Journal Entries

January 2007

1 January - Happy New Year.

I have been trying to finish up all the jobs I started so I could get away sailing. Unfortunately I couldn't go before Christmas but managed to get away today.

Below are the photos taken a couple of days ago of the jib sheet track replacement. You can see the old corroded aluminium track below. Although they are anodized it only takes one scratch and the anodized finish is ruined.

I removed the old rail, sanded the timber caprail and put a couple of coats of cetol on to seal it.

the next job was to shape a teak base to the caprail which was done compliments of the river queen shipwright. You can see the new brass track which has been drilled using the old track as a template.

the teak base looking aft port side.

slowly fitting the new brass track

and finally fitted with a light polish.

I had a bit of running around to do getting bits and pieces for the jib sheet tracks and also needed to get some petrol for the outboard and some diesel. My sole means of transport these days is my new folding bike and folding bike trailer. I love this little rig and it allows me to trek anywhere around brisbane and carry a substantial load. I have done over a 100km this week. The trailer folds flat into it's own carry bag and the bike folds in half. I need to get a bag made for the bike so I can stow below when voyaging.

I finally did get away on New Years Day and sailed throughout the day over to moreton island. I keep going back to moreton island as it's such a great spot. Below is a photo taken after anchoring and settling in for the night. The sunsets get me every time.

2 January - The anchorage was pretty busy today and I decided to go for a run and explore a bit of the island. Moreton island is the highest sand island in the world and I figured that's a good reason to climb it. Below is a view from the top.

Below is the anchorage with El Viajero in the foreground and a nice old timber ketch in the background.

Fortunately I didn't have to use my motor much to get over here from Brisbane and I tend not to use it much anyway. This lack of use however tends to encourage barnacles to make the prop home. I went in the water to find the prop pretty crusty and the photo below is after scraping away the barnacles. You can see where the antifoul paint has come off with the barnacles. This shouldn't be a problem as long as I regularly clean it. I also cleaned around the waterline of the hull.

There are always dolphins around Moreton Island and following are some photos of dolphins cruising around the anchorage.

The dolphin in the foreground looks like he might have had run in with a boat propeller or maybe a shark. It's no surprise that this type of thing could happen since there are speed boats tearing around all the time. Speed boats are the worst enemy of slow turtles and dugong. I've seen some really unpleasant photos of a dugong and her calf sliced up by a speed boat propeller.

4 January - I moved from the anchorage early this morning and dropped anchor just outside the resort. I wanted to get a block of chocolate and newspaper for the trip back to Brisbane.

Shortly after at about 9.30am I weighed anchor and sailed out of the anchorage toward Brisbane.

There was a nice 8-10 knot South/East breeze as I headed out onto the bay.

I didn't need to be to the mouth of the river until after 5pm and I thought it would be a nice way to spend the day sailing.

It was midday and I was starting to get a bit hungry. I furled the headsail, pulled the main on hard and lashed the tiller over to the leeward side. I was now in a classic text book hove to position. You can see in the photo below how well the westsail with her full keel keeps the hove to position. The turbulence from the full keel is clearly visible in the left of the photo as the boat slips sideways. I monitored my drift rate for just over an hour.

While I was hove to I went below and made a coffee and some fruit buns I had baked yesterday with some marmalade.

So here I was virtually parked in the middle of moreton bay with a strong breeze, slightly lumpy swell and sitting back relaxing with a cup of coffee. I was hove to for 1 hour and 15 minutes and my drift rate was 0.6 of a knot. I could have reduced my drift rate by deeply reefing the main, but I was actually drifting in a direction I wanted so I wasn't concerned.

Soon after I resumed sailing and I wanted to try "sheet to tiller steering". I had read about this concept which basically uses your sail as a wind vane to steer the boat. You can see in the photo below how I have some black elastic on the left to the tiller and on the right a rope goes through a pulley and up to the end of the boom. When the boat starts to head up into the wind the apparent wind force on the mainsail increases. This increased pressure pulls the rope which goes down through the pulley to the tiller. The transfer of force then pulls the tiller which steers the boat back off the wind. After tuning the setup I was able to sail for almost 2 hours without touching the tiller. This system works wonderfully when sailing 70 - 90 degrees off the wind but I don't know about pointing high. I will try that next time. It's comforting to know that if your auto pilot or wind vane fails you can use simple but ingenious system as a backup. I will be doing more experimentation with it in the very near future.

As the afternoon wore on the wind was picking up and the seas were getting more lumpy. I had managed to dodge the occasional shower and it was time to head back to Brisbane.

This was a great day sailing.

I made it back to the marina at about 8pm and I was going to wait until midnight for a slack tide to bring the boat in but as it was running in and I back into my berth I figured I would give it a shot. After a little maneuvering I managed to get the boat into the berth with a running tide of about 3 knots. I'm settled back in and back to work tomorrow.

10 January - I have been managing to get plenty of jobs done onboard these past few weeks. I just installed a little rack with fiddles on the wall of the bathroom. It has made a nice difference. You can see it in the left of the photo below.

I have also had some new light fittings made to replace the flouro lights with new low voltage l.e.d. lighting. I should have these sorted in the next week or so. There are so many jobs to do to personalise a yacht and plenty of tips to gain from experienced cruisers. I picked up plenty of great tips from Lyn and Larry Pardey in their books and dvds.

12 January - The weather has been pretty bad the last couple of days and there was a pretty good blow out on the bay. I packed the boat up and headed out at 4.30pm on the turn of the tide. After a couple of hours I was at the mouth of the river facing 18 - 20 knots and a steep 1.5 metre swell straight from the direction I wanted to go. I was forced to motor down the narrow channel until the water was deep enough to tack. As soon as the water got to 2.5 metres on the chart I put the sails up and headed across the bay. It was pretty tough going. It took me 12 hours sailing to weather and several tacks to reach moreton island. I got to sleep at 4.30am and was awake again at 8am. The wind had turned and was blowing through the anchorage. I could see it wasn't going to be a pleasant stay and I was hoping to spend Sunday doing some research work. I decided to head back to Brisbane at 11am.

13 January - The wind was blowing 15 knots from the North East and this was going to be a fast and easy down hill run home. I weighed anchor, hoisted the sails and blasted straight out of the anchorage. My new solar panel is working beautifully. The 10 degree angle is perfect for catching the sun early or late or when heeled over slightly. It gives me about 4 amps. When I get another on port side they should give me a reliable power source.

I was cruising across the bay averaging 6.5 knots.

I needed to head down wind to intercept the river channel so I put a full main sail out to the port side and furled the head sail. I need to sort my whisker pole situation so it's easier to use. I played around with it for a while trying to pole out the genoa but after bashing myself in the head I decided 6.5 knots with a main was as good as I needed.

I recently had some little rings welded onto the stanchion bases to connect the running back stays. I also wanted to use one set of these to connect a boom preventer when running down wind. I can now remove the boom vang from the mast base and attach it to the leeward side to work as a preventer. The photo below shows the vang attached to the stanchion base.

The trip back to the leads of the channel took me 2.5 hours compared with 9 - 10 hours the night before. It's amazing how fast you can travel when the weather gods are with you. The photo below shows the following sea which assisted in the fast passage.

I was pretty exhausted after the last couple of days but I think that type of trip is a good test for me to practice my sailing skills and get used to minimal sleep on passages.

I will spend the next few weeks doing jobs on the boat and trying to make some money for new sails and bits and pieces. I think 2007 is going to be a year of huge changes in my life.

17 January - Since living onboard I have found there are several things about the interior of the boat which don't work for me. One is the starboard settee. It's a really nice wide base and more than comfortable to use as a berth but the back cushions are about 3-4 inches thick and need to be removed to use as a berth. It's a pain to find a place to stow the cushions and I got a great idea from the Pardey dvds which suggest having 'back rolls" which are basically just small rolls which sit just below shoulder level. That way they can be permanently mounted and when used as a berth your body fits in under them and no width is lost. So I tossed out the cushions and unfortunately behind the cushions was pretty ugly. There was painted marine ply with 3 storage cupboard doors cut in. I was extremely fortunate to have a talented cabinet maker on hand. Sean is from ireland and is a perfectionist. He has lined the area with rosewood slats and made 3 lovely hinged doors which are barely noticeable. Sean's work is so perfect that it makes the rest of the boat look bad. Below is a photo of the new timber, but before the plugs have been put in. I will be replacing the stainless piano hinge with a brass one.

21 January - Brisbane summer has finally caught up with me. It's extremely humid today and I thought a trip to the new state library would be a cool (temperature) place to spend the day. The Queensland government has just poured a tonne of money into the library and arts complex and it really is a beautiful space right on the river. Below is a photo from the council's live webcam. Can you see me?

Unfortunately I discovered that the new library is more about aesthetics than functionality. I got the distinct impression that someone from the art gallery got the job of designing the place rather than a librarian and thought it would be a novel approach to have wide open spaces with no books. I have spent far more time in libraries than I would like to admit, but I have never been to one which is so poorly set out. Don't get me wrong it looks great, but half of (or maybe more) the books are in storage and you need to order them from the catalogue. Now here is the funny part, collection of the requested books is done on the hour each hour. So if you want to take a look at a book you need to order it, then wait around for possibly up to an hour before you can get it. I like to look through the shelves in specific topic areas but at this library most of the shelves are only waist height. And there's the reason why half the books are in storage. I'm sure there is a good reason for it, perhaps it stops terrorists hiding behind the shelves?

I asked the Nazi lady at reception about registering to borrow and she responded to my request abruptly in monotone, "this is not a borrowing library!"

Ok so after I found a few books on the computerised catalogue and being told they were in storage and I would need to order them I decided to give the whole modern library experience a miss and get a coffee at one of the cafe's in the complex. At least I was still in air conditioning and out of the humidity. I'm not even going to comment on the cafe experience other than it appears that the cafes in the complex are run by the same morons who designed and manage the library. I wonder how people can be so unhappy working in such a beautiful building. Perhaps this is the place where people get sent to do community service and they are all being forced to work.