Another not race event

'Tis with great pride that I can report Sirocco won TWO more pennants on Anzac Day, participating in the Diggers Cup....
We won 'Fastest' division 3 and 'Second' division 3 - actually if you think about that it doesn't make sense, how can one be fastest in division and come second - well, we were handicapped after the event, hence the second place pennant.
Between you and I, dear reader, what gives me the greatest pleasure is knowing that the racing keel boats really don't think cruisers can go fast - let's put this into perspective: from a field of 27 yachts, Sirocco finished in the top ten overall....not that we were racing in any way shape or form of course ;-)

Many thanks to Chris (bilge boy) Paul (trimmer) and Sue (most enthusiastic crew member) for their participation.

I am off on my adventures aboard Eaglehearts again in early May. Not sure if I'll get a sail in before then, but check back now and then for any news and/or posts from the Nor'west cape!

An insight

Sitting on the bow, just watching the waves and the sky I was thinking to myself how nice it all was. Suddenly, out of nowhere, emotion swept over me like a blast from a furnace and I found myself shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. Inside my head I screamed to myself “what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” and when I listened, my heart told me the answer.
At that moment, I knew with absolute certainty that I was exactly where I was destined to be, and felt an overwhelming sense of oneness with where I was and what I was doing. I think it was one of the happiest moments of my whole life.
Sailing isn’t just about fun, or sport, or challenge. Sailing nourishes your soul.

Back from Carnarvon

What an adventure!

It all began at Two Rocks Marina, leaving at first light heading for Dongara, an all day – all night – half of the next day sail, by far the longest we'd ever done, and our first all-night watch.

I was mesmerised by the blackness of it all, although there was some moonlight, it seemed velvety and inky, and the stars! I knew they'd be bright, but I didn't expect to be able to actually see the galaxy.

We recuperated for a couple of days in Port Denison, then headed to Geraldton, a short day hop away. The yacht club there provided us with an overnight pen, and it was a pleasant place to be, apart from the abundance of seagull crap!

Next day, again at first light, we headed out for Steep Point, some 180 nautical miles away. Another night watch. I was so excited to see the depth instrument reading "DEEP" for the first time!
The entry into Steep Point is interesting with choppy seas and I was glad we did it during daylight hours. We anchored at Sunday Bay (Dirk Hartog Island) overnight: well, that was the plan – somehow we managed to drag anchor in the middle of the night and got well and truly stuck on a sandbar, and spent the rest of the darkness hours rocking backwards and forwards from hull to hull.....not a fun time, but we all banded together to make Graham feel better about it and managed to make the best of the situation.

At first light we moved to Shelter Bay and anchored for the night to catch up on our sleep and gather our thoughts.

Then it was onwards to Denham: a great sail, and a lovely mooring when we got there. We spent a couple of days there exploring the area and having a little retail therapy – not that there was terribly much to buy!

After Denham, we set off for Big Lagoon, but when we reached the approach, we found it far too shallow, even for our 1.1m draft, so it was decided to head for Herald Bight, overnight there, then set off for Monkey Mia the next morning.

Low water prevented us from going ashore at Herald, but from what I could see it looked pretty desolate and not terribly inviting.

Monkey Mia was an absolute delight, we picked up a mooring quite near to the beach, and we could sit on deck and watch the dolphin feeding . We hadn't been there for almost 20 years, and we both agreed it had changed for the better: the development has been done in a very environmentally conscious way, and we spent some very happy hours ashore there.

Next, we headed off to Carnarvon. What an amazing approach – so shallow and so tight! Graham has a mooring in The Facine, so we hooked up there for our first night. As we had sustained some damage to the rudder at Sunday Bay, Eaglehearts was lifted out of the water the next day, which resulted in us spending the last few hours of our trip on the hard in Fishingboat Harbour. It was fascinating to watch her being taken from the water, we floated her onto an awesome trailer-like thing called a Jinka, which was then pulled out of the water by a tractor.
Repairs were arranged, and it was time for Mike and I to head back to Perth. All the flights were booked out, the cost of a hire car prohibitive due to the one way levy, so we bit the bullet and travelled back on the Greyhound bus......all 14 hours of it.....leaving at 4am and arriving in Perth at 17.00 hours.....YUK!

We had an amazing couple of weeks, learned heaps and boosted our log books by 566 nautical miles. Many thanks to Graham for making it all possible!

Exciting News!

New posts may be a little scarce for the new few weeks.
Mike and I have the wonderful opportunity of joining Graham aboard Eaglehearts for a REAL adventure, North to Carnarvon, via Dongara, Geraldton, The Abrolhos Islands and Shark Bay.
We will be leaving either today or tomorrow (Wednesday or Thursday) and will be away for the rest of March.
Graham will be home for the whole of April, leaving Eaglehearts in Carnarvon, after which, he and I will again join Eaglehearts in May and set off to explore the Montebello Islands - unfortunately Mike must return to work, so won't be with us in the Monte's.
I will, whenever possible, post reports and photos to the blog.
What an opportunity and what an adventure - I am blessed!
Take care everyone, and forgive me if I don't email much :-)
Fair Winds

Longreach, Rottnest Island

Here's the gang at the Geordie Bay Cafe on Saturday night. We had a great day, starting off with a kite flying competition on the beach, followed by a sundowner aboard Eaglehearts, then dinner ashore.

It was quite an experience being aboard a catamaran: coming home on Sunday we had 30+ knot 'breezes' and hit 34 at one point - whilst it did seem a little odd to be 'straight and level' so to speak, I did enjoy it very much, and will look forward to being aboard again over the coming weekend, cruising to Rockingham.

Thanks to all who participated in the cruise to Longreach, but thanks especially to Graham and Elaine for being such gracious hosts and for putting up with my endless questions !

Getting knotted and other gems

Yesterday I made a turks head knot on the wheel of Hollandaise to mark the center. So what? I hear you ask...which leads me nicely onto the subject of knots.
I GET knots - there is a logic and a symmetry to them which I find not only pleasing but quite beautiful also.
Whilst sailing last Sunday with the HYC course people onboard Sirocco I came up with a (what I think is great) way to remember how to trim the jib by observing the tell-tails.
WINdward tell-tail flapping, wind it IN
therefore, by process of elimination, if the leeward one is flapping, it must obviously be the opposite, ie: let it out. Now I know all you seasoned old salty dogs out there will be collectively going "well, duh...." but I was never taught anything about sail trim, and whilst I worked out a long time ago exactly how to trim , the easy way to remember (and to explain to new sailors) only came to me last week. What can I say, sometimes I'm slow :-)
Cruising in company is going to Longreach, Rottnest Island next weekend, followed by yet another cruise to Rockingham the weekend after.
For both of these cruises I have been invited aboard Eaglehearts, and I am looking forward to that. Much as I love and adore Sirocco, it will be a good learning experience to be aboard another vessel, plus it will give me a small indication of what it will be like in May/June, when I will be (hopefully, weather permitting) crewing for Graham when he goes to the Montebello Islands.
Tomorrow (Sunday) I will again be aboard Sirocco whilst the new sailors are put through their paces.
Happy Valentines day!

Small update

Since my last posting I have participated in two more twilight sails, plus spent the Australia Day long weekend aboard Sirocco in Rockingham, which is fast becoming a favourite cruising destination for me. This time, Steve and Miriam (Hollandaise) came along and a wonderful time was had by all. Perfect cruise-mates!
The following week I was treated to a twilight sail aboard Hollandaise - jib only as the SW's were blowing hard, but I was reminded of what a lovely yacht she is.
The trend this summer seems, unfortunately, to be howling SW's all day, increasing in late afternoon/early evening, so this Friday twilighting was cancelled (28 knots). Whilst I quite enjoy a couple of reefs and a small amount of headsail, it can't really be called relaxing, which is the whole point of twilights.
This week I saw that a photo of Sirocco had made it onto the competition pages of The Bavaria Owners website, so "Vote Sirocco"!!! This Sunday sees Sirocco being used for training purposes at HYC, it gives me a great deal of pleasure seeing the reaction of people who have never sailed before as they finally realise how wonderful sailing is (and occasionally seeing so many white knuckles when we heel over!)
Fair winds everyone - may your splices never unravel :-)