A Pleasant Sunday Arvo??? (Aussie for Afternoon)

Sunday; and another bright, sunny, cloudless day in Cairns……Just perfect for a sailboat race, as long as the wind decides to blow! We ‘rocked up’ (Aussie slang) to the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron in the hope of being crew in the latest edition of the fortnightly ‘white sail race’. Things were looking bleak (too many crew members, not enough skippers!) and the beach was beginning to sound like a good alternative until Simon made his entrance…..He’d taken the sailing course (that we were only half way through) sometime last year and this was only his fourth outing as a skipper, while it was our first time as white sails crew….what a combination. The blind leading the blind!!! Would we even finish the race by sundown???

Despite being a ‘newbie’ Simon was far from ‘simple’ and proved to be an able-bodied skipper. We soon had the sails hoisted and on our way, making steady progress in fourth place (out of four!) Due to the light winds a bigger Genoa sail was chosen in place of the standard jib, a seemingly wise choice as spinnakers were forbidden in the ‘friendly’ white sails races.

Simon

Chris and I had never even seen a Genoa let alone had to work with one and our greenness became more apparent as we struggled at first to haul it in quickly enough when we tacked…and tacked….and tacked again....and again….and again! Sore wrists and blisters are living proof of the punishment endured during a ‘pleasant’ Sunday afternoon sailing up and down the Cairns Inlet! However, we learned how to set the spinnaker pole to give the Genoa maximum effect as we sailed downwind and by the time the race was half over we’d established a certain amount of synchronicity but had lost too much ground and found ourselves still running in fourth position (still out of four!) We realized that if Chris did the hauling in and I stuck to the winching we formed a much more efficient team, until the winch handle ‘popped’ out and I hit him fair and square on the knee…. was a miracle he trusted me after that, but after his screams subsided the partnership was reformed and the race continued! So there we were, finally working like a well oiled machine (albeit, a bruised and battered one) when disaster struck! Suddenly we found ourselves being blown around in circles and a quick glance in Simon’s direction told the story. There he sat with a piece of broken wood (that used to be the tiller) in his hands and a forlorn look on his face. As quickly as possible Chris and I pulled the sails down while Simon started the outboard so we’d have a chance of controlling the runaway boat and not colliding with any of the surrounding ‘traffic’ in a busy Cairns harbour! After crudely lashing the tiller loosely back together we tentatively put the sails back up (minus the pole so as to restrict our speed) and slowly limped back to port. At least we now had a really good excuse for coming in a distant last (fourth!!!). LOL

Sailing, sailing and more sailing

Have been in sunny Cairns for 8 days and if this is winter I could get used to it. Average temp is mid to high 20s and lows of 16.





The Cairns Yacht Club offers free sailing lessons on Saturday afternoons and today was lesson #2. Smart ass instructor asked if perhaps 90 degrees was a different measurement in Canada when I failed to tack properly.

I can barely type, my wrists and hands are so sore from letting the sails in and out all afternoon. Had my turn on the tiller and by the end of the afternoon had pretty much stopped screaming when the boat heeled over and water started coming in. Every other Sunday they have races that you can sign on for so that's the plan for tomorrow. The boats are J24's (24 feet in length) and the instructors are determined to make racers out of all of us. On Fridays they have a BBQ and twilight sail and Wednesday afternoons there's a social sail so I'm bound to get my fill of sailing.

Southern Hemisphere Footy et al.

Back in Cairns - Chris has convinced me to return since I was laid off and "have nothing better to do."

It's Saturday night and I cannot believe I'm actually sitting here watching a rugby game. This game is almost as stupid as American football and for a brief moment I had more respect for these players since they don't have all that protective gear that the yanks need but then I found out what the name of the team is: Wallabies. If that isn't bad enough the soccer team is called the Socceroos and the other rugby league team is the Kangaroos, the women's field hockey team is the Hockeyroos and the mens is the Kookaburras. What madness. The Aussies are playing the New Zealand team called the All Blacks. Would you believe their basketball team is called the Tall Blacks? Rugby is much better to watch than football (if you need to watch one of them) because the game doesn't start and stop it continues even after the player has been tackled and the players don't look like idiots on steroids. And... you never know when someone shorts might get pulled down.

Footnote: Positions: the Hooker, the Prop, the Flanker, the 2nd Row, the half, the 5/8th, the 3/4, the wing and the number 8.

Cudworth Fun

Cudworth is not without its entertainment. One weekend there was Western Days which included a parade, tractor racing, demolition derby (this one didn't win) and a slow pitch tournament. The next weekend, just up the road One Arrow had a pow wow.

Hanging out in Cudworth

After 20+ years the funding for the IRR has run dry and I'm officially "retired." I will miss everyone I've gotten to know over the years at UW.

I've decided to go back west, way way west (and south) to Australia, stopping along the way in Saskatchewan to play with my beautiful granddaughter Abby, the sweetest baby on earth. How could she not be, being related to me????? I can hear you laughing, cut it out.

Canal Entertainment

Another bright, hot, sunny day in paradise. Our mission this morning was to launch, test drive and then store the 13 foot Boston whaler for the summer (what could be easier?)

The outboard motor on this boat has been unsuccessfully repaired no fewer than 5 times in the past - but this time they (whoever they are) swear it will work: they recently test drove it!

We launch the boat and with fingers crossed start the motor - with a collective sigh of relief it actually starts! Unfortunately, (who among you thought this would be a straight forward mission?) not only does it idle really rough but at least twice as fast as it should, not to mention that when shifted into gear there is a very loud clunking sound (I’m sure that shouldn’t happen).

So there we are floating aimlessly around in the canal with an outboard motor that refuses to believe that it has been successfully repaired! Miraculously, (well this is the Bahamas!) when the repair depot is called they send someone out right away, well almost right away, well he came reasonably quickly, well, ok, he took his time but eventually arrived on the scene. By this time I’m back on dry land, had enough sitting in small boats these past 2 days, even with the aid of my trusty umbrella! With the motor still running, the mechanic climbs on board together with screwdriver in hand; he takes the cover half off and hits something by mistake! Next thing you know the boat zooms forward, the mechanic flies backwards, and after completing a triple somersault (with pike) he lands fair and square in the waters of the canal. Apparently it’s difficult to swim with a screwdriver, blackberry, cell phone and engine cover in ones hands and he flounders around quite a bit, thought he just might drown!

The boat has now been returned to the shop for the sixth time in the hope that maybe, just maybe they’ll get it right this time. When we got home I was so hot and my head was hurting so much I just walked right into the swimming pool wearing my dress, sandels and hat. Stayed there for what seemed like an eternity, climbing out for just a minute to fetch a carton of ice cream. This is one of the more decadent things I’ve ever done – eating ice cream straight from the carton while floating fully dressed in a Bahamian swimming pool: the only thing missing was my trusty umbrella! Pity there's no pictures.

Back to 1904, the Good Old Days

I’m totally exhausted, what a day!! - sailing the ‘long boat’ 16 miles along the shore of Grand Bahama Island from the movie set to its new home. I couldn’t help reminding myself that the builder, of my only means of survival, was a coffin maker by trade! The more I looked at the boat the more it unfortunately resembled a coffin; however the water that had somehow accumulated in the bottom of it helped to destroy those unsavoury images somewhat. There were 7 to choose from and the ‘boys’ wanted the one containing the water using the theory that, as it was perhaps rain water and it hadn’t leaked out, the boat must be sound and leak-free! I didn’t necessarily agree, but hey, what did I know?

It took about an hour to find all the parts (well I hoped we’d found them all) and assemble the coffin… sorry the boat - tiller, rudder, sail, oars and centerboard. I was trying valiantly to bail out the water but the ocean was against me and the waves kept splashing in as we were hoisting the mast and preparing to set off. I shouldn’t have bothered, water continued to enter the vessel even when sailing – and it wasn’t from the waves!

We took life jackets, flares, GPS, SPOT (an ingenious device that can send an SOS to your friends), VHF, EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon), outboard motor, cooler and an umbrella. Don’t laugh, the umbrella was a vital piece of equipment – not only did it act as shade to keep the sun from severely burning me but believe it or not, if held in the right direction, acted as an extra sail that increased our speed. The boat was solidly built of heavy timber and needed almost a gale to move it, but unfortunately, even though the wind was blowing in the right direction there wasn’t a great deal of it. Waves were only 2 feet high but I swear they grew to tidal proportions as every painstaking hour passed by. We set sail around 10 am and didn’t reach solid ground until 2.30 in the afternoon; Peterson’s Cay, where we stopped for a break. As we pulled in a Canadian tourist approached us and said "Man, I didn’t expect white people to be sailing that boat." After an hour of rest, and snorkelling we set off once again, declining the tourist's invitation for a bite of freshly cooked fish. I wondered if that was wise, but then I wouldn't want fish to be my last meal on earth.

So there we were again bobbing around on the water, but the wind had mercifully picked up and we might even make it back before dark! It didn’t take me long to discover that I had been duped. "It will only take a few hours", "It will be an adventure," I had been told. I had absolutely no idea that the journey from start to finish would consist of 11 hours of bailing and trying to prevent third degree sunburn! When we finally reached the canal the wind had died so the outboard motor was started (mounted on the side of the boat by the way). Unfortunately (well you didn’t think it would ever be plain sailing did you?) there’s a low bridge between us and the home port so the mast had to be dismantled. Now that was fun (for me) – every time Gerry stood up and tried to undo the mast lines the boat would tip wildly. It took a while but he finally realized that no one (that would be me again) had bailed for a while and the sheer weight of the water sloshing from side to side was tipping the boat, thus unbalancing him. I for one thought that was really funny and couldn’t understand why he didn’t share my sense of humour! He bailed the boat, dismantled the mast, started the outboard and we were off with me manning the tiller…womaning the tiller. I managed to steer an almost straight course, we made it under the bridge and were in the home stretch when, you wouldn’t believe it, the motor died! That's what you get for hot rodding - he was trying to see how fast we could go with the motor on the side of the boat and a shear pin broke. 'Twas lucky the boat came with oars – I wisely stayed at the helm, as far out of reach from the oars as possible – it would have made the perfect picture but alas he wouldn’t pass me the camera!