Starboard marker gets seal of approval
Yesterday I took Manuel and Jens (who are visiting from Germany) out for a sail.
The highlight for me was seeing a seal perched upon the western channel starboard marker off Middle Head.
Upon leaving Greenwich there was not much wind up so we decided to motor down the harbour, under the bridge towards Kirribilli. By the time we got to Kirribilli we each had a beer in hand and my German guests were also busy taking their holiday photos of the sights. So I continued to motor until we reached Curraghbeena Point between Mosman Bay and Little Sirius Cove.
There was a nice 8-10 knot NE blowing and I decided to put up the no.1. There is some sorting out of halyards which still needs to be done but we managed to get under sail without too much bother.
A port tack took us behind Shark Island and over to the Eastern side of Rose Bay. This allowed us to make a starboard tack all the way up the harbour, across the open waters between the heads and into North Harbour. One more port tack saw us puffing into the lee of Quarantine Beach where we dropped the sails and anchored. We could have easily handled the no. 2 genoa on the trip up, but the no. 3 gave us a very leisurely cruise from Curraghbeena Point to Quarantine Beach in about one hour and maybe a quarter hour more.
A late lunch in the crisp afternoon sunshine and of course another beer. As the clock approached 4:30pm I was eager for us to head off so that we would have enough light to get back home. (No nav lights – solar panel installation and battery recharge will have to be next week). One of the crew needed encouragement to scull his beer. By this stage I had already changed the headsail over to the no. 2 genoa.
We got under sail, lifted the anchor and pointed up the harbour. We passed our friend the seal once more and broad reached all the way over towards Clarke Island. This allowed us to gybe onto a starboard square reach through a (pre-season?) twilight regatta coming the other way.
At Kirribilli we dropped sails as the sun dropped over the horizon. We motored back to Greenwich and tied up. By the time we were drinking a hot cuppa the twilight was all but gone.
It was a beautiful day spent puffing along the harbour, relaxing on deck with no dramas or worries. She’s lovely company to have, my dear Vogelsang.
Post Script: Tiller extension repaired to original condition (as per when I purchased) and re-attached to tiller. It is not a great attachment. I might need to install an alternative universal joint.
