Saturday 23 February 2019
Prince of Wales Bay Marina
Today was officially the end of Stage 1 and the beginning of Stage 2.
After a morning ambling through the Salamanca Market, in the glorious sunshine, Murray, Liz Linda and I made our way out to the airport around 1:45pm to officially wave good-bye to Linda and Liz as they made their way home to Melbourne.
It was in many ways a sad farewell as we reflected on the wonderful experiences of the past three weeks, but couldn’t ignore the separation of the next three weeks as I remained behind for the journey home.
As it turned out, one of my old New Zealand university flatmates, John Land, flew in to join us around 2:00pm, (via Melbourne) along with the final crew member Jacqui Rock. This was a most fortunate coincidence because it meant that our Uber-Murray could drive us all four back to Chimere, via the local Bunnings of course as we needed to buy a replacement flick-mixer tap for the galley, plus a few other things … such as more duct tape!
While we were out, Isabel and Ray made good use of their time, catching a taxi to the nearby MONA art gallery and museum, which they enjoyed greatly.
It was then a rather serious excursion to the supermarket for Isabel and Jacqui to buy a generous supply of fresh fruit and veggies – plus the essential tub of ice-cream… this IS a boat of serious sailors after all !
One thing that has been a niggling issue for me has been the unreliable autohelm. I was keen to get a technician to have a look at it, but all those who were referred to me we full up with work for another week or so. One guy, however, said he could drop out on Sunday – tomorrow, so instead of leaving first thing, I’ve decided to stick around till 12:00 noon so as to allow him to check it out. This will require us to leave the dock in order to fully test its functionality.
As an aside, I made contact with our boating friend Dick, who assisted us with fixing the anchor well hatch, and he straight away asked … “did it only happen in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel?” … he went on to describe that both he and his father … “often experience vagaries with our autohelm heading north and south in the channel. Dunno why, The Kettering Triangle!!”
Just catching up on some of yesterday’s activities … Linda travelled with Murray and Liz up to Mt Wellington and as you’ll see from the photos, it was a beautiful day … no cloud or rain, but a temperature of around 10 degrees and a wind that made it feel like 5.
There was also the “Farewell Dinner” Linda Liz, Murray and I had last night at none other than the Hope and Anchor … where we’d had a beer the day before and which claimed to be the oldest licensed pub in Australia (1807)
It’s now getting late. John and Ray have just finished fitting the new tap (which doesn’t drip) to the galley sink. Isabel, ably supported by Jacqui, have received the adulation of all for their delicious evening meal. And based on Isabel’s preparation (note the pic of the book she has been reading) and provisioning, we are in for a very delicious three weeks. As for the 8 dozen eggs ?? I trust Isabel knows what she’s doing and I’ve simply kept out of the way. Like her sister Rosie before her, I’m sure we will all be well looked after.
Ray has been reading a book on catching fish, we just hope the fish have done the same … but he sounds keen on giving it a serious go. Apparently the way to catch bigger fish is to use bigger hooks, so I’m keen to give that a go !
As an introduction to the area we will be exploring … weather permitting of course … you might enjoy the brief film clip at the following link .,.. (“The Shank” is the book I have recently purchased with details of some very remote anchorage)
https://andrewwilsonphotography.com.au/video-footage-captured-while-creating-the-shank/
The mood aboard is one of anticipation as we share the first night together, as a crew, before heading off tomorrow.
Murray, our ever-faithful ground-crew driver, is heading off tomorrow too. His ploan is to explore his way north in order to meet the ferry at Devonport by 3 March
Smooth seas, fair breeze and T’was the night before …
Rob Latimer
Freedom Sail 