BROKEN BAY

This is very belated but the pictures are such fun I thought I'd do it anyway.
Cheshire Cat ready to roll

On 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 Mathilde

A 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 week

Given 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 Flowers

We 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 Bay

Later 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.
Elessa

On 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 undaunted

The 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 meeting

Jenni 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.

ASCC Summer Series

Its been way too long between posts. Too much to do and so little time. And work gets in the way! So apologies if there's anyone out there reading. A Broken Bay Cruise report will come soon.

ASCC Race 4 Sunday 15th
Sydney really does turn on the weather at this time of year. Another warm sunny day. Terina, Dayna, Cat and I were the team. Predicted light winds meant we didn't have to work too hard. Well they didn't have to work too hard. For me in what Julie calls Fantasy land its never that hard. A little scary sometimes oin big winds but rarely hard. We motored to the start in Taylor Bay not a moment too soon. Laine and Neil in Topknot were still putting up their sails as we crossed the start line at noon and headed north for Lady Bay. Mercedes arrived ready for their 12.20 start.

We tacked up the harbour without incident. The CYCA's first winter series race came by us on the way back to Double Bay but not in great numbers. It was Ladies Day so while it was great to see lots of women on the helms of some serious race boats I am pretty sure many boats didn't bother to race. Probably not willing to trust a mere sheila to the wheel.

We sailed pretty well and Cat learned a bit about tacking. A nice run to Clarke Island was followed by another tack slog to Easte Channel off Watson's Bay then a final run and chicken with a Manly ferry to the finish in Taylor Bay. Lunch at anchor with Topknot hanging off the back.

The trip home was lit by lightening flashes all around us, some rain and then clear with a spectacular sunset. But I was too tired to take a picture.

ASCC Race 3 Sunday 1st
Julie, Karina and I needed some help so we took advantage of the enthusiasm of our ACON girls, 3 of who were very eager to join us for the race. And did they get a work out. Executive crew gave much instruction whil our novices ground those winches.

The noon start in Taylor Bay was well executed if I say so myself. Good timing and good speed across the line. The tacking up the harbour as the girls learnt how to race as opposedf to plonk about the harbour. The weather was good and the wind not too strong. And we had both Topknot and Leapfrog starting with us. Mercedes and Saytama - Jo's new boat started at 12.30.

The race was rather uneventful except for one spectacular mis calculation on my part which saw us nearly T-bone Topknot near Shark Island. Quick thinking by Neil and David plus a quick tack by us aaverted disaster and we were able to demonstrate the practise of penalty turns for our ACON girls. And Neil didn't have to ring the absent Laine and explain why his boat had a big ding in it.

Although invited to join Jo and her team on Saytama I was worried about our anchor so we stayed put and just waved our prawns at them to make them jealous.

We all headed home tired but happy.

Just another perfect day

Sunday was the second race for the ASCC summer series. Jenni, Julie, Karina and I set sail in beautiful sunshine with a predicted breeze of 8-13 knots ahead of us. Again no start boat although Dayna had hoped to rent a tinnie. We found out why she couldn't later in the day.

We started from Taylor Bay and we were the first across the line having taken care to stay out of the notorious dead zones further in to shore. The we encountered a windless hole which stopped our progress somewhat for a while. But fortunately before Laine in Topknot and Scott in Leapfrog could catch up to us we found the wind and cruised off. Tacking up to Lady Bay we dodged ferries and a big freighter heading into the harbour. And a fleet of Lazers zipping around off Nielsen Park.

Jenni as preventer

On the run to Clark Island we put the pole up which we had almost never done before. Unfortunately when we came to take it down we discovered it had gone up upside down so took a while to unhook. Still, you live and learn. Then a couple of tacks back to the wedding cake of Watson's Bay where we found several of the aforementioned tinnies fishing off the lighthouse. Resisting the temptation to scare the sleeping fellow in one of them we rounded the mark and reached back to Taylor Bay well ahead of the other two boats. Nice!

For a picnic on board we were joined by Laine and crew but not by Scott whose crew had too many hangovers to stay. We decided to fill the fuel tank on the way home in preparation for the Broken Bay trip on Friday. Turns out D'Albora marina fuel service closes at 4.30! not very boatie friendly at all. So we filled the water tanks, emptied the spare fuel tank and found that was enough to top up the main tank.


Then a motor home to Balmain in the dying day. Too lazy to put up the sails.

One of these days we may get some results. But don't hold your breath as we are still waiting for the Winter Series places much less Spring or, heaven forbid, Summer results.

ASCC Regatta

I had the great pleasure to sail in the ASCC's Annual Regatta with two very talented sailors, skipper Gavin Dagley and crew Dee Mason.
They are both from Melbourne and are incredibly good sailors. Gavin has won the ASCC's regatta every time he has entered except last year when he and Dee, without their regular third member Dale, came second. With Dale deciding to skipper his own boat this year I was the lucky to be asked to be the third team member. I was very nervous in case I was the result of another 2nd.

It was a beautiful day with winds predicted to lift during the day from the early 8knots. Because we were a light weight team (in lbs not talent) compared to our main competition we expected to have to hike pretty hard. I had been doing sit ups in preparation for this challenge but feared it wouldn't be enough.

The first drama was that our headsail has a broken top batten. We were given a replacement sail and it too had a broken top batten. What rare the chances. Rather than change the sail yet again Dee as foredeck, removed the batten completely.

Gavin can pick wind gusts that a normal person (me) can't see. He was always exactly where he wanted to be on the start line and ready to power off as the gun went.
Seconds to go... We are third from left (and right)
And we're off
Instant speed, (we are now in the lead on the far right)
And we're way out in front.

We had three other boats to watch out for. Dale's team, the boys that won the regatta last year (Nik and David) and the girls from Adelaide who won the non-spinnaker division of the Gay games both here and in Sydney (Julie, Julia and Meredith). Gavin clearly has a friendly rivalry with Dale and so we kept a very close eye on him at all times. And the need to hike was quickly realised. Dee is a champion at it.
Look at that girl go! And I realised that sit ups for a couple of weeks is definitely not enough.

Although we were not always in the lead the downwind legs were always good for us. Upwind the weight told a bit I think. But downwind we were awsome. We passed Dale and the Adelaide girls more than once in the five races.
Here we are on the left of the girls
getting the all important inside overlap
and first around the bottom mark!

We won the first four races which assured us the win but couldn't quite overtake the girls in the final race.

The boats came from the CYC's Youth Training Academy under the watchful eye of the very patient Jenni Bonnitcha.

It was a fantastic day and the race committee did a really great job

in between wines!

Belated New Year's Eve

A little late but here are some better pictures of the fireworks courtesy of Caroline.

Work Experience Skipper

A couple of weeks ago Jenni & I took three of Jenni's UK friends out on a harbour cruise. John and Mario came too.

It was a beautiful day and we anchored at Athol Bay where we were joined by Mathilde. We all went aboard the cruiser for lunch. Then we swam and some bombing took place from the top deck. After a lovely day we set sail for our mooring in Balmain

and young Jessie was keen to try her hand at steering.

And she turned out to be a natural.

Cheshire Cat Wins Again!

Last weekend the ASCC held the Annual Treasure Hunt. Julie, Terina and I were the only stalwarts on Cheshire Cat. With predicted winds of 30 knots forecast we were a little trepidatious but set off anyway in light winds to answer the first questions at the western reaches of Balmain. The clues then led us towards Sydney Harbour proper. As we headed North to Yuralbin Point and the prospect of unporotected waters Helen phoned to say the southerly had arrived at Clovelly. And a minute later it hit Balmain. The whitecaps whipped up and before we reached Goat Island we had decided to call it quits.
Julie & Terina after a hard day Treasure Hunting

Laine and Neil on Topknot were ahead of us but they are more competitive than us when the alternative is a lesurely lunch on the mooring sheltered from the wind. At least so we thought. As we turned back John, Dayna, Roger passed us heading out in the 59 foot power boat Mathilde. Wind was no object to them obviously.
Mathilde - no sticks and rags here!

Rounding Yuralbin we saw Maria and David in Holy Spirit coming towards us with their headsail up. I thought they were mad but far be it from me.... But when they saw us coming back they wisely dropped the sail and followed us to the mooring.

Having secured ourselves we got out the charts, books on Sydney Harbour that we have on board and the mobile phone. This Treasure Hunt has no rules, specially not about outside help, so we phoned Helen, who got on the net and solved the questions about the Sydney Opera House and what one finds at the bitter end of an anchor line - the boat!

By then Laine had arrived back in our bay and John was quick to follow. Noone had gone all the way to the furthest clue point, partly cos the answer was to be found on the Pt Jackson chart - what is the bearing of the Obelisks at Obelisk Bay?

Then lunch - yum -prawns, oysters, salad etc with Maria and David joining us. There was some chat about pooling answers but we resisted, not because we felt confident given that John would have found many more of the answers having gone further into the Harbour. I can't remember why. I am sure it wasn't a sense of honour.

Cardinal TiTi and Friend
At four The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence arrived to bless the fleet. They were clever and funny as always with inside information about owners and their boats to add a little spice to the individual blessings.

And as if that wasn't enough fun then Commodore Jolly Roger announced the winners. AND WE WON!!! Amazing really. John lost lots of points for having four out of date fire extinguishes on board. Ha! And I was about to protest that being bigger of course they have more and shouldn't get extra points. I quickly shut my big mouth. The scratchie prize was welcome but failed to deliver.
3 Rev heads - John, Dayna & Roger

A BBQ on shore followed and then a quiet night on the pontoon with just us, Maria's Holy Spirit and Laine's Topknot remaining. At least it was quiet for me. Others may have a different story judging by some heads in the morning. We got reprimanded by Waterways Police the next morning for staying overnight on a 15 minute pick up zone. Next year everyone will have to anchor off instead.

Sunday was fine with a light breeze. Julie and I had stayed aboard and then picked up Jenni, Claire and Ros for the first race of the summer season. We had a slow start due to light winds and me trying to be start officer - not very well. I am surprised Topknot didn't protest the committee. We were the only two boats in the Fast division with Mercedes the only Faster boat. The course was one big loop around Snapper Spectacle Cockatoo and Goat islands followed by the smaller loop around Snapper Spectacle and Cockatoo. We trailed Topknot for quite a while but eventually passed them although we were never too far in front. Mercedes caught up to us before the finish but they too were not very far ahead.

The eastern harbour boats went straight home while we were joined by Graham and Bob who came over from Double Bay in the very splendid Mustang. After lunch and some mind boggling logistics I went back to Double Bay on Mustang, a real treat. Its quite ddifferent sitting in the cockpit of such a grand sailing boat while the skipper steers with the remote control!

Another Sydney harbour weekend. You wouldn't be dead for quids!

New Year's Eve

After the last adventure I sent Cheshire Cat to the doctor. Unfortunately, although she had her bottom cleaned, the doctor didn't have time to look at the motor. So then I booked the engine repair man who finally found time to check out the air leak and agreed with us that that was indeed the problem. So he replaced the split screw and the fuel filter (I don't know why it wasn't found in the engine service a few months ago) and now she runs beautifully.

Jayne, Caroline and Helen

As we discovered on New Year's Eve. With best mate Helen, Jayne and Caroline, Dayna and her neice Devon we found a great spot just beside Garden Island. The Navy had a band playing all the old rock hits and we had a perfect view of the Harbour Bridge, the nine o'clock fireworks, the parade of lit up boats and the midnight extravaganza. And we were able to watch good mate John (also sometime doctor) ferrying hoards of people to Peter and Michael's grand Mathilde. He was in the very spiffy jet propelled tender. Once we saw them rowing. I guess he ran out of fuel.
A bad fireworks picture. I was too busy ooohing and aaahing to take photos.

After the fireworks we motored safely home in the endless stream of boats also not staying the night on water. A change from the first time we took the Cat out for New Year's Eve when the batteries went totally flat and we had to sail home in the stream of stink boats heading up the river. That was exciting although Helen was not happy.

We also went out on the ASCC's renta ferry for the start of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day. All the Sisterhoodlums were there with Team Manager Kim from Chicago. It was great to see her again and she loves Sydney - of course!
Team Sisterhoodlums with Team Manager Kim

And we took our Chicago hosts Kim and Lisa out for a day trip on Sunday. It rained a bit but noone was bothered. A nice lunch at the fish markets and then back to Balmain past the Dutch replica square rigger Dufkyen sailing around Yuralbin Point. The predicted strong winds did not fully eventuate so my worries about having 10 people on board in a storm were not realised. We did need to have a couple of bodies forward to keep the exhaust out of the water though.

Kim, Lisa and the Dufkyen