Log Entry 3rd May 2010

The recent spate of long weekends finally gave us time to spend a day on the boat, albeit a shortish one. The forecast indicated a 10-15 knot SE breeze which is perfect for Lara. In such conditions she lopes along steadily and everything stays nice and dry. So it was a bit disconcerting to see as we left the harbour, streams of boats coming in. Once clear of the entrance we could see why, I was sure the wind was blowing well in excess of the forecast, and anything with sails either had them furled or were cruising with a reefed main or lone jib. Except for the crazy dinghy sailors of course, still racing in Waterloo Bay, one or two of them were capsized as passed them; however there is always a marshal supervising, we weren’t concerned for their safety.

We decided against sailing around the outside of Green Island and instead to have lunch in the lee of King Island, a much shorter distance. Unfortunately this course was also directly in to the prevailing wind, so I didn’t even try to raise the sails, motoring instead with the aid of Lara’s trusty outboard. Naturally we got wet bouncing of the chop, although it wasn’t cold.

Surprisingly King Island and its long spit to Wellington Point didn’t provide a lot of relief from the wind and we had two attempts at anchoring before we could relax. Lara wasn’t all that happy and swung to and fro on the end of a very taught chain while we ate hot-dogs, drank a bottle of wine and had a coffee.

As the conditions weren’t really ideal, and we had promised the kids a swim, we headed back to Manly early so they could play in the tidal wading pool on the Wynnum foreshore. Upping anchor, I hoisted the jib alone, which for a downwind leg was more than sufficient to take us home in reasonable time.


Interestingly, I checked the actual weather observations the following day to note that inner bay wind speeds were more in the vicinity of 15-20 knots, with occasional gusts in excess of 20 knots. Good weather if you want to hammer but a bit excessive for nervous kids.

Log Entry 21st February 2010

Due to a combination of commitments and unfavourable weather poor Lara has been left landlocked at least by us over the last couple of months. Unfortunately this was also compounded by the fact that Lara needed some work undertaken to her keel. I was aware from our last trip that something was amiss. This was confirmed by Phil who sailed her in our absence late last month.

Thus today found Lara sitting on East Coast's travel lift so we could inspect her swing keel. The problem was eventually traced to a worn out shackle, which secured the cable used to raise and lower the keel plate. The pin had worked loose and was wedged between the plate and the case, effectively preventing the keel from swinging down. We replaced the shackle and also the cable itself, which was badly kinked and whiskering in places due to its age and wear.

Phil's account of his January sail and his experience with the keel:

I had a good look at the swing keel. The keel is free but the wire from the small winch to the keel is stuck fast so the keel doesn't drop. It is locked up. I pulled the winch off and there are no problems at that end so the next thing is to pull the tube out. It is split in two pieces so the top half is easy. Not sure how much room there is under the keel when it is in dry dock but would be good to lever it down if no problems are found in the top half of tube. I think the wire has knotted and is wedged hard, and I think it is at the bottom of the keel. The wire has plenty of little kinks that would knot if they had the chance.

The kids really enjoyed the boat trip. A little rough on Tuesday afternoon but we made it to behind King island and nestled up near to the main land. It rained a little on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning but clear by 9:30am. We took our little 8 ft tender with us with its 2 HP motor. Hasn't been used for a couple of years and I don't think the cooling works as we would just make it to the beach and it would stop. But as with all trusty Mariner outboards, it would start again for the trip back to the boat after a cooling off period.

On Wednesday afternoon we sailed around St Helena Island at the same time the WAGS race was on so we had plenty of company, although we were slow towing the tender and the kayak. We sank the kayak near Mud Island as we turned to head with the following seas. That was fun getting a kayak full of water onto the deck of Lara.

We stopped at the jetty at St Helena for about an hour. The kids went for a swim and a quick look and then we headed back to the marina dodging the small rain squalls. We got back to the marina at about 6:45pm without using the outboard. Slept there Wednesday night and headed home Thursday morning so we could get to Harrisville on time.