Well, Vera & I just got back home after being at Fremantle while attending our Marine Radio Operator Certificate of Proficiency course with the Fremantle Volunteer Sea Rescue Group (FVSRG).
As the weather forecast for the weekend looked pleasant (even though it is supposed to be approaching winter), so we decided to motor Swagman down to Fremantle from RPYC on Friday evening, go to the course on Saturday and return on Sunday.
Friday evening was absolutely beautiful. The river was like glass, and there were barely no other boats around, and it wasnt cold either.
We go to RPYC Annex at Fremantle about 8pm, and were all moored up by about 8:30pm. We then quickly headed into Fremantle for a late dinner at Portorosa Cafe - very nice.
Got up early the next morning to make our way just down the road to FVSRG HQ for the 8am-5pm course. We were doing the HF/MF part of the course which also covers VHF & 27MHZ.
As we were going through the course, all the communications stuff I learnt while in the Royal Australian Navy in the 80's starting coming back, so it was a bit of a refresher for me, plus bringing me up to speed on stuff I had forgotten as well as new stuff. Vera really enjoyed it as well, although she was concerned about the technical nature of it, but did really well. We finished the afternoon off with the 50 question test (multiple choice....phew!!!), which has a 70% pass mark, but about a 99.999999% pass rate for FVSRG. We both think we did well, but wont find out for about a month as they have to get marked by the national body in Tasmania. But we should be right.
We then went for a bit of a walk before through Fremantle, before ending up at the Norfolk Hotel for some drinks and some dinner.
Wandered back through Fremantle on the way back to the boat, and pretty much crashed for the night.
We had a bit of a sleep in on Sunday, and headed into Fremantle to the Merchant Tea & Coffee shop for some breakfast. Finished up and went back to the boat to get it ready to head back up the river. The wind was starting to pick up slightly from the NE but it was a pleasant trip back up the river.
Until some idiot in a 50ft powerboat (Boatname "iPlay" - will get reported on Monday morning to DPI) proceeded to do a big loop around us, the yellow catamaran ferry boat, another powerboat and another yacht at about 20kts. He crossed our bow at about 50ft putting up a huge wake. I had absolutely no regard for the affect on any other boats, and the two people that were on his bow just waved, they had absolutely no idea. I wish I had my camera close enough by to video the whole episode.
Anyway, apart from that, Vera & I had a really enjoyable weekend hopefully passing our MROCP. Thanks to the weather gods for providing beautiful weather, with no rain, and not cold, before an apparent front and associated storm warning comes through on Monday morning.