I went down to meet Lexmark at MHYC. He has bought a great boat so I spent an hour or two going through it with him. The wheel pilot is the biggest, not the only, problem. We may have found the problem and I look forward to confirmation when it is repaired.
I am hoping to go with him to Broken Bay to get her sailing properly.
I went down as well, missed Stephen but met Spud. We did have a chat on the phone though. It is a great boat, and should sail well. Might get a chance to do a leg as well if the stars align.
Lexmark, Thursday is looking like the best weather window to go north. Will you have the Raymarine up and running by then?
Hi Had the Raymarine guy down today, he got it going, but wasnt totally happy with it, so has taken it to have it serviced, he will ring tonight, but I dont think it will be back untill late friday at the earlist
I will give you a call late tomorrow and see where you stand, if that OK
Sounds good. You will be a happy bloke when it is reliable.
I am away Saturday and Sunday and will need to know if you plan to go Monday so I can rearrange a few things.
I would suggest a few more days to enjoy the delights of Pittwater. The Westerlies locally are at Gale force at the moment and even Seabreeze has them strong right through the weekend and into next week. Only need about 2 feet of headsail out at the moment to get hull speed! Seabreeze has todays high at 25 knots, outside its probably a steady 40. Sunday looks particularly windy.
Gday Stephan,
If you make it to Camden Haven by next weekend theres a fleet of us heading Nth you can join with us
cheers
Hi to all
Just a quick note, have left Sydney, auto steer working well, now in Pitt Water, heading north, first thing in the morning
Stephen
Hi to all
Just a quick note, have left Sydney, auto steer working well, now in Pitt Water, heading north, first thing in the morning
Stephen
Good weather sailing Lexmarks.
Im motoring down to Brighton tomorrow to drop my masts I cant replace my halyards for some reason there stuck can use the jib but its wont pull through to replace the halyard either. So I run the motor she needs a good run any way.
Probably only run an hour of use in the last 5 years she will either love it or hate it love it I hope.. Ill load her up a bit
Hi Yes hope to catch with some other sailors, from this site, there are a few yachts going north at or near the weekend from Camden Haven,
Yes give her some revs, she will be better for it
Live cross from 3 miles off Norah Head light heading towards Newcastle. The auto helm is working really well, not so the stove though.
The boom brake is working, and Starlight Express is showing 7 knots quite frequently with a double reefed main and a full genoa. (no diesel Ramona!) Wind is about 15-20 knots.
Yep, spot on, a great days sailing, a big thanks to MichaelR, all seems to be going great, had better not speak too soon !!!!!!!!!
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Good stuff, you probably got in to Newie around 1600 at a guess
Yep Shaun, 1630 to be exact. We lost the wind about 1400, it backed right off for about an hour, so we motor sailed the last two hours to make sur we got in the riverbefore dark. It also takes 5 hours by train and bus for me to get home, so didn't want to miss the 17.20 train.
Starlight Express is a great boat, and has all the gear for a long trip. She sails very, very well, although we were both novices at the the Fleming. So we didn't manage to get that working very well and relied on the Raymarine. spud is the best sea dog. He sits in the cockpit and dozes all the way, even when we had whales no more than 10 metres away, he just sat there snoozing.
The only mishap was the lower port running back stay. As soon as we set off from the jetty and there was weight on it from the main, it pinged off at the mast. We decided to continue on as there are a two running stays per side, and we only broke one. To make sure we didn't load it up too much weredouble riffed the main. Even with the double reef we showed around 7 knots until the wind backed off later in the day.
I think Steve can sail better than he lets on, but if anyone is available for the next few legs, I'm sure he'd welcome you on board with a ginger beer and a ham sandwich! Don't let spud get it though,,,,,,
Hi Blue Moon, yes should be there, are there any changes to the leaving date ??????
Michael repaired the running back stay, had them both replaced
30-35 kts is forecast for sunday/Monday here, so we have decided to stay put in Camden Haven & let that pass before setting off, possibly leaving Camden early next week now, cheers
Hehe knew I should of checked the latest forecast(which has changed since this morning) before writing the above, the 30-35kts has been cancelled, so may be leaving Camden on Saturday or sometime on the weekend
Left Newcastle about 7 nice breeze, sitting on 7.4kts untill about 2 hours out of Nelson bay, needed to motor then, what a difference the auto helm makes, off again north tomorrow, dont think there is going to be much wind, but havnt checked the conditions today
Thanks
Left Newcastle about 7 nice breeze, sitting on 7.4kts untill about 2 hours out of Nelson bay, needed to motor then, what a difference the auto helm makes, off again north tomorrow, dont think there is going to be much wind, but havnt checked the conditions today
Thanks
looked a few hours ago see what wind you had not much by the look of it then anyway
G'day Steve. I'm glad the wheel pilot has eased your workload. I was confident once it was fixed your sailing life would be transformed.
Enjoy the sailing/motoring.
Yes, It is totally different :) There are a number of boats leaving Camden Haven, I was trying to get there and sail with them, but the weathers good for them on Saturday, and I wont make it by then, I have learnt my lesson about pushing too hard, so will head for Seal Rocks and spend the night, I have been advised that Forster is not a great place to get into and I would be there at low water ????????
Thanks
Stephen
This is Steve, Spud and Starlight Express, leaving for the Newcastle Yacht Club after dropping me at the Civic jetty. Nice boat.
Stephan, There is a lot of North in the wind tomorrow forecast for Friday, I think your going to have a tough trip.
And you certainly don't want to be in spending the night in Sugarloaf Bay, Seal Rocks with any North in the wind it will be a hell hole!
I have only stayed at Sugarloaf Bay once (in SW & wouldn't consider in anything other than W to S winds)
Not many (easy, enter at any time...because of tides over bars) places for refuge in this part of the NSW coast, fatigue for single handers needs to be a serious consideration here, especially if you need to keep going to the next port for any reason.
cheers
Wise words BlueMoon. Not the place to be in a northerly and Forster bar can be a bugger if any sea builds up.
A mooring or anchor at Broughton might be suitable.
Steve should enter Camden Haven in the next hour [now 1745 hrs].
I'll be helping him to refuel tomorrow morning. Steve will have a rest day before moving on on Sunday.
Four yachts heading north tomorrow morning from Camden Haven for Trail Bay.
That will leave about five yachts in here, unless two who came in today leave tomorrow as well.
Busy Busy Busy......
MorningBird,
Forster bar is one of the best except...
When there is a rare easterly swell over 2 m. [once or twice a year]
When you try to enter or leave AGAINST the tide and
When you try to anchor on the hard sand in the river.
Otherwise it's quite good