Journal Entries

July 2006

1 July - Two years have passed since I bought my yacht and my life took a whole new direction. I find it hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly, but on the other hand it feels like I've been on my boat forever.

I recently bought a book which I have been wanting to read ever since I saw a quote from it. The book is "Wanderer" by Sterling Hayden. I couldn't get a copy in Australia and had to order it from the U.S. He was an interesting man who at the height of his Hollywood career, earning $160,000 per year (in 1956) turned his back on Hollywood and went on a voyage. He was broke at the time. The reason he was broke was, because despite earning such enormous amounts of money his lifestyle required such an income. Remembering that we are talking 1956 values here. He was renting a house for $600 per month, employed a nanny for his children, a cook, owned 2 European cars, paid an agent 10% and a business manager and a lawyer both 5%.

He writes of this situation:-

"Why get into such a situation in the first place? And why not get out? Simple. The same deficiencies of character that led me into Hollywood prevented my escape. We are systematic people. We have a systematic approach to almost everything - from raising children to getting buried. Somehow it is the males duty to put the best years of his life into work he doesn't like in order that he may "retire" and enjoy himself as soon as he is too old to do so. This is more than just the system - it is the credo. It is the same thing that prompted Thoreau to say, in 1839: "The majority of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

In many ways I feel like I'm living in Hayden's Hollywood. Although I'm not earning a million dollars a year, I am earning a reasonable income by any mans standard. But after paying rent for my marina berth, rent for my office, wages for my secretary, insurance for professional negligence and certification fees to a regulated body, I'm left with little. On top of that I am forced by law to attend 10 hours of "further education" each year which costs a few thousand dollars more. Then there are the $100 dollar lunches which are obligatory to network with people I wouldn't associate with on a personal level, dry cleaning of suits and the list goes on.

I have fallen into the trap that Sterling Hayden describes as,

"a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed."

Probably a good thing I read that book as it's really forced me to make a decision about getting away from Brisbane and going to Tasmania for a while. I'm in need of some adventure and a change of scenery.

I have talked to friends on yachts who are currently cruising the world and anchored off a little beach in places like Thailand and throughout Asia and needing very little money to live. They tell me when they go to dinner they visit a local restaurant on the beach, have a beautiful Thai seafood dinner for two with wine all for $2.00. I have heard similar stories from people who have sailed to places like South America. When I hear stories like that and look at what I'm doing with my life I feel like there is something seriously wrong with the way we live.

28 July - I'm heading off this weekend across the bay and down to the boatyard to slip my yacht. It's been well over a year since she was last slipped and is need of a bottom scrub and some new antifoul. Should be a nice sail since the bureau is predicting 10-15knots NE and fine weather. There are a few showers still hanging around but I'm optimistic they will clear for the weekend. I have a few things I need to do before heading off though, so I'm running around madly arranging things. I just had my little mercury 3.3hp outboard serviced so hopefully it's going to run perfectly this weekend.

29 July - I finally got everything organised so I could take off this weekend. I really need to get the boat into a state so that it is ready to sail at short notice. It's hard to do when living in a marina and the boat becomes more like an apartment than a boat. Things are left on deck which wouldn't last 5 minutes at sea.

I set off in the late afternoon and headed straight down the river and across to Moreton Island. The trip across the bay was under motor unfortunately since there was hardly any wind. I love sailing at night and it is a different sky than that viewed in the city.

30 July - Before I left, I thought I might buy a fishing rig to try some fishing. I'm not fond of it as a sport, but figure I will need to be able to catch fish at some point in the future. I bought a small hand line and a little box of lures. Total cost about $5.00. I put one of the little rubber lures on the line and cast it over the bow of the boat. As I began to wind it in I felt a bite and had caught my first fish. It was a small whiting and I decided not to keep it since it was on the small side. I cast the line in about 10 more times without any luck. Here's a photo of me on the bowsprit taken just before I hooked the whiting using my flash new $5.00 fishing rig. I wonder if I had bought the $10.00 rig whether that whiting would have been twice as big?

I decided to trawl the line off the back of the dinghy and take a slow pass along the wrecks. The newly serviced 3.3hp mercury ran without fault and within a few minutes I had a bite and had hooked a large bream. I recognised that this was an iodine bream and recalled someone telling me that they were not good eating and needed to be prepared by bleeding them. After removing the hook, returning the fish to the water and dealing with a major bout of guilt, I decided I was done fishing. I headed back to the boat for vegetable soup and a beautiful sunset.

Unfortunately my camera broke on the weekend, so I don't have many photos to post.

31 July - I left the anchorage at about 6am and had a slow sail across the bay. I had to be up the creek at Deagon Slipway by 1pm for the top of the tide. I always get nervous going up that shallow creek and usually bump the bottom a couple of times along the way.

I made it right on 1pm and nudged the boat onto the cradle ready for slipping. When she came out of the water Peter was amazed at how clean the hull was. the bottom 2/3rds was like new. After trying to figure out how this was possible we concurred that it was most likely due to being in the river. The combination of a fast current and no light passing through all the top level sediment probably stopped any growth down low. Once again there were no blisters thanks to the high quality westsail construction.

Despite running a busy little slipway, Peter always makes time to talk to me. He is a wealth of knowledge and I trust him completely to not only do the job right, but to do the right thing by me.

I wish I had some photos to post on the site but since my camera broke you will have to be satisfied with a description. I will have to organise a new camera soon. Just what I needed.....another expense.