Harwood to Iluka at last

The next day the wind had dropped to a fine sailing breeze and when Noella arrived at Harwood we prepared for an overnight venture. We inflated the Zodiac, loaded up, rigged and launched. It was a much slicker operation than 6 months ago. It took a very hefty shove from Noella to get us off the lee shore but we made it. Well done Noella.

After that it was a magnificent reach almost all the way to Iluka (took around 2.5 hrs). We did the last little bit under motor as the wind had swung round onto our nose and the tide was against us. It runs pretty fast in the Clarence River. Pat and other readers accustomed to crowded waterways will find it hard to believe that throughout the day we only saw one yacht underway. We had the river to ourselves.

The small yacht anchorage at Iluka is an inner harbour entered through a gap in a rock wall and tucked behind the trawlers. It took us a while to discover all its desirable features. First and foremost we were very well protected. There was a sandy beach less than 100 metres away which was being used as a dinghy park. We went ashore and found the the Fish Co-Op (sells fish and chips), a toilet, the pub and a newsagency within even my limited walking distance.

We sat eating fish and chips with a drink (just one!) watching the sunset over the river. Life seemed pretty good. Noella, like Jan, knows her birds and pointed out a family of plovers and worried that the babies often get taken by kookaburras. Then it was back to Little Dragon and we turned in for an early night. The zodiac had proved very handy.

Next day was again fine with a stiff breeze. If we left around noon we anticipated a run with the tide all the way back to Harwood. Just before noon we started the outboard as we thought that we would motor out of the entrance to the harbour and set sail in the main channel. The motor started fine but cut out after about 3 seconds. We tried several more times and it did the same thing. I cursed my inadequate mechanical skills and I am making a new year resolution to learn more about outboard maintenance. We checked that the fuel was turned on and the breather open. My hunch was a fuel blockage but I didn't know how to clear it, if indeed that was the problem. We had a conference and decided that Little Dragon was a sailing boat - so let's sail.

We hoisted the sails and sailed out of the harbour with great applomb (why had I been stressing?). The dolphins put on a fine display in the main channel and followed us for a way up the river. As well as dolphins there were also some fearful looking brown jellyfish, enough to deter us from any thought of swimming. While on the topic of wildlife a huge sea eagle circled above.

It was an exhilarating run most of the way back to Harwood. I was glad I had the depth sounder as it made it easy to avoid a few sandbanks. I was a bit worried about sailing onto the lee shore at Harwood but all went well and we timed the dropping of the mainsail just right and glided ashore under jib. For once it looked as if we knew what we were doing.

Next came the pack up, it is the least desirable aspect of owning a trailer sailer. We were both surprisingly weary but pleased with ourselves. We had sailed from Harwood to Iluka and back.

Yet again too much wind

Nicky, Lee and I had been looking forward to a pre-Christmas sail for ages. They had both gone to great lengths to free themselves up from Christmas preparations for a full day.

So on the Saturday before Christmas we met up at Little Italy Cafe (chosen as it it is en route to Harwood, serves excellent coffee and it is easy to park trailers).

Then on to Harwood by 11 am for The Big River Sailing Club's scheduled "Christmas social sail". We were trying to ignore the strong wind warning but on arrival the omens were not good - not a single boat afloat.

We got out of the car into a howling onshore wind and during the next hour or so it got worse. The silly photos are very misleading, despite it looking calm we would have been stupid to launch.

We joined the Big River Sailing Club's festivities for a while - an indoor BBQ and pressies for the kids. They sure know how to put on a spread. After that we headed off to Iluka so that I could check out the best spot to anchor Little Dragon, if the wind ever dropped enough for me to sail there.

Peter comes to the rescue

So far all I have told you about Peter Barnes of Brunswick Headsis that he sails a Farr 6000 (which I covet). You need to know more about him, as a young man he qualified as a fitter and turner and later in life was a prawn trawlerman and even built his own trawlers. Although he has now retired he still has a well equipped workshed and enjoys "fixing things".

While we were on The Tweed (see previous post) we rafted up and he came aboard. I mentioned a few hassles and he spotted some problems that I hadn't noticed. He said that he can't stand a boat [referring to Little Dragon] not being up to scratch:

* mainsheet slipping in jam cleat -the obvious option of a new jam cleat wasn't a goer as the present one is probably well over 26 years old and the new sizes just won't fit. Solution: he offered to take the fitting to pieces, file the teeth and put it together again.

* rudder needing superhuman strength to raise and lower - Peter worked out that new nylon bushing material cut into shape [a fiddly job] and inserted at the base of the rudder would fix the problem.

* the jam cleats for the jib sheets had come loose - problem was that the wooden blocks had started to disintegrate with age. Solution to fabricate new ones with nylon bushing material and fix with long new screws.

* missing peg attaching boom to mast - it had fallen out and Peter offered to fabricate a screw.

* pointed out that I need new scim fittings and life rails - I now know the signs of wear to look out for and will deal with these early in the New Year.

* last but certainly not least he offered to fix the rewelded mast step securely to the cabin top. The boatyard was closed until after Christmas so I was thrilled with Peter's offer and relieved that the insurance assessor gave him the go ahead. This involved fabricating a metal plate to go inside the cabin and screwing the mast step down onto the plate with giant screws.

Peter worked solidly on all these jobs for three long hot days with complete success. I ran around buying the various bits and pieces. It is not easy to obtain marine grade stainless steel screws or nylon bushing material around Byron Bay. I have learnt heaps. I now know the difference between 304 and 316 grade stainless steel.

Peter I don't know how to thank you enough for doing all this as a volunteer. I have no idea who else would/could have undertaken such fiddly and time consuming jobs. When the mast step broke (see previous post) I thought it was virtually impossible that I would be sailing again the next weekend. You made it happen.

The new mast step fails

This was meant to be a shake down cruise for Little Dragon's handsome new mast. Jan Davis flew up for 3 days. We had planned to head out of Rudy Maas marina near Jacob's Well on the Gold Coast and sail to Jumpinpin in company with Peter Barnes in his Farr 6000. Storms and gales meant we cancelled that plan.

Instead we waited a day for the weather to improve and headed off to the Tweed River, which is close to the Gold Coast Airport, for an overnight sail. Peter came along as well (see last photo).

Problems arose as soon as we tried to raise the new mast - the mast step started to pull of of the deck a bit. We persisted and once the mast was raised it seemed pretty stable. So we sailed off from an excellent ramp on the road to Fingal Heads.

We enjoyed some excellent sailing mixed with a few dramas. The first drama was that the shackle holding the jib clew to the jib sheets came undone so that the jib was flailing around and had to be sorted out. We thought that we had the problem licked but it recurred the following day. Now I have an entirely different system which I am pretty confident is secure. The other drama was when I tried to pull up the anchor after our night afloat. To put it bluntly it didn't budge. I worked out that it was caught round the keel. Then I made the situation worse by trying to raise the keel which jammed the line inside the keel case. Peter kayaked over (he uses a kayak as a tender) to see what was going on. His analysis was the same as mine, next step was for someone to dive down and have a look. I was quite prepared to do that but he volunteered and managed to release the line in a few seconds. Peter suggests that in future I always take the keel up when I anchor - so much to learn.

After that we spent a pleasant morning sailing the Tweed. Rather like the estuary at Ballina there are so many sandbanks that except at high tide there is a very limited area of navigable water - not a patch on the Clarence River.

It wasn't all sailing and drama. It was the day after full moon and we had a magic time watching the moonrise. Also Jan amazed me with her knowledge of the bird life and recognising their calls. I have never been any good at that.

We returned to the ramp and all went well until we started to lower the mast. The screws on the mast step immediately pulled out making it hard for us to lower the mast safely, especially as there was again a strong cross wind. Peter showed up and we all looked at the mast step. It was buckled and the screws projecting were less than 5 mm - far too short.

I was pretty shaken at how close we had come to injuring ourselves and disappointed that what I hope would be a successful shake down cruise for the new mast and a chance for Jan to join me on a sailing trip had ended so badly.

PS The next day S & H Spars (who had supplied but not fitted the mast step) kindly welded it back together and did a couple of other minor modifications to the new mast. That left me with the problem of how to get the mast step securely fastened to the deck. More of that later.