20 Apr 15 to 31 May 15

Wow, time flies, six week since the last post!

The job hunt continues, Queensland is very conservative but we are now starting to understand the jobs market. Paul has put in multiple applications to a range of companies including airlines, forklift maintainers, and state government. He came very close with one company that maintains lighthouses and similar installations but missed out on a shortlist of two! We are also talking with another company, with another shortlist of two! So, there is still hope!

The Weather, well Australia and especially Queensland is known for extremes. And has it been! We had cyclones in North Queensland. Mid April it was still very hot (typically 30 to 36 deg C) with fairly high humidity. Then it suddenly got colder as a dry air mass came across QLD; a comfortable 23 to 25 during the day, and a chilly 11 to 13 at night, and a lot lower humidity. Apparently Queensland is hot and fairly humid/wet in the summer, and colder/dry in the winter. We seemed to have missed Autumn; the season changes quickly. Anyway, the winter is meant to be dry. Our water tanks were low, and getting lower, down to the last quarter of the main (last) tank, so only about 100 litres left. We were having to consider the unpalatable; filling up with Marina water. Now this Marina water is the same as the Manly town water supply. It comes from bore water, apparently from reservoirs on North Stradbroke Island, which apparently comes underground naturally from the great divide near Toowoomba, and of course is treated. We can tell as the water has a chlorinated, muddy taste. It is safe to drink, but just about everyone we talk to either boils it or has a good filter in their system. So, dry weather and low tanks … the hose was attached to the taps then, the miracle. SE Queensland would be hit by cold, wet and windy weather; this is not usual! So the first day it rained, and we completely filled our tanks. Being Australia the weather then made a point, and continued to rain heavily with strong gusty wind for the next day or so. Ah, well at least the water in our tanks tastes good! That was the end of April. May has seen some beautiful weather; blue skies and cooler. The nights can be a touch chilly; the heater has been used! However, the days are pleasant. There is one huge drawback, more and more of the days are practically windless, so sailing can take a hit.

We continue to chat with and meet people, including having people around for meals. We have been chatting to Peter ‘Jonesey’ Jones, a venerable chap who lives on a house boat in the marina and, having bad legs, gets around on an electric scooter. Inside his houseboat is tidy, and unusually for a boat, the rooms are square; everything fits normally! Jonesey’s scooter is quite impressive. The battery power can easily get him from Manly to Wynnum Plaza, a good 5 km up hill and down dale (well suburb), and back, and at a reasonable speed, at least jogging pace. Mind you it did have a malfunction. The headstock is just like a push bike with a double ball bearing. This gave way a few days ago causing a steering lock up (and very nearly a wet Jonesey!). The manufacturer quoted a mere four weeks delivery for new bearings! Initially the bearing were not available locally; however, some research by a friend showed that the bearings were obsolete, imperial sizes, used on old push bikes. The manufacturer had gone cheap and used end of stock line! Worse, they had used an incorrect size for the top bearing, leading to chatter and the eventual break up. Still the correct parts were sourced and all is fixed now.

And we could be famous, well a bit. Helen penned a quick article on cruising for the Marina newsletter. And, lo and behold it is on page 52 to 55 of Australian Boat Mag; ‘Cruising the South Pacific’ a ‘heartwarming feature from ECM’. We got a free pdf version but at 30 Megs it is a bit large to e-mail (I am sure the magazine would declare this is due to the high quality of the pictures rather than stopping emails!).

And sailing. Well, a combination of things on, light winds and rain meant we have been away in Tai Mo Shan only the once. That was a weekend away at Peel Island. We had a very slow trip in light winds; 12 miles in nearly 4 hours, and that was with the Genneker up a good part of the time! Coming back was equally fast. The autumn brings not only light winds, but also a lot of South West winds and Moreton Bay has surprisingly few good anchorages for that direction. That said, Paul has been sailing on the racing trimaran Hasta La Vista a fair bit. The ‘Sunday Afternoon Go Sailing’ series of trips around Green Island has been supplemented by a couple of more serious races. He did the ‘Sandgate Race’ which covers all boats from small ‘trailer sailers’, through larger monohulls to multihulls; with faster boats sailing a longer course. The course for multihulls started at Manly and went out into the bay before heading North past the Brisbane River/Port entrance, and then West to the marina at Sandgate. The day saw a 15 knot or so Southerly breeze. Peak speed downwind was 25 knots, yes, a boat speed of 25 knots! The across wind final reach saw us consistently above 20 knots. That is fast for a sailing boat and Hasta La Vista is built for speed rather than comfort. The result was an adrenaline fuelled, very wet ride as the water rushes over the hull and jets up through the trampoline with fire hose-force. We certainly needed the post race rums! The boat over-nighted in Sandgate marina. The marina entrance is … interesting. In essence, come through the narrow channel which, to be fair, is well beaconed with visible sand banks either side and then, in the words of one of the crew ‘line up on the leading marks, and turn right just before you hit them!’ He wasn’t kidding, it is tight, and shallow. Paul made the mental not of only taking Tai Mo Shan in there at high tide, if at all! The race back was the next day and saw a push into a mostly light wind just about all the way. Still the boat averaged some 10 knots boat speed. The other main race was the ‘Great Bay Race’ by the Multi Hull Yacht Club. This was an interesting course of essentially 3 triangles, one around Peel Island, one past Redcliffs and one out to Moreton Island, totaling some 65 miles. It is interesting as the racers have a choice of which way they sail the triangles, furthermore the Peel Island one is sailed first, and then the racers decide the order they sail the other two. So, it is quite a strategic race with the way the course is sailed a major decision. The day saw extremely light winds, which unfortunately meant some boats pulled out and only 6 boats started. The start itself was delayed by 25 minutes due to a dead calm. Then off went the racing boats, pushing one to two knots in close drifting! The wind did built a bit, but still the top wind was only about 10 knots (for a short time at night), the rest was pretty much 5 knots and a variable direction. Still, we coaxed the boat around with large sails set and completed the course in some 14 hours; not fast but then with light winds we often exceeded wind speed. We are still waiting on the results, but suspect we have a very good win.
Helen’s note; she does not sail on Hasta La Vista as it is too scary!

We have continued to explore the Brisbane Area. Of note, we finally got to look around Fort Lytton. This is the historic fort that guards the entrance to the river. As with many sites, it is only open a limited time; Sundays. People are encouraged to take the free guided tour, and we did so. This proved to be very good, with an enthusiastic, knowledgeable guide dressed in World War II army uniform walking the group around. The fort is ruined (it fell into disuse and was neglected for many years), but the guide bought the talk of Napoleonic era muzzle loading cannon through to World War II 6 pounder guns to life. The bright weather helped, as did the excellent view of the Brisbane river and large ships passing very close by.

And social life continues with a variety of meals out and in with friends. We also joined the Multi Hull Yacht Club Queensland for their ‘James Bond’ themed ‘Casino Night’. It was a chance to get the DJ/Suit and long dress out, and was good fun with lots of play money being won and lost.

Photo: The repairs go on. Paul stitching up the Yankee.