2011 in a flash and a blur.....

Hey there sailing bloggers. I have been pretty slack of late and decided that I must get back to blogging again. I am not sure where we left off but pretty sure I have missed a year. I will zip thru the end of 2011 and try to catch up. Here goes......


Easter Weekend 2011.........

Sailed to Mandurah with Hillary's Cruising Club. Courtney and Rigby joined us. A good time was had by all.

Going shopping, Steven and Courtney

John's boat (Banco) looking down from his apartment

Mandurah Marina

Easter Sunday breakfast on Sirocco!

September 2011.......

Johnny and Bradley sailed down to Geographe Bay, Busselton for a father/son bonding session. They had a ball, despite some inclement weather on the way back and a damaged main!

Brad with a tuna mackerel

John with a tuna mackerel

Rotten weather

December 2011

We moved Sirocco from Hillary's Boat Harbour down to Port Coogee Marina.  This new pen is much closer to home and all the islands (all three of them) around Perth.....

Founding members!!

Sailing with Sharon and Bevan - 5th November 2010

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

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 were 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.

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

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!

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

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