Bradley, Ken, and Alan - everythings under control!
Mooloolabaa to Sydney Ken and Susan arrived on schedule but Alan was held up in Dallas due to bad weather – he was 24 hours late. While changing the oil, Bradley and Ken discovered a problem with the generator – an exhaust pipe had a hole in it and would need to be repaired before we set off. It was the Friday before the New Year’s weekend and we were worried. Bradley called Ron Carson, another friend of the Powells and he recommended a welder who said he could have the repair done by Saturday morning. Susan and I dropped it off on our way to the grocery store for provisioning.
Ron wanted to come by the boat to look at a problem we were having with the main halyard. It seemed to be rubbing on something when the main sail is reefed. Ian had sewed a patch on that had already been worn off after just a few hours.
Ron is a shipwright who spent seven years cruising the world with his wife in the boat that now belongs to the Powells. He went up the mast and found the problem – a “stopper” which prevents the halyard from being raised too high was worn and causing the trouble. He removed it and we put a mark on the halyard to make sure we’d know where to stop.
It turns our Ron is interested in the first mate job. We’ve been looking for someone to take care of the boat while we’re not able to be there. Ron would be a good choice because he’s knowledgeable and mature and could teach Bradley a lot. If we take the boat back to Mooloolabaa, it would also be reasonable cost. Something to think about.
Next day the generator part was repaired. By noon we were ready to go. But the weather report was troubling – some strong winds were forecast – 25-30 knots. Not a big problem, but it they picked up, it could get hairy. A local on the radio noted that it was not a good day to go out. But it was now or never. We were already a day late and due to meet Alans wife Katherine and Bradley’s daughter Margy in Sydney. We discussed it and determined a potential stopping point if things got rough. But we all wanted to go and all but me are experienced sailors.
After fueling up, off we went! It was choppy and rough at first, but the strong winds didn’t materialize. We had 12-20 knots.
Prior to departure, Susan noted that she had never been seasick – never something you should talk about. She hadn’t been on a boat in a couple years – so of course you know what happened! Alan was also a little queasy, but he spent a lot of time up on the bow in a rough ride and was also still feeling the effects of his long trip.
All in all it was a nice sail of about 600 miles. Every weather forecast we heard was the same – strong winds of 25-30 knots – but they never came! After the initial rough seas, things settled down and we had some very nice sailing. New Year’s Eve was a little rough so we postponed our planned leg of lamb dinner and had cold chickens and soup instead. We all got up at midnight to celebrate with some Dom Perignon that Alan had brought. There were some fireworks displays we could vaguely see on shore .
New Years day was beautiful. Calm seas and steady 10-12 knot winds. We had our leg of lamb mid-afternoon and were glad we had waited! We caught a small blue marlin. Not the best fish to eat so we wanted to let it go, but that’s easier said than done. But fearless Bradley donned his leather gloves and finally managed to free him.
A gorgeous and uneventful next day and a half. Caught a little skipjack tuna that managed to escape off the back platform after suffering some mouth damage. Not too long later we got another one – but wait! On closer inspection it was the same fish! He was a nice dinner for us all.
Our last night out started calmly. Winds picked up to 15-20. After my watch they continued to pick up. Bradley waited a little too long to reef the main. Winds picked up to 30 which made it more of an adventure. But Alan, Ken, and Bradley got the reef in OK. With just a reefed main we were hitting speeds of 11-12 knots. Alan got it up to 14.6, but as Bradley pointed out, he wasn’t really on course.
Earlier in the day we had flown the spinnaker – lots of fun. Slightly tore the sail on the first attempt, but taped it up and got it up on the next try. Flew it for a few hours. Got it down OK, but the halyard broke – seems we’ll need several new halyards soon.
Made it to Pittwater, our destination at around midnight. Bradley’s friends Mike and Sue Powell were supposed to meet us there, but since we were running behind schedule they went on to Sydney, thinking we would bypass the Pittwater stop. But we were ready for a quiet night at anchor.
