Solo Ventures

Blast along back roads with thumping exhaust sounds of my Royal Enfield Bullet resonating through the bush, arrive at a deserted beach, golden sand, craggy red rocks and sparkling calm blue sea enticing. Pour a coffee, walk the headlands, swim up and down the beach in bracing temperatures, exit for more coffee, feed trusting kookaburras. Stop over at a thrift store to bag a bargain on the way home. Done.      -     -     -     -     -     -     -     - People say swimming season is over and at 17°C the ocean is "too cold". Typical for me in the face of public opinion I whisper " phooey to that"! Being close to retirement age, I begin by jogging in water up to my chest, then to my chin, then breaststroke and freestyle for ten laps of a glorious deserted   beach. The lack of crowd, an upside to bucking popular opinions.  Afterwards, drinking coffee and a muesli bar, I earned two kooka friends and quickly learned they eat muesli bars & apple cores.

This morning I am rewarded with a Facebook gem, Don't Argue With Donkeys .  Its an old fable, not a  FB creation, but it is something I need to heed at the moment.  Donkey asserts that grass is blue . Tiger argues it is green. Donkey reports the argument to the King, a Lion of course. The Parties are summoned to Court where Lion agrees with Donkey that the grass is blue and penalises Tiger to 5 years silence. After Donkey prances happily away, Tiger asks Lion why he agreed with Donkey. Lion acknowledges the greenness of grass but admonishes Tiger. That such a great and noble animal should demean itself by wasting time to argue with a fool instead of remaining silent is an error of judgment.  Hence the penalty.   Clearly this is a lion arguing with a donkey, it should be a tiger. You get the point. 

This is how she was advertised for sale. Points to note: Hull is GRP Deck is flat Cabin hatch designed for sailing position Ss roll bar Decks are  over hatches Decks = all prawn net mesh.. electronics (ais, GPS) Sails, banked jib, 3xreef main, storm sails. Big on drogue (90m warp) & sea anchor Danforth + 6m chain, 90m warp

29 July 23: Over the last couple of days, working for just a few hours at a time, the left hull side & deck of Starby has been sanded, primed & filled (mostly). Today I will set out to sand back the right hull side as well as filled patches. These spots will then be primed.  A significant repair is needed by the stern. With cracks & signs of bodgy old repairs_I have sanded back to mostly bare wood. The middle & lower rudder tie points will be glasses over & redrilled. The keel also needs glassing. Short on resin, I've just ordered more & will try to push what I have as far as possible.   The othe major job of hulls refitting is replacing the hatches. Starby's main hatches were rotten. I will replace the knuckle jointed original with a single hinged hatch as seen on the Wharram's below. I have no construction details other than what I've seen in a video of the Larapinta Voyage; they have a gentle arch & are hinged on the other edge. In this ph

There's been a mainstrem media news story today about an " Australian sailor"  lucky to be alive after being found wandering the eastern South Pacific Ocean. The " facts " we may gather are: he's solo, sailing a catamaran, had electronic nav aides damaged by lightning strike, and was sailing about surviving on fish. Its useful to add that while the word " rescue " was used, he was actually encountered by a trawler and was short on food but otherwise healthy.  A social media rant (by several Wharram sailors), variously described this guy as clueless. My assessment is that; ok he's sailed halfway round the world taking on the massive leg from Panama to the Marqueses and was unfortunate enough to have lost the use of his electronic aides. The guy knows stuff, with hindsight his error was to rely solely on electronics navigation aides.   As one Commenter in response to my report added, he could have carried a plastic sextant and large scale chart,

Friday last charlie and I hitch lurgy on and dragged him to a ramp by an old WWII Catalina sea plane airbase. Its a great place to launch because its protected from the worst of any potential wind direction.  It is school holidays and I was expecting a crowd, but got the opposite and using the ramp and finger wharf without pressure from other boaters, was a highlight of the day.  Apart from our lunch break when we ran lurgy up into the weedy bank, lurgy never touched ground all day. The wind from NW was fitful, from 3-12 knots at any time. At least it kept our interest peaked. I had an idea to sail upstream, into the wind and into a shallow corner of the lake. We stopped for coffee, mandarins and biscuits and just soaked up the serenity. I took a photo of the nay downwind of us, not knowing at the time that one of the boats captured would strike a heartstring.   At first glance she was a wreck. Her covers are shredded, her hull is foul and a port light rotted out, has been

Yesterday the starboard hull of my Tiki21 entered the outdoor workshop. "Starby", as she is known to me, will undergo very similar treatment than her sister "Porty".  Today I focussed on the decks. The rear deck had cracked and flaky paint that was easily scraped and then primed. The foredeck was decidedly the worst so far. At several points the paint was severely damaged to bare timber level. Some fibreglass sheathing showed breakdown and needed to be removed. Thankfully the timber appeared dry and solid. I then mixed some epoxy and sealed them with woven glass mat.  Poking about the hatches I found some really crappy weather damage. It seems that the builder has saved money by not glassing the hatches. So flaking paint leads to easy damage to the timber - delamination and rot. If someone told when I bought her that she had rot and I could chose its location, I would have chosen the hatches. So I can now chose to make new hatches or undertake major repairs, replaci

patty & her sister soo Sunrising, winter.  Once again, today I am appreciating the beauty & solitude I enjoy here. 

Today saw me bring Starby up from his long term storage site, to near the house. I can see him close by my kitchen window, so work can progress easily.  The Hobie trailer is weak around axle, wheels and springs region. So of I use it as a Tiki trailer I will for an old box trailer bogie.  Also today I bought a litre of "All Purpose" primer. The sales lady saying " it sticks like poo to a blanket". I said yes I know and clarified this by saying I had used a pot recently and was pleased with it.  Reading Edward Allcard's book of sailing Sea Wanderer around Cape Horn in 1966. Great sailing and writing. 

Day after day lately I seem to spend too much time on my arse, by the fire, wondering about whether I should buy a cheap Swiss Army Knife 19' trimaran or Bring Everything You Own 28' mono.  What sways my thinking on favour of the bigger mono is comfort, but also safety. Comfort relates to wet days in port of heavy going at sea, the bigger boat will be drier. Safety comes in quietly saying " that little bit bigger boat, with secure cabin area, is safer ".  Last night I watched Sam Sails, a British lad sailing a Hurley24 around his landmass. Last night's episode featured him sailing in the Jester Challenge to Baltimore, Ireland. The weather conditions were almost benign, with calm or less than 5 knots most of the way, rising to 15 knots as he sailed into harbour at the finish. Well done Sam ! Now, the thing is that an experienced sailor on a 26' Folkboat went missing overboard near to where Sam lolled about. Apparently, the boat was recovered & there were

Yeah, I know I'm late on the bandwagon. Every new technology emerges on the market and stage one is really elitist ownership through high prices. Lots of models driving Lexus cars, in front of white minimalist homes, wearing or using the new thing.  Then, the price eases to catch all the wannabes who advertise the product on social media or just but showing off on public.  The third wave hits the suburbs, on trend parents, glitzy go getter kids with part time jobs get onto it. The final stage is when the market requires saturation and all the cheap copies of the original are allowed to flood the market. That's me. I mock all the trendy fat cats but eventually I might actually buy one ... then throw it on the hard rubbish collection soon after.  Well, anyway I got a Fitness Watch for $29 from Jaycar. I was actually after a watch, if it had GPS bonus, the health readouts are a gimmick. One of the big things about these watches is Counting Steps. We've all seen the

Four Winds Letras de canciones (Español) Wind coming from the mountain Wind bring clarity to us.   Wind coming from the sea Wind bring freedom to us.   Fly, fly, fly, fly Fly, fly, fly, fly With us   Wind coming from the desert Wind bring silence to us   Fly, fly, fly, fly Fly, fly, fly, fly With us   Wind coming from the forest Wind bring memory to us   Fly, fly, fly, fly Fly, fly, fly, fly With us

Always the dreamer I am, in my quieter moments, prone to doubting whether NY sailing escape will ever happen.  Like many successful voyagers I read about ( are their any books written by unsuccessful voyagers?), I began sailing when I was quite young. Perhaps I did frequently emerging fascination with boats initially, my first boat was thrust upon me. I had no real contact with boats before then, just surfboards. But learn to sail we ( my brothers and I) did. But we eventually wore out the aged plywood dinghy, and I returned to surfing fulltime.  It was not until after I began working that I got the bug. I'd bought cars, motorbikes & surfboards, & wined & dined my girlfriends, & finally I was looking for fun further afield. Around this time I discovered that owning a yacht moored on the lake, was not a rich man's prerogative. In fact they were within reach of anyone in full time work.  My first purchase was a Princess 18; an award winning design trailer sailor.

Yesterday while getting groceries an Old Geezer ogled my ride before reporting that  "The English" were going to resume making Royal Enfields again, some market versions.     Initially I thought that was good, but then I thought no. They will cost a lot more & no longer remain a tinkerer's vehicle of choice. But anyway, he was a nice old fellow.  Today, while having morning tea at Hexham Maccas an Old Geezer fronts up. I learnt that he rode a 1951 triumph thumper that he has owned since high school!   As we talked another Old Geezer fronted up on a Honda 550 four, the First Old Geezer immediately panicked & said "look out he falls off all the time". Sadly he remained upright for the duration of further talks about motorcycles. A Really Old Geezer then joined on, he was driving a car because he was rebuilding after a crash - as he was overtaking the driver pulled out & took him out. He hit the dirt at a little under 80kph, which was more or less his a

8am: weak sunlight is peaks over our hill to the thump of the generator is pumping amps into the batteries. Inside the laundry tub swishes away dirt & damp, from jeans & woollies.  The fire seems to burn constamtly now & the house feels suitably toasty & comforting. the pets know this & huddle together close by. Peace o' the land. I am free of work & parenting duties & feel extra happy & light on my feet. I hope to restore my soil via small scale travel. I watch Sam Holmes coastal sailing Spain, & as today clears bright & sunny  i have opened my doors to sail camping with  Lurgy .  I cannot think of anything more enjoyable than coffee, a radio & good book while at a quiet anchorage. 9am: the three travellers (charlie, naomi, julie) are delayed at the airport in Sydney. Two loads of washing are out, the fire heats dish washing water, the Royal has been unwrapped and soon I will " go ashore for provisions ".  The hourl

Today would be the birthday of my best ever lover Robyn.  "Love always".

being a lawns and gardens worker, the midwinter period is the equivalent of Christmas holidays for most other people. Most lawns can go three weeks without attention, and even then the cuts are just a quick skim.  added to my convoluted existence is the fact that I have responsibility for the care of my 11 year old great nephew. So opportunities for holidays are restricted; to having him with me or on this case, when my sister takes him for a week. I've been on this care arrangement for nearly four months and it's been tough; me adjusting to having a dependent child again and housetraining an 11 year old with issues and a history. The break will do us both well because frankly, I'm becoming a little bitter and twisted. Having to be the "bad guy"who insists on healthy diet and routines, and telling the truth, gets quite tiring as the guilt trip bites. . Anyway, I have quite a nice decision to make, now that I have a week off; do I go cruising under sail or on my mo