Down the harbour on a port tack
Saturday 15th September, 2007.
After quite a few weeks of waiting, Dave finally got around to fixing my standing rig.
I got down to the boat a bit before 11AM. The plan was to potter around on-board and fix the pump on the head (toilet) and then perhaps go for a short sail up the Parramatta River later in the afternoon. That plan quickly went overboard upon deciding that the weather was bloody great. A clear blue sky. Instead, I got straight into setting up the sails. Andrew motored over on Akvavit with his young son Hugo on board to pay a visit as we had discussed. After rafting up and soon both were on-board for a quick visit.
I sailed off the mooring at around 11:30AM in a light and flukey Westerly. Coming through “Humbug” (the mouth of the Lane Cove River between Woolwich and Greenwich) I became marooned. I could see that the wind had turned to the East out in the Parramatta River and I had hoped that as I approached towards Woolwich Wharf I would pick it up. Instead the current was determined to drift me towards the shore. Somehow I manage to drift past a submerged boulder just off the Woolwich shore. Of course the outboard was tucked away below deck – I never learn!
I finally managed to grab a little of that Easterly wind and made my way out into the Parramatta River. Looking west past Cockatoo Island the water surface indicated a clear and smooth absence of wind. So, I changed my plan and instead of heading west up the river, hauled in tight and sailed over to Birchgrove.
I ended up on a nice tack which would take me all the way into Ball’s Head Bay so I headed in for a quick explore and to check out the solitary sloop anchored there – no doubt having stayed the night. On shore a few people were sitting on the rocks on Berry Island including a woman reading.
Tacking out of Ball’s Head Bay, past the old coal loader, I worked down the harbour. Tack at Goat Island, Milson’s Point then Benalong Point. I scraped past the wharf on the western shore of Fort Denison and tacked at Cremorne Point. This put me on a port tack heading over to Point Piper. While on this tack I managed to sail close-hauled through a couple of fleets of yachts racing on the downwind leg, all on starboard tacks with their kites flying. This included sailing between two Etchells (aka “eggshells”). This made me recall the time I saw a ferry hit an Etchell in the Parramatta River near Cockatoo Island and watched the Etchell submerge itself in about thirty seconds. By some fluke I managed to sail through all the traffic without needing to once change course or tack to give way.
Another tack off Point Piper saw me on a starboard tack which took me all the way down to Camp Cove. The cherub on the right hand side of the map was blowing at about 10 knots. Another tack took me towards shore where I dropped anchor and stopped for some mungia.
A diving school had its diving flag out in the water just off the beach from the kiosk. This is the only part of the beach where boats can land because the rest of the beach is a boat exclusion zone, reserved for swimmers. I know that this is where divers enter the water to explore the “northern wall” in camp cove; but surely the dive school could have placed their diving flag over near the wall instead; where I would assume that submerged divers would actually need to signal their presence to any fishing boat that might tuck itself in close the wall to fish the reef. Sure enough, a fishing boat does exactly that. By this point, however, the dive school has packed up and removed the flag (not that it was positioned where it needed to be as per my logic.) That reminds me of the dive school which seems to permanently have a dive flag positioned right in front of the steps of the wharf at Chowder Bay.
One other observation made while anchored at Camp Cove. I notice that many power cruiser boat owners don’t seem to believe in the idea of giving anchor lines scope.
I watched the sun drop towards the horizon and figured it was about time to head home. 4PM? Nor sure as I wasn’t wearing a watch. Boat wake and wash seem to stop Vogelsang in her tracks while she runs in light wind. The wind now was dropping down towards 5 knots. So I zig-zagged my way up the harbour in a mix of broad reaches and winged runs.
As I sailed under the Harbour Bridge towards Goat Island the sun dropped along with the breeze. By the time I was passing Goat Island the twilight was extinguishing fast. The outboard is still asleep below deck so I decide to sail all the way back to the mooring regardless of how long it takes.
Sailing up the Lane Cove river I come across a weird and noisy sight. A large cruiser is anchored off the Greenwich Flying Squadron club house. Flood lights are blazing pointing aft from the fly-bridge. Astern of the boat someone in a tinny was motoring around, loitering. As I got closer I managed to figure out what I thought was happening. A guy was on a microphone counting down to the launch of shooting targets. Upon the release of each target I could hear what seemed to be synthesized gun shots. I can only guess that people on board were firing some sort of “toy” guns at the targets. The guy in the tinny appeared to be gathering in the targets once they landed in the water. How strange – the things people do (and pay to do).
Sailing into Woodford Bay I had a chat with a couple enjoying dinner on the deck of their moored yacht, Binda. Wind 2 knots. Boat speed 1 knot. Eventually I made it back to the mooring. A cup of tea, a snack and pack up.
As I piddled off the stern I figured fixing the head can wait for another day.
I got back to shore and the car at around 9PM.
