Log Entry 30th September 2008

With the September school holidays in full swing I arranged to to take two days recreation leave from work so that we could enjoy a couple of family days on the water. We had talked for a long time previously about an overnight trip in Lara and decided we would sail to Peel Island on the Sunday, anchor overnight in Horseshoe Bay, and return on the Monday. We left Wynnum Manly harbour a little after 1pm in a 20-25 knot NE wind. After passing between Green and King Islands we steered south west on a running reach. The wind had whipped up up a few white caps and with it a half metre to a metre swell, which occasionally had Lara surfing gently down the face of a wave. Overall though, we were quite comfortable, despite the motion of the hull due to the swell rolling in under our stern quarter.

Horseshoe Bay on the southern side of Peel offers a safe and sheltered anchorage under these conditions and arriving there around 5pm saw us anchoring amongst the usual large flotilla a yachts and cruisers. The girls tried their hand unsuccessfully at fishing while Yolande prepared and cooked a very nice stew for dinner. Settling in for the evening, I was anxious that we were secure and had allowed sufficient room to swing on the tide without hitting any of the boats around us. My vigilance proved warranted, as later in the evening it was clear that Lara was dragging seawards on her anchor. Motoring in and resetting it seemed to fix the problem, although I must admit to being somewhat puzzled, given the length of heavy chain and weight of the plough we use. (Retrieving the anchor the next morning, I could see that the shackle was installed the wrong way round, allowing it to twist and jam sideways, thus any tension on the warp was putting sideways tension on the anchor shaft.)


The following morning after a bacon and egg breakfast the girls spent a couple of hours walking along the beach and bomb diving off the back of the boat, We left around 12:30 for the homeward trip as an afternoon change was forecast bringing with it 25-30knot winds, which I preferred to avoid. Arriving back at the marina around 4pm we tidied Lara and left her moored to the dock for the guys to rack.

The next morning, with 20-25 knot winds, this time from the south-east, we headed out for simple day trip, taking with us two of Helena’s school friends who were keen to go sailing. We decided to head to Peel Island again although the outward leg turned into a bit of a slog beating to windward the entire time. Horseshoe Bay in a breezy south-easterly isn’t really pleasant as the anchorage is open to the weather in these conditions.

After lunch and a swim we decided it would be fun to sail around the eastern end of the island and return on a long downwind run alongside the Amity Banks. We arrived back at the marina around 6:30pm enjoying a glorious sunset along the way and the delights of sailing in the evening dusk.

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 25th May 2008

A Sunday forecast of SE-SW 10-15 knot winds, tending to the NE in the afternoon, saw us out today for another leisurely Sunday sail. Took the opportunity to invite my father along as he has always had a keen interest in boats, although hasn't owned one himself. Dad was instrumental in fostering my interest in sailing when he purchased a Sabot for us kids in the early 70's. In fact our destination for the day, (another short voyage to King Island), is where I had sailed the Sabot as a fourteen or fifteen year old many, (many!) years ago.

Many yachts on the water today however most were almost stationary in the light breeze. I used the outboard to help push us along at 3-4 knots towards the spit between King Island and Wellington Point. Dad had the helm for the outward leg whilst I stood on the bow taking photographs. It was about this time that one of the plastic handles on the forepeak hatch decided to detach and fall overboard. I don't know exactly what sort of plastic it was made of but it sank like a stone!

Anchoring by the stern we waded ashore and went for a wander. As usual the girls collected a truckload of dead coral and shells as we took all of ten minutes to circumnavigate the grass and mangrove hummock that comprises the island itself.

Despite its relatively small size it is an interesting place, just large enough to generate (in me anyway) what travel writer Thurston Clarke refers to as "islomania", idyllic fantasies of fiefdoms and laird-ships, dreams of self sufficiency, a sense of isolation and of being in control of one's destiny. The island was in fact inhabited from 1904 to 1906 by a banker, his wife and family of seven children, one of whom suffered from polio. It was thought that the sea air and regular bathing were helpful in moderating the effects of this terrible disease. Hard to imaging any formal structure existing even then on a place so small, but apparently it was somewhat larger in area until eroded by the destruction of protective mangrove banks. The family lived in tents and a marquee and according to surviving notes from a grandson, were very happy with their lot.

In 1943 the US Navy built a gunnery school on the tip of Wellington Point where they practised shooting what ever sort of guns they used at that time. King Island also proved useful to them as a "bombing" range where aircraft dropped silk drogue targets after gunnery practice. (These notes courtesy of Peter Lulow's "Moreton Bay People" and the Redland Shire Council's record of local history.)

We shared the spot with other families in tinnies and cabin cruisers, along with some sea kyakers and the obligatory jet ski. Had a yarn with a couple of gents who turned up in a beautiful little trailer-sailer that I mistook for a Cherry 16. The older chap, a designer and boat builder by trade, was responsible for building this very attractive boat called a Redfin 520. Apparently they are available in plan or kit form from his firm "Trailaway Boat Kits" in Loganholme. The thing fairly flew along in the light air.

After a lunch of coffee/tea and fried snags on bread rolls we retrieved the anchor for the trip home. The wind had swung around to the NE by this time, enabling us to reach at a reasonable rate of knots northwards to intersect the harbour channel. Joining the usual queue of returning boats we ran slowly towards the harbour, using the outboard for the last kilometre or so. Started the usual tidy-up dropping the sails and bagging them. As the marina staff had finished for the day, we Left Lara against the East Coast pontoon for them to retrieve in the morning

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 3rd May 2005

Various family commitments were always going to prevent a sail today, and so the opportunity was taken to rectify some of Lara's faults mentioned in the previous log entry. Our experience at Peel Island had more than convinced Yolande of the need for a boarding ladder, and having purchased one earlier this week, I was ably assisted (well actually he did most of the work) by Phil to fit it to Lara's transom.

We also identified an unattached wire as being the culprit that prevented the stern light working, which was quickly fixed. It also turns out that if there is a masthead light, there are no wires running to and up through the mast to power it. Not really concerned about it though, because if anchoring at night, we can easily haul a battery powered strobe up the forestay using the jib halyard.

Finally, we also fitted a bracket on the pushpit rail to hold the horseshoe float that usually sits, not very sensibly, on Lara's quarter-berth when we are under sail. It really needs to be to hand to throw to someone who falls overboard.

Log Entry 25th April 2008 (ANZAC Day Sail)

Today we had earmarked as a family outing, particularly as the two youngest girls had not sailed since the trip on the 10th March. As the conditions then had made their sailing experience a nervous one, we were hoping for a nice calm day to alleviate their concerns. The BOM Bay forecast earlier this week suggested a small low off the Queensland coast would generate 15-20 knot winds from the west, south-west, which resulted in a slightly lumpier sea than we would have preferred. The day didn't start too well with Freya expressing her misery about the impending voyage, lamenting loudly that she wanted to go home!

We left the marina about 11:30am, on a running reach under mainsail towards the Huybers Beacon, turning SSE towards Peel island, our intended destination. The sea was a bit lumpy, although reaching into the wind meant the boat stayed fairly dry, not so for yachts we saw beating into the chop. The waves weren't a problem either,as Lara occasionally surfed gently sideways down the bigger ones adding a knot or two to our speed. A largish expanse of greyish cloud blowing in from the SW idly threatened the possibility of a shower, which didn't happen, but the intermittent overcast did cool off the afternoon.

Rounding the beacons off the southern end of Peel Island we ran into Horseshoe Bay, where I had promised the girls a beach walk to collect shells. Unfortunately at about 4:30pm the tide was only an hour or so off low and the gently sloping bottom resulted in Lara grounding 20 or 30 metres off the beach. The area here is beautiful, all yellow sand and clear water, not surprisingly it is a very popular anchorage. The stiction between the Lara's long flat keel and the sandy bottom made it very difficult to push her back into deeper water and we were assisted by two very helpful blokes from a nearby speedboat, one of whom even went down on bended knee so Yolande could step up over the transom. (Oh, do we ever need that transom ladder!) Thanks again guys. Suffice to say the girls didn't get their walk, instead we anchored amongst the other boats for an early tea consisting of salad sandwiches washed down with coffee and chocolate chip biscuits.

Most people I have spoken to mistakenly confuse the penal colony and old hospital leprosarium sites believing the latter situated on St Helena Island. The hospital, or Lazaret as it came to be known, was in fact located on Peel Island. The hospital evolved from the original quarantine station located at Dunwich, an initial planning decision to move it to St Helena revoked after it was decided that St Helena would make a much better prison site. The availability of new drugs and treatment regimin negating the need for strict isolation resulted in the last ten patients (seven men and three women) being relocated to the Princess Alexander Hospital in August 1959, after which the Lazaret was closed.

Heading homeward at about 5:30pm we were treated to an awesome sunset of blues, purples, oranges and yellows until we were were off Cleveland Point where darkness overtook us. As the wind had dropped we motored northwards navigating from beacon to beacon through a slowly quietening sea. The Bay at night is truly a beautiful microcosm, the coastal lights and starry sky seemed both near and distant. Whilst surrounded locally by the dark of night, Lara's interior lights shone through the cabin windows bathing the water immediately around the hull with a comforting white light. I really felt like we were sailing in a giant snow dome in which everything around you is contained in a confined world seemingly so far away and yet deceptively close enough to blanket you with feeling of comfort and security.

Arriving at a point where I thought we should turn west to line up with the lead lights into Wynnum Harbour we found ourselves too far north in very shallow water as I had mistaken the distant lights of the Caltex oil refinery as the Wynnum promenade and had passed through the channel between St Helena and Green Island. Fortunately, with a little common sense and forethought, it isn't too hard to differentiate between landmarks, even at night, to backtrack one's course. The giraffe like cranes of the Port of Brisbane are very distinctive day or night, as is the huge vertical ariel rising up from St Helena Island. Despite this experience we were never lost in the true sense of the word and now knowing what the area around Wynnum harbour looks like at night, I doubt we will become disorientated sailing under these conditions again, (famous last words)?

Finally arriving at the marina pontoon around 8:45 we offloaded and tidied the boat before driving three tired but quite content girls home to an early bedtime. Actually both Yolande and I were also quite tired by journey's end too. Raising and lowering flogging sails, hauling a heavy anchor and chain is satisfying but very physical work. According to Google Maps and its handy distance measuring tool our entire trip was in excess of 50 kilometres. I constantly have to remind myself that Moreton Bay really is a large expanse of water, certainly felt like a great adventure!

Haven't had a chance to properly clean Lara for a while now so I will probably spend my next free day washing her and doing some maintenance. While adequately lit on the bow by a port and starboard light, we noticed that the stern and mast head lights don't work. The mast light will be tricky, and I no doubt will call on my good mate Phil for his advice on lowering the mast to check it. I am slowly leaning that the old yachty joke about boats being money pits needing constant work is true.

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.