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11-25-2012, 05:16 AM
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#1
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Admiral
Join Date: May 2011
Home Port: Bundarra, NSW
Vessel Name: None
Posts: 1,556
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A Grand Day Out
Today I went sailing for the second time in my life. The first was on a trailer-sailer on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra many years ago. This morning Del (delatbabel) arrived in Chiara Stella, a 40' steel sloop in which he's covered many a (nautical) mile, and took me for a run around Sydney Harbour.
And what a day for it! Sunshine and more sunshine, great seafood at the Fisherman's Markets, good company in the form of Tarrin (recently back from the UK) and Romanian George - and of course Del with his bad jokes - and to top it off, the departure of the biggest liner I've ever seen in my life to spice up the view.
We went out under Sydney Harbour Bridge and past Fort Dennison, within view of the heads and Garden Island Naval Dockyards, did a little fooling around with poling out some sails, but mostly motored.
This has been the break from work I needed, making some new friends and generally relaxing. After getting up at 6am and doing some more work on the foredeck it was the perfect end to a busy week. I just about have enough energy left to sleep for a few hours now. :-)
Rob
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"The cure for anything is salt water... sweat, tears, or the sea" -- Isak Dinesen
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11-25-2012, 05:22 AM
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#2
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Admiral
Join Date: May 2011
Home Port: Bundarra, NSW
Vessel Name: None
Posts: 1,556
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A few snapshots of the day out:
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"The cure for anything is salt water... sweat, tears, or the sea" -- Isak Dinesen
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11-25-2012, 05:27 AM
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#3
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Admiral
Join Date: May 2011
Home Port: Bundarra, NSW
Vessel Name: None
Posts: 1,556
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And that liner!
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"The cure for anything is salt water... sweat, tears, or the sea" -- Isak Dinesen
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01-27-2013, 10:40 AM
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#4
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Admiral
Join Date: May 2011
Home Port: Bundarra, NSW
Vessel Name: None
Posts: 1,556
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Well, we did it again. Del invited me aboard for Australia Day and since I had no prior offers it was a date. He arrived aboard Chiara Stella a little after 9:20am and we stopped at the fuel wharf to top up his water tanks on the way back to the mooring, where some of his workmates - Michael and Katerina - were to arrive.
The day was full of adventures, none the least of which was Del's near miss with my neighbor's Beneteau Oceanis 343 Clipper. I've never seen an engine go into reverse quite as hard as that one did, but we stopped 4" short so it was all good.
There were dead animals cremated on the BBQ, as is the tradition, and we watched the historic ferries and square riggers race through the harbour to the finish line, which is right in front of his mooring. Then, after hauling him up the mast to attach some new flag halyards, the Aussie flag was raised.
The return trip turned out to be something of an adventure as well, with a 35kt wind gusting and doubts that I could get aboard once we arrived. But get aboard I did ... even though there were some small glitches. Don't worry Del, the pushpit already had a number of bends in it, one more won't matter. I just wish you'd hit it on the starboard side, might have straightened out the older kinks. :-)
Rob
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"The cure for anything is salt water... sweat, tears, or the sea" -- Isak Dinesen
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01-28-2013, 08:27 AM
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#5
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Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 700
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Glad you enjoyed it and hope you're making use of the rain. I spent yesterday morning up on deck with some solvent, deck wash and a scrubbing brush getting rid of all of that *(#$*(#@*&$ bird s**t. The bandit showed the seagulls who was boss, but alas once she was back in her cage for the return journey they all reappeared.
I knew there was one job I forgot though -- the flag is still up the mast. I'm off to NZ on Thursday so I probably don't have the time to get out there and take it down. Bad form to leave it up when one's not on board.
Those dead animals had it coming. So did that bendy-toy.
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01-28-2013, 09:41 AM
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#6
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Admiral
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,098
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Quote:
Originally Posted by haiqu
I've never seen an engine go into reverse quite as hard as that one did, but we stopped 4" short so it was all good.
The return trip turned out to be something of an adventure as well, with a 35kt wind gusting and doubts that I could get aboard once we arrived.
Rob
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Deja vu! And I don't care how long you've been doing this, that near miss and worry about losing your guests after getting them back to port can get one's adrenalin pumping for hours afterward.
Oh, the memories. Glad you had an exciting day. Gets the blood flowing hard enough to clear out the arteries, IMO.
Fair winds,
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01-28-2013, 11:01 AM
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#7
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Admiral
Join Date: Jan 2005
Home Port: Darwin
Vessel Name: Sandettie
Posts: 1,917
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I bought a new boat in about 1992 (Southcoast 36) and on the delivery, I ran it aground. Darwin, as some may be aware, has a tidal movement of up to 8 metres so, if you hit bottom on an outgoing tide, there's no reversing off.
Murphy was having a field day; I ran it onto the bricks just 100 metres in front of the bar at the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Club, and it was a Saturday afternoon...First thing I did was turn off the radio. It was there for 4 hours and I was known for a few weeks as Cap'n Mud.
C'est la vie.
Bugger!
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