Nudie Ice-cream
Sunday 23 December 2007.
I picked up Barbara, Kaylie and Luke from Northwood Wharf at 11am. As we motored down Humbug, near Woolwich, I set up the sails.
Mark setting up the mainsail.
The wind is from the South-East and blowing between 12-15 knots. We worked out way down the harbour towards the Bridge. The crew were receiving my on-the-job instant crash through course on sailing. Little did they realise that I was about to almost crash Vogelsang into the rock sea wall of Blues Point. I wanted to stay out of the lee of Goat Island but ended up sailing on a starboard tack far too close to Blues Point. Both the wind and the water was very sloppy near Blues Point. In fact, from Blues Point up until Kirribilli is a bit messy. The harbour is narrow. The water is sloppy from all the traffic including ferries coming and going from Sydney Cove. The wind is fluky due to all the built environment of the Bridge, the CBD and North Sydney. As I tried to tack the boat off Blues Point it stopped dead “in irons”. We were in a washing machine of slop bouncing into and off the sea wall. Inevitably, we drifted into the sea wall and had to palm it off as we pushed Vogelsang past the point and back into clear water. It is moments like this when you look back and analyse and think what a goose you were for getting into such a mess. Anyway, a bit of excitement for my new crew!
Before long we were under the bridge and past Kirribilli and into the more expansive waters of the harbour. As we sailed down the harbour the wind was picking up. It was blowing up to around 20 knots now. I ordered that at least one but preferably two of the crew should get up on the mid-ship gunwalls. A look of “are you serious” came back at me from my crew. I love taking people sailing who have no idea that the boat will heal and the look of terror on their faces when a gust in a good wind! Naturally enough, the girls volunteered for the task.
Kaylie and Barbara provide ballast.
The wind was constantly at 20 knots or above as we sailed down the harbour. Everyone had a good appetite up now so I consulted about where we should find an anchorage. With the SE blowing we decided to head into Middle Harbour and find somewhere near Cobblers Beach or around Balmoral. We found the public moorings off Cobblers Beach and sailed up to one.
I BBQed some lamb and we sat around under the boom-tent and drank a few beers. Luke and I decided to swim the 150 meters or so into Cobblers Beach. Luke got a bit of a shock when he realised that it was a nudist beach (more formally known in Sydney as an unclad bathing beach). As we sat on the beach having a chat, an ice-cream boat came into the beach. People (all nude) came flocking down to the boat for ice-cream. This led me to speculate as to where they were keeping their money.
As we swam back out to the boat we swam close to an anchored motor cruiser. The woman on deck asked us “Do you have any swimmers on?” to which I replied “Yes but we can take them off if you want!”. I am not sure if she thought we were swimming up to her boat.
Kaylie swimming in Middle Harbour.
Grotto Point light house in background.
As we sailed off the mooring, we sailed past the Sydney 38 yacht “Zen” which was putting some sail changing practice in preparation for the Sydney to Hobart race.
We sailed into the swell on a E-N-E bearing (starboard tack) which pointed us out to sea. The sea swell coming in between the heads was around 2 meters. Kaylie was not feeling too well as we sailed through it close-hauled.
Eventually we made it back into Lane Cover River and dropped the sails in Humbug. A great day of sailing!
Kaylie and Mark under sail.
Cockatoo Island on left. Woolwich on right.
Barbara on the foredeck.
