The Start of Autumn and Easter
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Thu 28 Mar 2013 12:24
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Autumn started as summer ended - wet and windy! The
strong winds reached their highest here on the mooring at 37.6kts. Coming from
the south, rather than southeast, Scotland Island didn't give any protection.
Apart from keeping us penned below, the strong winds gave no problem.
Not so for one of our cruising friends who left port further up the coast and
got 'locked out' (being out at sea when all the bars close due to high
swell) forcing them to take the bad weather at sea - force 10 winds and 10 metre
seas. Having been hove to for 30 hours and been knocked down (mast
spreaders in the water) several times, there was a break in the weather and they
made port (surfing in on the back of a 5 metre wave!) feeling battered, but very
lucky to have survived. If you are unlucky and conditions conspire against you,
this coast can be very unforgiving.
Shortly after that we had the final fitting of our
cockpit curtains and the weather did definitely improve! We've still had a lot
of days with rain, but mostly showers rather than prolonged heavy
rain. This week leading up to Easter, is the first we've had
with a forecast of 4 consecutive dry days. However, we have
had dry days and made progress on the deck. With all the rain, mildew
had started to form and it was not looking good. But we still had enough
wonderful Boracol (a wood preservative) left to treat it. (It was the last of
the batch that we had arranged to be sent out from the UK to the Caribbean
on the Geest banana boat. We've carried it all this way.) 10 days after
treatment and a really good scrub on hand and knees with soap and lots of
water (the old green fairy soap is the best and we went into one of the marinas
here to get access to lots of water), it's come back up and looks really
good again. With the dry conditions we want to give it a light sanding to
remove ridges that occur in some planks, replace some of the caulking between
planks and replace all the remaining screw caps (dowels, bungs), having
replaced 80 or more a week ago.
Other successes: Our dive tanks finally came back
filled (new valves that meet the Australian standards having been sent out from
the UK), our new staysail furler is now working (had to have the riggers
back several times to fix things - it shouldn't have been that difficult) and
our converted staysail came back last weekend and is on the furler. Just
have to get the storm jib converted and then that's all done. We have a new
dinghy which is bigger, but as a result it had to be totally inflatable so
we can stow it (rather than the rib (rigid bottom) that our existing dinghy
has). So to protect the soft bottom we have imported
some wonderfully horrible wheels from America. They look horrible, but
work wonderfully well (luckily we can take them off when not needed!). We
just have to decide whether to get rid of the old dinghy or keep them both
(along with the Avon dinghy that we bought in 1980 and is stowed in
the forepeak locker) - 3 dinghies is excessive, but which is to go? Minor
repairs have been made to our working genoa and our mainsail and outer genoa are
both with the sailmaker here to check over. We want them in top condition for
the passages ahead. We've bought a number of gadgets from the States and
the UK - we found that we could import things, paying for shipping, but still
save significant amounts compared with buying things here. In addition to
looking after the boat we've both had health check-ups (with the reciprocal
agreement that exists with the UK, seeing a doctor and some
treatments/medications are subsidised and are free or not too
expensive). With new pills and potions we're getting ourselves ready
along with the boat.
So things are coming together. Originally we had thought
we would start heading north at the start of April, but with still quite a bit
to do, and having studied the pilot charts (used for route planning) in
more detail, it makes more sense to stay here until the start of May, when
we hope the work will be done and more favourable winds should come along
(should this weather ever decide to follow what's expected of it!). The
cyclone season officially comes to an end on the 1st May and the
predominant winds on this coast in May and June should be from the
south, southwest or west, much better for going north along the coast,
especially as we will have to sail against the current that help us so much
when we came south. Also, winds from the west should keep the bars down
and make them easier to cross (we hope!). We have decided that it
makes sense to have the boat hauled out somewhere (hopefully for only 3 days or
so) to check everything under the water that we had done in New
Zealand, touch-up the antifouling (the Micron 66 seems to be standing up
well, but the Ultra on the waterline is struggling), grease the rudder
bearing and change all the anodes. Finding the best place to do it (here,
Brisbane or further north) is taking a lot of research
and organising. It would be good to get it all done here, but
it's expensive and we need to shop around. Like New Zealand, it's all
back to front (or upside down!) compared with the UK - being on the hard costs a
lot more than being in the water. One of the marinas here in
Pittwater with a big enough hoist to lift us charges $210 a day -
that's about £140! And that's just for being on the hard, it doesn't
include the lift out and back in.
Another job was ticked off this week - servicing the
generator. It was a full service and it all went well until test running it
afterwards when we found that the repair we had made to the heat
exchanger in Fiji was leaking again. Our repair was only a temporary repair, but
we had begun to think (and hope) that maybe the temporary repair might
be permanent. But it was not to be. The good news is that although
well out of warranty, Mastervolt had sent us a new heat exchanger free of
charge, as the failure was due to a production fault, and we had picked it
up when in Brisbane, so have it. The bad news is that it's a horrible, almost
impossible, job to get the heat exchanger out and back in. Hope we can do
it a second time.
One job we really do enjoy is planning routes, reading
all we can from pilots and the Internet, and deciding which charts we want
to buy. We'll have electronic charts to cover the way ahead, but like
to have paper charts for the essential corridor being
followed. Admiralty software helps in choosing charts. It makes
it relatively easy to decide which would be good to have, but it takes
several iterations to get a good compromise between what we would like to have
and what we are willing to spend. There's not a lot of difference
between the cost of buying charts here and ordering them from the UK and getting
them sent out, so we're looking forward to spending a day in the chart shop
in Sydney getting what we need - there's just something about paper charts.
Even after all this time I still find them fascinating.
Easter is now here and like home, Easter Eggs have been
in the shops for weeks. The shops were crowded today with everyone getting all
they need for the holiday. The northwest wind brought warm temperatures again
today, but the forecast suggests a return to showery weather. It's raining
as I'm writing, but it's supposed to stay warm. We have a month to get
everything done, so hope the showers will miss us!
A few pictures of our location and some of the work done
on the boat, but first a few pictures from the Blue Mountains that we didn't
have when reporting on our visit there.
 A few locals that we bumped into in the Blue
Mountains! (That's not including Janice and Clive
who were with us.) An Aboriginal
cultural event in Katoomba.
 Official picture of the scenic cableway down
to the canyon floor. It was so foggy when we
went down we had no idea of height as
we descended into the mist.
 Not unlike our picture, but the light
on the 3 sisters makes this just a little
better!
 The scenic walkway through the temperate
rainforest, when it's not raining! It doesn't have
the
same atmosphere as ours, but it shows what
it can be like.
 Up the mast again! Wanted to check a few
things and lubricate the main halyard sheave to get
rid of a bit of a squeak when hoisting the
sail. Later we had the rig checked by a professional
rigger.
Old dinghy in the water, new dinghy in the davits, and Liz sitting on
the foredeck.
 Views of Scotland Island from the top of the
mast, with houses along the waterfront and
buried
in the trees.
 All come with their own jetty. The ferry
that passes very close to us several times a day is
at
one of the communal jetties.
  Looking across to the mainland. Every bay is
filled with moorings.
 Looking across to Church Point where there's
a good cafe/restaurant, small store and a bus stop
where we catch the bus to Mona Vale, Manly
or, if we get up early enough, Sydney (the last
one leaves for Sydney at 07.30
am!).
 The commuter dock at Church Point - full of
'tinnies' bashing each other to bits every time a
boat
goes past and there is any swell. As they say, it's not 'rubber duck'
friendly. So we're keeping our
old dinghy and use that whenever we have to
leave a dinghy here. It's small enough that we can
generally find a slot somewhere between
all these.
 Flowers that we don't see at home. This is a
Grevillea.
 And another.
 No, it's not nectar, just
rain!
 New cockpit curtains (with the protective
coating still on the clears) that attach to our existing
bimini and enclose the cockpit, creating our very own
conservatory.
 Another Jonathan - this is the one from
North Sails who made the curtains.
 The new Harken staysail furler - that makes
three!
 A visitor - a Welcome
Swallow.
 Another couple of visitors - Sam and Finn
from the yacht Bonaire. We were in the marina getting
a few things done when they came past with
their dad, Tim. We hadn't seen them since June
last year. We were the only yacht at the
island of Matangi on the east coast of Fiji when they
came in to join us. They're from Hayling
Island, just down the road from us in the UK (relatively
speaking).
 Before and after - the start of the deck
work. The left bit is done, the right bit is still to be
done.
We thought we would experiment with the
aft cabin top as it's not too big (and not so
expensive
to replace if we make a mess of
it!).
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