Pink Martini and a Parramatta River Sail
Saturday, Sunday & Monday 5th-7th January, 2008.
Saturday
I got up to the boat Saturday afternoon and spent a couple of hours scrubbing under the boat. First with a broom from the dingy. Next I dived under and scrubbed the keel and bits I had missed. I also did some minor sail repairs. Had a quick dinner on board and got ready to go back to shore and head into the city for the Sydney Festival First Night concerts.
We all met up at the Cruise Bar at Circular Quay before heading up into the city for the concerts. First stop was Macquarie Street to see the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Next we headed to The Domain for Paul Kelly. Some of us split off to go to Hyde Park to see Pink Martini - which were the highlight of the evening. We then trekked down to The Rocks to have a few beers at the Glenmore Hotel before they kicked us out at 1am.
I got back to the boat around 2am.
Sunday
After a good sleep-in, I went up to Whitworths to buy a few bits and pieces.
A trimaran has stayed overnight anchored along the shore line with a line secured to shore. Although we are still a few days off the spring tides I would still say his hull is sitting on the bottom at low tide. Anyway, the skipper is on shore with a bowl of noodles. I think his name was Stephen. He is from Taree and the boat is from Forster. He sailed down over a week.
I replaced all the light bulbs in the navigation lights with LED festoon bulbs. This took quite a bit of time to unseal all the light casings and reseal them with silicon gel.
Eventually I put up the sails and sailed down the harbour. I can’t remember much about the sail. That evening I anchored at Athol Bay, near Taronga Zoo.
At about 4am a southerly came in and woke me up. Athol Bay is exposed to the southerly, especially this one which was coming in S-S-E from Rose Bay. I stayed up for a while keeping an eye on the shoreline to make sure Vogelsang wasn’t dragging her anchor.
Vogelsang doesn’t have a masthead light. So, I purchased a small LED lantern light from Whitworths. The box says that it will get up to 600 hours from the four C batteries. Earlier in the evening I had hoisted it up along the front-stay using the spinnaker halyard with another line attached and secured to deck further aft to stop it from swinging around too much. With the southerly blowing it was swinging around wildly and it was hitting up against the lower forward shrouds. “I better get that lantern down.” Was the thought in my head. I had just jumped up onto the foredeck to do so when - blop! and darkness. My first thought was that the whole lantern had come off the halyard and fallen into the water. In fact just the bottom had knocked off when it bashed against the lower shroud. The bottom and the batteries had fallen into the water. I took it down.
The ground tackle was holding firm, so I went back to sleep.
Monday
Today I decided I would sail up the harbour and up the Parramatta River. A nice steady S-E was blowing so I sailed up the harbour on a reach in no time. I decided to sail around the islands - Cockatoo, Snapper and Spectacle, and continued up the Parramatta River.
It certainly is different sailing along the more enclosed water of the river. The landscape changes the way the wind funnels along the river and adjoining bays. At some stages I was close reaching and others on a dead run.
I sailed into Kendel Bay and dropped the anchor. I jumped in for a swim and loitered around on deck for a couple of hours enjoying the sunshine.
Being a Monday, it was so quite on the river. Just the occasional boat and river cat ferry passing by.
Later in the afternoon, I decided it was time to pull-up anchor and head back down the river. This was a lot more work, beating my way down the river into what had now turned into a N-E wind. I don’t know how many tacks I put in. Sailing solo, and against the flood tide, my tacks were not race-day efficient. Eventually, however, I did make it down the river.
In fact, I had so much fun tacking on the beat that I decided to sail up into the Lane Cover River and continue my enclosed waters sailing. I sailed past St. Ignatius College (Riverview) towards Burns Bay before deciding to turn around. The river becomes quite shallow outside the channel up here.
I sailed up to the mooring in Woodford Bay. By now it was approaching twilight.
Post Script.
The NSW Maritime Authority map for Parramatta River shows two public “courtesy” mooring in Kendel Bay (Cabarita). When I got there I could not find them. Instead I anchored. When I pulled up the anchor it was covered in a very smelly black sludge.
A coal gas works (AGL Co) occupied the shore of Kendel Bay (probably for a century). The land has been cleaned up and decontaminated and is now ugly blocks of expensive waterfront units. The sediment on the bottom of the water, like most of this part of the Parramatta River, remains contaminated. This is why land reclamation around these parts of the river, including Homebush Bay; as part of the remediation of these old industrial sites and their transformation into urban development; has stirred up the toxins in the sediment. This is why dioxin levels in Sydney Harbour’s fish are above health standards and why there are recreational fishing limits and a total ban on commercial fishing. This also explains the thick black sludge stuck to my anchor.
Anyway, back on land I emailed the Maritime Authority about the missing public moorings in Kendel Bay. Steve Brown, Operations Supervisor Sydney Harbour, kindly responded answering that they have been moved to “the south of the Cabarita Marina in Hen & Chicken Bay”. I’ll look out for them next time I head up the river.
