Antipodean Boats Connection

[skuthorp]

Weather the same here Bruce, 56 hours of cold strong wind and now rain with it. A few places round here are having erosion problems and it'll be interesting to see if any damage has been done.
I moved a couple of fruit trees this morning but since I've been inside making bread and soup and listening to music. I've got a job to do in the shed but maybe tomorrow.

[PeterSibley]

I know this boat...nicely built.

A sad advertisement John.

[asrainox]

I really dislike buying two 4 litre tins of paint - one deck paint, one regular topcoat - then questioning my colour palette. Grrr.

[auscruisertom]

Congratulations Tom and hope you have a lovely sail down to the Gold Coast today. Fair winds for many happy years ahead!
cheers!

Thanks John and same applies to the rest of the crew. We managed a rather late start 10.30 AM in order to satisfy the crews urge for bacon and eggs, also fiddled with sails fuel and water tanks and all other unfamiliar instruments ect. Managed to wash the bilge when while refilling the water tank, where I found a broken whale pump cover on the electric in house water supply pump. Fortunately I was standing by and managed to halt Simons exuberant usage of a fire hose. Hopefully a minor replacement. Leaving the marina the Hydra Lign prop did not deploy properly giving me about 3kn, this may just be a slow caravan trip coming up! By reengaging transmission this was cleared. Anny info on this prop would be appreciated ,since I still feel its not working 100%. We departed with light N and managed to push the tide both ways,as it meets about half way to the Gold Coast. Full sails up Yankee which may be a little small furling staysail and full main, all in average to good condition. There is also a new 150% 130% genoa storm jib and a tri sail on a separate mast track, and a mast head spinnaker. Motor sailed most of the day averaging just under 5K, sailing ability is as expected in the light winds, beam reach about 3.5Kn to weather about 4Kn. Had a little scare near Redland as the Lowrance started reading low soundings, which was a minor adjustment problem. Despite our best efforts managed to kiss a sandbank upstream from Cabbage Tree at low tide. Rather interesting she manages to forereach rather well with both headsails back winded, probably due to the large battend main sail. The rest was without incident arriving at SeaWorld in Southport just before 7 pm. My observations where Don't let her name Wee Barkie fool you she is not wee, the deck is brilliant for an old guy like me, very stable and secure with vritually no trip hazards. Also makes a great platform for lying down or bathing beauties ?Anny how have to run picking up a 35 CQR for a more permanent mooring, combined with some heavy chain and a 20 kilo lead bar near the anchor, should also keep the opportunist fishing folk honest. Cheers Tom

[johnno]

Marvelous Tom, and of course, we are all hoping you managed to snap a few pics underway during those rare moments between lightning tacks!

[skuthorp]

Sounds good Tom, looks it too. Gives me itch fingers for something bigger but moorings are mostly shallow here and a neighbour with a new (for him) cruising cat found it up on the beach after our recent blow. And that was on what passes for a sheltered anchorage in the bay. Superficial damage though and they towed it off again last night.

[PeterSibley]

A Wharram would be the thing for you Jeff, rubber mounted independent hulls are rather good at taking uneven ground .

[brucemoffatt]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Classic-1...67dab3b&_uhb=1

On Ebay at the moment.

Also on Gumtree now. I missed a call from someone this lunchtime telling me to go look at it. They didn't leave a name, just "Hi, it's me..." and I don't have their number in my contacts list so listed as 'unknown caller'.

It does look nice and probably well worth an inspection.

[asrainox]

Oh, if only.

[brucemoffatt]

Oh, if only.

So, have you bought that lotto ticket? Have you sat poring over the charts? Have you worked out the mileage, the expected sea-time, the required window of good weather? Have you checked the seasonal weather pattern averages to discover the likelihood of getting the required weather-window? Have you plotted contingency courses to bail-out of the optimal route to run to bolt-holes in the case of an unexpected change? How many crew do you think would be optimal on a boat that size for that length at sea?

Come on man, get to it. Don't wait for lotto, get day dreaming in serious mode. If we don't get to make the trip, maybe we can live vicariously in the dream by planning out the trip on here, and get a few opinions from others. It is half the fun, after all. The other half is sitting around for hours on-watch getting icy cold salt water thrown over you while you sit anchored to the tiller, pissing in your pants cos you can't let it go for a second in the 6 metre swells.

Here's a start - it's a wee bit short of 500 NM, and you want to use something like 5 knots speed for planning purposes.

Bruce

[asrainox]

So, assuming that average, you'd have to assume at least 5 days transit best case scenario, direct line at sea, and that's assuming a decent constant weather and not the fiasco that is currently the Bight and Bass Strait. I'd be inclined to think doing the whole trip in minimum 8-10 days given my rather...well...nervous nature.

I'd be inclined to make my way up the east coast of Tas (Hey, at least I won't get blown towards cliffs), and do the long-arc up the islands. Pop around the top of Tas proper, to take the westward coast of flinders Is, and wait there for a weather window - Probably in Whitemark?. At least 8 days of suitable weather before doing the jump to Deal island and up to westernport bay. Try to keep it less than 3 days straight before land, no matter the wind. Deal island is a good possibility for an anchorage, and is only 40 odd nm from the promontory, and a coastal route to Port phillip bay.

Unfortunately, at the moment the weather would be a bit on the nose, North/North Westerly, which means a lot of driving into headwind which would substantially slow us down - not to mention make me want 3 on the boat. I feel like we'd get the window, if we were willing to wait.

[asrainox]

A beautiful high pressure system en-route this week actually, to be followed up by a dodgy low that'll push winds up towards 35kts + come late Saturday. Weather seems to give 5 days or so between changes, so enough to make the Flinders Is. to Westernport if we made good time on a wide beam reach.

Am I dreaming better yet?

[brucemoffatt]

A beautiful high pressure system en-route this week actually, to be followed up by a dodgy low that'll push winds up towards 35kts + come late Saturday. Weather seems to give 5 days or so between changes, so enough to make the Flinders Is. to Westernport if we made good time on a wide beam reach.

Am I dreaming better yet?

Yep.

So, with the systems coming through in approx 5 day cycles (average) but with shorter cycles thrown in from time to time, it looks like it could take a week or two, possibly more, to wait for the right jumping-off conditions. Then you run. 5 knots ave for 5 days = 625 NM which is more than the route distance + some tacking. So it's at least doable in a small boat if you time it right and nothing breaks. Three crew in shifts gives a good number of hours on-off to allow some support to the crew on-watch plus ample sleep time, but would be a crowd for an extended period of time. It's probably the right number, so long at it's the right people. Two would work so long as there is a very good understanding of how to manage watch-on watch-off, and the roles are understood, and there is enough expertise between the two. One probably wouldn't work well given the solid obstacles. Four or + wouldn't work in that size boat.

The uncomfortable part of the weather at this time of year with the systems coming through in 'winter system' latitudes, is the prevalence of the northerly component in the wind.

All the above assumes bolting for it in one jump. Given the northerly component in the wind, do you break the trip in to two passages that straddle a frontal system? Is it feasible? Is there somewhere to hole-up so you can do that? If so, where is it and does that change the planned route?

If not, if heading-off necessarily means following the passage of a front, so that you land somewhere near home or at least safe before the next frontal system arrives, is it going to be better to skirt around the top of Tassie and hop across to the west of Flinders Island, or keep heading north to the east of Flinders Island before turning NW for home, and why? What are the critical decision making points to consider here? (I think go across on the western side of Flinders, but I'm happy to be corrected).

What useful bolt-holes are out there after Flinders, if any? (is there shelter at Curtis? Deal? Refuge Cove? Anywhere?)

Maybe we should do a route on Google Earth (or a nav package if you have one) and share a .kml file or a screen dump. If you have done this trip, in either direction at any time of the year, you'll have better local knowledge than me by far. If not, do you know someone who has? Milk them for info if you can.

[PeterSibley]

A beautiful high pressure system en-route this week actually, to be followed up by a dodgy low that'll push winds up towards 35kts + come late Saturday. Weather seems to give 5 days or so between changes, so enough to make the Flinders Is. to Westernport if we made good time on a wide beam reach.

Am I dreaming better yet?

I like your dreams ! Cash back on a truck load of Coopers bottles and she's yours .

How would the Tamar or even Devonport go as a layby place, if it looked silly you could fly away and come back when the omens were better ?

[brucemoffatt]

I like your dreams ! Cash back on a truck load of Coopers bottles and she's yours .

How would the Tamar or even Devonport go as a layby place, if it looked silly you could fly away and come back when the omens were better ?

yep. being strong willed enough to decide that could save your skin. That's a rare talent you have, Pete.

[PeterSibley]

Strong willed and a rare talent ? I'm just a chicken !

[asrainox]

Refuge cove is a great jumping-off point for the trip south, apparently. especially hidden from the north and west, so good for the season to jump into if a system is passing on the return, and Devonport could be fine to wait in as well, after the trip up the east.

There's always the option of going west straight away, rounding the bottom and coming up king island way, over toward the otways and then back to PPB with the wind/waves working behind you. But I dun' like it.

Deal island is halfway between Flinders Island, and the Prom (refuge cove), and is moderately sheltered from some conditions..

[PeterSibley]

I did an inspection tour of Northern Tasmanian harbours a few years ago and there are some fine hidy holes along the coast, Wynyard and Ulverstone might be worth a look but i have no idea about the entries or lights.

[brucemoffatt]

No ad, no pics, but apparently there's a tidy looking Wharram Pahi 26 with a 'for sale - $4K ono' sign on it at one of the local clubs. There's very little on the 'net about them, which is a bit of a surprise. I did a google, looking for pages, discussions, images and videos but turned up precious little. The photos on Wharram's site don't tell the story for anyone who has sailed a similar sized cat and wants to know the ins and outs. I'd have thought a simple sail plan, deck plan and internal arrangements plan might pop up somewhere, but nothing useful that I could find apart from LOA, BOA lavel stuff.

[RFNK]

Most Wharrams I've seen look rather, er, agricultural. But lately there's been one around here that's really nice. Clearly a Wharram but really nice lines and looks like a strong boat. I'll take a picture next time I see it.
Rick

[PeterSibley]

Maybe here ? http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/

Wharrams tend to the agricultural as they tend to appeal to the "rougher" builders out there but they can be built to any standard of finish .Frankkly I like them, especially the "traditional" designs. I did a reef run on a 42 foot Nari once and was very impressed, not so much with the speed, which was acceptable if not quick but rather the spaaaaaace and the possibility of quite separate accommodations. Being able to drop the forward gangplank to let the kids jump into waist deep water was good too.

[RFNK]

I've heard mostly good things about them.

Rick

[brucemoffatt]

The Pahi series Wharrams are a little bit towards the 'traditional' end of the spectrum, which means among other things that the max beam vs LOA ratio is a bit less than more modern cats (including the Wharam Tiki series) and hence there is a bit more inherent 'tippiness.' In fact there are reportedly photos somewhere, although I didn't find them, of a couple of Pahi cats that had capsized. The 26 is the smallest of Pahi cats so is somewhat vulnerable in this regard. This one gets rated highly in build quality by the bloke who saw it. I may have to go have a decco for myself and see if the owners are about.

Bruce

[PeterSibley]

The older versions, Nari, Taninui, Ariki etc apparently were pretty capsize resistant with their deep V hulls and no boards, they are supposed to slip sideways rather than dig in and flip , quite low rigs too.

[asrainox]

I'm trying to figure out whether I should add a sheer-stripe/cove stripe/pinstripe/whatever you want to call it below the sheer. Can't figure out whether = good or = fussy. Considering I've been crazy fussy so far it probably doesn't matter much.

This is what I did when I reconditioned an old Heron earlier in the year:



Thoughts?


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[brucemoffatt]

This is what I did when I reconditioned an old Heron earlier in the year:



Thoughts?


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

My first thought was 'what a damn fine looking Heron' followed closely by 'if it was reconditioned earlier this year, why am I not hearing about how much fun they're having sailing it' and 'I hope they still have that Heron; when I'm next in Melbourne I might get a sail on it in the bay if I play my cards right'

Then I stopped thinking. I never got as far as thinking about the pinstripe question, sorry

[PeterSibley]

I wouldn't have thought of it but it looks quite good .

Stop it Bruce !

[skuthorp]

Gary, I noted your remark re Wharrams but a cat is not what I'd buy anyhow. I sailed XY's an Paper Tigers but anything larger no. I think I'll just stick to skiff's and start looking in that direction. Older wooden Cherub would be ideal, I like a wet boat.

[PeterSibley]

Here's my favourite Wharram, a 27 foot TaneNui . Quite minimal but very seaworthy .

[RFNK]

I think the Heron looks good with its stripe but I'd leave the TS hull plain. Looks really good with its bright gunwhale.

Rick

[RFNK]

I like the orange Wharram too! I don't like the double-enders.

Rick

[PeterSibley]

The orange one is a double double ender .

[RFNK]

I guess that's right but I mean those ones with the faux Polynesian swept up bows at both ends. They look awful IMOSVHO

Rick

[PeterSibley]

I agree, I like the early ones .

[brucemoffatt]

The Pahi 26 is one of those swept up at the ends jobbies.

[IMG] photo 2 by brucemoffatt, on Flickr[/IMG]

Actually I'm only guessing it's a Pahi...