Wind - too little then too much

I have rejoined the Big River Sailing Club and had been looking forward to the start of their new season on the 30th August. However the coastal weather forecast predicted virtually no wind for the Saturday and far too much for the Sunday - up to a full gale. So I didn't even bother to trail Little Dragon to Harwood.

As I was in the area for other purposes I dropped in and sat on the verandah with the local sailors. There really wasn't any wind. The kids had their dinghies rigged, but it wasn't worth bothering to launch. The veterans kept saying that wind "had to come soon" - but it didn't. The following day, as forecast, the wind was howling. No-one was stupid enough to venture out.

The last photo shows my new sun awning. It is still a work in progress but I hope that it will have several uses; keep us from burning when at anchor, mean we can boil the billy in the cockpit even when it is raining and finally enable us to keep dry in the cabin without the hatch cover.

Father and sons bonding

The cast: Martin inflatable, Lewis kayak, Max photographer.
The script: Boys will be boys

The pelicans seemed to enjoy the antics.

The depth sounder works

The happy snap is of the Bails, on the left Max age 16 with size 16 feet to match, next Theresa looking justifiably weary having just worked all night, then Martin standing on tip toe - he seems to be developing a Napolean complex having been outgrown by Max and Theresa. Lewis, nearly 12, on the right won't be far behind.

As it was blowing over 24 knots the plan was to stay in Fisheries Creek at Ballina. Martin had offered to help me get the depth sounder working.

The issue of where to locate the transducer for a depth sounder has been a live issue on the Farr trailer sailor discussion group for years. I certainly did not want to cut a hole in the bottom of the boat nor is it ideal to fix it to the transom on a sailing boat. Following hints on the website I put an in hull puck transducer just behind the battery under the cockpit. I would have liked to put it forward of the keel but it just wasn't feasible.

Setting it up is a bit like setting up a VCR and Martin and I did it without any teenage help. Then we motored up and down Fisheries Creek to see if it was working correctly. We used the unsophisticated method of checking that when the depth sounder read 1 metre a boat hook over the side touched the bottom at 1 metre.












A couple of weeks ago I drove up to Bribie Island to inspect a Zodiac C240 inflatable advertised in the Trading Post. It turned out to be almost new and well priced, so I snapped it up.

My second project for the day was to establish that it rowed reasonably well. It did as proved by the photos below.