April 2023, Vol #43, no #3. Editor: Niclas Westling
"Bloodhound on a broad reach" Painting by Alex Comino. 1st Prize Easter Show 2023
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Captain's column
Hello fellow Cruisers,
What a lovely March we have had, with some great summer weather here in Sydney.
The new restaurant, St Siandra, opened this past month and it is so nice not to have renovations going on downstairs.
MHYC hosted the Renewable Energy cup with some of our cruising boats and members participating.
It was great to see the club full of activity again.
The following day the club was finally able to host the Barefoot ball again, this year with a toga theme and I must say it was a great party, with the weather collaborating with us by keeping the rain away.
A cruising weekend to Botany Bay was done and now we are looking forward to the Eater Cruise to Pittwater.
The monthly meeting presentation by Jon, the Sydney Pilot, was great – getting a new perspective from these big ships traveling on our harbours amongst us. If you missed it you can find it on the cruising website.
Stay safe on and off the Water.
Sanna
Captain Cruising, SV RaRa
New Member!
We're very happy to welcome Nicola Morgan as a new Cruising member!
Recent events
Marine Pilot Jon Drummond
A Cruising talk Jon did at MHYC in March 2023.
Jon took us through the journey of how a Pilot guides the large commercial ships in and out of the Sydney Harbours, explaining the way they navigate using landmarks and navigational marks. He also explained some incidents that have occurred and what can be done to prevent them. Those of us who were there thought it was very inspirational!
If you missed the talk, why not watch the recording on YouTube:
Send your photos to Mike McEvoy to enter the 2023 Cruising Division Competition. Each Month the best photo received will be published and, in the running, to win a new Mystery Prize at the end of 2023.
The winning photo for each of the three months is shown below the photo along with the photographer
Send your best photos (as a JPG / JPEG) - Remember … to be in the running to win the prize you must be in it. Hint …. Give your favourite photo a Title and Place taken. Submit your photos to mmcevoy@bigpond.net.au
Good Shooting …!! Mike.
The Cruising Quiz, by Phil Darling
You are in Sydney Harbour, sailing, and a thick fog quickly reduces visibility to near zero. What fog signal should you make?
Because of the risk, you decide to turn on your motor. Does the signal you need to make change, and to what?
You are becoming increasingly concerned, and stop still. Again – does the signal you make change, and to what?
When measuring distance on a chart, why is it good practice to use the scale at the same latitude as your chartwork?
Since November 2021, the Special Regulations have permitted HMPE rope to be used as lifelines for multihulls (all categories) and for monohulls (categories 4 to 7 only). What is HMPE rope, and what are the more common names for it
What is the difference between a Sailor’s Bowline and a Cowboy’s Bowline?
What is the difference between a knot, a hitch and a bend
What is a splice?
When crossing a Traffic Separation Scheme, should your heading or ground track be at right angles to the traffic flow?
In a southern hemisphere low-pressure system, what direction would you expect the winds to blow?
Congratulations to Alex Comino on his Royal Easter show Price!
Hello Sailors, last night I was the recipient of the first prize in the RAS marine Art painting competition, with my watercolour rendition of “Bloodhound on a broad reach”.
During the presentation ceremony the chief Judge and RAS committee representative made a very interesting speech about the RAS Art competition which I will highlight some points of interest As follows:-
the RAS art competition is that largest Art competition in the southern hemisphere.
the Competition attracts more artists that does the Archbold prize.
The artwork is viewed by more people than the Archbold prize.
The competition attracts the most viewers than any other art competition in the southern Hemisphere.
This is the second competition I have won first place this year inside 4 weeks(and with a different painting) , the last time I entered the RAS Art competition
was in the old location in Paddington which I also won 35 years ago.
The other place getters provided excellent work and there were many of them. As the paintings are offered for sale by the artists to the
Public I was dumfounded when the second place getter was seeking a price of $5995.00, the third $2500.00 and some of the runner uppers were in excess of $10,000.00.
The RAS director who handed me my award told me he was the tender driver on Dame Pattie when he was a young boy, so I introduced him to my wife Heather
whose father was the Skipper of VIM and Gretel 11. He then asked me if I was a Yachtie and about the Norm Booth trophy! I need not tell you how things went from there.
A great night , good wine ,good food and I’m over the moon.
Best wishes to all and have a happy easter
Alex Comino
“SV Bloodhound”
A bit of history
Plimsoll Mark
by Jeremy Clark, S/V Kai Rani
The Plimsoll Mark is painted on the side of British Merchant Ships to indicate the draught levels to which a ship may be loaded under various conditions
The Plimsoll Mark shows six loading levels, those for:
TF - tropical fresh water;
F - freshwater;
T - tropical sea water;
S - summer sea water;
W - winter;
WNA - North Atlantic for vessels under 100metres in length winter
This mark is accompanied by another consisting of a circle bisected by a horizontal line with letters that indicate the registration society. In Britain, these are normally LR indicating Lloyd Register.
The horizontal line on the registration mark indicated the summer freeboard and so is the level marked S on the Plimsoll Line
Samuel Plimsoll (1824-98)
Samuel Plimsoll was a politician, who gave his name to the Plimsoll Mark
Early in life, he was reduced to destitution, which introduced him to the wretched conditions of the poor. He was especially interested in coffin ships. These were unseaworthy and overloaded vessels, which were heavily insured by their owners. Sending them to sea in this condition, risked the lives of their crews, but there was no law to stop ship owners from making money this way.
Samuel Plimsoll entered Parliament in 1868 and tried to get a bill passed on this subject. His first attempt failed, and he wrote a small book called "Our Seamen". It aroused so much interest, that in 1873 Parliament appointed a Royal Commission to consider the matter.
After much argument, the merchant Shipping Act was finally passed in 1876. The Board of Trade was given strict powers of inspection and required a mark to be painted on the ship's side to indicate the depth beyond which she might not be loaded.
This mark has always been known as the Plimsoll Mark
Source: Low Head Pilot Station Museum Tasmania
Driftwood
New regulations on Sprayhoods and tether Snap Hooks
There's an excellent article on the Australian Sailing site explaining the new rules
My brother in law is currently on anchor on his yacht ‘Second wind” in Indonesia, waiting for favourable winds to take him to the Mediterranean (sailing solo).
Whilst on anchor a monkey swam up to his yacht and sat on the bimini waiting for a food offering.
As no food was presented, the monkey dived back into the sea and swam to the next yacht moored nearby and did the same thing. Aren’t we lucky that we only have to put up with seagulls, shags and other birds in Australia.
A sailing vessel underway should make one long signal followed by two short signals. All fog signals should be at intervals of not more than two minutes.
Yes – you are now a power-driven vessel underway and should make a single long blast on your fog horn.
You are now a power-driven vessel, stopped, and should make two long blasts.
On a Mercator projection, the latitude scale is distorted. A mile measured at the top of the chart is a different span of the dividers from a mile measured at the bottom.
HMPE stands for High Modulus Poly Ethylene. It is sold under various names including Dyneema, Spectra, and several others.
A Sailor’s Bowline has the rope end inside the loop, whereas the Cowboy’s Bowline has the end on the outside of the loop.
There are various definitions of a knot but I tend to believe it is tied in a single piece of rope (such as a stopper knot, or a bowline knot). Definitions of the other terms are better defined - a hitch is used to tie a rope around or to something (often a spar), and a bend is used to join two pieces of rope together.
A splice uses the strands of a rope to create a permanent join or finish off a rope. A well-made splice is stronger than almost any knot or bend. A splice is a multi-strand knot.
Heading. This is the quickest way across and presents the correct aspect and lights to oncoming ships.
Spiraling inwards to the low, in a clockwise direction.
Opinions expressed in the Compass Rose are those of the contributors, and do not necessarily reflect opinions of either Middle Harbour Yacht Club or the Cruising Division
