Living Contentedly

In short its 9pm & just home with a coffee after sailing all day.  The launch was a bit sticky. The centreboard wasn't fully up. I'd been attempting to replace the uplift cord & hadn't reset it properly. No problems, I think.  Just after peak Low tide, I motor out the Lemon Tree Passage & have trouble lowering centreboard. It won't budge!  Light winds forecast are not light. Its blustering 10-12kn SWer. This increased slightly through the day. Going through the channel west of Soldiers Point, there are heaps of dolphins & I get great movie footage of them playing on the bow that I cannot post here.     Here we are exiting the channel, the wind is shoving us along mightily so I put in a reef & worry about centreboard.  Too early for the 2pm sailors, it barely noon. I skim the west shore of Middle Island & sail dead downwind along the north shore. Off the entrance to Myall River, I gybe S in the channel. This puts is ...

As I reflect uneasily on events from yesterday, I am thinking how sailing is like a game of chess. Its also not like chess; you cannot die if you lose a game of chess.  What I take from this analogy are: realise the importance of the game, pay attention to details, a frailty you knowingly carry into the game will be your undoing, errors compound and it matters.  Something to ponder; as I was lashed to the wharf, eating rice, beans and tuna with coffee Port Stephens rescue called all stations to alert, a solo fisherman in a 3.5m dinghy had not logged off and was not in contact with base. (* See below) Lessons:  Your centreboard needs to be deployable at all times.  A wobbly outboard bracket can look unsightly, dump your outboard on the water and cause you to lose your craft.  Always have a deployable anchor ready. If you're going to sail through a narrow passage into difficult conditions, you want to have everything working and be on top of your game.  If th...

Technically a day late, but I had a nice soak in the ocean to celebrate winter.  I had a little jog beforehand to warm up a little.  I did seecteo other swimmers a Dicko, and we outnumbered the surfers. 

in 1926, police seeking justice for the stabbing murder of a pastoralist set upon local Balanggarra people. At least two men of European descent, police officers Regan and St Jack and methodically detained, shot and incinerated the bodies of around thirty people from the Forrest River Camp.  Evidence of the massacre was recorded on national newspapers, using the word massacre, children and others from the camp, a white witness, court records and forensic evidence. A recent Royal Commission confirmed this, and a delegation of senior police officers attended the centenary rememberance of the event to acknowledge these facts and to speak the truth and remember.   

My new forrard hatch curing by the fire. Very Jester ;)

Yesterday's sailing has me full of good energy. I wascup at 5 kicking to go but it was still dark.  This am I washed CLANCY down & hosed her off by the dam. I think that long run back from Can Berra in Sooty the Subaru had her all coated in soot. Amazing I know. Well she scrubbed up a treat.  The last metre & a half of mainsail hoist is very tight. A quick investigation revealed a) a too small diameter block & b) a possible squashed track where it settles on its U shaped cradle. A plastic protecting sheath has moved, or been lost, & perhaps a heavier than necessary landing has squashed some track. Easy fix, I just need to unlash the sails so I can check it properly & get a repair done.  On ILONA the gunnel got a touch up from cats walking on damp paint. I think the bin/outboard slot is complete. So she's ever closer to being done. Phew. Then dog CUDDY & I went for a 90 min jog. With rain ahead, today got quite warm & humid. I was disappointed t...