Twilight season is once again here. Harbour bridge twinkling in the sunset

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Hello fellow Cruisers,

Spring is getting warmer and warmer, and we can now enjoy the evenings on the harbour for longer, even if we do not stay out overnight on the boat. Just being able to sail out into the harbour, anchor or moor up and then enjoy dinner onboard before heading back in the twilight is something that I think is amazing.

All twilight racing has begun from the club, including Friday bi-weekly twilights which is perfect for those of us who do not want to race but do enjoy an evening on the harbour and a get together at the club. Even if you are not able to race with your yacht, come along and enjoy the Friday evening at the club.

At our monthly meeting in October, we welcomed Zac as our new harbour master, and we also heard from Ben and Jarvis from Shellharbour Marina as they presented what the facilities look like today and what is being built and planned. As we have gone cruising down there before, we are looking forward to our next trip there.

MHYC is organising a ‘Hats off for Summer’ party on the 9th of November and I hope that as many of you, our cruisers, are able to come along and party with the club. Bring your friends for a fun night at the club and listen to a great band. Check MHYC newsletter or the club for further information.

Upcoming Cruising events are:

Monthly cruising meeting, Wednesday 20 November, where Simone Hill will talk about her experience with fire onboard a sailing yacht.

Tapas-tie-up in Sugarloaf Bay, 30 November

Cruising Xmas dinner, Friday 13 December

A reminder to keep an eye out on the events page to see what is going in the cruising division. If you plan on participating in any event, please sign up on the event page: https://cruising.mhyc.com.au/events/

If you have nice photos to share, please send these to us and they can be part of the Photo of the Month.

Stay safe on and off the Water.

Sanna

Cruising Captain MHYC, SV RaRa

This year we welcomed 5 families and 3 volunteers from the Make-A-Wish foundation. We had a great lineup of yachts to take families out. 

We had lovely weather, warm, overcast and a NE wind that made it possible to sail down the harbour to the Opera house and the Bridge, very appreciated by the families.

A big Thank you goes out to Dot who set this event up and organised the food. Also a big Thank you to Jeremy, Kai Rani, who supplied the sausages (his contribution as Kai Rani and crew are up north this year) and MHYC for the drinks and chips. Thank you also to Niclas and Gerald for running the barbecue and to all others who came along to help on land, with yachts and with lifejackets. 

A very special event that we cohost with Make-A-Wish to give kids and families a day out on the water. To see all the smiling kids and families after the event is wonderful.

Hi everyone,

We are your humble organisers for this year’s event, and, as in previous years, we will hold the event in Sugarloaf Bay on November 30th.

The theme 

The theme this year is Europe. So please consider how you will dress yourselves & your boat and what food and drink you will serve.

1st step

Once we know what dish you wish to prepare, we can plan the order that boats will be visited. We will also plan the best way to raft-up to minimise ferrying between yachts.  Let us know your preference when you can. We don’t want to know your dish, but simply whether it is a starter, or a main or a dessert.

Food

With potentially 8 boats to visit, this could mean a 8-course feast, so we recommend that you think small in quantity.  Think tapas style food. That means we can have several starters or savoury dishes and a couple of desserts. We think that the best way to manage dietary limitations would be to simply nominate if you are planning a dairy-free, gluten-free or vegetarian dish. With 8 courses, it isn’t essential to cater for everyone for every course.  What would work well is if the larger boats in the fleet prepared a dessert.

To start the ball rolling……...

Salty Lady will represent Ireland and will host the first course from 5:30pm on November 30th, with a potato-based dish and an Irish beverage to wash it down. Each visit typically lasts half an hour.  Our dish is gf, df and v, (so it is safe for everybody :-))

We look forward to your reply, as to which country you will represent and just a little detail about your dish.

Selina & Dallas

A repeat of the 2022, 600 mile, race around the Cyclades and Western coast of Turkey.

That was the trip when I decided never to do it again. The idea of sailing around the Greek islands sounded wonderful. The reality was somewhat different. The worst part was sailing past Mykonos at midnight in 30+ knots of wind quite close in. We could see and hear the parties going on, on shore, whilst we were wet and miserable and in danger of hitting a rock we couldn’t see. 5 days being wet from sea water rushing along the gunnels, when bowman Lance wasn't sitting in his position to take the full brunt, or being wet from perspiration from the relentless sun. No luxury of a bimini or dodger. Lance didn't mind having permanently wet undies.

When a return trip this year was announced FOMO got the better of me. This, second time, I decided to be more positive and learn some more tips. Our Crew included Lillie, 2012 Olympic laser gold medal winner, Wooderz, ex sail maker, Pete, all round champ. Pete and his crew were one of the few who completed this year's Round the Island Race (Isle of Wight), in their Jeanneau Sunfast 36. The wind was 40 knots most of the way.

Our boat was a chartered X yacht 46, Sophia, a  cruiser racer with a decent suite of sails.

The highlight, as last time, was sailing into the Santorini caldera, as the sun was rising.

The lowest point was hearing a Mayday on day two when we were steaming along with 40+ knot gusts. 2 people were washed  overboard whilst at the bow trying to pull the headsail down. Both were quickly recovered, which would have been a difficult feat with the dreadful sea state. Unfortunately one suffered a serious head injury from being struck by the rudder as she was washed under the boat. 

Another low point was when the lee cloth on my saloon berth burst and I was thrown across the cabin into the side of the table. Ouch.

I confess that on my midnight watch I declined to take the wheel as I was too scared. It was pitch black and we were surfing down waves and I didn't have the confidence. The other two on my watch, who were highly experienced, loved it, so they were happy not to have to give up the wheel.

3 days in, the wind was forecast to cease on the Turkish islands leg. We were predicted to drift for 3 days and probably wouldn't make the Saturday deadline so, along with over half of the 125 boat fleet, a decision was made to retire. The fact that some of our crew had booked their return flights for Thursday may have influenced that decision.

Next time........

For more information visit: Aegean600

Martyn SV SnO

A selection of photos from our cruising members who are in Queensland: Kai Rani, Sanctum and Bundeena

Drama at Bribie Island Bangaree

Kai Rani left Mooloolaba marina with a new guest and longtime sailing buddy, Betty. Our destination was Bongaree on Bribie Island, just a short 32nm motor sail away. We had a pleasant, uneventful motor sail to Bribie island and found a good anchorage around 5pm.  We settled down, had a nice gin and tonic for sundowners while we contemplated our bbq dinner. We saw a thunder storm in the distance and decided to put the clears up just in case. About half an hour had passed,  it was 7.15 pm and the wind suddenly picked up and kept building and building to 45knots! F*** me, Kai Rani was tossed around and went sideways, the noise was quite loud and I was convinced the anchor was not holding and that we were dragging. I started the motor and  we used the boats around us as reference points. So we had to increased rmps and decrease the rmps according to the load. Despite the dodger and link sheet being up, everything in the cockpit got wet, including the three of us. We had this unpredicted squall for at least 30 minutes, then the wind dropped back to 8 knots. None of our various weather apps predicted this squall and Betty commented that its not uncommon for this to occur in Queensland.

I have not experienced 45 knots on anchor or on a mooring before. Windage was interesting on how the boat responded to the 45 knots and then taking the load off with the motor. After weathering the storm and waiting for half an hour I decided to re-set the anchor. I think this was a good idea. After waiting and checking the set I decided to turn the motor off and have another GT to wind down. Wow, never expected to experience 45 knots on anchor (84 m/s). I think we handled the situation well as a crew.  

No pictures, too bloody busy!

Mediterranean sailing on Seabreeze:

Sailing on Seabreeze with several members of MHYC. We joined the second of the 3 week cruise, starting in Dubrovnik.

Normal Mediterranean berthing procedure is stern to. Reverse the boat to the dock, throw the upwind stern line line to the waiting assistant, who passes it through a ring or round  bollard. He throws the line back which is then loosely attached to the stern cleat. The same applies to the second stern line.  Meanwhile a lazy line, which is attached to the dock, is walked forward. This is attached to a bow line which in itself is attached to an underwater block. Lifting the lazy line raises the bowline so it can be attached to a bow cleat. The boat is driven forward a couple of metres with the stern lines being adjusted at the same time. This bow line  is tied off and the boat is reversed to provide the necessary bow tension, with the two stern lines being retensioned, preferably reattaching to a winch to take the load.

When reversing with a bimini and dodger it is not easy to see what is going on above. Looks of bemusement from the neighbouring boat crew are ignored and not because they are Germans. Fortunately for them our boat is swinging away from theirs. Strange because there wasn't much current and only a little wind. However there was enough for a full main sail to produce too much leeway to perform our docking manoeuvre.

The incredulous Germans didn't speak English and we couldn't understand why the Croatian restaurant staff, who were helping us, were pointing upwards. We were docking at their restaurant Quay. To make matters worse the upwind cleat line slipped from the cleat when we tried motor forward (it hadn't been tied off properly) to counter the leeway, so we had no choice but to start the procedure again

No problem. I always take the view that one should take time and if it goes wrong a couple of times it doesn't matter. Best to be safe.

It was then that we realised the main sail was still up. We hadn't seen it as we were under the bimini which stretched forward to the dodger. Thinking about it the bow crew should have spotted it.

This was the reason why the waiter pointed to the top of our mast when we were reversing.

For clarification I was not the skipper.:-)

If you haven't sailed in Croatia you have to go.

Martyn SV SnO

1. What causes a sea breeze and when would you expect it to occur?

2. You are going to anchor in 6 metres of water with rope warp & 10 metres of chain.  How much is the minimum scope you would pay out?

3. How many nautical miles are there between latitudes 33^o50’S and 34^o59’S?

4.  You are travelling north and you approach a pole painted yellow/black/yellow with no top mark. It is located 100 metres west of an island. Should you:

- Pass between it and the island?

- Leave it on the starboard side of your yacht?

- Reverse your course?

5.  You see a red flare go off at night, but are concerned since it is in the middle of an area of reefs and strong currents.  What are your obligations, and why? What would you do?

6.  Your engine changes note to a drummy sound and you notice the cooling water has stopped coming out. What is the likely cause, and what should you do? 

7.  If you see two white flashes at night, what action should you take?

8.  At night off Newcastle you see two vessels ahead. The front one is carrying normal lights except that a yellow light is visible above the white stern light; the second one is carrying normal lights. What does this mean, and what should you do? 

9.  In what circumstances would you let off a white flare?

10. You see a sailing vessel, under sail but with a large upside-down black cone hoisted. What does this mean, and what effect does it have on whether you should give way to it?

This is a painting I did over Christmas 2023,to enter into an art competition, it won first prize!

I like painting old gaffers as we don’t see many of them in this country, yet they still prevail. In the USA and Europe (including the UK). From memory I tried to capture the headland area of The entrance to Broken Bay (Pittwater) as the background scene capturing the large boulders found there. The cloud formation I created to represent the Southerly coming up the coast.

This is an acrylic on canvass with limited palette.

Alex Comino

Bloodhound

1.  Sea breezes are caused by the sun warming up the land which causes warmer air to rise and cooler air to come in from the sea to replace it. Typically on a sunny day after there has been enough time for the land to heat up – so say from late morning onwards.

2.  The general rule is to pay out 3 times the depth for a short (lunchtime) stay where you can monitor conditions, but to increase this to 5 times if you are staying overnight. As you have only 10 metres of chain, I would also increase this to allow for the reduced effectiveness of the rope. So:  for a short stay – 3x6 is 18 metres plus a bot for the rope – say 20 metres.  Overnight: probably about 40 metres.

3.  There are 60 nautical miles per degree of latitude (one mile per minute of latitude). So 69 miles. 

4.  This is a west cardinal mark. Safe water is to the west of it, so you should leave it to starboard.

5.  You have an obligation to give all assistance possible without endangering your own vessel. I would approach cautiously (without getting into the area of reefs), try to contact the vessel by radio, and possibly relay a call to Marine Rescue or to other vessels.

6.  Sounds like your water pump impeller has failed.  Turn off the engine and prepare to change it (you do have a spare on board, don’t you …)

7.  This is most likely an Isolated Danger Mark (assuming it is not an idiot with a torch …). Take action to avoid the hazard.

8.  This is one vessel (the one with the yellow stern light) towing another. Keep clear, and especially do not go between them.

9.  A white flare is used for collision avoidance. You would use it as a last resort to draw attention to yourself at night and avoid being run down.

10. The upside down black cone signifies that they are motor sailing, and under the rules are treated as a motor vessel, not a sailing vessel. If you are under sail you may have priority over them (depending of course on any other criteria)