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.

Log Entry 15th October 2009

Over the years, and well before we acquired Lara, I had often thought about canoeing/kayaking as a suitable form of aquatic escapism. This was fuelled in no small part by a copy of the book "Canoes and Canoeing", published in 1962 and written by one Percy Blandford. It's a very typical example of those older style British texts, easily recognisable due to the fact that irrespective of whether one is engaging in carpentry, paddling a canoe or anything else for that matter, one must be suitably dressed in the correct clobber, usually collared shirt, tie and a buttoned jacket. It's one of the reasons we English once upon a time conquered half the world, attention to detail, standards, tea out of a proper cup and saucer and all that.


Yes Mr Blandford has a lot to answer for, for it was from this book that I lofted a line drawing and even got to the stage of constructing the frames for one of his Gannets. (I'm guessing that PBK 56 refers to Percy Blandford Kayak no 56).

Unfortunately that's as far as it got as I lacked the confidence and enthusiasm to complete the project due to my distinct lack of carpentry skills. Never make the mistake of mentioning these projects to a work colleague, unless you are sure you will finish it. Otherwise you will be subjected to years of "Have you finished making your canoe yet?" questions, accompanied by a smirk, because the enquirer knows damn well that you've given up.

Suffice to say, I'm not a traditionalist in any real sense of the word, and certainly don't need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century environment of CAD design, high tech Gen2 polyethylene plastics and U-V inhibitors. Hence I purchased one of these on Saturday past.

Pamlico 100 - Wilderness Systems Kayaks

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Reckon the last laugh is on you, Roy.

Log Entry 1st October 2009

Not a lot to report this outing, some video footage rather than photographs as I wanted to try something a little more ambitious regarding a trip record.



Left Wynnum around midday for Peel Island in a N/NW 10-15 knot breeze. Sailed around the northern end to take advantage of the wind direction which enabled us to track a nimble running-reach, gybing as we rounded The Bluff. Spent a couple of hours in Horseshoe Bay eating lunch. The water was a bit cold for a swim and with the breeze picking up we decided to head back around 4pm. As the wind had veered around to the N/NE and was now blowing 15-20 knots we returned along the same track, using the outboard to get us back around The Bluff. The 15-20 knot wind coupled with a one metre swell was not in itself dangerous, nonetheless made it quite difficult for me to raise the sails standing on the pitching deck. As a result I fell over twice smashing upper arm on something that later resulted in a huge bruise.

Boat fairly screamed along on the reach home, very exhilarating, particularly with the bow plunging into the swell throwing spray all over us. The sun set with us still about an hour from home but the wind eased and we enjoyed a beautiful dusk sail tracking beacons until we arrived back at Wynnum.

Night-time has to be my favourite time to sail. Difficult to explain why. As the darkness descends, the the water and land merge into the same dusky grey, the stars start to appear and beacons flash their presence here and there. Mesmerising - a sense of being alone without being lonely - I think.

Log Entry 23rd September 2009

This log entry is a bit of a kaleidoscope of items – haven’t sailed for a few weeks now. Last outing was on the 27th of July when we sailed a northerly loop around Green and St Helena. A flotilla of Sabots greeted us near the harbour exit. These boats always remind me of my teen years camping and sailing around Jacobs Well.

Took the opportunity to trial Steve’s handheld GPS, a Garmin eTrex personal navigator designed for hikers. Unlike the typical “street-use” models, this unit records and creates routes based on co-ordinates without an underlying streetscape layer, which makes it ideal for marine use. I was particularly interested in its speed function and was quite surprised to see the great variation in the rate of knots that Lara travelled through the water.

Travelling at least around 4 knots in the video below, however on reflection this would mostly have been current assisted, as the tide was about an hour or two past flood and would be flowing northwards as it ebbed. The little Garmin is certainly a useful navigation tool for tracking to places in the Bay, particularly as there is a growing trend to map points of interest as GPS co-ordinates. It is also one of the cheapest units available at around $120.



Have also used some of the past “off water” time to modify Lara’s pushpit railing, replacing the top rail over the transom with a raised version. The plan is to permanently mount the solar panel there. An additional, not unexpected benefit of the modification is that boat entry and exit via the transom ladder is much easier as one doesn’t have to lift a leg over a rail, rather one can basically step in over the top of the outboard. I am quite pleased with the result, the welding is clean and tidy and the whole unit looks neat and professionally constructed.

Log Entry 12th July 2009

This entry was intended to be about an overnight trip planned for Thursday and Friday just passed, unfortunately the 25-30 knot south-easterlies put paid to that. Instead I used the two days to install the new toilet.

As usual nothing in life vaguely related to things mechanical turned out to be trouble free, well that's the way it always seems for me anyway. Wasn't initially happy with the tight fit of the of the toilet and seriously considered cutting a hole in the forward bulkhead to gain some extra space. I really wasn't keen to start hacking into any part of the hull though and so I let it be and thought about it Thursday night. It occurred to me that may of these toilets are constructed symmetrically, that is you can reverse the fittings so that the bowl and pump can be switched from left to right. Returned Friday morning to find that this was happily the case with this toilet. The photo in the previous blog shows the bowl on the left whilst the fitted version shows it on the right. Results in a lot more "not so squeezey" room to relax and read the paper or a novel while on the can.

Took this image of another Hood 23 in the dying light as we left Friday afternoon. It's the first time I've seen a full keel version of Lara out of the water. Nice lines, from the look of the hull I suspect it was slipped for anti-fouling.

Log Entry 6th July 2009

A non-sailing blog entry for a change. Friday past saw the family at the Gold Coast Q1 building because Santa had thoughtfully given me a 30 minute ride in a Boeing 737 flight simulator. It was lot of fun and I can highly recommend it as an alternative to socks and handkerchiefs. First landing put the undercarriage through the wings but managed to get her on the runway reasonably well the second time around.

Afterwards I shopped with the girls who bought bits and pieces for themselves, all the time waiting patiently to spring an"impromptu" visit to Whitworths, a large marine chandler at Southport. I had been "researching" the purchase of a marine toilet for Lara, getting sick to death of the porta-potty, which is in the habit of tipping over and draining all over the cabin floor. It's also a real pain to empty waste and to refill the upper reservoir with water for flushing.

Fortunately Lara still has the appropriate skin fittings and space for a dunny, having being fitted with one in a past life. Managed to determine from the mounting abrasions on the inside of Lara's hull that a TMC (or equivalent) manual marine toilet will happily fit in the nook provided. No prizes then for guessing what we came home with.

Already started collecting the additional bits and pieces needed to complete the task.

Drove to the end of the spit before we came home to have a look at the Gold Coast Seaway. Considering it was blowing 20-25 knots from the north-west, the passage looked reasonably safe, probably because the tide was about an hour away from flood. Lots of swirling water but no breaking waves. There were even a couple of skin-divers swimming in the water, albeit not too far from the wall, no idea why, must have been freezing with very little visibility in the water itself.

Log Entry 4th may 2009

Not a long post about today's outing, as we didn't even leave the harbour, thanks to some especially sloppy helming on my part. Aware that we needed fuel after Lara's previous trip, I was trying to follow directions through a myriad of pontoons and moored boats to a marine bowser at the other end of the harbour. Unfortunately I went too wide on a turn to starboard which a a 15-20 knot SE wind exacerbated and we "clipped" the rear of a catamaran close to her stern. Although we were traveling slowly, Lara's momentum was sufficient to drive out anchor clean through the side of the catamarans hull fairing. 

Not a scratch on Lara, but some significant damage to the cat. It was a big one too, 35-40 foot, very expensive. Got the owners contact details from the marina office, he lives locally and came down to inspect the damage. Obviously he was not impressed, I felt pretty low, clearly it was my fault and I said so. We exchanged details and hopefully our insurance will cover the cost, which I figure is going to be at least a couple of grand. He was quite good about it, not at all rude or angry, which I was thankful for. Again, very sorry Doug. 

Naturally while we were waiting quite a few boat owners came for a look and a comment. Apparently the splintering of overstressed ply was like a pistol shot. Everybody was quietly sympathetic with stories about their own bumps and scrapes. After sorting out the mess we took Lara back to East Coast and called it a day. We had an ice-cream from the kiosk next to Wynnum Creek where I photographed this Hood 20, a smaller version of Lara (on the left), 

and later a chap using a bosun's chair to climb the 8-10 metres or so to the top of his yacht's mast.

What an absolute crap day this one turned out to be. On the bright side (there is always a bright side I suppose), no one was hurt (except my pride/ego), the damage could have been worse, and Lara came out "scott-free" (where DID that idiom come from?)