Adventures on Yarramundi

27 October 2012
22 August 2012 | Trinity Inlet, Cairns
17 August 2012 | Cairns Harbour
16 August 2012 | 14 56.8653'S:148 11.3993'E, The Coral Sea
15 August 2012 | 14 14.19156'S:149 5465'E, The Coral Sea
14 August 2012 | 13 12.0330'S:150 26.6810'E, Still in PNG Waters, Coral Sea
14 August 2012 | 70 miles north east of Australian Waters, Coral Sea
13 August 2012 | N N'N:E E'E, The Coral Sea
13 August 2012 | N N'N:E E'E, Solomon Sea
12 August 2012 | N 'N:E 'E, Solomon Sea
11 August 2012 | 'N: 'E, Solomon Sea
10 August 2012 | N N'N:E E'E, Solomon Sea - South of Deep Planet
09 August 2012 | 'N: 'E, Solomon Sea
09 August 2012 | Blanche Bay 4 miles from Rabaul
08 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
07 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
06 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
05 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club

Waiting on the prognosis

31 May 2012 | Faraulep, State of Yap - Federated States of Micronesia. The Caroline Islands.
David
We had Thomas over for dinner on Wednesday night to say thank you. As it is now over 3 weeks since we left Saipan the only fresh food we have are a couple of onions so it was a dinner of canned food but we did our best. Campbells Cream of Mushroom for entree, (he did not know what mushrooms were but liked it very much), spaghetti bolognese for our main - sauce from a can but I boiled down some tomatoes, added the onion a piece of chili pepper and red wine to improve on it, and iced pinneapple pieces finished off with some toblerone chocolate - which we just noticed is now owned by Kraft. Drinks were bud light of course, followed by an aussie chardonnay and a cab sav.

The photo is of me showing him pictures from home - a little confusing as that includes Japan, Australia and Canada. He is wearing the el-cheapo JPY1,000 glasses I bought from Handy in Shimoda on the spur of the moment. He said they were better than his pair so I was happy to give them to him.

He said had never had soup with a spoon before and I have to admit he did a better job makiing the cultural adjustment than my crew Mr. Slurppy.

Nicky and I are just amazed at the level of English these islanders have. We are miles from anything - Guam 600kms away, Yap 700kms away but they are able to express themselves and converse freely in English on even complex matters. If only the Japanese education system could work out how to be so successful. These outer islanders whole world is this atoll made up of 3 islands and a deep lagoon surrounded by a reef which is constantly defending them against the roaring waves of the open ocean. Yesterday one of the youngster about 10 was fishing from his canoe singing away happily to himself just 50 metres off our boat. Providing global warming does not force him to move sitting alone on his canoe for hours at a time on this spot in the ocean will be his life. We think this daily solitude is why they are all very ok with the comfortable silence we encounter in the Man's Hut or when some of the come on the boat and visit us and don't say anything. When we enquired if the youngs ter had caught anything he said no you have to be patient. Then he asked if we had any chocolate.

Unfortunately for him we made the decision not to give any gifts to the kids from the boat. If we did we would be pestered all day. Instead Nicky has been visiting the school daily and taking different food with him each time and making it part of a 30 minutes English lesson. He has started to affectionately refer to them as my kids.

David
Comments
Vessel Name: Yarramundi
Vessel Make/Model: Jeanneau Espace 990 33 feet
Hailing Port: Sydney
Crew: David Devlin
Extra: Yarramundi now lies in Mooloolaba and is occasionally sailed with my son. I do plan to evenutally get her to Sydney.
Yarramundi's Photos - Main
Andrew and I don’t think he is human – probably some Viking god who has came back to earth for a visit. He setup a vodka distribution business in 22 countries and sold it to Diageo retiring at the age of 32. He spent the following 2 years designing and building his 56 foot $6 million boat and has been sailing it for the last 6 years. He sails alone and has been everywhere – including Antarctica. Neither of us have seen anything like the boat – The interior is like an upmarket modern Scandinavian apartment, it has every convenience imaginable (both domestic and maritime), and the outside with it’s teak and stainless steel looks like it just came out of a show room. We certainly did not see Bart cleaning it so are convinced it has been blessed. Or he has some little helpers stowed away somewhere and they come out at night and clean it. In fact we did not see Bart do anything else accept hang around and be cool until he left. He does not use a motor. Despite being in the corner of the harbour he untied his huge floating bachelor pad himself and used only the wind to turn the corner and sail out. We motored out to wave him off and even at full throttle could not keep up. He is off to Kyushu and then Hokkaido where he plans to stay for about a year skiing and photographing the wildlife. He had a coffee table book on board. It was of his boat and it’s Antarctic adventures. Of course he would. Very cool guy - we were privileged to meet him in Chichijima, have dinner with him a couple of times and tour his boat. David
7 Photos
Created 6 April 2012
42 Photos
Created 5 April 2012
37 Photos
Created 3 April 2012
Yarramundi is now provisioned with 400 litres of water, 350 litres of diesel, 60kgs of rice and pasta, hundreds of cans of soup, spam, sauces etc to make up more than 800 meals. She is leaning a bit to port side so we will have to do some rearrangement of the contents before taking off on Sunday March 25.
1 Photo
Created 21 March 2012
Weather permitting Yarramundi will depart Shimoda, Japan on March 25 for Saipan on her first leg to Sydney. Following that we will sail to Chuuk (Truk) via Guam, then Honiara, Cairns and onto Sydney visiting many of the remote atolls of the Caroline and Solomon Islands.
1 Photo
Created 5 March 2012
10 Photos
Created 5 March 2012
I've been lucky to have my sister Maria and cousins Holly, Adam, Liam and his wife Zoe visit Japan and sail on Yarramundi
6 Photos
Created 24 February 2012
5 Photos
Created 24 February 2012
1 Photo
Created 22 February 2012
Why is it that every winter I've seem have had to dive below the boat to fix or retrieve something?
4 Photos
Created 22 February 2012
Yarramundi has been taken to Seabornia Marina on the west side of the Muira Penninsula for some major work. We made it in record time within one day thanks to the 30knot wind from the north but little thanks to George who fell asleep at the helm.
5 Photos
Created 22 February 2012
A few friends visited Yarramundi on Seijin no Hi (coming of age day) while she was in Tokyo Bay. A brief sail was followed by a turkey lunch.
10 Photos
Created 20 January 2012
People who have helped fit-out and maintain Yarramundi
7 Photos
Created 26 December 2011
From Shimoda to Wakayama and Mie Prefectures - a 12 day trip with 3 other yachts from TSPS.
24 Photos
Created 2 December 2011