Log Entry 2nd August 2008

A Sunday forecast of falling seas and 10-15 knot winds promised a pleasant day's sailing, which we decided to take advantage of after a break due to an overseas holiday. Arriving at the harbour around 10:15am, it took the marina guys only minutes to launch Lara after which we loaded her with all the usual paraphernalia for a day on the water.

Today we also had the pleasure of the company of two of our nieces Lauren and Jacklyn, who were free for the day and keen to experience sailing. Motoring out of the harbour, surprise, surprise, the wind was no where near the anticipated strength as we raised the sails and bobbed almost motionless in the water. Restarting the outboard we set a course toward the greater part of the Bay passing between Green and King Islands, before heading north to St Helena for a roam around the island. Anchoring at our favourite spot just to the east of the St Helena jetty, the older girls went for a walk whilst the younger two splashed, paddled and generally messed about on the beach.

Knowing that we had anchored on a falling tide, I was a little anxious about Lara grounding, so every five minutes or so I waded out and pushed her another meter or two further from the beach. Unfortunately, I think at some stage the bottom plateaued and there was no further scope to push Lara into deeper water. Consequently within a very short space of time she became firmly stuck! Well, no amount of grunting, pushing or dragging would shift her, luckily however a group of jet skiers who saw our plight immediately rushed over to assist. After a solid ten minutes and with the combined effort of at least five others, we finally dragged and pushed Lara into deeper water. The relief I felt was absolutely palpable.

We collected Yolande and Lauren from the end of the jetty as they hadn't managed to scramble aboard as Lara slipped into deeper water. The jet skiers by now had taken off and were exploring the island, waving as they passed us. I was certainly very grateful for their unsolicited help and the mighty effort they provided, without any hint of humour or bagging at our predicament. I haven't generally had a lot of nice things to say about jet skis (or their riders) but after the unstinting help provided by these fellow mariners, I made a promise henceforth to change my poor opinion of them and refrain from any future disparaging comments.

Usual lunch of fried sausages on bread rolls followed, after which the wind picked up sufficiently for us to sail home to the harbour under Jacklyn's expert helmsmanship.

(Pity about the photographs, I mistakenly had the Leica set at 400 ISO which really makes for horribly noisy images.)

Log Entry 5th May 2008 (Labour Day Sail)

Arrived at the harbour around 10:30am this morning to find Lara bobbing alongside the landing as arranged. Yolande's Mum and Dad were with us as they had expressed a desire to see the boat. Whilst they did not wish to actually sail, we persuaded them to at least go for slow spin around Manly boat harbour which was a lot of fun in itself. The myriad of moored watercraft are very interesting and much more visibly accessible from the water.

Dropping them off back at the landing, we waved good-bye, and motored out into a a gentle 5-10 knot north-easterly beating towards St Helena Island for a shell collecting expedition that we had previously promised the girls, (but weren't able to undertake), on our trip to Peel Island.

We anchored on the southern side of the island near the jetty, as this area offered the least shallow water. Despite this we still had to moor Lara about 25 metres offshore to maintain half a metre of water under her, and due to a dropping tide, I constantly readjusted the anchor, pushing Lara out another couple of metres every quarter of an hour or so so that she wouldn't ground. The ladder proved to be a very worthwhile investment and there were no problems boarding or climbing down from Lara's transom.

Re-boarding and moving Lara into deeper water off the island, we consumed a late lunch consisting of sausages and onions on fresh bread rolls, coffee, and a very nice caramel swirl pull-apart bun, which I had bought from the bakery earlier in the morning.

Whilst eating, a Hobie Cat with brightly coloured sails breezed past our stern. Hoisting our own sails, we ran slowly back to Manly in a very gentle sea. The oldest and youngest girls snoozed on the vee-berth while daughter number two sat on the bow and wrote about the day's adventure in her journal. Johanna really enjoys writing as I do and loves to conjure up short stories.

Yolande did a very good job at the tiller to bring us up to the channel beacons where we turned to join the long queue of boats returning home. Tied up at the landing around 5:30pm after which we put on the sail covers, tidied up Lara and headed home.

Log Entry 13th April 2008

Various commitments prevented us from sailing over the last fortnight, so the Sunday forecast of fine weather with 10-15 knot south-easterlies was the clincher that determined we would definitely be out on the bay this weekend. Unfortunately Yolande and the two younger girls had other engagements and so the crew consisted of Helena and me, and because we had loads of space, my brother and his partner also came along for the experience.

As usual, wind direction and strength determined our course and after thinking about it, I decided a straight beat out through the channel between Green Island and King Island might be best. Lots of boats on the water although the wind was quite light and many were running under power as well as sail. Passing the Thorpe Memorial Beacon off King Island, couldn’t help smiling when I heard a distinct thump as another yacht further inshore grounded, the skipper issuing a startled expletive.

The wind being quite light, I had decided to experiment with Lara wanting to see how well she sails without the centreboard dropped. The casing which holds it forms a long, shallow keel and I thought it would still provide enough resistance to reach and beat to windward. Sailing into the wind was certainly successful however there may have been some lateral drift in excess of that which normally occurs with the board down, was a bit hard to tell with tidal currents mucking up the wake behind the boat.

In hindsight, this may well have been the case, as a tinny, originally anchored off our starboard bow, seemed to slowly “drift” in front of us as we approached it. As we came to within about ten metres or so I decided to bear way to starboard, passing to the leeward side of it. All would have been well except the bloke’s fishing lines were all on that side as well, and I watched with fascination as our keel picked up first one line then another and dragged them along with us. Suffice to say the two fishermen in the tinny were not amused despite my apologies as we sailed past!

Turning on to a starboard tack we rounded the Hybers beacon, and headed north, along the windward side of Green Island, passing over an expansive shelf of coral and rock which in most places, despite the nearly high tide, was only a metre or two below the surface. The girls amused themselves looking at the bottom while dangling their feet in the water to cool off. At about this time a lovely old ketch converged on us from windward and I took several photographs of her as she overtook us. I am really curious as to the manner in which she is rigged as the sail between the masts is some form of jib rather than a mainsail and it certainly gave her an unexpected old worldly charm.

Approaching the southern end of St Helena, we sailed slowly up to a coarse sandy beach adjacent to the rock spit where I thought we would moor and explore the island by foot. We anchored stern first a couple of metres off the beach itself over a gently shelving bottom consisting of sand and rock. Stepping off the boat into crotch deep water isn’t too bad in itself, however having to lift one’s foot up to near chin level to climb back up further reinforced the need for an extendable transom ladder.

The island itself is quite picturesque, very green with lots of cattle grazing in open paddocks. Disappointingly, the remains of the old penal settlement were fenced off; the signage indicating that inspection is only open to officially organised tour parties. Still, the island has large public area, a covered picnic table nicely shaded by mature trees, as well as composting his and hers toilets.

The reach back to Manly took us back along the western side of Green Island, which effectively dampened the wind such that we started the outboard to reach the harbour channel. Helena has become very adept at helming and controlled Lara masterfully as we negotiated the entrance amongst a large number of other vessels, large and small, all returning home. Safely moored against the pontoon saw us quickly tidy up the boat and head off home just in time for Sunday dinner at the in-laws.

Log Entry 10th March 2008

Lara has sat patiently for more than a fortnight now, waiting for us to take her out for an inaugural sail. Unfortunately the weather has not been kind over the last two weekends due to blustery 25 to 30 knot south-easterly winds, not ideal for us as inexperienced sailors on an unfamiliar boat. However Saturday the 8th March seemed promising with a 10–15 knot south-easterly tending to 15–20 knots later in the day. Arriving at the marina around 9:00am we loaded Lara with food, water and other odds and ends after which I finalised the transfer of the berth into our name and had her launched.

Moored to the pier we removed the sail covers, familiarised ourselves with the rigging and prepped and started the outboard, (a reliable 8 hp 4 stroke Mercury). It was then we experienced crises number one. Lara’s large rudder, permanently mounted through the cockpit floor just aft of the shoal keel doesn’t “bite” and provide steerage until there is reasonable forward movement. Moored on the port side with a strong SE wind blowing across our starboard bow, Lara would not initially move away from the pier, turned to port instead of starboard when she finally did move and ended up perpendicular to her starting point facing a cul-de-sac bounded by moored boats. Feeling like an idiot and expecting to look up and see a couple of hundred boaties gleefully enjoying our predicament, we were rescued by the marina hands who sympathetically commented that a SE can make casting off difficult.

With a helpful push of the bow, we finally made it into the harbour channel and motored at a gentle 2-3 knots to the beacons at the harbour entrance. Motoring well clear of the entrance we turned Lara into the wind to raise the sails. Crises number two! Whilst I was attempting to raise the mainsail Helena pointed out that the lower mainsheet block had unmounted itself from the traveller. Returning to the cockpit it was clear a retaining shaft had worked free due to a missing split pin. After reattaching the block and inserting the locking pin I returned to the mast only to find the mainsheet halyard had wrapped itself around the shroud spreaders. Ten minutes of juggling, swinging and swearing finally saw it free and with the main up Lara took off on a starboard reach towards Green Island.

Given the strength of the wind, we decided against raising the jib, particularly as nearly every other yacht we saw had either a main or a jib or a reefed combination of the two. Approaching the lee side of Green Island we decided to turn north to take look at St Helena Island, where the ruins of the former penal settlement are still plainly visible. With Lara now running, the apparent wind speed dropped substantially as we gently rocked and rolled towards the southern end of St Helena.

Of course there is always a price to be paid for an easy sailing leg, as we were to find out. After passing the long jetty and admiring the ruins from a leisurely distance we decided to head back. Rather than gybing I thought it safer to go about to reverse our track, which is when of course we experienced crises number three! Lara would not turn through the wind, each time stalling as we came about. After three or four attempts I decided that the boat probably doesn’t tack well without the jib, so I coaxed her around using the outboard.

Returning south proved to be quite uncomfortable as we were now beating into a wind blown chop, particularly as we crossed the passage between St Helena and Green Islands. We could see rain from several showers crossing the open bay towards us however we were spared a drenching from these, having only to contend with a sray as it whipped over the bow. Helena had the helm for almost the entire trip back and did a very good job of keeping us on course. Yolande, Johanna and Freya sat below deck, as the combination of wind and spray showering the cockpit was actually quite cold. The jib we had left flapping in the pulpit threatened to blow overboard so I bagged it, crawling on my hands to and from the bow, not particularly graceful but certainly safer than walking without a harness.

Approaching the lee side of Green Island from the north we decided that we weren’t travelling quite quickly enough and so I again started the outboard, which we used to gently push us along at a more constant 2-3 knots. Entering the outer beacons we dropped the main (after struggling with the halyard which I had mistakenly cleated in such a fashion it took me a good five minutes to release) and continued to cruise in using the motor. By this time a lot of skiffs were leaving the harbour with their crews out on a trapezes, one passed us on the port side and I watched with some amusement as it recovered from a near capsize by way of some impressive gymnastics by the crew.

Motoring back thought he harbour proved uneventful, as did our jetty approach and mooring. The marina staff were most helpful in retrieving and berthing Lara after which we flushed the outboard tidied the boat and had coffee in the marina café before heading home, (satisfied but very tired)!

What did we learn? Check the running rigging thoroughly before a departure. Decide to steer the boat under power using the outboard or ship’s rudder but not both, learn to tie off sheets and halyards properly. Overall though, I am very happy with the way Lara handles, at no time did I feel that we were in danger. The boat felt solid and sure when we were sailing her and heeling was gentle and I suspect predicable when we are more experienced.

Can’t wait till our next trip.