NAME THE DUCK

BY JEN
OUR FIRST COMPETITION...NAME THE DUCK ...
I thought that someone might be creative enough to suggest a name for our dinghy, in memory of our day with this very very persistent feathered friend.

               

                                    A FRIENDLY CHAT AT BREAKFAST TIME

THE SCHEMING EXPRESSION ON THIS DUCKS FACE WAS IGNORED

GLENN BLAMES THE DUCK FOR THE RUNAWAY KAYAK

Glenn announced to me that he was just going to check on my BOWLINE knot that was holding my kayak to the stern of Sea Trek III. This is a classic sailors knot that I have perfected easily. Glenn was heard asking the duck "what's this knot supposed to be". Sometime during their conversation and adjustments to my perfect knot a distraction occurred. Glenn blames the duck who was standing uninvited on his Stand Up Paddle Board asking about the whereabouts of the paddle. 15 minutes later the duck was still being spoken to and was still waiting for the paddle. Meanwhile the Kayak was a floating out of sight. Just as I came up to see who Glenn was talking to I saw him frantically paddling out to retrieve the kayak.

Coincidentally we were discussing a duck recipe this morning sent to us by a good friend. Could we try Duck L'orange this evening? Our dinner was ruined at the crucial point tonight when we ran out of cooking gas. I'm sure that I heard a sinister quacky laughing in the distance. If only Glenn had relented and had shared his toast with the duck this morning!

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SEA SICKNESS AND COMPLETE MADNESS

BY JEN :
Most normal people consider the crew of Sea Trek III to be very optimistic or mad when they find out that both Glenn and I get sea sick.
As a child I had to sit in the front of the car between my parents because I was a reliable vomiter. I spent long car trips clutching an old green plastic salad bowl and was firmly draped in a striped beach towel for hours on end. I've never felt really good about car travel, buses on mountain passes, reading road maps or swinging on chaotic fun equipment. I told Glenn this right from the beginning of our "sailing dream."
Glenn is a water baby, and has been surfing for 49 years now. He gets restless if he travels west of Parramatta. He has always been fascinated by water games and the power of sails. Imagine his surprise when he discovered that when sailing as the sun goes down, his food comes up. The nausea and illness continue to escalate until land fall.
We've both tried various medications, most of which had us sleeping like twins. This is a helming nightmare. I favoured the concept of Ginger drops under my tongue but the taste is horrible. We have invested in a new technology in the form of nerve impulse wrist bands but we have yet to try them.
So today was a real product testing.

E.T's SEA SICK REMEDY

This medication is made by a compounding pharmacist called BOVA, and contains: Scopolamine, caffeine, ginger and other things. Glenn took one while in dock and reported no drowsiness. A notable unwanted side effect was his desire to do numerous handyman tasks on board. He was so frightened by this that he insisted that I be the first to put the ET's to the real test today. I actually stayed in the cockpit, and felt well. The trip was 5 hours, and by then I was beginning to feel the need for another dose. I'd call this a success because it is the first time that I have not been below and unwell. I used the binoculars, read things, considered doing a cross word and planned my next major project.

MY LIFE VEST

I am not a water baby. I grew up in a country town, that didn't have a river. (Something I'll never understand). It took me years to learn to swim at the Olympic pool. That's why I invested in The Deck Vest. It's amazing. What a shame that it's features are zippered away from view: It has a light on a stalk so that rescuers can see me, a clear face shield so that I don't inhale sea spray and drown while waiting for them to reach me and a special knife that will free me from tangles if I am submerged. I have no intension of needing any of these. It's just to reassure my adult children, and my aged mother, and aunties, and sisters and good friends, and also Glenn. And it fits perfectly over the seductive curves of my body.

GLENN DRESSED SENSIBLY

Glenn's vest is so boring and he has to self inflate it. He doesn't feel that he needs any special features. He knows that if he falls in the ocean that he can get back on board. He is a strong swimmer. That's why he has been in the "drink" a number of times. Even a strong tribal current can not dampen his frantic splashing and screams for assistance....."Did you hear that noise Bruce? I wonder where Glenn is".

THINGS BREAK CONTINUALLY ON PASSAGES

I wondered why the Boom Break line seemed loose and under performing. I have an annoying knack of observing inconvenient breakages. But this one was easily fixed and I'll attend to another round of replacements when we next dock. The exotic location for the next mending spree will be Newcastle. Rope bags will also multiply when I next have access to electricity.

A QUIET NIGHT AT COASTERS RETREAT: PITTWATER

Glenn's two cents worth.
We did have a great sail up from Sydney. The wind held all the way to Palm Beach where we had to hoist the iron sail.

It's almost tropical in Sydney.

Our latest position.

Set sail for Newcastle Friday.

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GLENN'S FIRST WEEK DAY NOT AT WORK

By Jen : Monday and we still haven't left Sydney Harbour. The weather has not been favourable. Looks like Tuesday will see us sailing up to PittWater.

I had been busy below decks this morning and hadn't heard any chatter from Glenn for a while.

It had rained heavily on Sunday afternoon and the dinghy was full of water.

An urgent bail out was required.

JOB DONE: A COMFY RELAX IN THE WARM MORNING SUN

The day hadn't started well for Glenn because he had burnt his fingers on the Tea Pot handle.

The stupid design of this expensive stainless steel pot had lead to much grumbling day after day.

The solution was obvious to me.

( I am, after all, the only qualified Coxswain on board.)

PERFECT CORDAGE BY JEN

Now it was time for me to learn how to handle the new ( new to us) dinghy.

I have never really got the knack of hand steering with the tiller, and had avoided it far too often. Its all that left going right and not too far stuff.

Weirdly I am the "crew member of choice" for helming Sea Trek III ( 46' in length) in close quarters, into and out of tight marinas.

Anyway we had a windy and wiggly trip around the anchorage as I tried to improve. Part of the problem was that the main ballast insisted on staying up front and centre, thus not counter balancing me. I'm pretty sure that the under inflated tubes didn't help either. Very brisk breeze but fun.

JUST LEARNING TO DRIVE THIS CRAZY THING

After lunch we left Sugar Loaf Bay and return through the Spit Bridge to eventually anchor in Rose Bay for the night. Yes I am spoilt: Glenn cooked a great Mexican dish (while motoring) accompanied by a loaf of steaming hot bread.

THE PERFECT ROSE BAY LOAF

I can hear Glenn snoring and it's only 8pm. Such a hectic day for the newly retired gent.

Tomorrow should be a great sailing day, and we can finally farewell Sydney. Perhaps by tomorrow night we will feel like real travelling cruisers.

 

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At the speed of rushing!

Day 2 Sea Trek III wet log:

We have finally left Woolwich marina, and have started our new sailing adventure.

It turned into an adventure almost immediately. Our plan to leave at slack tide turned out to be a wise decision indeed!

Beautiful sunrise Woolwich Marina on our departure day.

Checklists. You can never have enough checklists right?

Jen and I have been ticking off jobs on the checklists for months now. The trouble with checklists is that they need to be accurate in the first place.

The tide was right and we freed our lovely yacht Sea Trek III from the confines of her pen in the marina.

We engaged reverse and we SLOWLY backed out. I spun her to starboard put her into forward at the normal revs, buty nothing happened! Luckily there was no tide movement, because the boat stood still! After a few expletives, blaming everyone but myself, I accelerated to full throttle and slowly Sea Trek III crept forward.

I knew immediately what the problem was from past experience: barnacles on the propeller. I have experienced this once before and was dumbfounded then when I found out that a barnacle on the prop can stop propulsion or greatly inhibit it! So off we went at the maximum speed of 3.2knots full throttle, smoke spirting out the back. Sea Trek III will normally motor along at about 6.5knots half throttle. All I can say is luckily we left at slack tide!

I decided to motor sail to Manly where the water is much cleaner and could dive on the prop and clean it. I've got several wet suits onboard.

Goodbye Porpoise Spit

Arriving safely in Manly it was time to dive over the side and get cleaning. It was close to lunchtime and the plan was to sail to Pittwater and get there before dark.

Old Baldy prepares to dive!

In I went. When I saw the condition of the prop you could say I was flabbergasted. I wish I had brought that Go-Pro Camera I've been promising myself. Armed with my paint scrapper and googles, and just my strong lungs in I went. No weight belt. We had only had the boat anti-fouled just over 6 months ago. The Parramatta river is very healthy indeed. If you have ever dived under a boat in an attempted to clean something or untangle a rope etc, without a weight belt you'll understand the difficulties that I faced!

Can anyone guess what's been added to the bloody checklist by now?

Accustomed as I am to problem solving (some would say getting out of work) I decided to call in the professionals. Being in Manly I rang Pro Dive Manly. Not only could they help, they could come down and do it in a couple of hours, and this was Saturday! I arranged to pick up young Matt and his gear in the dinghy from the Manly sailing club.

Young Matt: good looking and fit, ready to dive!

Matt was a champion; he ended up spending over an hour under the boat cleaning the prop and then giving it a rub down! Jen agreed he was a champion as well. Matt is waiting to join the RAN seals and he will be a great asset to the Navy.

It was now too late to attempt to sail to Pittwater and bad weather was on the way. We decided to find a safe anchorage and spend a few days chilling out. (read winding down) I'd only left work the previous day and needed to ease myself back into cruising. I checked the charts and guides and decided on Sugarloaf bay. Its turned out to be a wise decision. For those that don't know it Sugarloaf Bay is around the MiddleCove area. To get here by yacht you must go through the Spit Bridge. It's opened at various times throughout the day stopping traffic so yachts can pass through. Jen and I had never been here before and were looking forward to it.

Going through the Spit Bridge.

So now we are anchored safely and its pouring rain and the wind is howling in the trees above us but for us it's like a mill pond.

Forget the East Coast Lows in Sugarloaf Bay.

So why the title "speed of rushing"?

The final irony of the day when we could barely motor at 3knots, was when we finally reached 4.5 knots in a no wash zone. A champagne sipping Seawind owner had the temerity to shake his fist at us telling to slow down, because we might create a wake.

We leave for Pittwater on Tuesday! Thanks to those who are thinking about us; we love your cryptic texts and best wishes.

One last thing ...we have removed the "where we are now" link from the site because it's too hard to get it to work from the ipad. In future we will be just using our skipr.net page to show our position, here is the link:

http://skipr.net/where-is/boat-pages/?boatid=1122

You can add it to favourites. I'll always post it at the end of a blog and on facebook.

I will update it most days: even if we are staying still.

 

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Boat Bread Recipe

White: innocent and untainted.

I have had a few requests for my boat bread recipe. Well would you believe one request. They asked me to put it on the blog.

Its not really my recipe, I got it out of a book called "Dough" given to me by good friends Gerti and Dave.

Nothing better than when your'e in a remote anchorage, and you bake your own fresh bread. Not only does it make the boat smell great, its very tasty and easy to make! My advice is make two loaves because the 1st one is always eaten in about 10 minutes especially by my hungry crew!!!!!

Flour, water, salt and yeast Thats all!

10g yeast, I just use the powdered instant dried yeast "Bowen" brand. It stores well on a boat.

500g white flour. Try and get strong white bread flour, but not bread mix stuff. White plain flour works well.

10g salt.

350g water, or 350ml. You can use a measuring jug but weighing is more accurate.

Method.

Using a mixing bowl, rub yeast into the flour using your hands, make sure the yeast and flour are well mixed, before mixing in the salt then finally water. Hold bowl with one hand and mix the ingredients with a rounded scraper for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough starts to form.

Begin to work the dough: Forget the way you have been previously taught to to knead the dough by pummelling it with heel of your hand and rotating it.

The idea is to stretch it and get as much air into it as possible. Slide your fingers underneath it like a pair of forks with your thumbs on top, swing it upwards and then slap it back down to your work surface. Keep stretching the dough up and over, still stretching it forwards and sidewards and tucking and tucking it in around the edges keep repeating this sequence until the dough starts to come together and feel elastic like in your hands. Keep on working it till it comes cleanly away from the surface and begins to look silky and feel smooth. This whole process will take about 10 mins.

Then form dough into a ball, rotating the ball as you go. Turn the ball over and stretch and tuck the edges over. Put into a lightly floured bowl, cover with tea towel and store in a warm draught free place for about an hour or till dough doubles in size.While dough is resting it's a good idea to pre heat the oven to about 250 degrees C.

When doubled in size shape into loaf and put in loaf tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or when loaf looks golden brown.

Love to hear your feedback on how your bread tastes and looks. I hope my explanation is clear.

 

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Work, work, work it's not over yet!

Final boat jobs and maintenance.

The weekend is here, and the countdown is on for our departure. We were to leave on the weekend of the 25th May, but I have been asked to work an extra week! So departure has been put back until the 1st week of June. I guess that it won't matter, as the plan is to be in Cairns by mid to late September, we can head off to the Louisiade Archipelago (but really there is no plan) Our whole philosophy is not to rush and enjoy our slow boat to China, its not the destination but the journey that counts (no were not going to China). So Jen please stop me if I start imposing deadlines on myself.

This morning I awoke with renewed enthusiasm for the boat jobs that have to be completed before we leave. 1st up I set the the revitalised staysail to make sure it was all good, next Jen measured said sail for a new "turtle bag"( a bag for the staysail,so its on the deck ready for deployment at anytime. Jen worked hard all day measuring, cutting, sewing, remeasuring, cutting and sewing etc:

Jen proudly fits the new sail bag, and as you can see the result speaks for itself! I think its the best sail bag I've ever seen, Jen is a genius with the scissors and sewing machine. Now not to be outdone, I bravely took on my least favourite job! Greasing the winches, now you dirt dwellers might not think that's such a challenge, but any seasoned sea salty will tell you it takes a lot of courage and patience to disassemble a winch, the easy part! Its putting it back together again is when it becomes quite confusing. Jen says it's the mariners Rubic Cube. Now those that know me well, understand my limitations with all things mechanical. So here is a picture of the winch, before I got to it!

Looks nice doesn't it! I'll let you guess what the following picture is...................................................

If anyone has a Barlow Winch maintenance manual, can you email it to me? I will need it before the 1st week in June. I sent this pic to a helpful irish mate, now he wondered where the paint brush fitted. Stick to irish BBQ's Dave.

Mothers Day tomorrow, so family day for us and a day off from boat jobs.

Happy Mothers Day!

 

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Welcome to trekkingthesea

Introducing Sea Trek III

Jen and I are about to embark on another sailing journey on our new yacht Sea Trek III, a Savage 46 commonly known as an Oceanic 46. This this time we are heading north to the tropics, in other words a left turn out of Sydney Harbour, I'll double check that with Jen, as last time we went north we ended up landing in Hobart, perhaps I installed the chart-plotter upside down!

Jack Savage Oceanic Yachts Melbourne.

Renowned Port Phillip Bay boat builder Jack Savage designed & built the Savage 46 for his own cruising and club racing…..The result, a robust performance cruiser proven by multitudes of successful ocean cruises.

The protected centre cockpit not only gives reassurance at sea but also gives the ultimate cruising layout below featuring a large private owners aft cabin with ‘ensuite’ enclosed toilet.

There were 53 x 42 ft and 16 x 46 ft Oceanic hulls built (now that shows the popularity back in the 80’s and early 90’s) and we know of several Oceanic's that have completed circumnavigations. Sea Trek III built in 1987 has completed trips to PNG, Louisiades and Solomon Islands. ( both dream destinations for both Jen & I)

All the cruising must – haves are ticked……centre cockpit, hard dodger, 2 x private cabins and bathrooms, L-shaped galley, full nav station, full access diesel, and Jen's favourite a workshop! Huge 8 – 10 person dinette for the ‘sundowners’, jam sessions, one night has seen 13 people in the salon including a wide assortment of musical instruments.

Jen and I flew to Brisbane in December 2011 to inspect Sea Trek III, I fell in love with her at 1st sight, Jen took a little more convincing! To cut a long story short, the negotiations were undertaken followed by a sucessful survey, Sea Trek III (I wonder if I just type ST3 in future?) was ours. Next problem, how do I get a 46 ft yacht from Brisbane to Sydney? Mates that's how! Dumb mates at that......

Then began the longest delivery trip in history from Brisbane to Sydney. Maybe in the back of my mind I knew it was destined to take an eternity, as I quit my job to bring her back. I won't go into the nitty gritty of the trip here, thats a story to save for grandchildren. Needless to say the weather gods played havoc, and there were lenghty stays in both Coffs Harbour and Camden Haven. We finally arrived in Sydney 6 weeks after the Brisbane departure.

This video just about sums the whole trip in a minute or two.

Now I never did thank you my delivery crew of Skippers all 5 of you! Alan, Bruce, Dave, John and Johnny. Thinking back on the trip I don't think I'll thank you now, maybe later............

 

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