This is our new family member...

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Practical Seamanship (24 x 7) on board a 50-ton, Steel Hull, '60- foot Trawler' with 30-foot Stabilizing Arms on each side.

Pictured: Students, Main Engine Panel, Battery Banks. Generator, Teacher (Dave) in Engine Room, Docking. The Elisabeth Margaret II, Main Engine. Teacher (Paul), Back-up Engine, Students working on Aft Deck. Cleaning up Lines, Bilge System Controls.

WEATHER Oh, let's start with the weather. "Forecast: A strong wind warning is current for St Lawrence to Point Danger, including Hervey Bay. SE winds 20/30 knots. Heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms." Now would I consciously take out my own boat in this weather? Just in case you weren't sure - the answer is NO! Does TAFE consciously take us (students) out for our 'practicals' in this weather? The answer is YES. The 'Heavy Rain' and 'Thunderstorms' followed us the entire night. At times the only way we were able to navigate was with the radar. So, for all those boaters who don't currently have a 'RADAR REFLECTOR' I strongly suggest you get one. And by the way we were traveling at 8-9 kts in that weather.

SHIFTS We sailed out of Bundaberg, into Platupus Bay, down the Great Sandy Straits. The crew consisted of 2 Teachers, 8 Students (all male expect me). We were informed we would be doing '2 hour shifts' (in teams of 2) - NOT! A '2 hour shift' just meant - '2 hours in the wheelhouse doing navigation' (although Alan & I did 3-hours before the next crew relieved us of our duty) - when finished with navigation - you did Engine-Room-Duty, Diagramed Layouts, Ropework, Man-Overboard, or setting up and using the Emergency-Steering-System - by then it was time for your next '2-hour shift'. Notice I didn't mention stopping for breaks or eating..... We finally had diner at 2045. After diner they wanted to give us a 'written test'. OMG!!

NAVIGATION Well, Alan and I were 1st up on navigation - so we had the task of plotting the initial course, factoring in set & drift, use the 'stand- alone radar' to obtain fixes, etc. Fortunately, I feel pretty comfortable with Navigation so we did really well and the teacher decided to let us use the 'New GPS Plotter with the Radar Overlay' while he took a break. Now we had the full control of the boat!!! The radar overlay (over the GPS Plotter) is fantastic!!!

ENGINE ROOM CHECKS. The vessel has 3 Engines, the Main Engine is a Gardner, the Cummins is used as the generator and the Detroit is used as the back-up (come- home) engine. The engine room is quite big, hot, dirty and VERY, VERY, VERY LOUD. You need to wear 'protector ear gear' - a fact we did not know the 1st time we went down for our Engine Check - I didn't think I was ever going to hear again. Access to the engine room requires opening a large steel hatch on-deck and climbing straight down a skinny metal ladder (which is slippery when wet). I can honestly say - I didn't like engine duty.

SLEEPING QUARTERS The bunks and bedding - YUCK! Pillows that seriously should have been thrown out a hundred years ago. I don't think the sleeping quarters have ever been cleaned (if they have you can't prove it by me). Although, this really didn't matter because we didn't really get to sleep, anyway.

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Flags, Flags and more Flags......

Pictured: Just a 'few' of the yachts in the Port-to-Port rally - there were too many to include then all....

ANNUAL PORT-TO-PORT RALLY: Well the invasion of the yachts from South Pacific Island of Vanuatu has taken place. There are 56 yachts officially in the Port-to-Port rally with about 20 more yachts tagging along. The marina can not berth this volume of yachts so there yachts rafted off each other and about 15-20 anchored around the marina. Our once peaceful marina is a zoo. Trying to use the bathrooms is a major challenge. (While it's kinda of fun to see them come in - I hope they don't stay long....)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: There are yachts from the USA & Europe, as well as, many Aussies returning home. They are all coming here to get out of the path of the upcoming 'Cyclone' season. Upon arrival these yachts must be pass through customs and be inspected by quarantine officials before they are allowed to step foot on land. I met a couple of the quarantine inspectors - they were actually very nice.

FLAG PROTOCOL: A vessel traditionally flies her own countries' flag (or yachting ensign) on the stern of the boat. Upon entering a foreign county it is protocol (and common courtesy ) to fly the flag of the country you are visiting (in this case Australia) up near the starboard side spreader (higher than your own country's flag). On a number of the American yachts they have the USA flag flying as high up as they can get it and NO Australia flag - very insulting to the country they are visiting - (as pointed out by the guys in the Master Class 5 course I'm taking - quite embarrassing). As for all the other flags flying on the yachts in the above photos - they are signal flags (letters of the alphabet and numbers). Some spelling out the name of their yacht - other just for the fun of it. The Port-to-Port Rally was having a 'Best Dressed Yacht' contest.

YACHT-IES: Despite the volume of new yachts and people - we are not really getting to meet many of them - as the Port-to-Port Rally organizers have a jam packed schedule of events for the rally participants. We have met a few -like the yacht next to us - they are from Alaska on their way to Perth, delivering a boat for their Aussie friends there (fortunately they DO have the Australian flag flying on the starboard spreader). We also met the editor of http://www.sail-world.com/ (To Rob & Donna Starkey - Mike delivered the 'Red Wine' and card you left for Ted & Nancy).

OTHER TIDBITS: - I'm flat out doing my TAFE course - scheduled to go out on the TAFE training vessel (A 60-foot Trawler) on Monday & Tuesday (24x7). It is a real working type boat - (rusty & dirty - in my humble opinion). The weather is forecast to be windy and raining. We have to do things like - work on the engine, use the 'emergency steering system' , navigate, etc. We practiced setting up the 'emergency steering' at the 'dock' - that was dangerous enough - can't imagine doing it rough weather. (Hope I come back in one piece).

Mike has been developing some very nice 'Web-sites' for people - so far not-paid for - but hopefully it will lead to some business. see: www.the-arabian-dream.com

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