8 to 18 Mar 15

Brisbane – Eating, repairing and working …

The 8 Mar was Matt’s birthday, and an excuse to gather at his house, eat, drink and chat. Rosalie and Mark, Matt’s parents were also there, and it was great to see them and catch up. Needless to say we stopped the night.

Sun the 14 Mar we met up with Rosalie and Mark again in Redcliff for breakfast. The excuse was to celebrate their wedding anniversary and ours (a couple of weeks late). Breakfast in a beachfront café was nice, although the Aussie sun is hot even at 9 in the morning. Redcliff has a large Sunday market, so it was a good excuse for the girls to check out the clothes, and the boys the food. For the culture vultures, Redcliffe was early home to the Gibb brothers of ‘Bee Gees’ fame. The town centre has a Bee Gees Way with a wall celebrating their lives and success; quite interesting.

We have (finally) got the inner stay repaired. We talked to the local yacht rigger, Scotty, by e-mail. He suggested a stainless fitting attached to the mast. At first it looked like it was screwed on. Paul did some calculations and definitely no go! However, a further e-mail showed that the fitting fits into a slot cut in the mast; far better – phew! So Scottie and his oppo Andy came around to Tai Mo Shan on 17 Mar. What showed they were used to the marina was that they arrived in a small RHIB; it certainly cuts down the walk. Andy scooted up the mast (in a bosun’s chair) and happily sat there some 13m above the deck drilling and grinding the slot. Along the way he noticed the sheave (the pulley supporting the stay sail halyard) was cracked, so he also replaced that. So, come early afternoon, all was done. Fortunately there was very little wind so we were able to get the staysail out of the front cabin and back on the stay; more room in the cabin, better tacking and more speed – maybe! All good.

And the repairs continued. We had ordered a new inverter. The prices have certainly dropped. Not long ago a 1500W inverter would have cost $500 or so. Now one can get a Chinese one for less than $100. OK, that may not be to standard, any standard! Still we did get one that is to Australian standards for $200. It looks good, including two cooling fans (one sucks air in, the other blows air out, a nice design). Paul fitted it and then we stress tested it; one boiling cup of water in the microwave later and all looks good.

And the repairs continued … Paul has taken off our drink bottle and glass holder as it was starting to look a little tired; well it had been in the cockpit 20 years or so! It is a nice article, made of solid wood and with dove tail joints. So Paul has sanded it down to remove the cracking and lifting varnish and is not applying the new yacht varnish. And the recommendation for tropical use; 10 coats of varnish – yes, 10 coats, each one carefully dried before applying the other, and a few even get a light sand. The application of the varnish only takes 5 minutes, it is the daily repeat for nearly two weeks that takes the time!

The rest has been, well, working. Doesn’t it get in the way of life! Still good to see
the bank balance slowly rising (or not as we pay for repairs etc!!). Cyclone Marcia did hit Rockhampton pretty hard, so that kept us busy. Then cyclone Nathan came in towards the North of Queensland. The communities there braced as it changed from a Tropical Low to a Cyclone category One, then a category Two. And then Nathan changed it’s mind and headed back out to sea. The met guys said a ridge over Australia was enough to overcome the trade winds. Meanwhile the number of calls at the call centre dropped as things got sorted at Rockhampton. It looked like the assignment would wind down and end on Sun 22 Mar. Ah, but then Nathan decided to change it’s mind (well the trade winds kicked in), so after meandering a bit East out to sea, and then a bit South, it grew in strength to a category Three and moved back West again; straight towards Australia, just a bit further South and closer to civilization this time. We will see if the assignment is extended! And on Cyclones … Cyclone Pam certainly hit Vana’atu hard; a category five storm is big! And then it headed on down to NZ. OK so it was only a tropical low when it was off East Cape, but still six metre swells off Gisborne! The harbour was closed. We stayed in the little harbour before and it did have a slight surge. The question is how much would a six metre swell produce; from memory we had a couple of metres under the keel at the dock, so it would have been close! And of course, checking back we were in the Marlborough Sounds last year when ex-Cyclone Lusi hit (see our blog 12 to 17 Mar 14) and we had strong gusty wind and lots of rain. Funny how the weather has an annual cycle …

The photo; it’s a long way up (or down!). Scotty up the mast.