton Bay over the
team all 60 of us - and it worked. The Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron cup
weekend. A strong wind and choppy seas made this year's competition the
defenders knew they were in trouble from the outset when our team arrived as
toughest in many years for the 44 competing boats.
one wearing identical red shirts courtesy of our sponsor, Wild Oats Wines.”
“This is a wonderful achievement for our club,” said Southport Yacht Club
commodore, Phil Short, today. “The Goodwill Cup reflects the great boating spirit
that has existed between these two clubs over decades: the trophy means a lot
to both clubs.
“The SYC victory reflected the dedication and determination that exists within
our club one based around a team spirit. We went to this year's contest as a
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
Commodore Short was quick to recognise that this year's challenge drew on
sailors from both the powerboat and sailing divisions within the Club. He also
acknowledged the assistance he received from the Vice Commodore Power,
Graham Webb, and Past Commodore Rob Mundle OAM, who was the team
captain.
Photo and words courtesy of Southport Yacht Club
Black Jack and Alive set for Southport Yacht Clubs Sail Paradise 2015
Black Jack at Sail Paradise 2014
Alive, Winner at Sail Paradise 2014
photos by Michael Jennings
Two of Australia's best ocean racing yachts, both entries in the 2014 Rolex
Sydney Hobart race, have been confirmed as entries for Southport Yacht
Club's Sail Paradise series, which will be contested off the Gold Coast from
March 6 to 8.
Peter Harburg has advised that his highly competitive Volvo 70, Black
Jack, will return to the three-day regatta, as will last year's Sail Paradise
champion yacht, Alive, owned by Tasmanian Phillip Turner. Ironically, Alive,
a 66-footer, is Harburg's previous yacht.
Black Jack's sailing master, Mark 'Squark' Bradford, said his team was out
to turn the tables on Alive at Sail Paradise 2015.
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
“It's a great regatta, one full of potential,” Bradford said, “so we are looking
forward to some excellent racing in March, particularly against Alive.”
Sail Paradise is considered one of the friendliest regattas in Australia. It offers
excellent sailing offshore, and exceptional hospitality at Southport Yacht Club.
The regatta is open for a wide variety of sailboats from Grand Prix level ocean
racers to cruising yachts, racing and cruising multihulls and off-the-beach
smallboats.
Over 50 competitors competed in 2014, with an expected 70 plus vessels at
Sail Paradise 2015. The Notice of Race is available along with the online entry
at www.sailparadise.com.au
Words courtesy of Southport Yacht Club
Noosa Yacht & Rowing Club
Awards Local Primary Schools
The Noosa Yacht & Rowing Club's Youthsail program recently awarded each of the
Primary Schools in the region a Yachting Australia Tackers Sailing Course to be
used as an award for a student aged 6yrs to 12yrs for their efforts during the past
school year.
NYRC Sailing Manager, Paul Blundell commented: “ The Tackers program voucher,
Valued at $365.00, was provided to 11 schools in the area so school staff could
award a student for a job well done. We made it clear to all the schools that this
was not an Award only focussed on academic achievement. The Tackers award
could be used to commend a student who has improved throughout the year or
just as a pat on the back for a kid that, for any number of reasons, has had a
crappy year and deserved a bit of a lift.
The Yachting Australia National Tackers program was specifically designed for
Primary School aged kids and serves to help build self-esteem and confidence, an
awareness and appreciation of their environment, develop their motor skills and
value team work whilst learning to basics of sailing using the wind, tide and
current as their only propulsion.
We hope to make this an annual undertaking to provide the schools with an extra
award opportunity and to introduce the local kids to the sport of sailing and the
family focussed Club environment offered here at the Noosa Yacht & Rowing
Club.”
For more details see the Clubs website: www.nyrc.com.au
Words courtesy of the Noosa Yacht & Rowing Club
ETCP 70, Jan. - Feb., 2015
MARINE INSURANCE
Are you getting the run-a-round trying to find the right cover?
DG Marine is able to help!
From Ferro to Multihulls(including Blue Water Cruising)
Also Third Party only!
get an online quote:
www.dgmarine.com.au
DG Marine - Australian Distributor
dgmarine@bigpond.net.au
0438 563 164
Boats & stuff for sale & rent
See the web site for more information and payment details.
www.thecoastalpassage.com/boatsforsale.html
email TCP: mail@thecoastalpassage.com
with photos and text. We do the rest!
SY New Song
42'6'' on deck, 3.6 mtr Beam, 1.8 draft, Samson cutter rigged ketch, centre cockpit. 45hp HRW Lister Diesel, Eutectic
fridge, Radar, GPS, Electric anchor winch, 2x225litre fuel, 450litre water, Gas cooker, Hydraulic Steering, TMQ AutoPilot, Arco winches, Aquapro dinghy with 4hp Yamaha O/B, 60lb plough anchor on 10mm s/l chain (80m) spare 45lb
plough.
New Song is a reliable passage maker and comfortable live aboard yacht. With double bunk , nav station and vanity
aft. A “galley alley” leads forward to a spacious saloon forward of which is the head/shower, sail bin and tool area, the
forepeak has a vee berth and chain locker. Deck work is easy as most sail control lines lead to the cockpit. I have sailed
many miles single handed. We have moved to small acreage, and offer her for sale as a great opportunity for anyone
interested in cruising, an extremely satisfying and enjoyable lifestyle. We would also be very negotiable to a buyer who
would take her over and use her well. New Song is currently moored at Iluka, on the NSW north coast. The vessel is
probable worth 70k but the asking price is 45k ono, considering the current boat market, and my desire to see her carry
someone else on their cruising adventure.
$45,000 ono
For more details & photos see: www.thecoastalpassage.com/monohulls.html
or phone owner, Geoff on 0414 857 300
AQUARIUS 35
One of the cleanest you will find anywhere! Designed by the well
known and respected designer Clem Masters. Powered by a Perkins 240
hp diesel, with a top speed of 15 knots, this is a perfect bay boat,
particularly for someone who loves fishing.
Moored at Beachmere, Caboolture River. $110,000 ono
Currently on the hard being serviced and antifouled
Contact Rick: 0413 733 143 email: suebett@bigpond.com
For more pictures and details see: www.thecoastalpassage.com/motorvessels.html
MOULDS FOR SALE
and/or SHED FOR RENT
52 feet
Burgess
Catamaran
Would you like to
build one of these?
Finished boat available for
inspection near Tweed Heads, NSW
For more info:
ph: 0418 746 773
email: bobburgessb52@gmail.com
18x12mtr. / 60x40ft.
Power & water
Quiet & clean
Located near south
Tweed Heads, NSW
For more info:
ph: 0418 746 773
email: bobburgessb52@gmail.com
LIZARD YACHTS
Peter Kerr designs
Plans For the Amateur and Professional Builder
In ALUMINIUM to Survey standards if required
POWER AND SAIL 7m - 15m
This site will feature building projects from as great a
variety of materials and build methods as possible.
If it's a cat or any project that relates or enlightens
we want to feature it here. How about yours??
Share your experience or learn from others
www.lizardyachts.com.au
www.buildacat.com
pete@lizardyachts.com.au
0428 857 336
ADVERTISE IN THE ONLINE COASTAL PASSAGE!
The Coastal Passage
AD RATES for ETCP (inc GST)*
Full page... $200
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site and email address on
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but still the same Coastal Passage boaties world-wide have come to love!
For more information on advertising in the E-TCP go to:
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complexity of ad.
Deadline for TCP 71:
February 23, 2015

- The Coastal Passage Home Page

Transcription

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