Cheshire Cat ready to rollOn Friday 16th March Julie, Terina and I headed off on the good ship Cheshire Cat for Pittwater and parts beyond. Most of the fleet had departed on Wednesday but work commitments kept us in Sydney til Friday.
We motored to the heads and then hoisted the sails and headed out to sea. With wind on the nose it looked like being a long tack seawards before turning north. Behind us a pod of dolphins were jumping out of the wtaer to say farewell. And the sun was shining (it seems to be always shining these days) and not too rough. After an hour or so we heard Elessa log on to the coast watch. That meant Maria was behind us. Then Saytama logged on so the three of us chatted a bit on the radio as we headed for the rendezvous at Halletts Beach.
Mother Ship MathildeA few hours sailing and a few warships off our bow til the wind started to drop and we decided on a motor sail. It wasn't long before we reached Broken Bay and got in touch with Commodore Roger to find out where the fleet was moored. It turned out that most of them were aboard Roger's cruiser coming back from a late lunch at Brooklyn.
Roger's boat for the weekGiven the predicted wind we decided to go straight to Castle Lagoon and the others agreed to meet us there. We were in luck because we arrived to find one empty mooring. Hooray. With the anchor windlass not working we hate using the anchor.
Another Catalina owner was in the Lagoon and came over for a visit. Topknot followed us in and anchored near the shore. Shortly thereafter Laine and Neil came over for a drink.
There were great big squat legged jelly fish everywhere so swimming was not very attractive to me.
And so began the Broken Bay cruise for Cheshire Cat. That night we did boat hopping, much drinking, and generally started what I love so much about this event, mucking about in boats. I had sensibly made my bed as asoon as we arrived so could crawl into it at the end of the night and sleep comfortably. Others who shall remain nameless were not so smart.
Saturday there were some sore heads about. Karina was joining us at Cottage Point so we went over for lunch in Mathilde's very speedy tender. Then we all relocated to just past Akuna Bay in preparation for the Commodore's cocktail party. It rained in the afternoon so John in the jet tender had to take precautionary measures.
The theme for the party was pink. In keeping with the environment Julie, Terina and I went as pink jellyfish. We were supposed to sing a reworded version of the Kookaburra song while we did the jellyfish dance (you had to be there) but lack or rehearsal meant it was spectacularly unsuccessful. Karina, who was supposed to be the dooof doof music for us got the giggles and proved useless.
Other performances were much more clever and practiced including Ruth's poem about her trip so far. And almost everyone wore pink.
Hosts Peter and Michael deservedly won the costume prize for Michael's pregnant outfit, complete with Marge Simpson wig, and Peter's sartorial splendour.
More sore heads Sunday and a slow start to the next stop at Warratah Bay.
Morning After FlowersWe anchored watched by a skeptical fisher bloke holding a can of beer and were cheered by the thought that he was about to be surrounded buy a big bunch of poofs and dykes. Karina, Terina and Julie had to leave so Michael took them back to Cottage Point in the speedy jet boat.
The rest of us joined the Mathilde team for roast dinner. Towards the end of the evening Michael decided we should make a field of flowers on the outside table. It looked gorgeous. One doesn't normally expect such art installations in a place like that.
I had a lovely night on my own on Cheshire Cat. Not that I don't enjoy the company but having the whole boat to myself was great. However I did need help to pull up the anchor in the morning so Jenni, who had arrived the night before to stay with Peter and michael came over to help. As Mathilde was going on a circuit of Broken Bay Jenni went back on board the mother ship and I set off for Refuge Bay in the certain knowledge there would be a mooring I could easily pick up single handed.
And that's when disaster struck. Luckily I am in the habit of checking the guages every now an then and when I looked the temperature was sky high and the volts were down. The engine cooling water was not hot which was a puzzle I thought but I turned back to Warratah knowing that there was a mooring empty (fisherbloke had left) and that it was the closest place to stop. This is why my significant other hates boating. Something always goes wrong and usually just when you're feeling confident.
Jenni saw me come back and came over. John, my knight in the shining dinghy, was in the shower and hence unavailable so we opened the engine compartment and stared at it. Then I twigged! No fan belt. Or rather a broken fan belt lying on the floor of the engine compartment. Since we had been through this two years ago we had a spare. I guess this is why people say cruising is just fixing boats in beautiful locations. Being resourceful girls we wrestled it on. And hey presto fixed!
Or so we thought. I left the engine idling while returning Jenni to Mathilde then came back to find the temperature guage way too high again. As Mathilde set off for her cruise I put my head in my hands and pondered what to do. I didn't want to ruin everyone else's day. Maybe the temperature would drop after a while. Or something. But as always other people save the day. My distress was recognised and John came over. Is it fresh water cooled he asked. Der! Dummie that I am I had no idea. Turns out that apart from salt water flowing around the engine it has the equivalent of a radiator full of fresh water. At least it was until I ran it dry when she got hot. A few kettles full of boiling water and all is well at last. John speeds off to join the Mathilde cruise and, with the stereo on and the fridge working again, I motor off to Refuge Bay. Nice.
Arriving in Refuge Bay I found Topknot but the wind had swung around and the spot they were in was rather blowy so I went to see what conditions were like on the other side. Again there were heaps of jelly fish everywhere. I found a more sheltered spot picked up a mooring all by myself (yay) and the boys joined me.
Topknot and friend in Refuge BayLater Maria in Elessa and Mathilde all arrived. I had been invited to dinner on Elessa which was lovely and then stopped by Mathilde on my way home to bed for a nightcap. I love this life!
Next morning was still and peaceful. I slept late, had breakfast and waved off Topknot and then Elessa. We were to meet later at Coasters Retreat in Pittwater. Then while I was below Mathilde left too and I was all alone and felt rather bereft. But I quicly got a grip of myself and finshed sorting myself out before firing up the engine which started thank god, dropping the mooring and heading off myself.
ElessaOn the way to Coasters I passed a fishing boat followed by hundreds of seagulls and three sedate pelicans all waiting for the spoils. Plenty of moorings at Coasters made stopping for the night easy again. I was still feeling rather clever being sinhgle handed. Neil and Laine came over for lunch. By this point it is a competition to get rid of all the food left over. I made them promise to bring over nothing but cake.
A new potential new club member Simon arrived on the ferry. I had been a bit concerned that the volt meter was not reading as high as it used to so after lunch we all went and looked at the engine again. Images of boys, bum up in their cars. It turned out that the fan belt which is on a complicated route around several wheels was the wrong way around one of them. It's supposed to go over not under. So we fixed that.
Mathilde arrived after dropping off some visitors and it started to rain. Rather heavily in fact. Before we knew it we were surrounded by roiling grey and green skies and lightning in every direction.
And absolute buckets of rain. Roger and David, who were on the bus to join us for the evening and the sail back to Sydney rang to see what was happening. 
John, Sir Gallahad again, offered to go get them from Palm Beach in spite of the wet. At the height of the storm we saw Bernie arrive in Xantippe. In spite of the fact that she is a beautiful boat not one of us envied the crew on the bow trying to pick up the mooring in those conditions. For some reason John had the windscreen wipers on on Mathilde. Because he could, I guess.
Commodore Roger undauntedThe ASCC had planned to hold the social meeting on shore accompanied by a BBQ. So we all went ashore. I discovered that washing a rain jacket reduces its waterproofing to zero. But we fired up the barbies, opened the wine and had a great if soggy night.
ASCC Coasters' Retreat Social meetingJenni and Sophie came back to help sail back to Sydney harbour. Thinking we should get a bit ship shape before their arrival I started the motor. At least that was the plan. Nothing. Totally flat batteries. Not because we had been using the starter battery for the stereo or anything like that. Probably because the altometer wasn't working cos the fan belt was on wrong. Topknot offered to lend us one of their batteries to start us but we didn't have jump leads. I phoned John to ask him if there were any on Mathilde and if not could he get us some at Palm Beacch. No and too late he was on the way back.
But of course he had another plan. He towed us to Mathilde, we plugged in our 240 volt shore charger and after 20 minutes, during which time we got the dinghy on board, the outboard stowed, and all the wet clothes from the night before out of the way, bingo, she started. I am learning more and more about Cheshire Cat every time I go cruising. Stuff I should already know but still. I guess its why I go in company. There's always someone there to ask or help.
Finally we ready to set off about 10. No wind to speak of and the sea was glassy. So we motored. Roger took the helm so I could play, read and make the lunch.
Jenni and Sophie watched the passing shoreline It was a lovely day. When we gave David the helm he was in heaven. He didn't step down til we were surrounded by three fleets of racing yachts well inside the harbour.
Am I having fun yet? When we got quite close to Sydney we saw Mathilde way way in the distance. Beyond Collaroy at least. So I radioed them and bet them a bottle of the dreaded pink sparkling wine they had been trying to get rid of since the cocktail party that we could beat them to the heads. Silly me. Suddenly she came towards us on a huge wake of white foam.
And passed us. But not willing to take back the pink fizz she then turned seawards claiming maintenance required before passing the heads. So we won by default. 
Too fast to focus!With some breeze now behind us we unfurled the head sail for the first time in nearly a week and sped up the harbour at over 6 knots. We were back on the mooring by 3.30, a record for us.
