Living Contentedly

After my Sunday ride, my first for a while sue to rainy weather, I decided to collect rubbish. A section of just 200m coming into a village of maybe 2 doz houses.   yep a half a vacuum cleaner.  I don't think the Container Refund system is operating too successfully. 

Once again visiting my daughter in the Central West for a week, l am reexamining my life's direction. Yes sailing is there no matter what, its just whether I sail what I have or sell my house and go bigger. The central issue is the care of small animals, my daughter's cats, which really have belonged to the farm, and my son's dog, ditto. While my daughter has volunteered to mind these wee beasties, to drop them off entails a 14 hours return drive.  So, I drive out to drop them off, go coastal sailing for a month before going out to collect them. Lots of driving, loading my daughter up, stress on the cats during travel and new situation. Bad for the environment too.  Plan B is to sell the farm and my current boat and move aboard, with animals, a larger boat. Well, pretty good solution but big time delays selling farm and boat and then having to manage a large vessel.  Plan C might be to shoehorn all of us aboard my little boat. But while cats and dog don't currently sail...

Its hard being single and trying to get away from the house. My sons dog, my daughters cats and chickens had needed daily attention. So, I put some things in order for me to escape for a few days.  Chooks: A cube of water on a slow drip: this needed a soft hand to get going at the right rate. A bonus is the gentle sound of water dribbling.  A 10 litre bucket of grain with a toggle for chooks to release pellets: it took a few hours, but its like having a 24hr self serve. The chooks are happier with no drama, jistca lot of soft clucking sounds.  Electric Auto Feeder: this too needed fine running to release the right amounts. It works a treat. My son will be around to give the cats tinned food and some socializing.  The dog will come with me on my bike, boat or car.   All this makes me really happy. Knowing the pets have reliable access and seeing them more at ease, is rewarding and relieving.  BOAT WORK:  Due to chronic wet weather I have ILONA's sp...

SitRep. A chain of soggy days will give 25 hrs respite. I'm here alone with the cats, chooks and goats. Cuddy left with Joe to visit his mother for her birthday and have a few days rest. He probably has his Korean girlfriend but I'm unlikely to meet her. On a few days I head off to visit Mia, and work on her house, bricks to be precise.  Yesterday, driven by better eyesight, greater inner peace and a love of boats, decide to refit ILONA. It has only been 11 months since I last did this, but my new eyesight has revealed poor quality painting.  So, the spars are off and sanded. They will be spot painted before three coats or so.  The topsides will be lightly sanded and repainted. If I can add lacquer, I will be happy.  Internally, the bin will have it's new lid fitted (I may also remove the plug.) and have the deckboards sanded and varnished. Only then will I repost her for sale.     

My goal to chop my Honda Shadow has been abandoned. After much work and effort, she is not running well enough to continue. Chopping the airbox has upset the fuel settings enough to warrant rejetting, and as my previous carby clean cost $350, I'm not tempted. Besides, with the fuel tap on tank assembly can't to be fitted clear of the engine.  Apart from this, two things have made my mind up to abandon. One, with tight fitting carbs, complex electrics and water cooling, its too difficult a bike to chop. And secondly, I'm trying to downsize my lifestyle so I can jist ride bikes and sail cruise a lot more than I have (not) been.   A bit sad, bit meh, move on.  

After being head down with boatwork and then 48hrs of cabin fever, i woke to a this fog and a drive to go surfing.  Unfortunately, the southerly  seabreeze was cooking and with so  much standing up and a big low tide, the surf was not good and getting worse. Wanting to make the most of the trip, I changed into my swim gear and set off to slow jog for a while.    But when I reached the northern extremity of the main beach, I got this itch to keep going around the cliffs. My running suffered, the rocks were sharp, slimy or just too dangerous to traverse at anything faster than a steady walk.  I walked this stretch in the opposite direction almost sixty years ago with my buddy Scott. It was amazing how strong the memory flooded my mind. I vividly remembered one bit where it was necessary to teeter on a wet ledge over a sea tossed chasm. PTSD? Yep.  I kept pushing under rock faces that seem to continually fret away, corr...

There is a lot of vagueness here, but I hope the essence of what I write is comprehensible.  Years ago my high regard for "cockleshell" sailors blossomed through reading. I actually met the fellow intent on sailing " G'day 88" across the Tasman but he probably caused me more trsuma than good, he was rescued at sea during a cyclone and was later gaoled for the planned murders of people advertising rooms to let. I'm just glad I didn't venture on board to have a look at his little craft.  While this is obviously an extreme example of a cockleshell sailor, there have been a few odd bods on this genre.  Anyway, one good example was a fellow who successfully sailed a self designed and built 9 footer across the Atlantic Ocean. Several aspects of his preparation marked him for success in my mind, one was his single mindedness (is. focus) on achieving the goal safely. He also trialled the boat on a local lake, living in the midwest of USA he had limited access to...

Progress is a life long pursuit. Sometimes progress is not slow or smooth, but comes on leaps.  Today was a leap day. I'm not sure why my mind was so relaxed, it was raining so my List (of things I must do) was cast aside, I  also prayed a full Rosary early. But clearly my mental perception was clear and my mood relaxed. I learned that when I'm unsure how to do something I am best to stop and look, really invest your mind on the issue, be there fully. Then a near perfect solution will emerge. You'll know its great because it will feel right, and its simplicity will make you giggle.  Your mind will visit Gnomes and jazz music will send you to an orgasmic high.   

I have two secret goals, one fresh & the other has been buried in my heart for years.  The first involves motorcycles, well a motorcycle. Not before getting back aboard my old Royal Enfield Classic 500 had I realised how much pleasure I derived from gearing up and riding. Earlier this week, standing alongside her at the beach a fellow rider came over and mentioned proudly that he had done a "lap of Australia". What's funny is that although he didn't look like your typical motorcyclist, he was muscled and clean cut, I anticipated that he was about to say it. Then, I felt a dart of excitement. To ride a circumnavigation of Australia was something I could achieve. The seed as not so much sowed, it was germinated. My style of circumnavigation, like my style of riding of anything else, will be unique. It cod well involve my Royal, with new wheel, headstock and swingarm bearings and a sidecar full of spares, camping gear and a dog. Its fermenting and growing as we are. ...

"New Bedford" 19' dory ketch Capt . Thomas Crapo (1841-1899)

Lately, ive been musing over whether to sell my property and go full on into sailing. But, dragging me back is the fact that life here is not only peaceful, its cheap and devoid of human interference. I am no grid  literally and figuratively speaking. The same reasons I go sail cruising.  This morning i took my dog and myself for a slow stroll to the east of the property, to see the sun come across the hills. It was beautiful, the soft pastel salmon hue of the skies south feed my soul. I followed a wallaby trail down off the ridge, starting to head back. Little well worn trails, passed along from marsupial to marsupial, occasionally echidna diggings revealed the presence of red ant colonies. It was too cold for the remaining ants to come out this morning though.  Pretty soon after a large tree got my attention. There were lantana branches making the detour less attractive, but this tree was sending a strong call. I call these guys Old Man Trees, they're probably hundreds...

Bilge Pump : a manual bilge pump with 100l/min capacity with dia.32mm suction and delivery hoses was fitted in the port aft berth. AIS:  a small receiver fitted requires connection to VHF antenna via splitter and tablet for visual transmission.  Sea Chair:   a "gamers chair" fitted to port of the companionway. Galley Water: a manual pump accessing supply in a jerrycan fitted in galley. Small stainless bowl fitted to be discharged manually to cockpit. Heads/Gash Bucket : due to interference with the Sea Chair, the previous head was removed and replaced with a green lidded 10l bucket.  Gimballed Stove: a home-made gimballed Trangia metho stove fitted to galley, but remains portable.  Cabin Stowage:  secure lines fitted to outboard of cabin frames. Hanging nets fitted to stowage and hanging.  Elastic Sail Ties : approx 8 orange elasticated sail ties were fitted for stowing main and mizzen sails. AIS receiver.  Below: Burke coast...

This morning, having only done weights and a 4k routine jog, I felt pressure to go large . A ride was off the books due to a stiff SWly wind, no fun riding into that. Nor is it possible really to settle into a steady grind as the gusts buffer and interrupt momentum. So a jog it was. Since starting jogging I have been more or less doing the same hilly 4k return up the road I live on. Going longer would mean doubling this or walking a steeper section further down. I wanted to settle in to a steady grind and up my mileage.  As it was cold and windy I wore tracky sacks and two top layers and a a hat to keep warmth in. Starting from the fire atation, my imagined route was to the Tin Bridge, back and across to another dead end road. This, I guessed would be 6k, a modest improvement. But as I nearedy turn around point, I wasnt feeling modest , I wanted bigger . I kept on over the river to Vacy, on a fast but not very highly driven road. Surprisingly, all the cars gave me a respectful wide...

So, of i haven't actually said it loud i am in the process of preparing Clancy  my NIS18 ketch for coastal sailing. So yesterday i bought bits for galley sink, a high volume manual bilge pump, a gimballed cup holder (that i had an idea might be used for a trangia stove), am AIS receiver (not in stock) and checked out foul weather gear.  Today i went off to the hardware store for 38mm hose and was able to complete plumbing my bilge pump. It's funny with a flat bottomed boat without ac bilge per se, the auction lashed on the cabin floor. Anyway it's a neat fit and will give peace of mind to know if I get ac wave through the hatch, i can clear it at 100 litres per minute. I also bought a "gash bucket", that's a slope bucket come heads. This will hold sawdust and so on. It's sorted below the cockpit and runs clear of the Sea Seat, which fouled the old heads. In the galley, I fitted a small hand pump tap and cute little stainless steel bowl. 

Phote credit:Small Craft Magazine. Sometimes I idly muse; is Clancy a ketch or a yawl?  I have it on authority of Google AI, that with a mizzen mast forward of rudder post, she be a wee ketch.  Further, without foresails, jibs, genoas, code zeroes and such, she qualifies as bring cat rigged. So, she is properly identified as a cat rigged ketch, or cat ketch.   Her masts are unstayed or  free standing, in that they have no standing rigging. Both masts are able to be lowered in their personal tabernacles.  Sail Area: Main 12.06 sq.m Mizzen 4.82 sq.m Reefing: Clancy has two slab reefs in her mainsail, and one on her mizzen.  Under mizzen alone she is designed to make slow way directly towards the wind.  

This weekend passed has been a good one with regards the refit of The Clancy, as follows:- Autohelm : my initial assessment had led me to believe a separate structure was needed to attach the Autohelm. But today's check had revealed an almost too easy fit. Drill + Goo = Done. The pin fitting on tiller was a repeat. Wiring, completed on day 2, was made easier by prewiring I'd done months ago. It was a great relief to discover this as I loath wiring of any type. Ive not yet tested to autohelm, but reckon that will be a fun thing to do when we're afloat. Its not free of power consumption like a windvane, but I cannot fit a vane on my little ketch due to the stern-sweeping mizzen boom. But I trust a with a slightly upscaled solar-battery setup, this system should be as good.  Sea Chair: A comfy chair in which to sit at sea has long been of interest. Sitting sipping coffee or dozing, while the little ship guards herself, is the epitome of cruising for me. And a quirk of the NIS1...

Beautiful autumn morning here.  The liberating feeling that smashed me after selling a motorcycle is LIBERATING. Its also ADDICTIVE, I want to keep going. I need a car to tow my trailable NIS18. I have 2 other motorcycles, I will sell one once the one currently being modified, has run for a while. Being remote I feel a need of a second vehicle, though my bicycle is stepping up with ongoing fitness improvements.  I am undecided on whether to sell my house. This would force the purchase of a new larger boat, sale of car, any motorcycles and months of work to prepare the property.   Today I worked on Clancy & got a lot done.  a) Hanging Points by the main hatch. Added 3 saddles and a large hook for hanging oilskins, knife, sunglasses etc.   b) Tethered Hatch Boards.  c) Mounted Autohelm.   Now I just need to wire it up. d) Ordered Domes. Yes domes, two. One for each hatch.  e) Bought a Gamers Chair to be used as a Skipp...