Sailing Sirocco

Sailing with Sharon and Bevan - 5th November 2010

2011-01-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

Friday 5th November 2010

Sharon and Bevan joined us on Sirocco for a trip across to Rottnest Island. You are probably saying "Rottnest, not again". But you must remember that we are still getting to know Sirocco and the waters around Perth. Little trips back and forth are fine for now.

We had dinner in Sorrento on the Friday night and headed off to the island on Saturday morning. The trip over was lovely - flat and calm and yes, I was seasick. I was fine until I took out the vomit bag from the medical aid box to show Sharon how it worked!!

We found our usual place to drop anchor and out came the GnT's and beers. Lunch was on board, thanks to Sharon's cheese and onion pie. Freddie (the Mercury outboard and tender) was launched and kindly took us off to the Island. We found the local pub and that was it - friends, drinks and dinner.

Sunday 7th November 2010

Mike and Charleen came out for the morning on Rusty and join us for brekkie - pity the gas oven was playing up. After a box of matches and much cussing - we eventually sat down to a most welcome bacon and eggs breakfast. We headed off home just before lunch and had the most wonderful sail back to Perth - broad-reach all the way. We also had a show of breaching whales and dolphins. Somebody pinch me!!

Our maiden voyage

2010-10-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

Friday 1st October 2010

All aboard. We all gathered on Sirocco on Friday 1st October after dinner in Sorrento, at a little restaurant called The Beach Shack.

Saturday 2nd October 2010

Woke up to a howling wind, SW 20/25 knots with a confused sea. John and I went for a stroll out to the lighthouse to get a better look at the sea. We witnessed a few small power boats attempting to get out to sea but to no avail. After seeing them bobbing up and down in the ocean and then turning around to come back to harbour we realised that it was not worth going out. Rain was also forecast :(

The kids were mortified and told us to stop being "old wossies" and "lets get this adventure going". We decide to wait until lunch time.

12.00 pm - The wind dropped to 16 knots. The kids where champing at the bit!! We decide to throw caution to the wind and set sail. Off we went, through the channel markers and 10 minutes out to sea us poor ladies started turning green!! Then it started...."Mum, lets go back, tell Dad, we are still close enough". John told us that we were committed and there is no turning back. The sail out was pretty rough. I told the girls that there is life after sea sickness, but I got no response! Johnny very kindly defined sea sickness for us......when you are afraid that you are going to die and then you are afraid that you are not going to die!!

4.00 pm - we arrived at Rottnest Island. Once the anchor was down we all felt a little better. The dolphins came to greet us. John got the tender ready and the kids were off. We made tea and biscuits and got ready for our trip to the Island for dinner. The first thing Ellen and I did was to hound down the pharmacist for some sea sick tabs (we dragged the poor man out of bed!!). He was very helpful and we are forever in his debt. Dinner was lovely. The moon was out and John and I decided to walk along the beach to the yacht. Bradley and Rigby very kindly came and picked us up in the tender once we reached our bay.

Sunday morning - view from our cabin:-

Sunday morning was perfect. The weather was warm and still. The kids spent the morning fishing and doing burnouts in the tender! Johnny and I cooked up a yummy breakfast and it was well received by all. Our trip back home was wonderful. We encountered a baby hammerhead shark and loads of stingers. As we approached HYC we were greeted by all the boats coming of out of the yacht club for the Commodore's sail past. It therefore took awhile to get back into our mooring. A lovely first voyage and looking forward to the next one.

The Waters Family comes aboard.

2010-09-17T03:57:00.000-07:00

So this is where we come in! The Waters Family. We have John the Captain, Maria the Helmsman, Courtney the Purser and Bog Man Brad (we use to call him Master Bates until he twigged on hehehe).

We promise to love and enjoy Sirocco as much as Jan and Mike have and take special care of her.

We have planned our first trip for Friday the 1st October, sailing out to Rottnest Island for the weekend.

Excitement reins in the Waters Family at the moment and we cannot wait. Watch this space for more details on our first sailing trip in 6/7 years since the Med.

Life Changes

2010-09-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have made some huge decisions recently.
Sell the house, sell the boat, fly off, buy new boat, sail home. Nutshell version.
A lot of people can’t believe we would ever sell the magnificent Sirocco, but it is a means to an end and trust me, the adventures that lay ahead for us more than compensate for losing our baby.
Meanwhile, I would like to introduce Maria and John, Sirocco’s half-share owners, who will love her as much as we do and hopefully keep up this blog for Sirocco fans everywhere!
I’d also like to introduce the good ship “Fully Involved” a 2000 Island Packet 420. We will be meeting her in person for the first time in early November, you will be able to read all about her here.
On a personal note, I’d like to thank all our followers for putting up with my drivel over the past three years 
Fair Winds, and may your splices never unravel.

News!

2010-08-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

To all those who contact us on a regular basis,

please note our new email address, current as of 03/08/2010

mdandjadrury@gmail.com

It doesn't get any better and floating objects

2010-06-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken around 1am, about 50 miles offshore in between Port Denison and the Pelsaert Group. If you have never experienced sailing by moonlight I can tell you it is one of the most incredible things to do, gliding gently through the water under a full set of sails, a soft rushing noise of water to the side, phosphorous glowing behind, it is quite simply magical. A hot cup of coffee in one hand, rugged up in warm clothes, the love of your life, who is confident enough in your abilities to be able to drift off to sleep after a 3 hour watch below decks, you realise that you have never felt more content or happy. To quote a trendy phrase "....now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

This photo shows our rescued lump of wood, which we came across (luckily before hitting it) just floating in the middle of nowhere. Responsible sailors that we are, we performed a man overboard exercise and retrieved it. And took it all the way back to HYC, where we transferred it to the jetty to dry, thinking we could keep it as a rather unusual trophy....except that pretty soon it began to absolutely stink, and so it was committed to the bin.....just thought I'd share ....... hey it's my blog, I can write what I want :-D

What an adventure!

2010-06-02T21:13:00.001-07:00

Sirocco, Mike and Jan have been to The Abrolhos Islands (well, one of them, anyway), Geraldton, Port Denison, Green Head and Jurien - all of which, for the benefit of our loyal overseas reader(s) are substantially NORTH of Perth!
We were away from our home port for almost three weeks, during which time we experienced several firsts - first time up North in Sirocco, first time overnight passage in Sirocco, first time provisioning, first time being on our own out of sight of land etc....we had a fabulous time even though we were beset by awful weather sometimes, but we learned from it and neither of us wanted to come home or get off Sirocco.
Also, another first for us was using our newly fitted auto-pilot, 'Otto' - have to say he did a wonderful job of steering for us and we can't believe how much easier things are with him! Although it must be said, Mike did a sterling job of getting us into strange harbours at night time (aided by me at the bow with a torch). A total of 574 nautical miles was recorded in our log books, with our best distance being 158nm in one 24 hour period.We both have the itchiest feet now and cannot wait until the end of this year for our next, even bigger adventure.....but more of that at a later date....meanwhile - a few photos....enjoy!

Mike at Port Denison

Sirocco at Port Denison

A lovely sunset

A lovely sunrise

Replica of Capt. Pelseart's longboat, Geraldton

Mikes Tech update.

2010-02-22T05:46:00.001-08:00

Sirocco has just been out for her yearly antifouling and engine service. The new rudder we had fitted last year under warranty looked like the 'Great Barrier Reef' as there was that much growth on it! It looked very much like the primer did not take prior to top coating, so that was taken care of under warranty as were the 3 small blisters noted on the starboard side of the keel. Jan and I decided we would try our hand at the art of antifouling, it was an interesting experience and not too messy, for the money we saved it was well worth all the effort. While on the hard stand we got all the standing rigging checked over, to see the guy climb the rigging was a sight to behold, he shot up the mast, a true professional!

Once Sirocco was back in the water we took her for a sail only to notice the head sail had a 1 foot rip in the leach, after a closer inspection we decided to furl it back in and return to the pen. We took the sail to the local sail loft who easily diagnosed the problem; there was no UV protection strip and all was coming apart! After consultation with the agent a repair and addition of said strip was carried out under warranty.

Our wind turbine decided to stop producing power while we were down in Rockingham and had to be sent off for repair in Melbourne, the regulator board had a short and has to be changed, hopefully it will soon be back on Sirocco working as specified.

Sailing with the family

2009-12-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

Last week we took out some of Mikes family - his Sister, Barbara, her husband, Bob and their daughter, Anita. I think they all enjoyed the morning, I know I did !

Three Mermaids.........!

Anita takes the helm

Captain Bob looking very serious!

At Last

2009-12-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

We seem to be using Sirocco as she should be used: during the last 4 weeks we have spent time both at Rottnest and at Rockingham, plus spent more time aboard than at home!

We both feel a lot more relaxed now and enjoy getting 'into the groove' of life aboard.

Also, rather excitingly, we have signed up for a 20 day cruise in company with FSC to The Abrolhos Islands in May next year!

Meanwhile - here are a couple of photos of our beautiful girl.

A new season begins

2009-10-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

Just to conclude the ‘up North’ saga: September saw me again aboard Eaglehearts, this time crewing from Denham to Geraldton.
Having given up on waiting for ideal weather the realisation that sometimes you just have to go head down, bum up was reached
and we headed out of Steep Point into a confused sea state and battling Southerlies head on. Lots of breaching whales and
some 40 – odd hours later we arrived safely in Geraldton. Eaglehearts is a strong, solid cat, I felt that we didn’t take any unacceptable risks.
The skipper did admit that he was concerned about him breaking, rather than Eaglehearts.
Luckily, neither broke.
And so the new sailing season is upon us, this time we hope will see us adventuring on Sirocco rather than other vessels.
First up is a small shakedown cruise to Fremantle on 24th October.
Stay tuned!

Sirocco is green!

2009-07-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Solar panel

Sirocco now has a 65Watt BP solar panel installed to the cross braces of the davits to run in conjunction with the wind generator. An SBC-7021 solar controller has been fitted to regulate things before going to the battery bank. Interestingly the solar controller has a facility to connect a night light or anchor light to that will come on when panel voltage drops to 3.5V and extinguishes when it reaches 3.5V (night time) it will self adjust as the seasons change, it will also display the panel voltage input for the last 3 days, neat piece of kit.
I bought a NASA BM-1 battery monitor recently and fitted it. This will constantly monitor all input and discharge voltage of the battery bank so we know exactly at what state of charge they are at and how long to go till we run them flat! It is very handy for working out a daily electrical load sheet, as it is capable of showing the amps of every item that is turned on, even one cabin halogen bulb! In an effort to quieten things down, I removed the blades from the wind generator and cleaned them up by removing all the small moulding plastic that was attached to them. The leading and trailing edges were shaped accordingly and 2 coats of marine varnish applied to fill minor blemishes on the surface. In the lighter winds we are now experiencing they do sound quieter, the summer sea breezes will be the true test of any improvement.
The next project is to install and commission the Raymarine S1G Type 1 linear drive ST6002 autopilot system we have just bought, this will be a challenging piece of kit to install, especially the actuator, but once this is done Sirocco will become a real Cruiser.
Till next time, fair winds, Mike.

Battery monitor

Solar regulator

Just when you thought I’d fallen overboard

2009-07-12T22:11:00.001-07:00

SKP at Cape Couvier

Hello people, so sorry for the hiatus – obviously I am now back from 'up North', and a trip to Adelaide, and then catching the cold from hell (don't worry not Swine flu)....
The crewing adventure aboard Eaglehearts continued with just Graham and myself cruising in company with another yacht 'Escapee' (SKP). We left Carnarvon and overnighted at Cape Couvier – what a spectacular place, two tug moorings are available for passing boats to use, which is fine except that pulling them up is a Herculean task in itself – be warned! Next morning, we set off for Gnaraloo Bay. I have to say Gnaraloo is now one of my favourite spots. Nothing there particularly, but the water and the beach are pristine and it was there that I snorkelled for the very first time in my life. After a couple of days we headed to Coral Bay. The public moorings are located at Point Maude and are a good 30-40 minute dingy ride away from Coral Bay itself – there is no chance of arriving in Coral Bay dry! Despite its reputation, to be honest it was a little disappointing – just caravan parks, a resort and a couple of shops – unless, of course, you want to go swimming with the whale sharks ($275). Whilst there, we received reports of an expected 6m swell and bad NW weather, so rather than carry on to Tantabiddy, we sadly returned to Carnarvon. Thanks to Graham for making it possible and for being a brilliant skipper, and to Elaine for making sure we ate like Lords and Ladies! Mike and I are completely committed to doing this trip in Sirocco next winter, perhaps in company.

Meanwhile, here are some photos.

Sunset

Cape Couvier

Captain Graham

Eaglehearts at Gnaraloo

Another not race event

2009-04-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

'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

2009-04-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T21:53:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-03-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

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 :-)

Twilight sails begin

2009-01-16T20:42:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon/evening, we participated in the first Twilight Sail for the year. It seemed almost everyone with a yacht was on the water, and it was a wonderful sight to see so many sails up. We were joined by Claire and Darryl again, plus Jane and Gail (also from a sail course) and Sue and Den, our old neighbours.

In what can only be described as delightful conditions, we sailed into the sunset, covering just over 5 nautical miles. Sheer Bliss – can't wait until next Friday for the next one!

Fremantle

2009-01-16T20:37:00.001-08:00

Once again, Cruising in Company sailed en masse to Fremantle Sailing Club. This time, Mike and I were joined by Claire and Darryl, who had previously completed a HYC Sailing course aboard Sirocco. Six HYC yachts tied up at FSC Collector jetty. Much eating and drinking ensued, and I have to admit I suffered a slight mishap whilst trying to get off one of the other boats (after way too much wine, followed by Baileys). Bruised ego, backside and ribs – thank God no-one was sober enough to operate a camera by then - here's a photo of the bunch taken earlier in the day :-)

Technical talk from Mike

2009-01-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

I have now added 2 more 120 Amp Hr deep cycle batteries to the house bank to give us 360 Amp Hour plus the standard start battery. The batteries are correctly connected in Parallel (there are 3 different ways in case you were wondering!) to get the best results. I constructed a bus bar arrangement to allow me to connect the wind generator, alternator and external 12 Volt power socket to and still allow space for further additions as required.

As previously mentioned by Jan the davits are on. The design has been very well thought out and executed. They incorporate a removable extension for the wind generator as well as 2 cross braces between the lifting arms for future solar panels if needed. The wind generator works like a dream. In 15-20 Kts of wind I see 5-6 amps and 18 Amps in 24 Kts of wind on the ammeter.

Sirocco has just been on the hard stand for her yearly antifouling. During this time I replaced the hull and sail drive anodes as well as changing engine oil & filters as well as both fuel filters. Bavaria had a recall on the rudders fitted to some yachts and ours was one, so this was replaced free of charge during this time.

I have replaced the inverter with a 3000 Watt unit now that we have a decent set of house batteries, this will allow Jan her toast in the mornings when we are over at Rotto !

We were thinking of having the dining table in the saloon cut to give us another drop leaf, this would have cost quite a lot to do, so instead we have moved it over to Starboard 3 ½ inches, not a great distance but it does make a difference walking thru to the front cabin, no more sore & bruised legs now.

Mike.

Rockingham

2009-01-03T23:00:00.000-08:00

The day after Boxing Day, Mike and I sailed Sirocco south to Rockingham. By the time we got to Fremantle, the waves were breaking over our bow and reaching the cockpit - we had planned on following another yacht, who had left before us, but they called to say conditions were too rough for them, and headed off to Rottnest instead: we decided that there is nothing to fear but fear itself and carried on.....and were rewarded by seeing the tallship "Leuwin" under sail.

The shipping channel out of/into Freo is great - really well marked and deep, we followed it down no problems at at, motor sailing. Here's an artistic photo of one of the markers (just because I can)

Apart from the fact that this was new territory for us, what freaked us out most was looking for the mussel beds marked on the chart and making sure we were well clear of them - which is fine if you actually know what a mussel bed looks like (which we didn't!)

We picked up a mooring in the bay and chilled out for an hour or so.

Then it was into the dinghy, down to the old clubhouse to join Graham and Elaine (Eaglehearts) for a drink to celebrate Grahams birthday!

Next day, Eaglehearts reversed up to us, collected Mike and I and together we sailed to Pig Trough Bay, Garden Island. Our first time on a catamaran, and a generous (or mad!) Graham let us both have a go helming. Oh, I DO like autopilot....! Here's Mike on the wheel.

Once there, Elaine once again astounded us by producing a fabulous lunch, spare bathers, towels and liquid refreshments - she's so organised! We came completely unprepared, as we thought we'd just be going for a quick joy-ride to empty the dunny. Definately hosts with the most.

Tuesday morning, Mike and I left for the sail back to HYC and had one of the most perfect sails we've had on Sirocco to date - we were averaging 6-7 knots in 12-15 knot ESE winds, didn't have to tack once and made it back to Hillarys in just under 5 hours. Perfect.

A great way to celebrate a new year.

A relaxing moment

2008-12-21T23:21:00.000-08:00

The best seat in the house!

Antifouling

2008-12-20T23:29:00.000-08:00

As promised - our baby's bottom, in all her glory!

Pleased to report all work now finished and we have splashed back into the ocean.

After a longish silence

2008-12-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

I know, but I've been busy!
Last Sunday Sirocco participated (not raced, please note) in a Jib and Main event, with all the racing keel boats.
There was one other cruiser in our division.
We completed a course of about 12 nautical miles in competition (but not racing) with the other boat.
The most wonderful thing about it for me was experiencing surfing down a wave - very exhilarating!
We certainly went faster, and were heeled over, and tacked and gybed more than I have ever experienced before in a single sail.
Sirocco was awarded a pennant which says "1st", which means that had we been racing (which we were not) we could be described as having won.....
Unfortunately our insurance does not cover us for racing :-)))))
Sirocco is coming out of the water on Monday for anti-fouling. Stand by for photos of her bottom

A busy few weeks

2008-11-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

Sirocco is back home, complete with shiny new davits and Freddie hanging off them. The whole system was given a good work out last weekend when we sailed to Stark Bay, Rottnest Island with others from Cruising in Company.
It was my turn to co-ordinate the cruise this time, and I kept everyone on their toes with puzzles to do on the way, a sandsculpting competition on the beach prior to the sundowner, and an early morning dinghy based scavenger hunt before leaving to return to Hillarys!
All most enjoyable, but perhaps the highlight for me was seeing a whale on the trip home - admittedly it was a way off, but the shape of the tail was clearly visible on the horizon and the huge splash of water as it breached, unmistakable. Sadly, by the time I got to my camera, it was all over.
Here is a picture of Sirocco and friends moored at Stark, and one of the group enjoying a BBQ on Saturday evening.

Exam Results

2008-10-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

The wait is over - the postman came yesterday with our VHF radio operators licenses!
It seems I am not as thick as I thought, as I achieved a staggering (for me) 96%!
Oddly enough, Mike scored the same, which is exactly what happened when we both sat for our RST earlier this year. Synchronicity?

Back in Freo

2008-10-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:
Sirocco is back in Fremantle having davits made and fitted.
We were so impressed by the work that Keith Scott (Scotty) did initially (dodger and bimini) so he is making davits for us. Mike and I took Sirocco to Freo last Friday, and she is now on the Fremantle Sailing Club work jetty. Scotty has almost finished the steel work, so hopefully, I will be able to sail her home one day next week. How exciting! Stay tuned for photos :-)

Mini-cruise to Fremantle

2008-10-16T00:58:00.000-07:00

October 10th saw us cruising to Freo, with Phil and Tina as our guests. We went down to attend an inter-club cruising in company dinner, hosted by Fremantle Sailing Club, and stayed overnight on their collector jetty.

For the first time, our section mascot, Nigel, came with us. I think he enjoyed it. He didn't say otherwise.

A few weeks ago our club had a quiz night, where one had to come dressed as something beginning with P, Mike was a Pheasant Plucker, and Nigel his pheasant. (Yes, I know it looks like a duck, but please, work with me here and use your imagination!) to cut a long story short, Mike won best-dressed on the night and rather than throw Nigel out, I donated him to Cruising in Company as a mascot. Why is he called Nigel? Aha......ask Kevin Bloody Wilson about that one...

Open Day

2008-10-08T17:44:00.001-07:00

HYC had Open Day on 5th October, and the theme for the sail-past was "Musicals".
Sirocco (as you can see above) looked fab dressed up as 'The Boy From Oz'.
We dressed up ourselves, trying to look as Peter Allen like as possible, with hawaiian shirts knotted at the waist, and sparkly spandex cumberbunds, and stood on deck waving Ozzie flags, all to the strains of 'I go to Rio' . Great fun!

Tick that one off my list

2008-10-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

I finally got to do something today that I've been wanting to do for ages - get winched up the mast in a bosuns' chair! We needed to fix a pully and some rope to put our burgees on for Open Day this Sunday, so, with the advice and guidance of Graham (who you may remember from earlier posts as being something of a hero) up I went, only to the lower spreaders I'm afraid, but next time I plan on going right to the top. Mike did a sterling job on the winch, good job he had his Weetbix that morning!

Whale watching

2008-10-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

Monday saw us sailing in light but lovely conditions for a few hours, tracking down whales.
We'd heard that some were about, way out past the 30 meter contour to the south, so off we went in search the migrating Southern Rights.
I'd really like to report that we saw a mum with two calves frolicking in the sunlit waters, eyeing us with curiosity and venturing close to get a good look at us.....and let's face it, if I did write that, you wouldn't know any different, would you? But, I cannot tell a lie - we saw zero, zilch, nada....
We had a great sail though!!!

Freddie 'n stuff

2008-10-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

Guess what, we now have a lovely Quicksilver inflatable tender with 4hp Mercury engine! We got a great deal from Challenge Marine who gave us the special Boat Show price without us even having to go to the boat show!
As Quicksilver are made by Mercury, and the motor, there really was only one name we could give it: Freddie. As in Freddie Mercury. Late of Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody? Oh come on, you know.
Having realised that at 2.75m it's too big to inflate on deck, we are now getting quotes for davits (or deviates as Mike insists on calling them).
We spent last Sunday zooming up and down the channels in the marina in Freddie, great fun!

That sinking feeling

2008-09-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Ever thought something was a really good idea until you tried it? I am studying for the VHF radio ops exam: in my creative but not technical mind, I imagined it would be all about phonetics (at which I'm really good), correct and courteous radio proceedure (at which I'm really good) and channel selection (of which I have a good working knowledge).
How wrong can you be!?! Now I have to remember things like the specific gravity of battery acid, on-load terminal voltage and all sorts of stuff that I have no clue about....
At least I can define the word Megahertz: it's a description of the headache you get when you realise you're probably too thick to even attempt the exam!

HY37

2008-09-05T03:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of Sirocco showing off her new sail number...doesn't it suit her? :)

Safety First

2008-09-04T01:15:00.000-07:00

Latest EBay win - a Raymarine LifeTag system, complete and unused - thanks to EBay-er Ashley from Tasmania :) Yay, now I can fall off the boat safely......!

Stand by

2008-08-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

OK, stand by for the latest:
Sirocco is moving pens!
You'll find us on P Jetty! :-)
*Jan is busy splicing ropes in readiness*

Progressive dinner

2008-08-24T04:09:00.000-07:00

In July, Cruising in Company held a progressive dinner - which, for some reason, I volunteered to organise....in a nutshell, 12 yachts participated, divided into three groups: entree, main and dessert....so, each boat hosted two other couples for a course. The theme was 'Heroes and Villains'.....I have to say, despite losing a shoe and spilling half a glass of a rather nice red because I was barefoot by the end of the night, it was GREAT fun!
Here are some photos that Phil and Tina (our esteemed Cruise Captains) took.......hmmmmm.....Just to explain - Mike was Mr Incredible - I was Cruella DeVille.....

Why winter is wonderful (sometimes)

2008-08-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

Just love winter days like today. Blue sky, bit of a breeze, not too cold, perfect.
One of the things about sailing is that it's ok not to have a destination - just head on out and have a sail, which is exactly what we did today! Was shown that it is in fact perfectly ok to head North inside the reef - not only is it ok, but it's also deeper and therefore WAY less frought. Always a good thing, not being frought....
And, guess what - nothing broke or leaked - again, always a good thing!

Poor Sirocco

2008-07-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

Mikes technical bit update....
It is said “Buy a second hand yacht and you inherit other people’s problems, buy new and get peace of mind”.....Do you??
On our return from Mindarie with Phil & Tina, we noticed that one of the clips from the main sail to the mast had come off the slide. Investigation showed that the mast slider had split and allowed the sail attach clip to come out. Once we were safely tied up in the pen I checked the others to find that 2 more had split and several more were about to!! The implication of this failure happening out at sea in our fresh Easterly winds could have resulted in a shredded sail and big dollars!! This problem has now been partly fixed under warranty by the replacement of the 3 broken ones. As our confidence is not high with the plastic sliders holding, we aim to upgrade to metal sliders before the summer season starts.
The hatch water leak has been investigated. It looks like it has been there for some time as the headlining backing ply is rotten and has the consistency of paper from where the water was coming in! I have tried in vain to seal it with silicon sealant, this problem is also in the hands of the brokers for fixing as a warranty job.
I have noticed that the swim steps cover off the stern has cracked. I feel it is a design fault as the cover is only supported at its side, thus standing on it to get in or out bends and flexed it and caused it to crack the gel coat, this will be a warranty claim and will be done when the window is fixed.
After 7 months of waiting, we at last have the correctly ordered blue salon covers to replace the striped covers she came with, they look much better now.
The wire loom, Ammeter and stop switch for the wind generator are all fitted. With all the rain & winds we are having right now, I have decided to fit the mast and supports when things improve. We also have a small 300 Watt 12 Volt heater for those cooler evenings we will spend on Sirocco away from the Marinas mains power.

Lunch this time!

2008-07-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

On Monday Mike, Phil, Tina and myself sailed again to Mindarie - this time for lunch!

It certainly was an interesting trip; going we had about 20-25 knot winds on the nose, white caps on the ocean and probably should have had a reef in the main. However, we all quite like being heeled over :)

After lunch we reefed the sail in ready for the onslaught as it was even windy inside the harbour, but lo and behold, we got out into the ocean and it was as flat and calm as can be!

We saw a couple of seals, but no dolphins this time.

A great sail, with great company, weather/commitment permitting, we shall do it again soon.

Music to sail by

2008-06-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

Due to the lack of sailing (trip to Adelaide and crappy weather on return) I thought I'd share my list of favourite songs to listen to whilst sailing. The list is by no means exhaustive, nor is it an indication of my musical preferences as I believe, quite passionately actually, that ALL music is valid - anyway, enough of that - here's what's in my iPod under the heading 'sailing songs' I'd love to upload them as mp3s so you can hear them too, but, alas, I haven't worked out how to do that yet!

Southern Cross - Crosby,Stills and Nash

Wooden Ships - Crosby, Stills and Nash

Errol - Australian Crawl

Sloop JohnB - Beach Boys

Sailing - Christopher Cross

Orinoco Flow - Enya
Great Southern Land - Icehouse
Sailing - Rod Stewart
6months in a leaky boat - Split Enz
Beautiful Day - U2
Ship of Fools - World Party
Songs You Know by Heart - Jimmy Buffet (compulsory for sailing and quite good fun)
cheeseburger in paradise
son of a son of a sailor
a pirate looks at forty
changes in latitudes
why don't we get drunk
boat drinks
Love Shack - B52's (nothing to do with sailing but I like it)
A Case Of You - Joni Mitchell (again, not a sailing song but I love it to death and hey, it's my blog)
Carmina Burana - Carl Orff (just coz it's great LOUD)
The entire cd Nouveau Flamenco - Ottmar Liebert (because I am the only person I know who doesn't hate it - my family have frisbee'd two copies but I always manage to replace it)
Sailing By - Band of the Welsh Guards
Sea Shanties - Band of HM Royal Marines

Those last two? Ha.....didn't know I used to play principle trombone in a brass band, did you? Anyway, IF I ever work out how to upload music I shall, just for your enjoyment.
Meanwhile, let's hope the weather improves soon!
'Til then, fair winds and all that :)

Just popping out for a coffee......

2008-06-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

Today Phil (of Phil and Tina (Mardi) fame) and I took Sirocco north to Mindarie. It's a lovely little trip, only an hour or so away and the easterlies did us proud, so it was a delightful sail. We could have decided to drive there, but with petrol at over $1.60 a litre, I think sailing there was much more environmentally friendly - in fact, I think I'll call it my "offset" against my flight to Adelaide next week!
We arrived at the little Marina, came alongside, hopped off, had a super cup of coffee at the 'Dome' then sailed home. What fun! Talk about arriving in style :) Here's the photographic evidence

Sundowner - a Cruising in Company Tradition

2008-05-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

CiC members - doing what we do best :)

Mikes techie corner

2008-05-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

Latest on Sirocco…

Bavaria locates the sea water strainer for the engine cooling water on the rear engine compartment bulkhead. To check it involves stretching over the engine, not an easy task for either of us, so I have relocated it onto the forward bulkhead, now as the cover is lifted it is right there, easy. No new pipes are needed for this mod as it is a simple case of swapping the inlet and outlet pipe lengths over.

We have been suffering gear selection problems, especially reverse gear, the gear engagement went in with a healthy clunk and things felt very stiff at the throttle lever. Volvo Penta have now sorted this out, firstly by installing 2 new cables from throttle to engine and secondly setting the idle speed down from almost 1000RPM to the correct 825RPM, the gears now engage with a click not a clonk and the whole feel is much better, Sirocco is a transformed yacht ! :-)

It is still a bit too warm to go crawling below decks to fit the wind generator; I will do that next month when things will be a bit cooler. We unfortunately have a slightly leaking sky light window, it’s very annoying to be dripped on while eating, so that is on the list of ‘To Do’ for next time.

Mike.

Sirocco under sail

2008-04-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Phil and Tina from Mardi !

On the way to Rotto

At anchor, Longreach Bay, Rottnest Island

Cruising in Company to Rotto

2008-04-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

Anzac Day weekend saw us cruising in company to Rottnest Island, our first real cruise!
We followed Chris and Sue (Vaya Con Dios, a 40ft Bavaria) through the gap in the reef - very exciting stuff, plus of course we were able to program some invaluable waypoints into our chartplotter!
We anchored up in Longreach Bay, perfect conditions, lovely and warm, I even went for a swim with a huge manta ray beneath me - not the Steve Irwin kind, don't worry :)
We hosted the sundowner aboard Sirocco, joined by Chris and Sue (as above), Phil and Tina from Mardi, and Kay and Garth from Heartbeat, another Bavaria.
After a fun sundowner and a hearty dinner, we retired, only to be awoken at 1am by howling winds, a choppy swell and lots of banging and crashing of waves from the nearby reef....I was in my element and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, but unfortunately a few of our party got rather green around the gills...next morning we hitched a lift in Mardis' tender to the beach, and walked to the tea rooms for a substantial breakfast - yum - then battled the swell back to our respective boats. As the conditions were really getting worse, we decided to all go home - we motor sailed from Longreach to the marker at centaur reef then switched to both sails for a speedy and smooth return to Hillarys, followed by a BBQ.
Great fun was had by all - thanks to everyone from the Cruising in Company division of HYC, and of course to Bob :) Here's some photos of Mardi and Vaya Con Dios, hopefully I will get some photos of Sirocco on the water soon to post up here.

Mardi

Vaya Con Dios in the distance

Cousin Ann

2008-04-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

Cousin Ann is here from UK: she's very experienced, she sails out of Cowes, IOW, UK and has sailed in the Carribean - her partner, Geoff, has a Hunter which he races, so you can imagine, Mike and I were trying to do everything right with her onboard - harder than you might imagine! Anyway, today (Monday 14th April) we had a lovely sail, great conditions, and when Ann stripped down to her bikini we just knew it was a Kodak moment :)

The Intrepid Graham

2008-04-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the intrepid Graham - just happened to be there at the right time with my camera when he was going up the mast - what a guy! I am beside myself with envy - my short term ambition is to ascend our mast, but we don't as yet have a bosuns chair :(

Meanwhile, here's Captain Couragous Graham in all his glory....

Really cool sail

2008-04-14T04:58:00.000-07:00

Steve and Miriam (Hollandaise) and Bob (my pet yacht rat) joined Mike and I for a really lovely sail today (Sunday).

We bumbled around for a few nautical miles, had awesome bacon sandwiches (which, incidentally, always taste so much better on Sunday morning sails) and a good time was had by all. AT LAST I managed to get a picture of Bob at the helm - slippery character, that Bob.

Steve and Miriam have invited us for a sail on Hollandaise - can't wait! Here's the photographic evidence of our little adventure.

Steve and Miriam cuddle up on Sirocco - what a sweet couple!

Here's Captain Bob and Mike:

Here we are!

2008-04-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be fun for those readers with Google Earth to find Sirocco, however this blogsite won't allow me to post the placemark, so here are the co-ordinates:
31°49'20.40"S
115°44'8.52"E
Enjoy!

Siroccos 1st storm

2008-03-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Perth had a months worth of rain in 12 hours, the first significant precipitation in months. You could almost hear the garden breathing a sigh of relief.
Overnight we had very strong winds, thunder and lightening.
As I lay in bed listening to it all, my thoughts obviously turned to Sirocco, and the temptation to leap out of bed and race to the marina so as to check on her well being was very strong.
However.
I rationalised - was she tied up securely?
Yes
Was anything that moves secured?
Yes
Were the fenders in place?
Yes
Did I want to get out of bed?
No
Common sense prevailed! This morning, we have returned to sunny conditions. Sirocco fared just fine, one tip I will pass on though is those smart little hatch covers look fabulous and do a great job keeping the sun out, but in a lot of rain they do compromise the water-tight seal, and, of course, by the order of Murphy's Law, there is a hatch right over the forward berth, the mattress of which is now drying in the sun.
So, Sirocco weathered her first storm. I would like to regale you with tales of derring-do on the high seas with me lashed to the wheel for safety, but the truth is, it wasn't like that.
As for my previous posting, I am happy to report that the lack of confidence has turned into an acceptance that I did, indeed, do the right thing for me at the time, and feeling all down about it is so five minutes ago :)

doh

2008-03-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Another first for me.
Had a morning sail planned with Pam, Steve and Paul.
From the minute I got down to the marina, I didn't feel right about things - there was a strong gusty SSE crosswind, I knew it would be challenging straight away because it was hard getting on the boat; at that time of day, even with normal windy conditions, it's usually easy. But, I was determined to give it a go, as people had come especially and I felt obligated (and to be honest, I didn't want to appear incompetent).
I started the engine, everything was prepared, and I was about to say 'cast off' but....I realised that I would have to back out pretty fast in order to stop the bow being taken by the wind and smashed into the rocks beside us, and I don't do fast - I am the original sailing-Miss-Daisy kind of skipper.
So, reluctantly, I made the call not to go.....
A more experienced skipper would have probably ignored the cross wind and just done it - but for me, knowing how Sirocco responds, I didn't feel that I would have been comfortable doing so.
For what it's worth, not many people went out either. We did watch one come out and he was caught out - you could see the wind just take the bow - he got out of it ok, but to be fair, he didn't have any rocks around him and had a lot more room to manoeuvre than I do.
Well there you have it. Am I a wimp or am I sensible. I don't know.
All I know is, sitting at home typing this and drinking my coffee, I feel pretty silly and the bloody wind has dropped right off, damn it!

Furler update

2008-03-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

All fixed. I am now an expert on how to disassemble and reassemble a furler. Armed with a trusty Allen key, I took the thing apart and sorted out the mess of line inside (caused, I suspect, by not enough tension being kept on the sheet whilst furling in) then set about putting everything back together again. It was going so well until I dropped a small bolt and it went straight into the anchor locker, about six inches deeper than my arms are long.
Now, over the years, at various times, I've been told off for using kitchen implements as tools - tips of knives work really well in place of a screwdriver etc; personally I believe most things have more than one use and I don't see the problem - if you need to unscrew something and you can't be arsed going out into the cold to get a screwdriver out of the toolbox, hell, use a knife! Anyway, I digress. Kitchen tongs to the rescue! Grabbed that little sucker no worries at all.
Luckily Rob Sweet was on hand to help reattach the sail, I really could not have done that alone, so many thanks to Rob and another gentleman who just happened to be passing and lent a hand too (sorry, I can't remember your name but I do appreciate your help).
So now Sirocco can go sailing again tomorrow - and I've learned how to take a furler apart - it's all good :)

Good Friday twilight

2008-03-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

This evening we started earlier, which was a good plan and gave us longer on the water! Jeff and Dawn joined me and my trio of tame yacht rats (it's ok, they told me that's what they are) and we had a lovely sail in a southerly, jib only as it was a little brisk to begin with. Jeff has to be congratulated as he normally suffers horribly from sea sickness, but he did so well, and even helmed for a while (very well too, I must say), what a sterling effort - well done Jeff! I bullied Dawn into having a go on the helm too - and I think she did very well, but seemed quite relieved when someone else took over.

Yay! The chartplotter is back online - works perfectly - however, the latest problem is that the jib furler jammed on the way back - the sail is laying on the deck, tied to the life lines. I shall have to get down to the club early tomorrow and see if I can find someone to help fix it as I have a sail planned for Sunday morning.....time to find all those people who have said in the past "if you ever need a hand....."

A special coo-ee to Alan, who is flying home to Ireland on Sunday - thanks for all your help, company and anecdotes - bon voyage and you're welcome to crew on Sirocco anytime!

Here's a couple of photos of Dawn and Jeff - they look good, don't they? Obviously naturals at this sailing lark.....

Awesome!

2008-03-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

Had a full complement of crew last night! Bob, Alan and Andy again, Kevin Stacey, who is a special friend, being the person who helped us join the yacht club and is a very, very experienced sailor, plus two friends of his, Ray and his daughter, Tanya.
With a 3.5m swell and a brisk wind, it was a very exciting few nautical miles, lots of speed and heeling over (more about the speed later).
Sirocco was put through her paces well and truly, and surprised us all by gaining significantly on the faster, bigger yachts - not that it was a race at all - and I discovered, much to my amazement that I have a little competitive streak; I've never considered racing before but I realised last night that I would probably rather enjoy it......!
I took the helm once again to put her back into the pen and I must say I did it rather well, better than the week before, in fact. Practice, practice, practice I guess.
Very civilised apres-sailing nibbles and wine, followed by spending the night aboard, so much better than the other side of the bridge - quiet and peaceful.
Oh yes, about the speed - the consensus was that we were doing about 7 knots most of the time; I'd like to report with a little more accuracy, but can't due to the fact that the chartplotter is in the workshop to be 'looked at' as it doesn't work, and without it, none of the other instruments function - sailing by the seat of our pants! Good eh?

Pretty damn proud of myself :)

2008-03-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

Well, this evening I finally bit my own personal bullet and took Sirocco out of the pen myself, went for a twilight sail, then put her back in the pen ! AND I didn't even hit anything - very slightly glanced off one of the poles coming back in, but so gently no one spilled their drink. Oh Yeah, felt pretty good.....the rocks were still there, and still scary, but I realised there's nothing to fear but fear itself.
Thanks to Bob, Alan and Andy for their encouragement and crewing and especially to Graham who had to virtually catch me when I jumped off to leave: there was a really high tide and my legs just a little too short to step off as I normally can - see, I told you the yacht club was full of nice, friendly, helpful people!

Twilight - again!

2008-02-29T05:33:00.000-08:00

Another twilight sail, this time aboard Sirocco. Steve skippered in and out of the pen (thank God! those rocks...scary - but now I've seen how easy it is, I am determined to do it myself next time) We had a sail under jib only as it was a fairly brisk sea breeze and pretty choppy seas. Kim is a natural sailor and I believe she enjoyed herself very much. Blue I think enjoyed it, but I have a sneaky feeling he'd rather have had a big motor running as he was a little hesitant about steering, rope work etc. Nevertheless, we all had fun, and Steve was the STAR of the evening for his manouvering under power skills. Thanks to you all for a lovely evening!

Steve - skipper extraordinaire!

Blue trying not to smile

Captain Kim!

Hollandaise and Cruising in Company

2008-02-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

Last night Mike and I attended our first meeting of the cruising in company section of the yacht club and met some really nice people, I was invited onboard Hollandaise, a magnificent 30ft Holland, for a twilight sail on Friday by a lovely couple, Steve and Miriam, who made me feel very welcome and comfortable. I LIKE this twilight sailing thing - it's run by the yacht club and basically anyone can turn up at 6pm and hop on a yacht for a couple of hours of sailing with the setting sun. Steve and Miriam handled Hollandaise with enviable relaxed skill - I am so impressed with their auto-pilot and think Sirocco would love to have one too!
The three of us finished the evening aboard Sirocco, sharing a bottle of wine and chatting away like old friends. That's what I've noticed about yacht club people - they all seem genuinely lovely people who would lend a hand if needed without a second thought and I certainly feel a sense of belonging already.
A big thank you to Steve and Miriam, and to everyone at Thursdays meeting who made us feel so welcome.

A New Home

2008-02-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

Sirocco is now in her new home at Hillarys Yacht Club! Although it's only for three months we are hopeful that another, permanant pen will become available within the timeframe. Our new home means no more bridge, no more negative water under the keel, the ability to sail when we want to and no more gawping public....WHOO-HOO!

Learning curve

2008-02-16T04:59:00.000-08:00

I thought long and hard about this post, as the events which occured make us look like total prats, but then, it may serve others who read it as a timely reminder....
We had two sails today - one this morning which was delightful, then again this evening, with Hanna and Nathan aboard.
We decided for a change to go North from the marina, dropped the anchor and the kids went for a swim off the back.
We laid a ratio of 5:1 in 3.4m of water.
The kids were swimming, all was good.
I noticed that the depth changed to 2.3, so I told Mike and he said it's ok, just swinging around a bit.
Then I heard a little voice from off the starboard side saying "Jan, you're dragging the anchor and we can't swim fast enough against the tide to get back on" *GULP* Then, the depth alarm started going off, we're in 1.7........1.5........1.2.....and the beach is getting closer and closer....
Mike threw our safety line to the kids, I started the motor, then......the motor stopped working, and we're drifting towards the beach still. Not happy Jan....
Cut a long story short - we'd picked up a length of hose from the sea floor which had fouled the anchor, and the folding prop had folded and wouldn't open out. Nathan and Mike cut the hose away, the motor started, and we were then out of danger, but boy, were our hearts pounding.
Bottom line is: we anchored way too close to the beach to begin with and didn't take in to account the prevailing current in that area, plus we anchored in sea grass. In retrospect, it's easy to see what we did wrong. I'm not too proud to admit we stuffed up, but, no harm was done and we learned from it.
One little gem that I have to end this tale with is a classic Hanna quote: "Did you know theres a big triangle thing on a stick hanging off the back of your boat under the water?"
Gotta love her, don't you :)

Picture posts

2008-02-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

Derrick and Jan

Captain Jill

Griffo (and hat)

Very Nautical

You're supposed to be fixing up the sail dear...

Mike's tech. bulletin

2008-02-13T03:39:00.001-08:00

I have been quite busy this last week on Sirocco.The TV/DVD had been put up on the forward starboard bulkhead after I moved the reading light over; both tasks were quite simple as I was able to hide all the wires behind the headlining. We have installed a fan in the forward cabin to aid air flow on these warm nights we are experiencing at the moment. The two winch handle pockets and two rope bags have also now been fitted.
A few months ago I won from Ebay a 1200 Watt Australian made inverter. This is now installed beside the starter battery and will provide the power to the TV/DVD and to a socket beside the nav table. The inverter input power has been given an isolator switch of it’s own and this sits under the nav desk beside the two original factory fitted ones for engine and house power.

On a safety issue, we decided to fit a smoke detector in each of the cabins. Bavaria provides 3 big fire extinguishers as standard, one in the nav table seat and on each in the cockpit lockers. We have decided fit a fourth fire extinguisher in the forward cabin as well.When we went out for a sail on Sunday we had no speed or distance readings all day. So Monday Jan & I carefully removed from under the forward cabin bed the transmitter replacing it with the supplied blanking plug, only a cup full of water came in but we were prepared for more. Sure enough in just a short time growth had stopped the 4 small paddles turning, so we cleaned these off and reinstalled it. We have now added this cleaning check to the monthly maintenance schedule.As time goes on I am enjoying finding out what makes Sirocco tick. One criticism I have always read in yachting magazines on the Bavaria range with the single helm wheel is the fact that it is so large and hard to get past when using the swim platform. What they don’t add is that Bavaria provide a basic winch style handle to remove said wheel, it’s about a 30 second job and bingo, the cockpit is transformed. The same handle also adjusts the clutch tension on the windlass. Talking of things anchor. Jan has been busy splicing recently and has made us a rope with a hook on one end to go on the chain and a loop on the other to go round one of the forward cleats, this then takes the strain off the windlass when at anchor, neat !Till next time....Mike

Excuse me, but you can call me SKIPPER

2008-02-12T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today Mike and I both passed both the theoretical and practical elements of our RST. This new rule comes into force on April 1st, so we thought we'd get it over and done with before the rush. We think the RST is a very good idea, as up until April 1st this year, there is no requirement for anyone to have prior knowledge before skippering any kind of vessel and taking off. Think about that for a moment - say, for example, you managed to get out of the harbour safely, then came across a marker with two black triangles pointing down and, not knowing what it means, navigated to the North of it.....or, not knowing the rules of the 'road' or having no knowledge of radio proceedures...disaster, right? (and trust me, it has happened). At last, West Australia has come into line with the rest of the country and made the RST compulsory. Not before time. OK, I'll hop off my soapbox now and go and open a bottle to celebrate our skipperhood.
Oh by the way, it's ok, you don't have to salute as we go past :-)

Swimming off the back

2008-02-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

Another perfect day, sailing almost to the Freo shipping lanes, then heading back and dropping the pick by North Beach for lunch and, for the first time, a swim off the platform (got a ladder, a shower and everything!)Took the opportunity to take some artistic shots whilst underway.John, Jill and Derrick came with us this time - I think everyone agreed it was a great day, and I do believe Derrick thoroughly enjoyed his first ever sail!Mike and I are planning an overnighter to Rottnest this week, now that we have fixed the lack of speed indication issue we had - the little spindlything that lives underneath had its paddles clogged - luckily it is reached via a plughole under the V-berth, so no-one needed to dive into the murky harbour water to fix it. By the way, we actually do have ducks in the marina, despite the assumption that they are freshwater birds - ours are obviously mutants as they definately are swimming in salt water. Speaking of ducks, to 'anon' who left such a witty comment, be very careful, it begins with just one, but left to their own devices they breed, you know. You'll open your bathroom door one morning to find it packed with plastic ducks, feral ones, no doubt, so watch your ankles.To the many visitors who have looked at then signed our guestbook (well, ONE actually, thanks Larry!) HINT HINT Will write about the Rotto trip in due course meanwhile here's some photos.

And now word from Mike.

2008-02-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

To begin I would like to say a few things from my side on buying Sirocco.

When we were ready to buy the yacht (Name still undecided) we also decided to change our car from our MR2 to something that would happily transport all our sailing needs to the marina, we chose a Toyota Yaris YRS 3 door. Would you believe it took close to 7 hours, 2 visits over 2 days to the same yard and in excess of 12 signatures to secure the car we wanted…So when It came time to actually commit to the purchase of the yacht I was dreading the time it would take to complete this sale after our Yaris adventure !!!
It actually took 20 minutes with 1 guy and 1, yes one signature from Jan & I to secure over a quarter of a million Dollar yacht!!! So I wonder why does it take so much paperwork and you have to meet all those sales people who want to be ‘Life Long Friends’ to buy a car??? If you know the answer to that then please let me know….

The name…Sirocco….It’s a wind that blows out of the Sahara desert over the Mediterranean Sea. (Google search for more details. BTW we spell the name the English way, it can be spelt Scirocco like the VW car of that name, but that is the Arabic spelling) As I have spent a fair percentage of my working life in the deserts of the world, we thought it a very apt name for our yacht. Other names were short listed like ‘Comfortably numb’ and ‘Tora’ but these could be a bit of a mouth full on the radio said 3 times in an emergency, especially the last one !!!

My job takes me overseas and I work with people from all over the word, this comes is handy when it is time to get goodies that a modern yacht needs these days, and into the bargain saving a lot of $$$ ….So far we have got an Air X Marine wind generator and mounting kit from the USA and a Raymarine chart plotter & Raystar 125 GPS antenna from the UK.

Chart plotter…I decided for warranty purposes to get the local Raymarine technician to connect it up to the yacht, (well all the wiring identification is in German!) but I cut the hole for the display and bolted on the rail the fitting for the antenna, this I was told was the hard bit and did in fact save a lot of time.

We had a TV antenna installed before the mast was stepped and have now bought a 52 cm LCD TV with built in DVD. I am in the process of installing it in the saloon but before that is done I have to re-locate the starboard bulkhead reading light further into the corner under the radio speaker, this is an easy job that I will do it next week.

The wind generator is the next project to be fitted. As I said I have the fitting kit all I need is the stainless steel pipe work to hold it up with. As the fitting will involve crawling behind the rear bulkhead in the rear birth, I might just do that in April when things will be cooler and less humid in Perth.

Fremantle - almost

2008-02-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

First sail on Sirocco with just Mike and I today. Almost 5 hours of sheer bliss, made it almost to the shipping channel at Freo, and really only came in because the wind died off, and we could see a front approaching (see, all that met. study we did during our gliding years DID come into play, after all!)

Today was an exercise in positive thinking - we set off telling each other "we can do this, we've done it before, we can do it now" and hey guess what, it worked - perfect sailing and we didn't even hit anything coming into our pen....all of which makes us sound like complete idiots, I know, but when it's your yacht and your investment and there are 50-odd people watching you come into the pen, what can I say, it all adds to the stress.

Ever wondered why your arms are always more tanned than your legs? Or is it just me? Got a really good chance to even the balance up today but all that's changed is I have arms the colour of tanned leather and pink knees...wonder if that fake tan stuff works...?

I think Mike should contribute to this blog - I am sure some of you would love to read technical stuff, so I plan to build him a corner so he can interact also.

'Till next time - fair winds

Books

2008-01-30T04:54:00.000-08:00

As we can't go sailing until the weekend, I thought I'd list some of our favourite reading matter! Mostly they are about sailing of course, but they also tell a damn good yarn too and I can recommend them.
So, in no particular order:
Murder or Mutiny by Pamela Stevenson
Treasure Islands by Pamela Stevenson
Illustrated Longitude by Dava Sobel
Lats and Atts Magazine - monthly publication
Recreational Skippers Workbook - need to complete by April!
First Lady by Kay Cottee
Personally, I have just finished two autobiographies (non-sailing) first was Clarissa Dickson Wright (one of the two fat ladies) then Humble Pie by Gordon Ramsey, both very compelling with a similar thread, and am two thirds the way through a great book called Stargazing - Memoirs of a young lighthouse keeper, by Peter Hill.
I'll try to think of something else to put here before the weekend :) Bear with me, I'm new at this blog-thingy, although I have to say it's a lot easier than the old html personal websites!

Dolphins today

2008-01-26T23:31:00.000-08:00

A magical sail today, in perfect conditions. John and Dawn joined us today and a great time was had by all - saw a pod of about half a dozen dolphins - awesome! We experienced rather sudden wind changes but managed to keep on track with a few tacks thrown in expertly (yes, really!)

We had planned to anchor up for lunch but by then the wind was prohibitive with quite large whitecaps on the sea, so we headed back as everyone had had enough by then anyway.

John and Dawn kindly gave me permission to add a photo, so here they are above, enjoying the sail today. John did take a photo of Dawn and I, but somehow it came out as a blurry video! I also have to add that our 'parking' skills are improving - fenders didn't even get a workout today!

Also had a surprise at the marina, when Mike went to bring the communal hose over to wash Sirocco off - the hose was snagged on something and when he pulled it up, he found a cafe chair tangled up in the hose - obviously been there some time as it was covered in barnacles!

Australia Day

2008-01-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

Headed out of the marina at 10am, but within 10 minutes encountered a howling southerly which was not as predicted, and since none of us enjoy being heeled over and getting wet (cruisers, not racers you see!) we came back after an hour and 15 minutes.....sorry dear readers, nothing much to report today, but at least we got the sails up unlike some who A: cleaned their yacht B: went for a motor for an hour C: returned and washed the yacht again in that precise order! (Not mentioning any names!)
Happy Australia Day :) Going out again tomorrow morning with our friends Dawn and John, stay posted!

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Thank You!

2008-01-24T22:06:00.000-08:00

Firstly, thanks to everyone who indulged me by visiting this blog - it's great to know that you share our interest! I have done a little more work on the set-up, and now you should be able to leave comments if you wish.
Sirocco now has a fully functioning chartplotter with GPS! When we get to grips with it, I'll be able to post the co-ordinates of where we've sailed here, and people can 'visit' using Google Earth.
Another step forward: we now know what all of those buttons are for on the nav panel ;-)
AND - I sat down with a length of rope and remembered how to splice - something I haven't done since my Gliding Club days, when I used to make weak-links for the tow ropes. After a couple of passable splices using good old silver-poly rope, I got too cocky and tried with nylon......after an hour, I felt like tying a noose with the stupid stuff and hanging myself....absolutely horrid stuff....I'm sticking to poly rope in future!
Australia Day weekend starts tomorrow, so we will have access to the ocean through the open bridge from 4.30 this afternoon right through to 7am Tuesday morning - this is Delta Tango 096 logging off....

A perfect day with friends

2008-01-24T21:49:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, our good friends Jill and John (Griffo) joined us for a sail. Our departure from Hillarys was delayed slightly as there was a very low tide (did I mention that because of all the building work at the marina, the bridge area has silted up and needs dredging already? As a result, even in the highest of tides, we register just 70cm of water below our keel coming through the bridge opening!!!)

John looked very nautical helming, and Jill had a huge smile on her face.
At one point, heading South towards Scarborough, Jill and I were sitting up at the bow when we spotted a turtle breaking the surface - it was brown and would have been at least a metre long. I've often seen seals and dolphins in that area, but never a turtle before.
Another first for us was 'dropping the pick', which we managed easily, then just sat and had some lunch for a while - very civilised and most enjoyable. I have to say picking the anchor up again seemed to take much longer, with lots of directions being shouted to me at the helm from the bow, but it came up in the end, and off we went back home to Hillarys.

The pen we use at the moment is right on the boardwalk, in front of the take-away food places, and there are always dozens of people milling around watching boats come and go - it is very nerve-wracking to have to manouver 37ft of fibre-glass into a pen with such an audience, and as we all know, things only ever go wrong when someone is watching - I won't go into too much detail, suffice to say that our fenders worked superbly and nothing was broken!
Thanks to John and Jill for allowing me to post their photos here.

Mikes First look and sail!

2008-01-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

After what seemed an age, Mike finally arrived home from Angola to get his first look at Sirocco in person! He was, of course very impressed, and I think this picture says it all :)

Mike being Mike, he started finding out exactly what was what, finding out how and why things work, looking in every nook and cranny - an aircraft engineer by trade, it's in his nature to 'poke around' as I call it!

We still have an issue with the pen - we are still in our temporary one, until the building work is finished, which entails waiting for the builders to finish for the day and open the bridge so we can get in and out - at the moment the bridge is closed from 7am until 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, so mid week sailing is out of the question mostly, due to offshore strong winds in the afternoon - but we did manage to get a sail in last Wednesday, as there was very little wind at 6pm - so Mike finally got to helm - what a happy person he was after that!

Peter came with us too and he absolutely loved it!

Next post will feature our weekend sail with our friends, John and Jill

Launch and sea trial

2008-01-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

Standing and watching breathlessly as they put slings under Sirocco, drive an enormous lifter up to her, and slowly lift her off the supports, I can hardly believe it's happening.

We walk behind the lifter at a snails' pace, full of awe - like a wedding party following a bride to the altar! We walk past a line of 68ft clippers, all in Fremantle for a stopover during their round the world race.

Now we are at the slipway, and Tom opens a bottle of champagne, instructing me to pour some over the bow just before she touches the water, and say a few words. Well, I poured ok but couldn't say anything as tears were rolling down my face! Tom took photos which I haven't got yet, sorry. However, here is one of her in the water:

At last - in her element. We filled up with fuel and set off to the northeast out of the marina.

We raise the main, then un-furl the headsail, switch off the motor and she glides effortlessly and silently through the clear, blue water. She handles like a dream, I don't think I have ever felt quite this blissfully happy - just one thing wrong, Mike isn't here to share my joy. We play around for an hour or so, then slip back into the marina, find a pen and tidy her up a bit, then secure her for the night. What a day - what a yacht - what a blast!

Oh, and by the way - we finished the champagne :)

The very beginning

2008-01-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a blog about Sirocco, a brand new 37ft Bavaria Cruiser.

We ordered her in June 2007 from Germany,using the excellent services of the friendly people at Martin Box Marine in conjunction with NorthSouth Yachting in NSW, and she arrived after her long voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany to Fremantle in late November.

We (Mike my husband and myself) have dreamt about owning a yacht for a couple of years now,I guess the property boom here in Perth, West Australia has helped us to realise this dream: we sold our home last year and downsized as it's just the two of us now,
and purchased Sirocco with what was left....!
I will start by describing the first time I saw her - 5th December, 2007.
We had been in Europe for a month as part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations: at the end of our trip, I returned here to Perth, and Mike to Angola for 6 weeks at work.

Obviously, having not been here when she arrived, I was anxious to get down to Fremantle to see her!
An acquaintance had taken photos of her in big pieces and that's all we had seen thus far.

As luck would have it, it was a horrid windy and very wet day, but I didn't care!
There she was, right in front of me, still wrapped in white plastic on the hard stand.
I was pleased to see that the mast was up and the keel was on, I climbed up the metal stairs
they had put beside her and set foot on her.....then cried!
As I explored I tripped over several people doing 'stuff' so I couldn't stay too long,
I had a photo of me taken sitting at the nav table - everyone says I look misty-eyed, but I'm actually thinking shit, what are all these buttons and switches for?!

Time came to leave, so one more photo, this time of me under her, touching the keel.

Next blog entry will describe the launch and sea-trial.