small yacht cruising club pittwater inc vol no 15 issue … · 2009-06-15 · small yacht cruising...

Issue February 2007 MAINSHEET

SMALL YACHT CRUISING CLUB PITTWATER INC

Vol No 15 Issue No 1 Month February 2007

www: sycc.net.au Call Sign – SIGH SEE

Call Channel 16 – Chat Channels 17 and 77

COMMODORE: John Cronly

SECRETARY: Basil Riegels

VICE COMMODORE: Norm Tolliday

TREASURER: Neil Steinhardt

REAR COMMODORE: Paul Hrones

CRUISE CAPTAIN: Philip Best

REGISTRAR: Jim Murphy

SOCIAL SECRETARY: John Thomson

EDITOR: Ian Lavis

NEW MEMBER SECRETARY: Derek Howie

WEBMASTER: Sandie Tolliday

IN THIS ISSUE... Page Article Page Article

2 Letter from the Editors 11 Articles 3 Commodore’s Corner 22 Notices 4 General Meeting 23 A Little Bit of Humour 8 Trip Reports

SYCC Fishing Comp…….. Keith Brown with the winning fish!


Letter from the Editors

Welcome to the first issue of the Mainsheet for 2007.

Some interesting articles have been contributed to this edition. Lindsay May, the skipper of ‘Love and

War’ gives some insight into the last Sydney to Hobart race and Arthur Mills’ gives his account of the

trip on Tony Mowbray’s yacht, ‘Commitment’.

The Australia Day long weekend had quite a few memorable moments for some members who ventured

into Brisbane Water. The trip report makes for interesting reading as does Shikari’s account of a

voyage out of their home port, Hardys Bay.

Please continue to send articles of interest and thank you to those members who regularly put pen to

paper.

Fair winds,

Val and Ian

******


Commodore’s Corner

We are now in the peak of our sailing season and the winds do not get any better or the nights any warmer so we should now all endeavour to make the best of the best. At the last meeting it was decided to vary the sailing program slightly such that in most months we will have a minor sailing function and a major sailing function. The minor would basically nominate a meeting place and a trip leader to organise pre dinner drinks and nibbles. The newer members would in the main be the trip leaders. The major sailing function would have a sailing element as well as a social element and would be led by the longer serving members. This arrangement will hopefully allow newer members to cut their teeth as well as reduce the frequency of leading trips on the more experienced members. In addition it was decided that that we would not police the currency of members insurance. It has been established that insurance is not a requirement of NSW Maritime and that invariably we claim on our own insurance when there is a mishap. If the person causing the mishap does not have insurance the likelihood is that he will be sued by the injured party’s insurance company to his great detriment. Also the task of chasing members for insurance certificates is onerous and not completely effective. However the club still considers adequate third party insurance essential and important so when renewing subscriptions members will be required to sign an affirmation that they hold and will continue to hold adequate insurance. Fair Sailing to you all, John Cronly

*****

Treasurer’s Report

Small Yacht Cruising Club of Pittwater Inc.

A copy of the Balance Sheet, P&L & Bills will be emailed/mailed to members.


Minutes

SYCC General Meeting. Date: 5th February 2007. Held at: 5 Finchley Place, Turramurra Attendance: Neil Steinhardt, John & Zdenka Van den Bosch, Basil & Jenny Riegels, John

Thomson, John Cronly, John & Rosalie Neef, John & Anne Gilligan, Christopher Mourman, John & Barbara Storey, Ken & Sue Johnston, Ken & Mary Wallace.

Apologies: Sandy & Norm Tolliday, Phil & Cathy Best, Ken & Glennis Gladman, Ian Lavis,

Val Wilson, Derek & Cathy Howie, Paul & Judy Hrones, Keith & Carol Brown, Val & Geoff Thomas, Helen Constable, Ken & Glennis Gladman, Karen Steinhardt

The Commodore opened the meeting at 2010 with a warm welcome to new and potential members Chris Mourman, John and Barbara Storey and Ken and Mary Wallace. Previous Minutes As published in the last Mainsheet. Matters Arising There were no matters arising. Accepted: John Van den Bosch Seconded: John Neef Carried Correspondence The secretary had written a letter to the Queensland Marine authorities introducing Paul Hrones as a competent sailor to avoid him having to sit for license to sail in Queensland waters. Accepted: John Gilligan Seconded: John Thomson Carried Treasurer’s Report There was $624 in the Commonwealth cheque account and $11,940 in the ING account. Payments for the servicing of moorings amounting to approximately $2700 was due in May. A quick forward budgeting indicated that income would exceed Club expenditure buy about $1000. The full balance sheet will be included in the Mainsheet Accepted: Anne Gilligan Seconded: John Thomson Carried


Cruise Report The Cruise Captain was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting due to ill health so there was no cruise report. It was increasingly difficult to get trip leaders, and in a meeting between the Commodore and Cruise Captain it was suggested that future cruise schedules should consist of one major and one minor cruise per month. A major cruise would be a fully organised event with a designated trip leader, which may be in Broken Bay or a cruise to a destination outside Broken Bay, and would require a trip report. A minor cruise would consist of a casual raft up on one of the club moorings with one of the boats acting as trip leader to the extent of arranging a social get together on the mooring, and would not require a trip report. This suggestion was accepted by the meeting unanimously. Zdenka and John Van den Bosch volunteered to arrange the cruise calendar for the next four months. Accepted: Rosalie Neef Seconded: Anne Gilligan Carried Registrar’s Report As the registrar was not at the meeting there was no report available. The Commodore brought up the subject of the requirement of insurance, and reported that NSW Maritime had confirmed that they had no requirement for boats to be insured. After some discussion it was agreed that the club position on the matter of boat insurance was that all members should carry adequate insurance, and that rather than the Registrar having to maintain a record of all member’s boat insurance, the club would require members to sign a document that they had the required insurance when they paid their annual subscription. A motion was moved that: Instead of members providing proof of insurance to the Registrar, they will be required to sign a declaration that they have adequate insurance, and will maintain this insurance during the year, when they pay their annual subscription. Proposed by: John Van den Bosch Seconded: Rosalie Neef Carried Social Secretary’s Report Other than the Christmas Party which was very successful, there has been nothing to report. It is hoped to arrange some mid week functions for those members that can attend at the beginning of March Accepted: Sue Johnston Seconded: Neil Steinhardt Carried.


Editor’s Report As the editors were not present at the meeting there was no editor’s report. The editors will be asking trip leaders for their reports. Web Master’s Report In the absence of the Web Master the report was read by the secretary. February 2007 We haven’t experienced any problems with the web since my last report. Routine uploads since my last report includes: 13 Nov 07 Add welcome to new members Rod and Valerie King to Welcome Aboard

page 16 Nov 07 Add Mainsheet and Events calendar to website

Add Merry Christmas message to website 1 Jan 07 Add Happy New Year message to website 16 Jan 07 Trial auto response using hyperlink to email for events. During User

Testing we encountered problems with responses if a member is using a web based email browser, e.g. GMail, Hotmail, etc. As a result we removed the trial page on 17 Jan 07.

18 Jan 07 Add Welcome to new members Donald and Margaret Campbell to Welcome Aboard page.

19 Jan 07 Updated Events page to reflect arrangements for Australia Day weekend and change of trip leader.

22 Jan 07 Update events calendar after receiving further advice from Derek Howie re arrangements for Australia Day weekend

28 Jan 07 Removed Australia Day message from Home Page of website The Commodore reported that the Web Master had agreed to carry on for another year on the condition that members recognised that the web would not be updated on demand as has been the case in the past, but will be updated on a regular schedule. Accepted: John Thomson Seconded: Zdenka Van den Bosch Carried New Member Secretary The new member secretary was unable to attend so his report was read by the secretary. Ken and Mary Wallace have attended two cruises, attending the Christmas trip to the harbour and the trip on the Australia Day weekend. As they were also in attendance at this meeting, they had completed their requirement for membership, and the secretary asked that the meeting consider accepting Ken and Mary as full members. This request was received with acclamation, and Ken and Mary were declared full members of the club and introduced to the treasurer! Accepted: John Thomson Seconded: Dzenka Van den Bosch Carried


General Business The Commodore informed the meeting that he had received a phone call from Ted Popham who is presently in New Zealand with Sue. They will be putting their boat on the hard and returning to Vanuatu to do more charity work on the islands together with Jenny Riegels. The Commodore has contacted NSW Maritime concerning the mooring in Towlers that is situated too close to the club outer mooring. The Commodore advised all members that Mike Lieberman who is a qualified boat surveyor is prepared to help any members who require surveys to be done on a boat. Material samples were given the Zdenka Van den Bosch for selection of the right colour for the club burgee, as the commodore now had the services of a seamstress to make club Burgees. The seamstress in the form of Hiltraud’s sister, Anna, who is as yet not aware of her duties but the commodore was optimistic that these duties would be procured! The club advertisement is once again in Sydney Afloat. This advertisement is good value as it costs $60 for three month and the magazine often lets it run for six before asking for more money. After seeing the weight limitations on moorings in Harvey Bay the commodore suggested that this information is placed on our moorings. John Van den Bosch was asked to speak to the mooring contractor on this subject. A suggestion had been made that the RMYC would hire a venue for club meetings for $100 per meeting, however John Cronly advised that while it was preferable for various members to host meetings, he was more than happy to put his home at the disposal of the club, as he enjoyed the pleasure of club members’ company at these meetings. Members were advised that while navigating the channel to Hardys Bay on the Australia weekend, one member’s boat struck a rock when passing close on the correct side of a marker. This has been reported to NSW Maritime, but members should be aware that they should keep to the middle of the mark channels. The meeting was closed at 2110 with a vote of thanks to John for his hospitality in hosting the meeting. The next meeting will be held at: Ken and Sue Johnston’s home, 19 Higgins Place, Westleigh on Monday 16th April 2007 at 2000.


Trip Reports Trip: The “Claytons”

Fast Sailing Trip Date: 25-26 Nov 2006 When only Kirin and Masquerade signed on before the weekend, we hoped to find more participants in Towlers Bay on Saturday to take part in the once a year Ladies versus Gents “fast sailing exercise”. Both Phantasm and Masquerade were on the water in time to take on the crews to man? both Phantoms but after taking stock around the 1300 hr proposed starting time we could only find 1 lady each on Vaudois, Kirin and Phantasm. Approximately 1 hour later it was decided that 3 ladies (although all capable sailors) was not enough to fast sail one of the Phantoms in the increasing N/Easter and that instead we would all go out for a good sail anyway. Kirin was by that time well on her way around Lion Island and Phantasm with Sandy and Norm of Vaudois on board and Masquerade followed soon all enjoying a fantastic sail. By the time that the after fives were due we had 3 yachts on each of our moorings and great hospitality was enjoyed in Vaudois’ cockpit followed by dinners on both rafts. On Sunday morning the forecast Southerly came through at around 0200 hrs, better on time than any Manly ferry, seemed to blow itself out around 0500 hrs only to start freshening again with a dark rainy threatening sky well before midday by which time most of the participants made home going movements. Whilst the long awaited Fast Sailing Exercise did not eventuate (maybe we could try again on a better attended or mystery cruise) we still had a relaxing weekend, good company and some good sailing thanks to Fidelio, Kirin, Masquerade, Pass Time and Vaudois.

Phantasm .

Trip: Australia Day Long Weekend Date: 26–27 January, 2007

A quick ring around the members one week out was not a bad idea and we started of with 12 boats and by the start of the weekend we ended up with 9, not a bad effort. Thursday night I went aboard Masquerade and joined Phantasm at the mooring off Clareville to help with marine watch and be close by to pick up Cathy on Friday. Dinner onboard Masquerade consisted of BBQ chicken on a roll with a bottle of red. We had a very still night sitting up late and casting an eye now and then around the mooring area. On Friday after lunch with Cathy on board we did a radio call to advise all the boats taking part that we were now leaving Clareville to time our arrival at Half Tide Rocks for high tide and then decide whether to go on to Gosford or into Hardys Bay. Aequus and Phantasm went on to Gosford for the night and the rest took up locations inside Hardys with the idea of dinner at the RSL but it all went to pot as the restaurants were either closed or booked out. So it was now dinner on the boats and the next day, Saturday a swim and BBQ for all at Ocean Beach, but all great plans can come unstuck. Just as the Aequus and Phantasm returned from Gosford at 1.30pm a southerly front came through the bay with wind gusts around 50 Knots causing severe conditions in the mooring area with dinghies almost turning over and boats slewing all over the bay. The modern boats were sailing over their anchor lines and Casablanca broke out its anchor and come sailing down through the moored boats and surging alongside Masquerade, causing my anchor to drag through the mud with both of us becoming fouled and caught pressed hard to a small boat on its mooring. A great many fenders were needed and only a little damage was caused to Masquerade, consequently we did not go anywhere that


night and sorted it all out when things settled down some 5 hours later. Sally also had problems when David returned late in the evening to run aground half way along the channel with a falling tide. We went to his aid and tried all the things that I had been taught and not any of it was of use as there was too little water. We returned to Masquerade for a roast and waited to hear from David who had called the coastal patrol for help. It was around 10pm when they arrived and tried to tow Sally into deeper water only to snap the tow line and suck the tail end of the line into the intake of the suction fan of the jet unit, so now both boats were stuck in the channel. A call again for another boat which turned up around 12.30am and got them off at high tide, a long night for some. After such a terrible day, Sunday turned out to be just fine with all going ashore to have lunch and coffee at the corner café before leaving for Pittwater at 2.30. Getting the best of the tide, all was going well heading up the channel with all the SYCC boats in line. When we reached Half Tide Rocks the tide was still running in and a large swell was running as a result of the southerly from the day before. Phantasm rounded the starboard can marker and stayed wide on the turn. Pass Time, which was astern of John, slowed and was rounding the same cone but was moved close to the mark and struck the rocks causing the boat to shudder and jump over a rock. Quick action and advice given to steer to starboard and continue into the channel saved further damage to Pass Time. Neil checked to see that no water was coming in and he will let us know the outcome later on. After passing the last marker buoys we put up the headsail on Masquerade and sailed across the bay at 6 knots all the way back to our mooring at Clareville. We learnt a lot of things can happen and I am sure that we will discuss the whole weekend in more detail on a later outing.

Boats attending the trip: Masquerade, Phantasm, Sally, Sacre Bleu, Pass time, Casablanca, Aequus with Basil and Jenny Riegels on board.

Boats out: Fidelio, Walkabout. Masquerade

*****

Trip: Fishing Competition Date: 3-4 February, 2007

On Friday Feb 2, Shikari left her mooring in Hardys Bay at 5pm on a very low tide to meet Wandjina in Refuge Bay for the fishing competition to be held in Jerusalem Bay the next day. We were travelling along the outer channel off Pretty Beach when Shikari had what can only be called a brief encounter with a sandy bottom, not so much a bump as a slide. Never the less this came as somewhat of a surprise as in the six years she had been going in and out of her home port we had never touched.. A quick swing of the wheel avoided becoming grounded, only to be followed seconds later by another sandy caress, by this time we were well over toward the cardinal mark, basically on the wrong side of the "road". As Shikari draws just under 1.5 metres (4ft.10inches), we were a little concerned that we might not make some of the shallower parts of the channel so Carol spent the best part of the remaining outward trip below deck reading out depths off the sounder (below is not a good place for a depth sounder). Carol did raise her head once to take the photo below of a recumbent port marker just off Lobster Beach, and as you can imagine boat speed at this point was slow and indeed a yacht following turned around and decided to wait on the incoming tide. The moral of the story is of course take nothing for granted, check the tide, go in and out on a rising tide, read up on any channel or crossing ,and remember the sea changes


conditions constantly and local knowledge is good but not infallible.

Alan Lucas has an excellent book that describes the manner in which the Brisbane Water is best entered. He advocates getting close into Lobster Beach to avoid shoals but not too close as there is a rocky out crop just by the Starboard mark. The shoals do seem to be moving east both at Lobster and Pretty Beach, this means the port marks are right on the edge of the shoal a low tide and some additional marks have been added so don't hug them too closely. The inside channel at Pretty Beach may be a better option for deeper draft boats.

Shikari

And as for the fishing competition, Shikari and Wandjina anchored and tied off to the shore in Pinta Bay, off Jerusalem Bay late Saturday morning. Keith, the only one with a fishing license, was quickly baited up and soon rewarded with the winning catch – a 4” baby bream. Try as he might, he could not better it as the fish just got smaller, if that is possible. Kirin with Phil and Roman on board joined us late afternoon and all 3 skippers were soon locked in fierce competition. Next morning, Shikari departed early to catch the high tide back into Brisbane Water with Kirin and Wandjina enjoying a leisurely motor back to Pittwater.

Wandjina

Shikari on a twilight sail to Refuge Bay

Port marker high and dry off Lobster Beach


Articles Sydney Hobart 2006 Contributed by Lindsay May, the Skipper of “Love and War” If at first you don’t succeed . . . . then think of another way and have another go. Maybe that explains the variables that came into play in our attempt to win the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. But before I get to the 2006 race perhaps some explanation about the original owner of Love and War and how he became a legend in ocean racing circles. Peter Kurts was a remarkable man, a loving family man, respected and successful in business and similarly acknowledged as a yachtsman. Growing up in Vaucluse he sailed dinghies, flew Dakotas in Burma during the war, worked as a traveling salesman in the back blocks of Queensland and then became involved in real estate and property development where he was remarkably successful. For over fifty years he was a determined competitor in offshore sailing. He started his offshore career in Mister Christian then after extensive research he commissioned the New York naval architects, Sparkman & Stephens to design a yacht to win the Sydney Hobart Race and win the Admirals Cup. A tall order, given the rough seas of Australia and the relatively calmer waters of the UK where the Admirals Cup was raced. Love and War was launched in 1973 and competed in the Sydney Hobart coming 7th on handicap. However in 1974, she triumphed and won the coveted Tattersal's Cup as overall winner. In 1975 along with Bumblebee III and Mercedes IV she was shipped to England for the Admiral’s Cup but given our distance from the yachting centres of development in the USA and UK, the Australians were outgunned by a plethora of new designs in aluminum. Lighter and faster they heralded the era of lightweight and for a short time, flimsy boats that were fast in light weather but were

demolished in heavy weather. Peter Kurts persevered with his pride and joy and competed with mixed success until 1978 when he triumphed once again as overall winner of the Sydney Hobart. All along Kurtsie’s goals were to be part of a winning Admirals Cup team and to equal the record of three overall Sydney Hobart wins achieved by the Halvorsen brothers in their yacht Freya (1963 64 65). So in 1980 he went to young British designer Ed Dubois to design a 40 footer which was built by John McConnaghy in Dee Why and the first composite yacht construction in the world. By now the yachting fraternity, interested in this quirky little yachtsman were keenly guessing names for his latest racer. He didn’t disappoint with Once More Dear Friends, which summed up much of his approach to sailing. Have another go with a bunch of mates. Once More Dear Friends trialed unsuccessfully for the 1981 Admiral’s Cup team and somehow in the wash up after these trials I was invited to join the crew as navigator for the 1981 Sydney Hobart and again in 1982 and then Peter was successful in leading his crew to gain selection in the 1983 Admiral’s Cup team. We raced in England and Australia placed 4th and despite a very tough competition 4th was never satisfactory to Kurtsie. He may be out of place with modern attitudes especially for youngsters in sport, but nothing but first place was acceptable. In the 1983 Sydney Hobart we came second on handicap and Peter wouldn’t even accept the trophies. He has a long time friend in Hobart who has a house full of trophies won by Peter’s yachts that were other than first place. In 1984 Peter launched a new yacht Drakes Prayer designed by the Kiwi Bruce Farr (now Sir) and named after his hero Sir Francis


Drake of the Spanish Armada fame. I will never forget the afternoon he called me and said “Lindsay, the boys don’t think you have the skills as a tactical navigator so you aren’t on the new program”. Somewhat stunned I asked “Could I just be on the crew?”, “No” end of conversation. That was Peter, efficient, direct, and blunt. So I decided I would join the family in Perth for Christmas, the first time we would have had the Christmas New Year together for over ten years, then in about the second week of December 84 I was asked to navigate Indian Pacific a Farr 40 footer and once again the race was on. Late on the afternoon of Boxing Day 84, Drakes Prayer suffered steering failure and was out of the race. We passed her headed back to Sydney. Ironically Indian Pacific headed out to sea, locating a strong southerly current that in those days we had no idea was there and blitzed the fleet actually leading the fleet for 2 days and winning on handicap in a race that saw much of the fleet decimated. The first telegram of congratulations I received was from Peter Kurts. In 1985 Drakes Prayer was initially the handicap winner but a protest for an infringement that occurred in Sydney Harbour, saw her penalised and his third race win was snatched from his grasp. He never accepted this as a just outcome and took this disappointment to his grave. In 1987 he promised his sister that he would name his next yacht after her. Her name was Marea and she was somewhat surprised when he launched Madeline’s Daughter so in another Kurtsie quirky moment, he had sort of delivered on his promise, recognising their mother, Madeline Kurts. I was later invited to join Madeline’s Daughter and competed in 1988, 89, 90 but we only reached Hobart in 1989 due to various rig and steering failures. Ironically, Madeline’s Daughter was sold and

renamed Atara and I was fortunate to navigate her in the 1991 Southern Cross Cup under an Irish flag, both winning the Southern Cross Cup and again handicap in the Sydney Hobart. All this time Peter competed every second year in the UK either on his yachts or on Marionette owned by his great British mate, Chris Dunning. He never sold Love and War mooring her outside his home at Vaucluse and in 1994 he campaigned her south in the 50th race wining the ‘20 Year Veterans’ division. He also sailed her single handed to Lord Howe Island, well into his seventies. During these years I reveled in navigating Brindabella until in 2003 her owner George Snow, another great mate of Peter, decided to call it a day for Brindabella. Peter was on the phone, “Lindsay, I hear George isn’t going to Hobart, I’m going to take the old girl south, she can win this again, I want you as navigator and let’s ask George along as well” (phone down). I accepted, George prevaricated, ultimately deciding to once again race Brindabella so I was pinned, but I had committed myself to Love and War and George supported that position and said “Go for it, Kurtsie can win this a third time yet”. In 2003 we had a most successful race for 4 days, leading on handicap most of the way and then took 9 hours to cover 12 miles around Tasman Island and went from first to 12th, not even taking a place in the division. If you want to win the Hobart on handicap you need to be at Tasman Island at noon so you come home on the sea breeze. The wind in the river usually shuts down at about 8 pm until mid morning. We all knew Love and War could win the Hobart. Her age and the new IRC Rating Rule made her a competitive boat but only upwind. Downwind under spinnaker she was a handful to steer and the faster the wind blew the deeper a hole she digs in the water and the newer lighter boats just skip along at near double the speed, enjoying good handicap gains. Kurtsie was beginning to slow up but he knew


2004 could be the year to win again. So I signed on again, along with four of his mates from the 1978 campaign who had sailed many miles with Peter, here and overseas. But just before the race Peter was admitted to hospital and unable to race, so his son Simon deputised as skipper. Once again we had four days of tough upwind conditions, just what Love and War needed but on the fifth day the High pressure system over Tasmania shut down the breeze and we slipped from first to 7th but won our division. Peter died on January 15 2005. For the 2005 race I tried to influence Simon to race the boat but he was not yet ready to again race south. Roll around 2006 and with no Brindabella and really no boat on the horizon that wanted my services, I took control of the situation and suggested to Simon we needed to head south once more. He had commitments with his boys sailing national championships in Melbourne so the answer was no. I asked if I could charter the boat, again unsuccessful then in an amazing turn Simon said, “You can’t charter the boat because I’m going to give it to you for Hobart”. Wow! Offers like that are far and few and it overcame all sorts of issues relating to legal and insurance matters. I was handed a yacht that was completely up to date on all safety and equipment compliance. All I really had to do was buy one torch and a few spare batteries. This was early October so I called George Snow (23 Hobart’s) and invited him to join. He readily accepted and we started selecting a crew. We needed to have two crew to cover each skill based upon a two watch system and Brindabella would be our source as her crew were tried and experienced people with whom we had sailed thousands of miles placing our trust in each other in some fairly hairy situations and able to enjoy a lot of fun along the way. First on was Andrew Jackson (14 Hobart’s) the crew boss of Brindabella, a highly experienced ‘Mr Fixit’ of engines, hydraulics, electrics, sails

and people, just the guy you need to keep the boat going at full tilt and a talented helmsman, especially in a storm. Peter Sheldrick (16) as bowman, able to leap around the front of the boat changing sails at night in mountainous seas. As this is a critical position we only needed one dedicated bowman because every sail change, even if off watch he will be called to manage the bow. Then we signed on Matt Souter (7) and Jeff Beaton (6) as mastmen and trimmers. Both strong, reliable and committed sailors that could be relied upon to haul up the heavy sails on a boat with old and heavy equipment, designed 34 years ago. We also had a good friend in Hong Kong, Geoff Hill (6) with whom we had successfully sailed in the 2006 Newport Bermuda Race and both Geoff and I had been on the lookout for a yacht to Hobart so we had a mutual pact to involve the other should we be able to obtain a yacht. Geoff has his yacht Strewth based in Hong Kong and has won numerous regattas in Asia and only in December won the Kings Cup in Thailand. With Geoff we gained his crew boss, Ben Johnson (1) and although he had only sailed in one Hobart he also was a very experienced sailor and a top helmsman. Geoff Bauchop (10) is an 18 foot skiff sailor, Brindabella crew and member of the Kings Cup crew, which included George Snow. Geoff or ‘Bowie’ is a go fast trimmer and helmsman and selected to keep Love and War up to pace at all times. Finally we needed a toiler to cover many positions, hauling sails, work around the mast, trim and helm, so our Canberra connection Erik Adriaanse (17) was the man. We now had a crew that comprised experienced Hobart yachtsmen with 132 races between them and competent sailors and helmsmen but not ‘GMs’. In an interview Peter Kurts was asked, “What do you need to win the Hobart”. His reply, “You need to finish with the mast above you and the keel below you”,


“But surely you need more than that?” queried the journalist, “Sure you need a few GMs”, “GMs?” “Yep Gold Medalists”. And Kurtsie influenced GMs to sail with him, Dave Forbes and the Anderson brothers, and world champions including Iain Murray and Glenn Bourke plus a host of Australia’s leading ‘yachting rock stars’. But this time we simply had good solid sailors. And great blokes to have on a boat that would ensure a laugh a minute but who would keep the boat sailing up to and above her numbers, every mile of the way. Our preparation for 2006 was similar to 2003 and 2004 and that meant very limited sea time. Six of us sailed the 24 hour compliance sail and it was very worthwhile in that it showed up a few things we needed to attend to, that day sailing might not have identified. Then we did a few Saturday mornings where we hoisted every sail, practiced reefing and determined sheeting positions and finally on the day we had 7 of our crew together we did a few spinnaker gybes, then put the boat ‘to bed’. Given we had a crew that were basically unfamiliar with the yacht I prepared many lists as to where things were, sail bag descriptions, sheeting positions, wind ranges and target speeds based upon information I had generated in previous years. I am confident we left the boat with data that had never been as comprehensive as now. On Boxing Day our pre start sailing was the first time we had the 10 crew together so everything was slow and steady and fully talked through. We had a good but safe start and the moderate broad reach conditions enabled us to easily maintain pace and we rounded the harbour mark in a reasonable position but struggled initially in the joggle and disturbed air to get the target speeds as we headed for the seamark. There are two rules for getting to Hobart. Head south. Sail the making leg, (the closest compass course you can sail to the mark).

So what did the fleet do? As it did in 2003 followed the leader out to sea. One long line of sails headed east towards New Zealand. As soon as we could clear Ben Buckler we tacked south, got lifted a little, as you do in a south easterly, took a tack out of Maroubra, and then headed south to clear Botany Bay. I know the others were trying to pick up the southerly current but generally off Sydney it runs along the 100 fathom line and that’s over 20 miles off Sydney but only 12 miles off Wollongong and 8 miles off Jervis Bay. As the afternoon progressed we saw big yachts to seaward starting to pass us but by now just off Garie we were enjoying 2 knots of favourable current. That big long tack out to get into current seemed very expensive for all those behind us. Into the first night the breeze headed us and we would not be able to clear Jervis Bay so we tacked out of Culburra, over the shallow Sir John Young Banks and now lifted on starboard tack such that we were once again on the making leg. Around midnight the breeze started to exceed 22 knots and we needed to change from the #1 heavy to the #3 headsail. Given the unfamiliarity with the boat and the dark we decided to do a tack change so we got the crew and sails ready and tacked but then noticed first, one then, two yachts coming out on starboard with right of way, so we waited until we crossed. Its eerie how at night a light that looks so close to you can actually be so far away. It took over 20 minutes to clear these yachts and then we hoisted the #3 then tacked back out to sea to drop the heavy #1. In the midst of this drop I found myself on the foredeck tackling the doused sail and assisting in bagging it and getting it back below. I had actually come on deck to throw up but the activity and fresh air had solved that problem and by now my stomach was settled (note to self, don’t drink hot chocolate on the first night in bumpy seaways). Upon going below again I noted the Speed over


Ground (SOG) was showing 10.5 knots, then 11 knots. This couldn’t be right. Our boat speed was just under 7 knots into a lumpy seaway. I pushed the current button, 4.5 knots current to the south east. This happy state continued hour after hour. We were flying. The 0735 position sked confirmed our speed and we were in front of a plethora of bigger, faster yachts inshore of us. I can just imagine the disbelief they must have felt as Love & War’s position was reported. We didn’t have internet access so we couldn’t check the Yacht tracker, we had to rely upon the twice daily position reports to see how we were performing. Close behind us were Bacardi and just further back, Koomooloo. They would be real threats on handicap as they were in the same fast flowing water. As the 27th unfolded we sailed the making leg in fast current but the CSIRO chart showed we would eventually sail out of this eddy and into a counter current to the east of the next eddy. We needed to get across to the west by about 25 miles to enter the next eddy in the favourable sector. We tried a tack and although it was on the limit of being the favourable heading, with current we were now making course over the ground of 220 degrees only 30 degrees off Tasman Island. Perfect! Late in the afternoon the wind backed further into the south west so we tacked onto starboard again and aimed directly at Tasman Island. Into the 28th the breeze went almost west so we were able to free a little, point at our waypoint and intersected the next eddy on its favourable western side and were now in a 2.5 knot southerly current. According to that wonder meteorologist Roger Badham, late on the 28th we should expect a dead southerly front to come up the Tassie coast. Sure enough, the southerly arrived and we were headed out to the south east but this was good as there was a third current eddy and we needed to be on the eastern side to be in

the southerly current. The breeze slowly veered east and we had to tack inshore, which was about 2 hours before I really wanted to tack but ‘sailing the making leg’ was the second Hobart rule, so we tacked a little earlier than preferred but in short time we were in favourable current and on the breeze, headed for Schouten Passage. As the morning of the 29th drew longer it looked as if we would not be able to clear Schouten and would have to tack out to sea, which would have been a dead loser. We had Bacardi in sight, but sadly the classic yacht Koomooloo had sunk on the afternoon of the 27th. Around midday as we were discussing the options and contemplating a clearing tack to sea, the breeze started to move further eastwards thus lifting us above the land and allowed us to parallel the coast. Around mid afternoon we were able for the first time to hoist a spinnaker and we made good speed down the Tasmanian coast. In previous years this had been the section of the race where all chance of a handicap win came unstuck. The weather systems work in such a way that southerly winds are generated by a Low pressure system that moves out into the Tasman Sea to be replaced by a High pressure system that sits over Tasmania resulting in light and variable winds that drop out at night. However our glimmer of hope was that the High pressure system was actually moving to the south east of Tasmania and not over the landmass. This meant that with a bit of luck the breeze should maintain some strength and blow from the east then north east. Into the night of the 29th the breeze went to the north east such that we could not efficiently sail down to Tasman Island and at midnight we were 10 miles to seaward of this huge lump of rock. The breeze was swinging through 40 degrees so each time it moved we gybed the spinnaker


to sail the shortest course to clear Tasman Island. This was the first time the full crew had gybed the boat, in pitch dark but thankfully light wind. Finally at 0240 we rounded Tasman Island and into the lee effect resulting in wafting breeze and that dreadful feeling that our race wining position was starting to slip from our grasp. Then, a little zephyr, a stronger puff, and another until the puffs became a 10 knot breeze and we were off to Cape Raoul, 9 miles distant. We held the spinnaker until past the Raoul and then a 15 know northerly saw us back with the big genoa headsail and the mighty Love & War aimed at the Iron Pot lighthouse, entry to the fickle Derwent River. Early morning in the Derwent is no place for the faint hearted. Despite their experience the crew were sensing victory. I would have none of it. To win on handicap we needed to finish by about 1120, my ETA was 0905. Sounds comfortable, no way, this is the Derwent River, before noon. We had a whisky round and toasted Peter Kurts, his late brother, Monsignor Philip Kurts and our former Brindabella crew member, Peter Field and thanked them for their input ‘above’ providing guidance and favourable conditions so far and implored them to hang in there for another 3 hours. Low tide was around midday so we faced a run out tide all the way to the finish. Not good if the breeze eased or faded out. The breeze held up the river and until we rounded the John Garrow’s Shoal just a mile to go. I could feel the breeze easing, the crew were starting to smile, and I was starting to panic. Geoff Bauchop kept calling the wind puffs and assured me it would hold. “Look I can see anther gust coming down the course” he would say to try and allay my fears. About 300 metres from the line I called Simon Kurts on the mobile. “Simon, were about 300 metres to the finish” “Lins, I think you’re going to do it”. His voice started to break as did mine. I handed the

phone to George. I croaked, “Its Simon, talk him over the line”. Then that magic moment when the finish line hooter sounds. A hollow echo that was the signal for an almighty sigh of relief and roars of delight from the crew. We had done it. There was no way the boats behind could sail almost twice their speeds to beat us. We had sailed a 33 year old yacht to win a record equaling third Sydney Hobart and literally sailed in to the history books. A feat that didn’t really dawn on us until much later. Another of Kurtsie’s rules was that you tided up the boat before you entered the dock as festivities usually precluded the necessary clean up being done until another day. That was the one rule we broke (well there was another and that was Kurtsie, sailed a dry ship, but we only had 2 whiskies, last night and last morning). Forget the tidy up, let’s get into the dock. There we were greeted by a phalanx of reporters and it was a huge thrill to be the centre of attention as the result was not lost on this group of learned yachting journalists and their non yachting colleagues. A little while later after the last interview and photo opportunity I looked out at the river. It was like glass, no breeze at all, a total glass out, where 40 minutes earlier we had seen all of our dreams achieved on the fading breeze. We had achieved our goals, we made it to Hobart with the boat intact, we had won our division, we have won the whole damn race and we had won that third race win for Kurtsie. Even if he wasn’t physically on board, that little white hat kept watch over us and made us push this classic, historic yacht every second of the way. But in Kurtsie’s approach to life, he would have. simply said, “Well done men, got to try harder next time!”

******


Contributed by Arthur Mills Dear Friends and Fellow Travellers I thought I would give a description of some of the aspects of the second leg of the trip based on a different point of view as that of a crewmember. I arrived in windy Wellington on Friday 27th October 2006 and the city was certainly living up to its name. At 41° 17' S, the city is within the roaring 40’s and there was at least a 25 gusting 40 knot wind howling through the rigging of approximately 100 boats tied up at Chaffers Marina. On arriving at the boat it was obvious that the gale was going to last for some time and this break was put to good use in cleaning out one of the fuel tanks, re-establishing the site for the auto helm and sorting out the refrigeration. You would already have had a pretty fair idea of the type of man our skipper was. What you may not have realised was that he had done most of the preparation of the boat himself. Despite the problems that we had with some of the secondary equipment such as fuel tank, genset and refrigeration, not uncommon problems for cruising boats, there was absolutely no failure or breakages of any of the essential gear above deck. The spas had been fully serviced, the standing and running rigging completely replaced, there were four new sails, and new self tailing primary winches. As a result we had a safe and enjoyable trip into dangerous waters and arrived at Ushuaia on 3rd December as anticipated by Tony, months before we left. There were five crew and except for Tony and George we did not know each other before joining ‘Commitment’. George has done a lot of ocean sailing both with Tony and had crewed on other boats doing yacht deliveries. He was teamed up by Tony with Chas on one of the three watches and as Chase slowly had to reduce his involvement with activities on the boat, took over his share of the workload. Consequently, often without our

knowledge, he would do a three-hour stint at the wheel on his own. He was Tony’s choice to go forward with Tony in anything like uncomfortable weather and was absolutely invaluable. In his spare time he would quietly strum his guitar and hum. Peta came to us from a background of racing around the cans. She had also spent some time in England training for an “around the world race” (the more difficult type east to west) but the race had been cancelled and as a result she signed on with ‘Commitment’. She was able to steer a very accurate course rarely wandering more than 5° or 6°. This may seem easy, but I can assure you it wasn’t. She also attempted to keep us four men from becoming too feral and tried to keep the galley and heads clean, no mean feat! Chas is basically a musician. He was constantly singing, humming or whistling when he wasn’t playing his trumpet. As you know he made bread and cakes, one of them ending up wedge shaped due to the roll of the boat, and was remarkably fit for a 71-year-old. However, I feel the trip was probably a little long for him and gradually the four of us took over his responsibilities. Arthur had been sailing on and off most of his life but had never done any ocean passages. He managed to set up and take down a few spinnaker poles, put in and shake out a few reefs and spill coffee into the laptop (no harm done!). As the resident dentist, he was able to help George on one occasion, much to George’s relief. He was soon known as Uncle Arthur as he did the videoing. ‘Commitment’ is a 60-foot, 32 tonne, 25 year old English built Ocean 60. She has a smallish, very deep and comfortable cockpit, a small low coach house sitting astride a saloon and from the mizzenmast forward a completely flat and open deck. Schooner rigged, both mainsails were virtually identical in size and the fore triangle was cutter rig, both jibs being on furlers. This set up enabled very easy handling of the sails by one or two of the crew, a very valuable point for such a large boat. The accommodation was excellent. With five


cabins and three heads we were able to have a little privacy whenever we felt like it. The galley had a four burner stove and oven and there was an icebox and deep freeze. The engine, genset, and four tonnes of fuel and oil, were all well below the water line. She was a classical shape for boats of that era having a fin keel relatively short from bow to stern, a skeg hung rudder and a draft of approximately two metres. The hull sections were round with no flat run aft. This profile combined with the siting of the heavier equipment made her extremely stable. However, she was a bit of a handful sometimes in running down wind in cross seas and was inclined to roll. Watches were arranged with 3hrs. on and 6hrs. off. This gave us rotation around the clock and an equal share of the easier times. When the weather deteriorated to the point where the autohelm could not manage we reduced to two watches with 4hrs on and 4hrs off. With only two hours of darkness a day we soon lost track of days and even weeks. We all took it in turns to prepare the food, although it didn’t take long for it to be on a self serve basis. This obviously had to happen due to the fractured sleep and watch arrangements. Often somebody would make up a ‘po’” consisting of a couple of cans, a variety of vegetables, pasta and a can of mince meat and crew would help themselves and reheat a portion as needed. We departed Wellington on Tuesday, 31st October 2006 having been cleared by customs. Two officers came down to the boat, inspected our passports, put Tony through the third degree as to whether he was carrying any cargo etc. etc. and warned us not to try and land in New Zealand again without going through the full re-entry procedure. After leaving the boat they stood on the wharf to make sure that we actually departed! In fact the Chilean and Argentine Customs were far more relaxed. We had a wonderful sail from the harbour down the channel and out into the southern ocean.

Clearing Arabella Rock at approximately 8 o’clock in the evening, we set a course for Cape Horn, 4169nm on a bearing of 148° true and a speed of 7.5 knots, a long, long way. I took the wheel for the first time that night and with a following sea, a very gentle whispering wind and running dead square immediately gybed. Apologising profusely to Tony he said “don’t worry mate we all do that”, I did a doughnut and continued on course. It was a wonderful few days sailing as we slowly sailed southeast towards the International Date Line. There were hundreds of birds around, grey albatross, white royal albatross, petrels, particularly the magnificent New Zealand blue petrel, cape petrels with splashes of white all over their bodies, and pions. The albatross would completely circle the boat without flapping their winds. They would glide down toward a wave, hit the updraft as the wind bounced off the crest and gaining height, glide another 100 metres or so. They were majestic and huge birds. The petrels seemed to do a combination of both, they would glide and fly, all the time coming down and virtually hitting the ocean. The little pions, small as sparrows and true sea birds, only going ashore to breed once a year, darted all over the place. Frequently we would quietly drift up towards what we thought were logs. These ‘logs’, turned out to be seals sound asleep on their backs with flippers lolling from one side to the other. On one occasion we were almost to the point of being able to touch one and yelled over the side “wake up”. It gave one startled look and disappeared. Gradually the wildlife diminished. Firstly the little pions, then the petrels and lastly the white albatross, leaving only the grey albatross. These wonderful sea birds stayed with us virtually all the way to The Cape. I found it interesting to note that there were far more sea birds around when there was plenty of waves and wind than in periods of fog and calm. Maybe they need the ruffled water to stir up their food. In fact often the albatross would calmly settle on the water beside us and look a little perplexed as the ‘island’ moved away. They had no hesitation settling on the water in a gale.


Rapidly getting down below 50°S the daylight hours became longer and longer until finally we only had about 1½ hr and 2hrs of true darkness at any one stage. For the vast majority of time the wind was from the southwest or the northwest. Before turning in Tony would give us a very detailed briefing on the weather. The New Zealand and then later Chilean Weather Bureaus would broadcast via Satcom C a weather forecast. This was printed out on for all the world, what looked like cash register paper and then plotted on the chart. Sometimes the report would be 8-12 hours old and many times the fronts, highs and lows would be 600 or 700 miles away. Nevertheless, given the direction and the speed of travel we were able to get a pretty good idea where everything was. The Chilean weather forecast was nowhere near as accurate or detailed as the New Zealand one and seemed to concentrate more on the local weather around the various Patagonian islands and coastline rather than the deep sea. However, there was always a special forecast for Cape Horn and we read some of these with great interest! From the briefing we had a good idea of what the weather would be over the following 3hrs of our watch. Gradually a sea would build up with the wind and so for example, we would have quite a decent swell coming from the northwest with waves, long smooth and non-breaking, anything up to 60 feet in height. Often ‘Commitment’, 60 foot long, would be half way up a wave with another 30 or 40 feet in front of her to the trough and the same distance behind the stern. Often a front would come through and the wind behind it less than the 25 – 30 knots we were experiencing from the northwest. The front was heralded by a drop in the wind, possibly a brief shower of rain and within four or five minutes, suddenly come from the new direction. Occasionally the wind would drop and then swing 10 – 15 degrees in that period without dying away altogether. Whatever, it would eventually give rise to a cross swell and the new swell building from the southwest. This would create rather an interesting situation in a boat with a fin keel, a very big strong skeg hung rudder, which had to

be kept pointing well down the waves. If we got parallel to a wave there was a real risk of water coming aboard and if the wave happened to be breaking and particularly steep, which was rare, rolling the boat. Tony was adamant to everybody, including George, that we must not allow the boat to get off course. However occasionally we were caught out and got wet. As we rose up the front of the wave, in other words as it rolled under our stern, the water around the rudder gradually slowed even if we were doing 6 or 7 knots. This gave the rudder less grip and consequently if we did end up at the wrong angle to the waves, it was virtually impossible to correct once ‘Commitment’ got it into her head to round-up. Fortunately, the only really large freak waves to come aboard, did so when Tony was at the helm! Three of them in quick succession! Most of the time we ran under head sails and main only, the mizzen being totally furled. When the wind dropped away we would pole out the headsail, either the large or small one, and the main usually had at least one reef tucked in. As the wind dropped and we lost horsepower this made helming rather interesting at times! We had our fair share of flat calms and no wind and also a fair share of heavy weather. I was a little apprehensive, not so much from a survival point, but from ignorance, of how the boat would handle heavy weather. However, a few days out of New Zealand, we had a gale wind gusting around 35-45 knots. This is not particularly excessive for the southern ocean, but Tony is a very safe and conservative sailor and we hove to. This consisted of a deeply reefed mizzen, with no other sails and the helm lashed so that we were about 60 degrees off the wind. After seeing how the boat rode this out, I got out a book a friend gave me to read with instructions to do so in exactly this situation. It was a book on Australian Droving and Drought which contrasted quite nicely with the weather outside. We all slipped into shipboard life very easily, time being spent either on watch or off watch and asleep, eating or reading. Chas would occasionally practice his trumpet, George spent


quite some time quietly strumming on his guitar and singing, Tony trying to run his business back home via satellite phone and e-mail, and Peta and Arthur doing an occasional clean up and a lot of reading. Chas and George made bread and it was really quite something to wake up in the Southern Ocean with a fair wind blowing, cloudy sky, and cold, to the smell of fresh bread. As we approached the Horn the excitement grew and we watched more and more closely the weather forecast. On one day, 22nd October, my log reads- “ 54° 45' south, 107° 27' west, 2400 GMT 1600 ships time on watch, 1368 nm Cape Horn. Rocking and rolling again with little wind – SW 5 – 10 kts – flat sea with 1 metre swell, hazy, sun not suitable for Sextant sites and few birds, an occasional grey albatross. Chilean weather not much use although a new one has just come through at 0108 GMT “Sea.Hornos: viz10/7 kms, showers wind w/sw 4/18 kts gusting 30 kt sea state 1.2 – 1.8 metres” followed by “Sea.Hornos: viz10 kms, showers wind s/w sw. 18/25 kts gusting 35/40 kts sea state 2,0/3”. When I could in the evenings and off watch, I tried to tune Radio Australia. I had downloaded the frequencies via the Internet before I had left Australia and many times was able to get one particular frequency loud and clear “5”. However, these programs were obviously beamed to various countries and I was never able to pick up local news. Consequently, the only news we had between New Zealand and Cape Horn was of the cricket and of Beasley. Not that we missed that much else! We were now in the last stage of the voyage, the birds have returned there being many more albatross, cape petrels and pions. Interesting enough, these birds apparently feed at night rather than during the day. I suppose they can see the phosphorescence of the little crustachae, fish and squid as these animals come to the surface to feed.

On Thursday, 30th November, my log reads- “ 55°, 55' S, 072° 21' W bar 978. 0124 GMT, 2024 ST (Wednesday pm) the barometer is stuck! Broken or malfunctioning!! It has been on 978 for at least 10 hours with no change of weather at all!! Only 171 nm to go to Cape Horn! So maybe it is just waiting for us to get closer to the Horn and into shallow water before letting loose!! With the Genset out we are now manual steering, doing 2 watches, 4 on 4 off, with hourly tricks at the wheel. Rib feeling a little better but am rationing the Nurofen (3 or 4 days before, ‘Commitment’ did a whip roll throwing me from one side of the saloon to the other and I think I broke a rib). George is indestructible, Tony very worried and trying not to show it – the genset could torpedo his plans – Peta very tired and finding an hour at the wheel almost too much and Chas hasn’t been able to help at all. We are conserving, as much power as possible so this is written almost in the dark. Looking forward very much to hearing Kathie again. Hoping I can make contact with her soon. 55° 53 'S 070° 18' W, bar 984 rising. Cloudy, fine SW 15 knots, low confused irregular swell. Many birds including cape petrels and pions again. We slowly at sog 7.5 kts rock and roll our way down to the Cape 102.1 nm away. We have just crossed the first shallow boundary from 1233 metres to 1000 metre depth and will soon cross the 200-metre line in about 5 nm. This really is the crux of the problem of Cape Horn. The Southern Ocean current swirls all the way round Antarctica and has to squeeze between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. At that point, the ocean bed rises from an average of 1200m to less than 200m in just a few miles and the change in the sea state is obvious. I could well imagine this being terrifying in any sort of prolonged decent wind. Cape Horn 100nm away, already the sea state has changed dramatically, the swell has gone


from 0.5 - 1.0 m to 2-3 m. There are many sea birds, more than ever before, no change in the wind. 55° 56.8' S, 068° 40.3 ' W. 2034 GMT, 1634 ST. For a few hours now a large pod of dolphins, (Chilean black), have played chicken with the boat, actually passing underneath the bow and in front of the fin. Very fast and can accelerate rapidly. Full cloud cover now, cold and the coast gradually disappearing in cloud and shadow. Cape Horn brg 94° 55.4 nm track 86°T 6.8 kts. We will have to drop the pole”. At 0326 GMT (0026ST) we rounded Cape Horn passing 1.7 nm to the south. My log reads – “… there is a rock not evident in our night light mode, on the chart (1373) that lies to the west about 1 mile off the Horn. A real trap for anybody trying to get close. A fitful moon gave occasional light and the dolphins continue to play around the bow. We could see them clearly in the phosphorescence as they streaked like torpedoes around the bow. The small west light on the rock is guarded and MUST be seen if one wishes to clear the above rock. Wind was west about 20 kts as we ran around and we were able to swing more to the north as the wind curled around the rock. The major light then became evident as did another to the northeast. King Neptune appeared with a bottle of champagne and due penance was extracted from all. We had made it! We turned the corner for the Beagle Channel. As we entered the Patagonian waters their reputation came to life. At one stage we were reaching in a lovely northeaster in broad sunlight. To the east were heavy squalls, to our south the Cape had been completely obliterated in dark cloud, to our north were magnificent snow capped mountains in a blue sky and to the west were cloud-covered mountains. Within a few minutes this

disappeared, a williwaw fell down on us and we immediately furled headsail and beat up into this gusting breeze of about 30 kts laced with sleet and snow. After a few minutes it died, we were again in sunshine, no wind, and started the engine to continue on our way. This performance repeated itself quite a few times before we actually entered the Beagle Canal. We then motor sailed from there to Puerto Williams. Arriving there was really quite something and people from other yachts commented how well we came up the Channel under sail. We did not comment! With the quarantine flag flying we rafted up with a number of other cruising yachts at the P. Williams Naval Yacht Club, Club Naval De Yates Macalvi, and the most southern yacht club in the world. This magnificent yacht club consisted of an old steamer of approximately 140 ft in length resting on the bottom. Piles had been driven through the hull of the old ship into the mud and supported decking at the deck level of the ship. The saloon was a naval bar well equipped with pisco sour and beer and festooned with yacht club burgees from all around the world. It is quite a famous Club. The Chilean authorities came aboard and contrary to their reputation were extremely pleasant and easy to get on with. After a few days in this magnificent setting, we slowly motored further up the Beagle Channel in glorious weather, snow capped peaks on either side souring majestically above the tree line and Ushuaia nestling underneath such mountains drawing us closer. We arrived, as predicted by Tony, on 3rd December.

******


Notices

Michael Lieberman, a long standing member of the SYCC and son of Braham Lieberman, Life Member, is an accredited Marine Surveyor.

His work is mainly with insurance companies but he has confirmed that he is happy to work with /advise members. This offer is strictly for SYCC members only.

If you need any survey work done or would like some advice on a marine matter you will find Michael a fantastic help.

Contributed by John Cronly

Hi friends,

For those interested: Colin's friend Michael (the navy diver) is interested in having

a go at underwater hull wipes. At this stage he is depending on water transport or

pickup by the skippers and has not as yet worked out any rates but I am certain he

will be very competitive.

Therefore, if skippers are in need of a hull clean (in between yearly slipping) please

contact Michael on 9960 7881 or 0418 652 774. He can also take photos of any

suspect problems whilst underwater.

Contributed by John van den Bosch


A Little Bit of Humour …

WORLD'S EASIEST QUIZ Passing requires 4 correct answers 1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last? 2) Which country makes Panama hats? 3) From which animal do we get catgut? 4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? 5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? 6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? 7) What was King George VI's first name? 8) What color is a purple finch? 9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? 10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? All done? Scroll down to check your answers below.

ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ Passing requires 4 correct answers 1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years 2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador 3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses 4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November 5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur 6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs 7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert 8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson 9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand 10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? Orange, of course. (And don't try to tell me you passed!) Pass this on to some brilliant friends so they can feel stupid, too

Contributed by Paul Hrones

small yacht cruising club pittwater inc vol no 15 issue … · 2009-06-15 · small yacht cruising...

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