We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea

By Charley on January 22, 2012

Last year we sold our beloved skiff and I wrote a heartfelt valedictory post about it here, where I celebrated the love of a boat that sadly had to go. In the meantime we’d sold our small house in south Sydney and headed for the leafy burbs of the ‘Shire, content with the tinny and the occasional race or delivery with old friends and connections whilst we focused on raising two girls and giving them a taste of the briny.

When we advertised the skiff online we got side tracked perusing the marine classifieds and day dreamed of the possibilities, a bit like some people do on domain.com on a Friday night accompanied by a chardy or two (actually that’s me as well). We pondered a few items in the four figure category, commenting on how lovely it would be to have something with a cabin to do overnighters on with the girls and take them outside of the heads.  Having just bought a house and not having yet sold our current one, not to mention the renovations required on the new one, we categorised a lead keel boat in the “several decades away” basket. In fact having done a few thousand miles on other people’s yachts, being a “proper” boat owner has never been top of the list.

But what would you say if someone offered you one. For free?.

Allow me to introduce you to the Red Endeavour.

img_2526

Generously donated by a family friend whose budget and ambitions have changed, this boat has been a  family fixture for about a quarter of a century. Mostly sailed on Port Hacking, and definitely pre-loved, its age a barrier to her owner’s urgency to reclaim the mooring for her replacement.

Our initial reaction to the offer was “yes, yes, yes” but there is actually more to taking on an old yacht than meets the eye. If I’m honest we both knew from the outset that we couldn’t say no. We did a bit of research on insurance, rego, moorings etc. and then went down for a lookie. Having noted the need for some TLC we uttered a predictable “yes”.

The pressing need to get her off her current moorings presented some unexpected challenges, which I will elaborate on in a future post. In the meantime she’s had her bottom scrubbed (well in need)…

Dirty Bottom

a once over from a marine surveyor (with recommendations)….

On the Slip

…..and a good gurney to blow away the guano (that’s a technical term for Sea bird poo in case you were wondering,) she was starting to look like a bit of a gift horse. I daren’t look her in the mouth.

I’m going to blog (now and then) about her ressurection which may be of interest if you’ve ever cruised the classified sections of “Afloat” magazine and don’t think its silly to adopt a bottomless money pit as your pet project (what house renovations?…)

calling all carpenters

table turned

Dunno about the dunny...

Need some money for new rope

Anchors Away!

Who has an overlocking industrial sewing machine?

..and who could resist the intoxicating and romantic aroma of two stroke…

The intoxicating and romantic aroma of two stroke

…from the egg beaters…

The egg beaters...

But….most importantly, when she’s scrubbed up and sea worthy I hope to bring you tales from the ocean waves with two under 5…

pondering the high seas

are you sure about this?rail fodder

hiking training

old anchor rope

…as well as the usual escape tales from the tinny, which I assure you will retain its rightful spot (in my eyes anyway) as the ultimate getaway vehicle from the stresses of modern life…

The tinny life

 What lengths have you gone to to avoid house renovations?! :)

 PS – If you’re interested in the captions that go with the photos, just hover your mouse over the image.

 

 

 

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For the Love of a Boat

By Charley on August 29, 2011

The Big S

Yesterday a little piece of my heart was taken away. It wasn’t my first born’s first day at school. I didn’t have to take the family dog to the vet. I sold my skiff. You might relate if you have at any point been the owner of one, that some boats take a special place in our hearts, as I aluded to in this recent post. They don’t have to be particularly shiny, classic or even wooden really, although these kind are easy to love.

The little blue sixteen footer was towed back to Middle Harbour yesterday and with it went the last vestiges of pre-family life. It represented for me more carefree days when the working week’s end was punctuated with four hours of salt water blasting, a good dose of sun and more bruises than a stick could poke at you.

My husband and I saved up for this much loved vessel before we got married. In fact if we’d have by passed it althogether we’d probably have been able to afford a wedding sooner. We forfeited a new sofa in lieu of the boat, which we painted blue and called Big Saturday. I’d never sailed skiffs before and spent several seasons standing on its upturned shiny hull admiring the paint job we’d had done instead of an expensive weekend away. In fact our first full new suite of sails was a wedding present from my Uni sailing friends.

On classic Sydney summer days with a 25 knot Nor ” Easter blowing I think of the feeling you get reaching down to Balmoral to the bottom mark, knees buckling at the pull of the kite and the sound of water slapping on the hull as its skips over the wavelets and sometimes a thump as it lands on a big lump of swell. Near misses with sight impaired white haired gents in captain hats on more sedate craft. Ducking a nine year old in a sabot and nearly taking the cap off his head with the tiller extension. Flying through the air when your bowsprit stay breaks downwind and landing head first in the drink.

International 16ft Skiff Regatta

We even took her on a road trip once from Sydney all the way to Geelong, receiving some interesting looks when we pulled up at a vineyard in Gippsland at the end of a muddy dirt track.

The speeds you can can reach in a skiff meant we’d be happy most weekends with a place somewhere between the bottom and the middle of the fleet. That said we had one particularly good season with a few handicap wins that earned us some prize money. Which we spent behind the bar on preso night.

Apart from the many hours of fun I had on that boat, I had as many happy hours on shore with some wonderful people. Skiffs, first designed and built here, are quintessentially Sydney. They made me feel at home in this city, part of a a long established community that still thrives in pockets and nurtures friendship and respect (mostly!) amongst its many members. The cameraderie at Middle Harbour was second to none; as Amelia E. Barr puts it “The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.”

So if I am so in love with this boat and those around her why am I selling her? Well she’s been on a trailer at the front of our house for several years, seemingly unloved, certainly unused. Our fellow crew have also got mini me crews of their own too, so rounding up a threesome for a sail has become harder. Better then that she goes to a good home with some whipper snappers,  while we are at swimming school teaching the girls essential skills for righting capsized boats.

Thanks for the memories little blue boat. Do you have an all time favourite boat? Or some last vestige of pre-family days that you struggled to let go of like me?

If you’re not familiar with skiffs, here’s what you’ve been missing :)

16 Foot Skiffs past and present (Courtesy of Belmont 16 Footers and soundtrack by Midnight Oil)

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“Music of The Rippling Waters “..Uteikah II turns 100

By Charley on June 29, 2011

Its not everyday you get invited to a 100th Birthday, but two in a fortnight is unheard of. I had the privilege this weekend of attending a celebration of 100 years of the beautifully restored classic yacht Uteikah II. It was on this yacht that I came across the nautical chart that inspired my post “The Magic of Maps”. She has been owned by a friend of the family for the last thirty years or so and has just undergone a complete restoration project which has taken more years than was anticipated, but the final restoration speaks for itself. She is a thing of great beauty and I had a job to put my camera down.  

The celebration included a blessing of the boat. I couldn’t hear much of the pastor’s words from my spot on the wharf but, depsite still being unsure of my own religious persuasion the occasion rather stirred the emotions. I think anyone who “goes down to the sea in ships” might relate to this. It seems fitting and right to launch a vessel with a prayer that might help her and her crew weather any storms that come their way. Sailors are a superstitious bunch. The occasion reminded me of going with my Dad to the blessing of the fishing fleet and the harvest of the sea service in Porthleven. My Dad would say he is not a deeply religious man at all but he often went along to these occasions.

Uteikah has a long and rich history which I won’t attempt to record here in any detail at all as I’d probably get it wrong. The celebration was made particularly special though, by the attendance of the son and grandson of Uteikah’s original owner. The former of which pipped Uteikah to the post and got his telegram from the Queen last year. How special for a man and a boat who have shared the same century to be reunited in this way. Sent a shiver down my spine.

To some people boats are just a means of transport; a collection of wood, metal and cloth that are fashioned together to float and move from place to place. But to a sailor, like the once in a lifetime family dog, some boats are a bit more special than others. They bind together the people who have sailed on them through their shared memories and voyages and they take on a personality of their own by absorbing the spirit that is borne out of life at sea.

I’d love to hear about a vessel that was special to you and any thoughts or recollections on faith and seafaring?

I took too many photos to label and comment on so here are the best in a gallery. See if you can spot Grandad Water’s chunk of cedar that was once a table, then a wireless casing and is now set for a new life at sea.

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Boat Boffin Birthday Bash

By Charley on May 23, 2011

Its official. I’m a geek. I used my children as an excuse to spend the whole of last Sunday morning, and more, hanging around with the radio control boffins at the St George Model Boat Club 25th Birthday Regatta. I went down on the pretence that the kids would love all the little toy boats.
It was really to indulge in my own idea of becoming the owner of a  classic timber schooner. Or perhaps a vintage Sunday chugabout with graceful lines. On a reasonable budget. It was like being down at an expensive  marina pointing out all the boats you’d buy if you had a spare half a mil. I took about a gazillion photos. Luckily I had some friends with me to make sure the kids didnt fall into the duck pond everytime I got distracted with another photo opportunity. There was everything from….
…Olympic class sailing yachts
….the Manly ferry
……paddle steamers
…The South Steyne (with real steam!)
….ducks doing a ditty
…my dream runabout…
….iceberg!!!!!!
…grand old ladies…
….some serious attention to detail…
…some hooners…
…and schooners…
….gentleman racers…
…boys and their toys…
…the real reason behind the state’s public transport issues…
…the fishing fleet…
…ships that had sailed the seven seas to get here…
…The Life Boat…just in case…
And everything else in between…

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Snapshots of an Ocean Queen

By Charley on February 23, 2011

Stepping up to see the grand lady

A holiday on a cruise ship really isn’t my cup of tea. Perhaps when I’m ninety five and other options are becoming less accessible. However, I have nothing against those whose cup of tea it is, and I have to confess when one of the really grand Cunard vessels visits Sydney I can’t resist tripping down there to soak up the nautical magnificence that only a grand ocean liner can conjure, not to mention the people watching that goes with it. To my delight there were nautical stripes, deck shoes and gold braid aplenty as well as a few dinstiguished gents in blazers and panamas. Spiffing.  Rather than view the grand lady leaving through a pair of binos from a lofty harbourside lookout I chose to get up close and personal, if only so I could get that tingly feeling when she blows her horn right in your ear. Harriet’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. Here’s some snaps that resulted from a couple of pleasant hours loitering Quayside.

It was an overcast grey morning, but the colours worked well and the weather brought a certain Britishness to the occasion, as if any more was required!

Tidy Lines

This was one of several smartly dressed gentleman who looked like they’d just stepped out of an episode of “Goodnight Sweetheart”; trilby’s, panamas and blazers, and completely oblivious to the mad woman stalking them with pram and camera.

Taking a look

In the fifteen minutes leading up to her departure, rather disoncertingly there was a man playing the theme song to ”Titanic” on the panpipes, which he followed up with “Time to Say Goodbye” . And say goodbye she did; with several honks on her horn she glided gracefully away from the Quay and out into the harbour.

The lady leaves

 Here’s the rest in a gallery. Bon Voyage!

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Books on Boats and Things That Float

By Charley on June 10, 2010

My Old Man and the Sea...

Whatever it is in life that floats your boat, is there anyone who doesn’t enjoy a couple of hours fossicking about in a book shop, flicking through the pristine pages of books on your favourite topic?

Over the years I have gathered a bit of a collection of nautical books, which when combined with Reg’s collection is the beginnings of a maritime library. When it’s cold, wet and windy outside, and for whatever reason you’re not at sea, what better way to while away the afternoon than with your nose stuck in K Adlard Cole’s classic “Heavy Weather Sailing” or a big colourful coffee table book showcasing the best of Beken of Cowes marine photography? It is for this very reason that Reg refuses to part company with twenty years worth of Yachting World, Australian Sailing and Offshore subscriptions. I have a dream that one day I’ll be able to dedicate an entire room of the house to boat books, a sailor’s drawing room if you like. Yes, I’m a boat book geek.

Step inside...if you have a few hours to spare....

This afternoon, in the absence of such a refuge, I indulged in a couple of hours of blissful arm chair sailing when I popped in to Boat Books in Crows Nest. If you’re a sailor, boater or a fan of anything remotely nautical or of a coastal inclination and you haven’t heard of Boat Books then keep reading.

Established for over thirty years and now with shops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as a comprehensive online catalogue, Boat Books is the one stop shop for marine literature, charts and chart software. The thing that strikes you most when you browse through the shelves is the volume and variety of marine related books in stock. Far more than you’d be able to locate at the biggest general book store (5500 items in stock to be precise). Everything from the practicalities of repairing and maintaining diesel engines, mending sails, building wooden boats and plotting a safe course, through to seafood cookery books, marine and naval history, novels, marine photography and poetry, would appear to be available. There is something for everybody and if not I’m sure enquiries could be made to source what you are looking for.

Natural history meets Navy

Boat Books is also an official agent for Australian, British Admiralty, New Zealand and Fijian charts and offers a correcting service for charts you may already have. You can also purchase your digital charts and navigational software here whether for commercial or recreational purposes.

Charts....

A tea towel for the galley?

With titles like “Do Whales Get the Bends?”, “Dinner with the Fishwife” and “If Matthew Flinders Had Wings” it was a miracle I came out empty handed on this occasion. The only thing missing from the Boat Books experience was a nice cup of tea to sip whilst flicking through the pages of my next Christmas, birthday, anniversary present etc. Next time you are stuck for a gift for a boating enthusiast check out the online catalogue. In the meantime the gallery below will give you a flavour of what’s available.  Boat Books will have a stand at the Sydney Boat Show at Darling Harbour where Jessica Watson will be signing copies of her new book: True Spirit.

My trip to the book shop got me thinking about whether there is an absolute all time classic boat book. Perhaps its Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World or Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons? What’s your all time favourite?

Links

Boat Books Australia

Sydney  International Boat Show

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Home is the Sailor Home from the Sea

By Charley on May 18, 2010

Ella's Pink Lady off Sydney Heads

Over the last few weeks I have found myself reflecting on the much criticised, chronicled and at last congratulated adventures of Jessica Watson, teen solo round the world sailor.

Among the sailing and boating fraternity, opinions have abound on records, racing, technological assistance, mental stamina,  sponsorship and the likelihood of success (defined in a variety of ways). Amongst the wider community there have similarly been differences of opinion on what would motivate parental encouragement of such a potentially risky endeavor.

After absorbing all the commentary and opinion I’ve  come to a number of my own conclusions on what to make of it all.

The first is that Jessica’s voyage has been a triumph for the philosophy that an uncomplicated childhood in which your parents allow you to go on “lots of little adventures” and in which they take a very active role in your education makes for a confident young person with the ability, self belief and resilience to tackle life’s challenges…and to inspire others to do the same.

There are a lot of mean spirited and misinformed armchair adventurers out there who, despite having never been to sea themselves, have some very heated opinions on the topic and lack the usual fuel of justification that is “wasting tax payers money”. If you’ve been offshore in a yacht in anything more than forty knots of breeze in the middle of the night, then you’ll know that no amount of technological assistance or gadgetry can absolutely guarantee you a safe passage home to your loved ones.

My final conclusion, to use the words of Robert Louis Stevenson and so aptly quoted by Jessica’s mum is that “Home is the Sailor, Home from the Sea”. I’m sure there is not a mariner anywhere on land or at sea that would not agree with this and feel glad to hear of a fellow sailor’s safe return to port.

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Escape to The Carribean

By thebucko on April 30, 2010

Sail Tuning on Practice Day

This week has been a busy one and fortunately guest blogger Bucko has been continuing his adventures on the high seas and beaming them back to Secret Water, for those of us stuck on land and dreaming of the white stuff. Whilst I can understand it entirely,  I’m not sure that I have total sympathy with his predicament of an overdose of power sail trimming and the need to get back to basics…as they say a bad day on the water is better than a good day in the office! Anyway, in this latest guest blog, Bucko brings us an enviable snapshot of the Antigua Classics Race Week 2010. Over to you Bucko…

Well there are some perks to this job! being in the right place at the right time has not only left just me exhausted and sore but has rekindled my love of all things simple in the world of sailing. After joining the crew on a classic Caribbean Carriacou for Antigua Classic Race Week I have had to relearn the art of hauling in a sail and hoisting a spar.

Our Captain and owner Alexis built Genesis with a local boat builder the traditional way on the beach with a minimum of modern tools and no epoxy or electronic gizmos. Alexis works as a professional photographer here in Antigua and is the driving force when it comes to keeping these traditional fishing craft alive. With 10 entrants in our class ranging from 34ft to about 50ft we left the dock on a clear afternoon for our first practice sail and within 20 minuets we were punching into a fine Caribbean breeze and a healthy seaway to wet our decks and bodies. It’s amazing how little you need to get the best out of a boat! A couple of bits of spare string, some borrowed blocks and the top section of a destroyed spinnaker (that we made into our secret weapon).

crew member “Shredda” free climbs the rig to repair spinnaker halyard

Alexia our captain inspects the rig

 The fleet was divided into two distinct groups; firstly locals who use their craft all year round for commercial fishing and then the owners who bought, or have had boats built by locals, and race and cruise them for enjoyment. So you are left with newish boats with new sails and old fishing boats with sails fuller than a fat girl’s sock. The strange thing is that when you sail one every day for work and have no engine or electronics you get pretty damn good at knowing your vessel!

Race one started in about 17 knots of wind and by half way around the 20ish mile course we had the later starting big division thundering at us with plumes of spray coming off the bows of Ranger, Velsheda and the other huge division one classics. This timed in with a 28 knot rain squall hitting the fleet, Genesis had every piece of washing hoisted, spinnaker, staysail (half the genoa left up),the home made “water catcher”(a sail hoisted under the boom of about windsurfer size) and our huge gaff rigged mainsail, with its boom hanging some 5ft over our stern! We were off like a shot dog!

the water sail in action; knicknamed “the underwhomper”

8kts…9kts…10kts…. You have this strong feeling in your stomach that this boat should not be going this fast and why did I volunteer to trim the winchless mainsail? After surviving the first race we then had a carbon copy for day two! This included rain squall and a worse seaway. Race day three was a reach out, reach back and same again, so it was a day for the waterline boats and we saw the larger heavy schooners get through us. It has all come down to day four with even points for us and our rival Summer Cloud for first place overall .Lucky for us there was some good heavy upwind work and managed to keep the enemy at bay… but we still finished with equal points and all held our breath until the prize giving to hear if we’d won on count-back or whether the race committee were going to do it on elapsed time averages…and the results were;

  • First in division
  • First in class
  • Second in concourse de-elegance

 GENESIS!!!!!

The simple things in life....crew member Kristiansen enjoys the rain squall

Links

Racing Results

Alexis Andrews Photography

Vanessa Hall Photography

Photo Action: Marine Photography by Tim Wright

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Nautical Flag Knowledge: Are you Dragging Your Anchor?

By Charley on April 9, 2010

Nautical Flags

A must for everyone who puts to sea in boats is some kind of guide to nautical flags. Most people who are regularly on the water, whether it be to race or cruise, know some of the most commonly used flags such as the Alpha signal for  “I have a diver down; keep well clear at slow speed”.  In yacht racing the code has its own specific set of applications, for example the Y flag on the committee boat indicates that lifejackets must be worn, the Sierra flag for a shortened course etc.

But when challenged I don’t think there are many of us who could identify every single flag and its various applications without making a mistake. The exception (you’d hope) ought to be those operating on the water commercially. Having a handbook on board is all well and good but not if you’ve run over the diver in your tinny or over shot the shortened course mark in your yacht by the time you get the book out, in which case you could find yourself in a lot of trouble.

The Nato Phonetic Alphabet (not to be confused with the International Phonetic Alphabet ) corresponds with the names of the International Code Flags and  is the international radiotelephony code for transmitting messages over radio. Again, having to translate as you go from a handbook, when you are exchanging information over radio in an emergency situation at sea/on the water, is far from ideal.

As a side, I have found that knowing this alphabet has come in very handy when discussing the antics of naughty (small) children in their presence or mentioning topics that are taboo such as; “its time for “Bravo, Echo, Delta”, or “so and so is being a thorough pain in the Alpha, Romeo, Sierra, Echo”. This type of regular use is also a good way of learning the code during day to day so it comes to mind when you really need it.

Recently, however, I found a much more practical tool for learning everything in the international code. The Nautical Flags Application on Iphone lists them all with clear pictures and descriptions, includes the racing flags meanings, coastal warnings,  as well as flash cards and a quiz which you can test yourself with on a spare minute on the train.

Nautical Flag App Functions

Test Yourself

  

It also has a really cool “spell it with flags” tool where you can type in a message such as “Happy Birthday” and it will display the flag sequence, useful if you want to use your nautical bunting to say something meaningful in a “best dressed boat” competition! It also includes the Morse Code and the coastal warnings flags.

There are a number of Iphone apps that offer this type of function but the one I’m describing is called “Nautical Flags”, costs $1.19 and was created by Pub 9 Nautical

If you don’t have an iphone, here’s a really useful link instead. You can also purchase stickers at any good chandlery (boat shop) that display the code and its meaning that you can place in a sensible location in your cockpit or nav station etc.

Can you decode this without checking your handbook?

First person to correctly decode the sequence in the picture above gets a picnic trip in the tinny.

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Super Yacht Skipper…A Day in The Life…

By thebucko on April 3, 2010

From The Fore Deck

If, like me, you are constantly tugged at by the call of the running tide, some kind of sabbatical or sea change is probably never far from your mind. My next guest blogger, Peter Buckley or “Bucko” as he’s known to his friends actually turned the dream into reality a few years back and headed to the super yachting mecca that is the south of France to try his luck on the dock. Reading this post is a must if you are thinking of escaping on the high seas or know someone who is. But parents beware….if you suggest this to slow moving gen Y offspring as an eviction strategy…it might be some time before you see them again…

Over to you Bucko….

About two years ago I made a plan to escape Sydney, work, traffic and the tax man! Sounded easy… fly to Antibes, France the super yacht crewing capital of the Mediterranean, and put your CV around and wah-lah…job, bulk cash, amazing yacht and a lifestyle we all dream about.

Pre departure I went and did my STCW95 course (AUD $1500) at Newport up on the northern beaches of Sydney (this is a must for those thinking of escaping) it’s similar to the course you need before you can pull a schooner in a bar except a bit more on fire fighting and first aid. After a week putting out fires with bloody big hoses and applying band aids I was qualified!

On arriving in Antibes I realised there were a lot of people with this same cunning plan… and they were younger and better looking than old sea dog Bucko…

What followed was endless queuing at crew agencies and copious amounts of “dock walking”. They even have a magazine called “dock walk” so when you’re not dock walking you can read about dock walking! If you have no luck getting a job you do “day working” which is doing all the cleaning and varnishing the already employed crew are too lazy/hung over to do! This gives you enough money to eat baguettes but not enough to get drunk or have any sort of fun (unless you find paying 55euro’s for a hotel room that is so tiny when you stick the key in the door you break the window fun).

AnchoredNo Wind

 By chance I was day working on a 170ft gin palace, giving the teak deck chairs an unneeded coat of deck oil…when an old friend walked on to the vessel along side… and asked why I was day working and why my baguette only had butter on it? After some chit chat he offered me the chance to meet his boss and try out for a job as a captain on a 62ft Oyster sailing yacht…. Within six months the boss decided this sailing lark was quite a hoot and we trotted off to the Genoa boat show to spend the life savings of everyone you have ever met, on a 100ft carbon fibre Southern Wind Yacht to advance his learning to sail programme.

Myself with girlfriend in tow headed off to Cape Town for six months to oversee the build of this monster and bring it swiftly and safely to the owner who would be waiting at a nice restaurant near Capri to see his new summer toy for the first time.

At Sea

The yacht has just had her 1st birthday, has covered over 15,000nm and is now in Antigua waiting for further instructions. For those with the inkling to follow this sea change I will take you into a normal day with guests onboard…

  • 6am wake up
  • 6am-2am work like your hair is on fire.
  • Do this for approx 10 days then have 347 rums and collapse…repeat 6 times per season or until you go bonkers.

 We are a floating hotel with restaurant and chef, a water sports park attached, all requests are met with enthusiasm and the word NO is banned. If you like the sea, magic locations and hard work and when the boss is not around enjoying the spoils of someone else’s hard earned …then get your bum to France it all starts with YOU!

Useful links:

www.bluewatercrew.com

www.ypicrew.com

http://www.superyacht-crew-academy.com/

www.dockwalk.com/

Useful hints:

  • Have your CV well sorted and register with all the agencies you can before leaving home
  •  No visible tattoos or weird piercings
  •  Have as many tickets/courses as you can e.g. dive ticket, yacht master, power boat level 1 etc…
  •  Get your B1-B2 American visa sorted (as many vessels go across the Atlantic) you will need it and it takes time
  •  Get an ENG1 medical done they will often ask for one
  •  Smile till it hurts

View From The Crow's Nest

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