'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West' - Back by popular demand!

Back by popular demand!

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'

Pete Bernfeld

Wed 20 Mar 2013 21:33

Sorry about the lengthy silence. This hasn't been due to a hectic social life, although I did have a very pleasant night off the boat staying with ex-brother in law Barry in deepest suburbia. No, life just ticks over here on the river with me going ashore perhaps once or twice a week for water and/or to stock up on baked beans (0.69c a large tin) potatoes and onions. Monotonous but I can't say that I'm fading away possibly due to the fact I've pretty much got the naan bread production sussed. And lets not forget the perennial favourite, rice, onions, a pinch of curry powder and a tin of diced tomatoes (also conveniently 69c) chucked in the pressure cooker for ten minutes then lightly fried. I hesitate to use the description 'yum' but it makes a change from beans and naan bread. Noodles with diced onion, tomato, egg and sausage are a popular treat as well although with no fridge the sausages last about four/five days before turning a fetching but suspicious shade of green. Perhaps they're just maturing rather than going off, a bit like hanging a pheasant (with an 'h', we don't hang peasants on Troutbridge although dodgy engine repairers are definitely at risk). So there you go, on Troutbridge 'we' dine on pheasant four nights a week, life can't be that bad! Wine I hear you ask? Frequently! Oh sorry, that should have been w(h)ine. Wine depends on book sales (one good month this year, no sales this month...hint hint) and of course there is also Calypso's home brew. The cider was more than acceptable and I'm dropping broad hints about taste testing the new pear creation. I'm sure it'll be delicious but before it receives an endorsement I need to actually try some.

With the return of bigger tides comes 'THAT LEAK'. Yes it's back but not by popular demand. It's obviously water-over-the-hull related (just call me Sherlock from now on OK?) as opposed to just a hole. My solution? Sail slowly! That won't be too difficult as I now have a fair bit of growth on the hull. The water is a little unappealing to dive in and was made even more so when I heard that sharks have in the past been seen even further up the river. Yikes!! The working gib is beyond any sort of economic repair and having discovered the price of a replacement it's beyond any form of economic replacement as well. However the bright side (call me insanely optimistic or just plain insane) is that I have plenty of sailcloth to repair the small rip in the gennaker. That's the new boat project. Actually it's the only boat project. Hauling out or indeed anything else that actually needs to be paid for is out. January book sales will allow me to leave Brisbane with full fuel tank, an endless supply of beans and flour and a lot of mindless optimism. Hey, the book contract in the offing will obviously lead to a movie deal, right? The publishing contract that was in the offing a couple of weeks ago Emma the Agent has gone cold on for a couple of reasons but a new Indie publisher in the States (USA) 'loves' the first Eliezer book. We'll see, it is a new publishing company but you've got to start somewhere. In the meantime Karno is having an adventure in deepest Guyana (now where did I get that idea from???) and should be ready for publication around the end of this month, provided I get my finger out and on the keyboard!

The time for a departure or a decision on whether to sell Trouters is approaching, indeed one might say relentlessly stalking me. Getting a job in Ozworld is definitely out and tentative inquiries in the UK have not been encouraging. The sail up to Darwin is mainly in day-hops with dry land conveniently close to hand (left-hand down a bit!) should other leaks manifest themselves. Dry land along with Salties and other assorted lethal wildlife. Darwin to Indonesia is but a mere hop,skip and a jump (hopefully not followed by a lot of splashing). If I have enough left on my flexible friend I might sign up for the sail Indonesia Rally, mainly because the cost of getting an Indonesian cruising permit isn't that much less than the rally fee. Barry tells me that Singapore is now insanely expensive so it's orft to Malaysia as fast as Trouters can be persuaded to sail and remain afloat. A 'direct shot' from Darwin to Malaysia is just over two thousand miles but not all in open ocean so not impossible, just a bit tedious. We'll see, who knows what may yet transpire.

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