Wednesday 29 April 2015

A competitive day!

Awoke to a beautiful morning at Eagle Point. It's been a while since we saw one of those! It turned into a busy day though, as you will see...
A peaceful start. At anchor off Eagle Point
Even this wasn't without its challenges however, we noticed that the water around the boat was teeming with jellyfish, but didn't think that was a problem because no one was planning on swimming. We didn't think about flushing the toilet though and guess what, yup, a jellyfish, or at least parts of it, got sucked into the toilet water intake and gummed the works up for a while. Fortunately a few repeated flushes seemed to sort it out...
A rather disappointing photo of bits of jellyfish appearing in the toilet - now that is a first!


So we went ashore for a wander in the sunshine and found that this idyllic part of the world had been chosen by 4 of the local primary schools for the start/finish point of their annual cross country running meet and that within an hour or so there would be a couple of hundred school kids camped out at "our" jetty. They were very friendly though and our kids were invited to take part. EV and Arthur took up the offer and competed in their first ever cross country runs. I think they found it harder than they expected, but they both tried really hard and I'm sure they'll be back for more.
Going ashore. The runners are starting to gather.
Grade 1 boys race - about 1km. On your marks!
Arthur in action!
Arthur is all grins
EV preparing for her start - 3km ahead of her in the 9 & 10 year old girls' race
EV in action!
Made it!
We also got spotted by a local reporter for the "Bairnsdale Advertiser" who interviewed us about our journey and took some photos. Who knows, maybe we will become world famous in Bairnsdale, we shall see...

OK, so then we said our goodbyes, upped anchor, and headed for Paynesville at full speed as we wanted to see if we could join the GLYC "Ancient Mariners' Race" held every Tuesday afternoon. This sounded like it would be just our thing - although we have never raced Meander before, and we had never intended to, but it was such a nice day... Anyway, we arrived at the yacht club at about 1255 and the first start was at 1300, however it is a "stern-chaser" race where the slower boats start first. "Sure, come and join us" was the reaction. Fortunately, there is another Adams Traditional 36 (sister ship to Meander) at the GLYC, although unfortunately she wouldn't be racing. However this means that they already had an appropriate start time worked out for us, 1319. This gave us about 15 minutes to get back to the boat, clear the dock, get fenders and lines stowed, get sails up, assign crew positions, and get to the start line. Oh, and figure out what the course would be. Fortunately, with a stern-chaser there are other boats to follow, at least to start with, so we could do this if we ever found ourselves in the lead...
Well, what then transpired was nothing short of astounding. The wind was very light, only about 5 knots, and we are laden down with cruising gear (we were certainly the only boat in the fleet carrying a liferaft plus a dinghy, plus several hundred litres of water, plus food for 5 for a month, plus more colouring books and pencils than you can poke a stick at...) however it quickly became apparent that the 19 minute head start we gave some boats wasn't nearly enough. We felt like Ikon (a Beneteau First 45) must feel like on a Wednesday night in Hobsons Bay. I was really very surprised. Most of the rest of the fleet (of a dozen boats or so) were trailer-sailers of differing levels of sportiness and so were probably 10 feet shorter than we were, but in the light conditions I thought they'd eat us for breakfast. Not so. By half way up the first long windward leg we had taken the lead and were desperately trying to decipher the somewhat cryptic nick-names given to the marks to figure out where on earth we were supposed to go next.

Fortunately (because we really didn't know where to go after the bottom mark), the upwind leg was followed by an extremely slow downwind leg. Running dead downwind in 5 knots of wind is never going to be fast - especially when it is a race without spinnakers - however even then the lighter trailer sailers didn't catch us appreciably and we rounded the bottom mark with a healthy 2-300m lead. At that point the race was terminated because we had reached the critical time of 1515 at which all boats must head for the yacht club bar. We figured this meant the race was abandoned but, no, we were roundly congratulated on our victory!

A little bit embarrassing as this meant that we also went away with a nice bottle of wine (and a round of soft drinks for the kids) for our efforts. A very, very pleasant afternoon which we will try to repeat on upcoming Tuesdays. The GLYC has made us feel very welcome - something we are very grateful for - but we suspect that in future races we will be starting later than 1319, we may have showed our colours a little too soon!

Leading the fleet back downwind. Note the massive speed and the next boat just above the right hand end of our solar panel - oh yeah, we were definitely the only boat with one of those, not to mention the outboard motor I just spotted too...
Foredeck crew hard at work (taking photos)
Ahem, trying to get a closer shot of the fleet behind...

The course description. Only one of these names appears on a chart!
Drunk on success! The victorious crew strikes a pose that looks remarkably like Charlie's Angels. I have no idea why...
 

Where are we Wednesday? #10

Sperm Whale Head, Gippsland Lakes

Hots Dogs for lunch! The sun has returned and the rain is taking a few days off. It's amazing how different the world feels when the outdoors is available again!

Monday 27 April 2015

Insufficient UKC (twice)

OK, so I have a couple of issues to cover in this post:

1. The weather.

It occurred to me that all the photos we've been posting show beautifully fine weather. I would just like to point out that this only proves that people don't tend to carry phones/cameras around in the rain, or if they do they don't often bother to use them. For the first couple of months (in Port Phillip and on the Tamar) we were extremely lucky with the weather. I probably have a selective memory, but I don't remember any rain. There must have been some, but I don't remember it. This run of luck ended when we arrived at the Gippsland Lakes. The locals say that we have been extremely unlucky, but in the 3 weeks we've been here we have suffered through 2 significant East Coast Lows, which haven't created a lot of wind here, but they have certainly brought rain - some 200+mm I reckon. Here are a couple of photos I deliberately took, just so you could see what rain looks like on the Gippsland Lakes - pretty exciting, eh?

This isn't half-hearted Melbourne rain, this is the real deal!
Did Noah have windows in the Ark? if so, he would have had views like this too...


It doesn't matter how wet or cold it is, some kids just don't get it.
Now, rain for a few hours, or even a day, if you are by yourself or with one reasonably relaxed adult on a boat can be a wonderfully relaxing experience - like the pattering of rain on a tent, only with less stress about leaks and no worries about touching the walls. The perfect time to snuggle down and read a book or catch up on all those blog posts you were meant to be doing... however, with 3 children on board a 36 foot boat it is a different story, especially once you are into your 3rd day in a row of rain. Aaaaaah! There is nothing more annoying than knowing that you could relax but instead you have to spend your time intervening in one fight after another, or dreaming up the next activity to keep 3 bored young minds busy, because if you don't then they'll come up with some creative new way of making someone else scream...

OK, enough about the weather. The next few days look much more promising. Fingers crossed.

2. Under-keel Clearance (UKC)

OK, so it had to happen, we had 2 groundings in the last 24 hours!

The first wasn't particularly concerning as it involved a radio-controlled model yacht built by Richard's father. There was also a keen young man (remarkably keen, given the temperature of the water) who was happy to paddle out and get the boat moving again. Thank you Robert!

Robert fixing UKC problem #1
The second UKC problem was on a larger scale. It was a beautiful day for sailing today, with 15 knots of westerly, so we thought we'd beat up into it from Metung to Paynesville to reprovision before heading off in the direction of the barrier for the next few days. However the sailing was so nice that we decided we'd sail a little further, up to Eagle Point to have lunch before returning to Painsville. This was fine until we decided we'd tie up to the Eagle Point Jetty to let the kids run around ashore...

We haven't had any problem with water depths at Jetties anywhere else in the Lakes however at Eagle Point we came to an abrupt halt about 3 boat lengths short of the jetty. This did reconfirm that our depth sounder is accurate - it read 1.9m as we came to a halt. It also confirmed that getting un-stuck from a firmer (sandy) bottom isn't as easy as the mud we had in the Tamar. Full revs in reverse didn't do the trick. OK, so we wait for the tide. Oh, that's right, there is no tide. OK, so what next? Suddenly, 7 tonnes of boat is looking pretty damn heavy and, hell, 1.9m is over my head.

Evelyn knew what to do. "Get out the spare anchor Daddy, we'll put the dinghy in the water and we'll winch ourselves off". Yep, that is the right approach, but man it sounded like a lot of work. So as a first attempt we swung the (heavy) boom out to starboard and got the whole family on the starboard rail. I was going to climb out on the boom, however this did the trick. With the engine running hard in reverse the boat gradually gathered speed and eased herself back out into deeper water. Yay! We finally got rid of those pesky barnacles from the bottom of the keel (I hope).
Meander anchored a respectable distance off the Eagle Point Jetty (in about 3m of water).
Eagle Point Jetty - nice looking place.
Another view of the Jetty. The scene of our grounding was just on the right of this photo.
Eagle Point looks like such a nice spot, and the wind is forecast to remain in the W to SW, that we have decided to spend the night here. We'll head around to Paynesville tomorrow. We hear the GLYC has Tuesday afternoon races that visitors are welcome to join...

Sunday 26 April 2015

The Nicholson River

After several relaxing days fishing and sitting out the rain on the Tambo river we decided it was time to head out and about a mile around the corner to try our luck with the Nicholson River. Again, the Creeks and Harbours guide book said that the entrance was only 1.6m deep, but according to a recent bathymetric survey we found here the depth should be only slightly shallower than the mouth of the Tambo River - as long as we stuck close to the starboard channel markers.

We waited for the rain to clear and headed back out of the Tambo, and were relieved to find that the lake levels hadn't changed appreciably since we came in. We managed a brief sail under Genoa to the channel markers for the entrance to the Mitchel and Nicholson rivers

My kind of channel marker! who needs charts when the channel markers have direction signs? This marks the start of the channel to the Mitchel and Nicholson rivers.
At the mouth of the Nicholson we went very cautiously - although it is hard to decide what this actually means. I didn't mind running aground (gently) in sand or mud in the Tamar River on a rising tide as you would soon be free, however on the lakes there is no tide, so if you can't pull yourself back off again you are stuck. If there is wind or a current pushing you on to the shoal then this is a real possibility.

We've checked our depth sounder (don't ask how, but it involves running aground in the Tamar) and it is accurate - so we decided that at 2.2m depth we would back right off and get speed over ground down below 2 knots. We told ourselves that at 2.0m we would stop and back out. At the moment we draw close to 1.9m.

Well, entering the Nicholson we saw consistent depths of 2.1m so we coasted over these with little bursts of throttle - you do have to maintain some speed, otherwise the wind just pushes you wherever it is going, so 1.5 to 2 knots is about the minimum in practice. Anyway, 2.1 was the minimum we saw, and we made sure we recorded our inward track so we could follow it back out again. Before long we were inside and depths had increased to a much more comfortable 3m.
Over the shallow part (note the depth is now up to 2.9m) - close to where we anchored for the night near the entrance of the Nicholson River.
At that point the rain decided to return so we decided to simply drop the anchor and stop for lunch and, as it rained all afternoon, for the night. We were close to one bank, and I didn't want to wander all over the river, so we anchored with the shortest rode I have ever used - 10m on the bow roller - and had a very comfortable, dead silent and pitch black, night.

The following morning dawned fine but with a band of rain approaching on the radar, so we wasted no time upping anchor and motoring up to Nicholson over breakfast. We tied up at the jetty as the rain started pelting down.

Tied up to the jetty at Nicholson.
Fortunately the rain only lasted a couple of hours so we managed to get out and sample the truly spectacular pies home made and sold at the Nicholson General Store. Forget the "Australia's best pies" sold by the bakery in Queenscliff, the Nicholson pies are in another league entirely. They are made by "the missus" according to the man who served me and are very simply the best meat pies I have ever had - by a long shot. Don't dream of passing through Nicholson with out trying one - although, don't be late as they make one batch per day and when they are gone they are gone.

After enjoying our pies we headed off back down the river as we wanted to spend the night at Metung in order to attend the ANZAC day Dawn Service the following morning. There wasn't a breath of wind as we motored back down the river and across Lake King. This is the stuff postcards are made of, so I took a few photos and even recorded a movie which I've put on YouTube to capture the stunning stillness. Conditions remained like this all the way back to Metung. Hope you like the photos...
 
Back down the Nicholson - picture postcard perfect!
The Crew on deck admiring the view (foredeck crew working hard, as usual).
Motoring down the Nicholson
Another of those postcards.
Leaving the Nicholson out onto Lake King
No wind, so EV was rowing as we headed back to Metung
Arthur assisting Katherine empty her rain gauge - 6cm!

Saturday 25 April 2015

ANZAC Day Dawn Service, Metung

Awoke early this morning to wander bleary-eyed the 100m across the park to join the Dawn Service in Metung.
Dawn. Note Meander's mast in the background.
A beautiful morning and a large turn out at the service marking 100 years since the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli during the first World War. We haven't attended a lot of Dawn Services, but it did seem quite appropriate when a couple of kookaburras let rip during the two minutes of silence. This is a time when Kiwis and Aussies stand comfortably side by side in "mateship" and somehow, as a Kiwi long term resident in Australia, the kookaburras reminded me where I was and that I was welcome to be here

After the service the RSL (where the free bacon and egg rolls were) was packed, so we retired to the Village Green with Ivan and Louise (s/v Brio) from Nungurner, Richard, Isabel, Robert and Rebecca (s/v Sapphire) from Chinaman's Creek and made our own on the free BBQs as the sun came up.
We were also joined by Rob Irvine (father of friends from Newport) complete with his chest full of medals which started with his conscription to go to Vietnam. So stories were swapped of sailing adventures, early days on The Lakes, and life in the army.
BBQ ANZAC Day breakfast on the Village Green
Seemed like a good way to remind ourselves what we should be thankful for, who we have to thank, and mistakes to avoid in the future. 

For those who want to get in the mood, I think The Pogues summed it up superbly.

As a post script, we returned for the 11am service and were touched that both the Australian and New Zealand national anthems were sung. We've learned the words to the Australian anthem and so we contributed there, however we saved our efforts for really belting out the NZ anthem, as there were only about 3 of us in the crowd singing. This was fine and, although I at least am no great singer, I think our efforts were appreciated and acknowledged by much of the crowd on our side of the green until, dammit, the band launched into the second verse of the NZ national anthem. Only foreigners would ever dream of doing this (they didn't play a second verse of the Australian anthem) and I had no idea the NZ anthem even had a second verse! - can ANYONE out there quote it to me without referring to the internet...?  Damn, what to do? The singing suddenly got really quiet, so I decided that a rerun of the first verse was better than nothing (and probably most of the crowd wouldn't notice anyway) and so it was. I'm sure the band did that to us on purpose - perhaps the kookaburras were laughing at us after all, rather than welcoming us to foreign shores. Oh well, stuff 'em, we're here... 

Wednesday 22 April 2015

Lauren's first fish! (Where are we Wednesday? #9)

Decided to stay another day on the Tambo River and today saw me fishing for the first time in living memory. 

I am not usually a fan of the sport but somehow my walk to buy bait with Katherine ended up with both of us anchored in the dingy with rods out. Within minutes my rod seemed to have attracted attention. I successfully fished up a Taylor (or skipjack) and Katherine helped with the net. 

Retrieved the anchor, rowed back to Meander and passed net/fish/rod/bucket schemozzle over the the person who knows what to do. 

Evelyn enjoyed helping Giles to gut, descale and even poke around in the entrails (for fun!) while Katherine and I returned to the water. 

Some hours later all 3 kids had tried their luck but no more fish were caught. 

I enjoyed catching the fish, in fact it was quite exciting. But my views on gutting/filleting and entrails remain the same... Still too sensitive for that part of it! I'll leave that up to Evelyn, she seems to relish the job. Katherine took some excellent photos of the after catch experience,  I'll try to add these later (Chloe -  if you're reading this Katherine wants you to know she's as grossed out by the inside of a fish as I am!).

I did enjoy throwing the head/spine to the local pelican to polish off and am looking forward to eating my fish for lunch tomorrow :) 

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Dawn on the Tambo

Got up for an early morning walk this morning.

Rivers really do make for some spectacular photos. Reminiscent of our trip up the Tamar, and of Holland...

Enjoy.

Monday 20 April 2015

Tambo River

The weather has been a bit grim so we stayed hunkered down in Paynesville. Winter has definitely arrived, with over night lows of about 6 degrees and talk of snow and hail in the forecasts... 
Never the less, the wind had dropped so we headed off today to see if we could get into the Tambo River. Our "creeks and harbours" book said that the entrance depths were only 1.6m, and we draw about 1.85m, but local opinion was that it should be possible, so we thought we'd give it a crack. I contemplated the strategy of reversing in to the river so that if / when we ran aground we would have more forward drive to push us back off again.

As we approached the river it became clear that our chartplotter and fancy electronic charts weren't going to be a lot of help in the river! This wasn't a great surprise as they have been of little help in the entire Gippsland Lakes. Am I the only one who thinks it is weird that there is no official navigational chart (of any kind) of the Gippsland Lakes?
Hmmm... I guess the chartplotter won't be much help up the river. This means we'll have to look out the window instead!
As it turned out it was quite straightforward and the shallowest we saw was 2.2m. This left 35cm of UKC, which is enough for a supertanker, so no special techniques were required.
The river was lovely and we sailed for about a mile or so before the wind died. We motored the rest of the way up to the highway at Swan Reach where the highway bridge and some high-voltage power lines blocked our way.
We tied up at the public jetty and wandered around Swan Reach in between showers and came to realise that there really isn't anything of note there...
So we left and motored back down river to Johnsonville where we tied up and got chatting to local fisherman "Norman" who has a yacht and who have us two very nice black bream he had caught. I had to try to remember my fish filleting skills, and we have just had them for dinner -  delicious! 
Another lovely day on the Gippsland Lakes.

Just after entering the Tambo River from Lake King
The breeze is dying. K is blowing in the genoa to try to keep it full.
Rounding a bend up near Swan Reach
Tied up at Swan Reach - view from the highway bridge
Tied up at Swan Reach.