Friday 4th January, 2008.
I set up the sails and motored off the mooring at around 6pm. I was going to take Luke out for a twilight sail, but the plans changed at late notice. Luke is stuck with new software release issues back at work. Instead, I had a delightful solo twilight sail around Goat, Cockatoo, Snapper and Spectacle Islands.
January 1st, 2008.
Reveille was at 9:30am. Those who slept overnight on Vogelsang (after the new year’s eve bacchanalia) got a solid five hours sleep. Breakfast was a swim, muesli bar, cup of tea and a brushing of teeth.
We motored back to Northwood Wharf. Barbara agreed to take care of the rubbish from on-board and also to return with a bag of ice.
Vogelsang (Hood 23) approaching Northwood Wharf.
At 11am my parents (Leily and Mick) arrived at the wharf. Soon after, Barbara returned with the ice before saying goodbye.
Father and Son (Mick & Mark) Northwood Wharf - waiting for the ice.
Father and Son II. Goat Island to left. East Balmain to right. Sydney CBD in background.
Mum and Dad (Leily & Mick). Balls Head behind.
We motored down the harbour past Kiribilli before we put up the number 2 - headsail only. Mum and Dad are land lubbers so I promised them a sedate sail on the harbour.
Mum. On a port tack towards Taylor’s Bay. Bradley’s Head to right.
Mum. On a starboard tack. Chowder Bay and Georges Head in background.
We headed down the harbour. We should have stayed further away from the heads. The effects of tropical cyclones off Queensland had propagated down the coast to Sydney. Out at sea the swell was mean. This swell propagated further into the harbour around the heads. We sailed up to Camp Cove and dropped anchor there. The water was too rough to enjoy some quiet anchor time. We pulled up the anchor and motored around to Watsons Bay where it was a little quieter but still quite windy and rough.
Time for another grill up. On New Year’s Eve I prepared and brought onboard two lots of everything; one lot for NYE and one lot to have with mum and dad on new year’s day.
After lunch we had a late afternoon sail up the harbour. I motored up the Lane Cove River and to the mooring. After packing up we all rowed to shore.
Once on shore we all went over to Andrew and Monique’s to pay a new year visit and see the kids.
What a lovely way to start a new year.
January 31st 2007.
This is the big one on Sydney Harbour. I got to the boat at around midday and loaded up a truck-load of food, booze and ice.
Side story:
Back in November, I removed the pump section of the marine head (toilet) so that I might try and buy the appropriate repair kit or replacement pump. The old pump did not work. In the process, I managed to break the sea-cock for the toilet outflow. The joys of owning an old boat. Next thing I know water is pouring into the boat! I plugged and sealed the sea-cock and removed the entire head. The sea-cock is waiting for the next time I slip Vogelsang, when I will be able to replace it.In the mean time, I purchased a portable potty from ebay. 10 litre capacity. I fiddled about getting that fitted kind-of-securely as I knew that tonight it was going to get a work-out.
With provisions safely stowed and the beer on ice, it was time to head over to Northwood Wharf for the 2pm pick-up of Barbara, Eva and David (Eva’s friend). We had barely got everyone and their provisions onboard when David starts handing out beers.
We motored all the way to Cremourne and put up the No. 2 headsail just off McCallum pool. It was a beautiful sunny day and the pool was full of kids and activity. I decided that we were going to have a slow cruisey sail around the harbour today. All afternoon was to be cocktail hour.
Barbara, Eva and Mark sailing under headsail only.
Shark Island in the background.
We sailed around the main harbour for a couple of hours and headed into Rose Bay, sailed towards the wharf and picked up Amber and Stewart.
Seaplane taking off in Rose Bay
Eventually we sailed over to the western side of Bradley’s Head. All along the western side of the head from Athol Bay onwards was chock-a-block with anchored boats. Some of them had probably been anchored here all day securing their prime possie for the fireworks. We managed to find a large enough hole to drop into. The first attempt at anchoring was aborted as we drifted too far back towards other boats. We moved forward and dropped the anchor again and the boat found the slot and settled in for the evening. By this time it was probably around 7pm.
Some of us jumped in for a swim.
The flotilla anchored on the Western side of Bradley’s head.
In the main channel you can just see a plume of water arching into the air
from one of the Shirly Smith’s fire hoses.
Barbara, Stewart, Mark, Eva
David & Mark
Amber discovers that there is not much head-room at the “head”.
Time for entre. Grilled trout, marinated grilled prawns and potato salad with my home made mayonnaise.
While I was cooking in the galley, another yacht drifted onto us.
Their solution was to put out fenders.
My solution was to ignore them.
Eventually they did the smart thing and moved.
Everyone looks happy! David, Amber, Mark, Barbara, Stewart.
At 9pm the entre fireworks went off (the Kiddies fireworks). Not a bad appetiser for the main course.
Main course was grilled marinated lamb kebabs, bubba ganoush, grilled eggplant, grilled capsicum and salads.
With all the cooking out of the way, we settled down in the cock-pit, rugged up and sipped on champagne, red wine and beer. Midnight snuck up on us in no time.
The midnight fireworks were spectacular as always. No matter how many times I see the Sydney fireworks I am always thrilled with awe the next time I see them. One of the features of the Sydney New Year’s fireworks is that there are usuallt five main displays fired from barges spread out along five kilometres of Harbour on both sides of the Harbour Bridge - from Cockatoo Island to Clarke Island. These fireworks are all synchronised. Bradley’s Head was a fantastic position from which to view the fireworks. We could see all the fireworks stretching up the harbour in a line.
Fireworks on Sydney Harbour.
Notice the fireworks going off on the rooftops of the city buildings.
Happy New Year!
At some time approaching 2am we pulled up the anchor. I had the crazy idea in my head that Vogelsang was going to have her first sail of 2008 right then and there. Up with the no. 2. Of course there was no wind and all we did was drift into the main channel and in the way of the Manly ferry route. I quickly gave up on the idea of sailing and started the engine. First drop-off was Amber and Stewart back at Rose Bay wharf.
As we motored up the harbour we cracked open a bottle of vodka and eachhad a fortifying shot. Next drop-off was Eva and David back at Northwood. For those sensible to stay on-board overnight and not risk being caught driving over the limit, we motored around to Berry Island in Balls Head Bay and dropped the anchor at about 4am.
Thanks to Eva for the photos.
December 28th & 29th 2007.
Andrew phoned around 10am. Would I be interested in sailing with him on Akvavit (S80) up to Pitwater leaving tomorrow? I got the distinct feeling that Andrew was very keen to get away for a couple of days. “Sure” I said. I suggested however that we leave on that afternoon. “Let’s go”.
As Akvavit is a lean, mean racing machine; Andrew does not keep anything unnecessary on the boat. We had to load on all the camping equipment, large battery, extra fuel, booze, food and so on. This is in stark contrast to Vogelsang. I often say that there is more food on-board Vogelsang than there is in my kitchen. I also try and keep a couple of bottles of some form of spiritual sustenance on-board as well.
It was not until around 3pm that we cast off the mooring. We motored to camp cove and put up the sails and headed out the heads around 4pm. The sail up the coast, on the beat into the north-easterly was very pleasant. A good breeze was blowing. Andrew and I amused ourselves arguing about which beach was which as we sailed past the northern beaches on our way to Palm Beach.
The transom hung rudder on Akvavit (S80). I like a transom hung rudder.
After having to make repairs to the rudder and skeg on Vogelsang twice in three years,
the simplicity of transom hung rudders humours me.
It was twilight when we approached Barrenjoey Head. Coming out of Broken Bay and turning South towards us was a fleet of yachts. They passed us with their spinnakers flying; crews all decked out in their off-shore gear. Andrew speculated that it was an overnight race. Later, I googled and found out that it was a 50 nautical mile overnight race out of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. This was the first race in the Pitwater to Coffs Harbour race series.
As we turned south into Pitwater, Andrew went below and messed about with the battery. As dusk came the wind quickly died. We slowly sailed into Coasters Retreat (the Basin). By crickey, I’ve never seen a more crowded anchorage. We picked up a courtesy mooring, cracked the top of a couple of bears and got stuck into some roast chook.
In the morning Andrew and I reported to each other how much we each had snored overnight. We compared each others snoring style; pitch, rhythm, tempo.
We vegged out for the morning. Had a swim and went ashore to admire the high density tent city in the camping area. Boats were constantly coming to and going from the shore. Kids played in the water. People were carrying bags of ice back from the store.
Not long after we got back to the boat a motor cruiser approached us. The mooring we had picked up is a club mooring belonging to a fishing cooperative (?), so we moved off the mooring and quickly found another public mooring to tie up to.
Lunch and a few glasses of wine and before we set off. The wind is quite fresh this afternoon. Andrew and I consider whether to put up the number two or three headsail. We put up the number two. As we head over towards the Eastern side of Pitwater, behind Palm Beach, Andrew decided he had better change over to the number three head sail.
Good idea. The wind was gusting up quite strong. We got onto a beautiful reach and the boat was constantly sailing at over seven knots. Later on the wind dropped down and we dropped down to around five to six knots. Another beautiful sail. We got back to Greenwich before dusk.
Andrew keeps a clean cockpit. Yours truly at the helm (caressing the “Battlestick”).
Suffice it to say, we were hooning on the reach.
Short video of sailing back from Pitwater. (2MB wmv)
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.
Wednesday, 19th December 2007.
I picked up Carol and Chris, visiting from the UK, from Drummoyne wharf around midday. We put up the sails and headed down the harbour. It took a while for my new crew to get the knack of tacking and trimming the head sail. There was a gentle Easterly breeze around 8 knots. The day was overcast and mild.
We sailed and chatted and made our way over to Vaucluse. We picked up a vacant mooring near Hermit Beach and stopped for beers and lunch. Both Carol and Chris are Irish and we had a great chat about all sorts of things including family and relatives, the Catholic church, Irish beer and Ireland. On the beach a guy frolicked naked in the water along with his dog.
We sailed on a run back up the harbour. As we passed Sydney Cove five ferries appeared to be heading for us coming from all directions - coming into and leaving Sydney Cove. It was peak hour. Once we sailed into the western side of the harbour bridge I had expected to be out of that water traffic chaos. Instead, as we sailed past the wharfs at Walsh Bay we saw a huge P&O cruise ship coming around Millers Point.
We pulled down the sails in “Humbug”, the mouth of the Lane Cove river, and proceeded to motor back to the mooring. The Greenwich Flying Squadron twilight race was starting. The first division were already making there way down Humbug. As we rounded Onion Point the next division was starting. I should have steered us along the eastern side of the river to avoid running into the fleet. Instead the fleet was approaching Onion Point as we came around it. We were in the way of one boat so I stayed on the edge of the moorings to keep out of the way. As we came up on one boat the skipper got quite agitated and demanded we give way. Of course he had right of way. I had already put the boat into neutral well before we got close. He was now right up against the moored boats as we were. He was delaying putting in a tack until the last minute. The skipper of the boat (under sail) was not happy. I explained to him, using colourful language, that he would need to tack as there was nowhere for me to go. I could not go closer to the shore because of the moorings. If I turned to starboard he would inevitably tack onto me and I would only be in his way. Furthermore I would be putting myself amongst more boats in the race. By slowing down and staying out of his way I was doing him a favour giving him free room once he tacked. Some skippers need to apply a bit more common sense.
We made it back to the mooring around 6pm. After packing up and paddling to shore I drove straight to a Christmas party.
Thursday 13th December, 2007.
Last night was the “Web-blast” Christmas party for the local (Sydney) web industry. Kajo, fellow webmaster, and I went along and I met up with many familiar faces. The beer was free. I drank many beers.
When I woke up I soon realised that little work would get done today. Hung-over, this was just the excuse I needed to hang-out on the boat all day.
I got up to the boat later in the morning, motored over to Balls Head Bay, near Berry Island, where I anchored and snoozed away the afternoon.
A large motor cruiser came along and anchored not far from me. Onboard were around half a dozen blokes and a couple of women. It looked like a small business/office Christmas party. I continued to doze while they had their little party.
Later, I decided to inflate the new inflatable dinghy I recently purchased through ebay (”Intex Sea Hawk” 2.36m). I paddled to shore and had a walk around Berry Island Reserve.
When I paddled back to the boat things on the motor cruiser were heating up. The girls were now on the aft deck, naked. The guys were a lot more rowdy. I snoozed away on deck but could overhear the occasional loud comment such as “You’re a big boy” and “Good job girls”. I looked over and noticed that one fellow was on the bow of the boat having an intense conversation into his mobile phone. Perhaps he was not comfortable joining in the festivities further aft.
Not long after, the motor cruiser started up its engines. The girls, now standing exultant on the aft deck, vaunted their nakedness and gave me a wave. The skipper winched up the anchor and they were away. Back to peace and quite and more snoozing.
Eventually I too called it a day and headed back to the mooring.
Sunday 2nd December, 2007.
Yesterday (Saturday) was the wedding of Kaylie and Luke. The wedding ceremony was at Ball’s Head and the reception was at the Waverton Bowling Club. I arranged to stay at Andrew and Monique’s and managed to sneak into the house at some very wee hour without waking anyone.
Kaylie and Luke on their wedding day.
After the reception a number of guests ended up at the Metropolis nightclub in North Sydney as it was the only drinking hole still open. I remember talking politics and philosophy with someone who looked like Lenin. Someone tied a balloon to my beard. It must have been late. I must have been drunk. Eventually I came to my senses and called it a night and left. I hopped into a cab which headed down Miller Street. After travelling only a few metres I asked the taxi driver to pull over and wait. There was the bride standing outside a shop, still in her wedding gown, snacking on a kebab roll! The groom was still inside the shop. I bundled them both into the cab and dropped them off at their hotel and headed back to Greenwich.
Sunday morning, after a beautiful poached egg on toast, Andrew, Monique, the kids and I took off in Andrew’s Zodiac and headed down the harbour. We beached at Milk Beach, just below Strickland House, Vaucluse. We had a swim and a frolic. I opened and ate five delicious, salty, fresh oysters from the rock which sits monolithically in the middle of the beach. A highly illegal activity on Sydney Harbour. Poetic justice was served when I inevitably cut my finger on one of the oyster shells.
Later we motored over and beached on Watsons Bay. Monique went off to the wharf to get us all a feed of fish and chips. As she left I asked her tonge-in-cheek not to forget to bring back a six pack of beer. The kids played on the shore. Andrew and I minded the boat and waited. After a while we wondered where Monique had got to before we noticed her walking back with a stack of fish and chips and a six pack of beer!
Back at Greenwich boat ramp I studied the NSW Fisheries sign on legal fish sizes and bag limits. No mention of a ban on collecting molluscs from Sydney Harbour. It must be a generic sign for all of NSW salt water fishing. If ever I end up in court because I can’t resist eating a Sydney rock oyster or two fresh from the rocks that sign is going to be my defence.
Soon we all parted ways as the Richardsons had a social engagement to attend. Having got a taste of the salt water and sun I decided to head over to Vogelsang and take her out for a sail.
Up with the standard No.2 and main which seems to be the go in moderate to fresh Sydney Harbour winds. An uneventful but very pleasant sail off the mooring and down the harbour. I sailed around Rose Bay quite a bit and sailed right up towards the sea-wall at the end of the Bay.
Woollahra Council has just finished an upgrade to the “promenade”. Part of this upgrade was the controversial removal of yachties dinghies from the sea wall. For donkey’s years, the yachties had been securing their tenders to the sea wall. As part of the restoration of the concrete balustrade and “improved safety” of access to the water, the council, in the brilliant mind of some bloody town planner or Ubermenschliches architect, decided that the dinghies had to go. Instead there is now a dinghy storage rack provided where yachties can, for a fee, store their dinghy up to one kilometre away from their moored boat. So much for water safety or practicality. I sailed along the sea wall between the public moorings from the wharf all the way into the commercial moorings in front of the Rose Bay Marina. I could not see these new dinghy racks. They really must be tucked as far away from the public moorings in as inaccessible a place as possible. I had enough of sailing around so close to so many moored boats and decided to head back out into uncluttered water.
I reached over to Athol Bay near Bradley’s Head and anchored for the night. The evening was peaceful except for a couple of hours when a motor cruiser anchored close by. There was a party onboard. Perhaps a Christmas Party? It is the start of the season. Judging from some snippets of conversation which I could not help but hear, it seemed to be a work party. These people were loud, obnoxious and stupid. I mentally pictured the office they worked in. Some small sales office located in a suburban light industrial complex. I tried to imagine working with such people. It would be impossible. I think I would last 48 hours tops. Thankfully they departed and peace was restored.
Next morning (Monday) I sailed back to Woodford Bay.
18th November, 2007
There have been a few outings on Vogelsang recently. I may have missed writing up on one of them but not to worry because Sunday 18th November was one of the most relaxed sails I’ve ever had.
A fortnight ago Andrew (my mate) and I went for a sail on Akvavit, Andrew’s S80. This Sunday it was Vogelsang’s turn for an outing. I set up the sails (main and No. 2) and picked up Andrew from Greenwich wharf around 12:30pm or a bit later. It was a moderate wind blowing between 5 and 10 knots. It was perfect for a leisurely cruise.
We worked our way down the harbour sailing behind Goat Island (the Balmain side) so Andrew could point out the place of his collision (Akvavit), as mentioned in the last post. A very dramatic recount of the events was given.
As we sailed into Lavender Bay, we got a nice bit of lift off one of the floating “brick†restaurants that pollute the harbour these days. It would appear that being able to manoeuvre and safely navigate a vessel while under-way is no longer a requirement for registering and licensing commercial vessels on the harbour these days. Andrew was quite keen for us to tack as we came up along-side the floating brick. I told him we would keep our course until absolutely necessary and would tack when we needed to. We were going to slide above the glass brick with a few meters of safe room to spare. What I did not count on was the skipper throwing the thing on full throttle. A huge plume of smoke and dirty water came gushing out of the aft port side. We were in a laughing fit as we exchanged pleasantries with the skipper and crew of the brick.
The highlight of the day was the 18 ft skiff race. I think we actually sailed through the start line off Clarke Island as we sailed down the harbour. The race, though, was well under-way. We yelled out “Vogelsang†and our sail number to the time keeper but they didn’t seem interested in recording our late start.
We continued on our tack over to Point Piper. By this stage both Andrew and I had a can of VB in our hands. As we approached the point we came up along-side another yacht – a North Shore (33?). There were three blokes aboard and one of them yelled out “And no bloody women. There is a god!†to which we saluted with our beers before putting in a tack.
We were now on a starboard tack heading north over to Georges Head/Chowder Bay.
“And no bloody women!”
The next thing we knew the 18 ft skiff fleet were running down from Neilson Park past us with their spinnakers flying and their bows skipping over the swell. We could see their centreboards floating out of the water as they came over each swell. Before too long they had rounded the bottom mark near Bradleys Head and were on the beat and sailing right past us.
I was proud when I observed that Vogelsang was maintaining the same heading into the wind as the skiffs. Andrew later claimed that we were keeping up with “Smeg†but I think beer affects him in a different way. We tacked at Chowder Bay and headed over to Shark Bay (Nelson Park baths) so we could keep amongst the fleet. It was a fantastic sight to be amongst the 18 foot skiffs flying past.
Once we reached Obelisk Bay we decide we had better head home. Dinner was to be at Andrew and Monique’s tonight and we were expected at 7pm as other guests were arriving. I went below and hauled out the spinnaker pole. It was the first time I have used it. Interestingly, the ring for the spinnaker pole is not attached to a fixed point on the mast, but runs up and down a track. It took a bit of sorting out, but we got the jib winged out. Wow, what a difference to boat speed it makes to have the No. 2 poled out. As I usually sail solo it is not something I have been able to do up until now.
It was 6:30pm when I dropped Andrew off at Greenwich Wharf. By the time I got back to the mooring, packed up, then drove from Woodford Bay to Greenwich, Andrew had the sausages on the BBQ and a few more beers under his belt. In fact, I think those sausages had been on the BBQ for quite some time!
Maintenance check – one of the wire strands on the forward port lower shroud broke today. Time to get the mast down and replace the standing rig.
The photos in this post were taken by Andrew Richardson. See more sailing and nautical photography at www.photonautical.com
Twilight season is almost here. I am down at Bundeena, a “village” suburb on the outskirts of Sydney isolated by Port Hacking and the Royal National Park. I’ve been helping the old man demolish the old house and prepare the site for construction of his new home. The old fella is a retired builder so absolutely everything that we are pulling out of the old house is being scrutinised for possible use as crushed material for drainage around the new footings, scrap metal to be cashed in or use as fill or as other building materials.
Today I spent the day pulling nails out of gnarly old oregon timber. Meanwhile my mate Andrew was on the water. Here is his account of the first “pre-twilight-twilight” race out of Greenwich Flying Squadron. I can’t work out if I was better or worst of than him.
I just got back from the first “entre twilight” - to get the season started I crashed into a Northshore 31 smashing my new bow roller and damaging the other boat that had right of way. They were screaming things out but no one called Starboard until it was too late … they protested shortly afterwards and I was forced to take a 720 penalty.
I had to go back to the club for the protest - which was solved after a few beers and to my surprise we won the race.
It’s on again.
My regards,