A warm night at Edwards beach during the Long Weekend raft-up

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Hello fellow Cruisers,

The MHYC Season Opening day this year was a great success. The club put on a great event and involved the whole club. The sail past involved Cruising, racing, juniors and ribs and the weather held up nicely.

Breakfast and later sausages were served by the club and our own Dallas played for us all in the afternoon and into the evening. I think everyone who participated for all or part of the day had a great time.

Reminder that our monthly meeting is now on the third WEDNESDAY of the month as the club is closed on Monday and Tuesdays at the moment and the next event is on the 16th of October when we will have a Welcome to Cruising theme and Zac, the new marina manager at the Club will come and chat to us.

As the new season for Cruising events have started, keep an eye out on the events page as any changes will be posted there. It is also a great idea to let us know if you plan on participating in any event through the event page or to cruising@mhyc.com.au

The Friday twilight starts on the 11th of October and is open to cruisers too. If you have a boat to sail on, come along. If you don’t have a boat but would like to participate, reach out. Or if you just want to come down and have dinner after the race, come down for a drink or a meal and catch up with fellow sailors at the club.

November will see the Make-A-Wish charity sail on the 3rd and the Tapas Tie up has been moved to the 30th of November.

A reminder that we are looking for contributions of articles to the Compass Rose, if you have anything you would like to share, and I am sure a lot of you have lots to share, please email this to cruising@mhyc.com.au and we will include them in the next upcoming Compass Rose.

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

Stay safe on and off the Water.

Sanna

Cruising Captain MHYC, SV RaRa

Photo of the Month - October 2024 by Bryan Moore

Surprise visitor to Shibumi, arrived during a week’s absence by the skipper. We are unsure of its fate.

Send your photos to Mike McEvoy to enter into the 2024 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 2024.

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.

We have had a few safety incidents recently at the club (not specifically cruising people) so we are starting with some safety related questions.

1. You see the following flag flying from a vessel.  What does it mean and what should you do?
   
2. Does this flag have the same meaning world-wide?
3. What are the exclusion zone distances from large vessels in Sydney Harbour?
4. What level of safety equipment does our club require for you to take part in club events?
5. You hear a “Strong Wind Warning” on the marine weather forecast.  What strength of wind might you anticipate?
6. What is the UK wind scale, and what level is roughly the equivalent to our Strong Wind Warning?
7. When measuring distance on a chart, why is it good practice to use the side scale at the same latitude as your position?
8. You buy a new radio and notice that it has a DSC button.  What is this and what does it do?
9. What is meant by the term “in irons” and how may we recover from it?
10. When should you turn your navigation lights on?

Our intrepid cruisers Jeremy and Kristin are currently anchored at Lady Musgrave Island.  Here is a sample of the fun they are having

Tribute to Sid

When the famous Yachtsman Sid Fischer passed away I painted this picture as my tribute to him, with a view to putting it in the public arena.The painting on reflection was in my view not as good as I had expected, so it was never displayed. I tried to capture his Yacht Raggs running downwind with the spanker in full, now days this sail is no longer used by the “big boats”

I met Sid a number of times both on and off the water. He was a hard task master, and sailing is the main beneficiary from his endeavours.

- Alex Comino

I believe all cruising members have a copy of our Cruising Manual.  It is a wonderful reference document describing all aspects of our cruising endeavours.

Given it was last updated in 2011, it really is overdue for a rewrite. A number of you have been asked to make a contribution already and if anybody else wishes to be involved, we would love to hear from you.

Chris Kelleway and Dallas O’Brien are co-ordinating the project.

Once again we are planning to host families from the Make-A-Wish organisation. If you have not done this before, the idea is that each boat takes out one family for a few hours (generally 2-3) on the harbour before returning to MHYC for a barbeque and other goodies.

In order for this to be a success, we need as many boats as possible.

The date is November 3rd.

If you cannot take anyone out on that day, please consider contributing in some other way such as baking or providing funds to help defray the costs of the BBQ or coming down to assist on the day at the club.

I look forward to hearing from you. My email is theeboom1@tpg.com.au or give me a call on 0409030984.

Many thanks,

Dot Theeboom

1. This is code flag Alpha – it warns you that divers are in the water.  NSW regulations are that you must keep at least 60 metres clear if possible- if not possible then slow down to less than 10kts and keep as far clear as you can.
2. No – in the Americas and some countries (eg Italy, Philippines and a few others) the “diver down” flag is as follows: 
   
3. Vessels must:
   1. not pass between the bow of any Seagoing Ship and a dedicated NSW Port Authority escort vessel whilst on escort duty.
   2. maintain a minimum distance of 500 metres from the bow and 30 metres from the side or stern of any Seagoing Ship underway.
   3. maintain a minimum distance of 200m from the bow, and 30m from the sides or stern of any Ferry underway.
4. For racing, the category is nominated in the Notice of Race – generally Cat 7 for inshore (Sydney Harbour) races.  Cruising events require you to have gear to Cat 7 for inshore and Cat 4 for offshore cruises.  These are only a minimum and you are encouraged to carry additional gear if you see fit.
5. In Australian waters a Strong Wind Warning is issued when winds are expected in excess of 25 knots – although gusts may be considerably stronger.
6. UK (British) marine weather forecasts use the Beaufort Scale, and 25kts is roughly equivalent to Force 6.  The Beaufort Scale is also used in some other countries world-wide.
7. On a Mercator projection (most of our detailed charts use this to translate the spherical world onto a flat chart) the latitude scale is distorted and a nautical mile measured at the top of the chart will be a different span on the dividers to one measured at the bottom.  On a large scale (ie local area) chart this will be minor but on a smaller scale (larger area) chart it can be significant.
8. This is the Digital Selective Calling button.  Pressing it will transmit a distress call to other DSC-equipped radios in range (including Marine Rescue).  You will need to have it properly installed so that it does function correctly, though.
9. A sailing vessel is in irons when it is stationary head to wind and unable to pay off on either tack.  In the days of square rigged vessels this was a a major problem – in our type of vessel we can usually get out by sheeting the headsail to windward which forces the bow away from the wind.
10. Obviously after dark, but also in any conditions of reduced visibility such as heavy rain, fog, smoke or similar.