July 2023, Vol #43, no #6. Editor: Niclas & Susanna Westling
Modern style navigating or communicating (?) on Eternity. Oh, how good that auto-pilot is!
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Captain's column
Hello fellow Cruisers,
Thank you all for accepting me as your Captain for this upcoming year. I look forward to steering the Cruisers this coming year together with the committee.
We are planning the next 12 months and hope that this will involve many fun occasions to get together both on and off the water.
The past month we have had the AGM, which was followed by a life-raft demonstration, which you can read about in another article.
A big Thank you to Alex, who has created the most wonderful trophy, The Literally Contributor Award, for us to hand out to someone who writes the best article of the year in the Compass Rose. This trophy will be given at the AGM.
We also had two sailing weekends, one to Cowan Creek and a safety weekend in Sugarloaf.
Looking ahead, keep an eye out for the events on the web, and come along and invite others to come along to our events.
Our July Cruising meeting will have an exciting guest speaker, Lisa Blair. See information further down and don't miss it!
As July rolls over we will see some of the yachts heading up north to participate in the regattas in Queensland and many of our cruisers are assisting in the deliveries, we wish them all the best. Others are traveling even further north (by plane for the most part) to go sailing in Europe and we wish them the best of times. For those of us here in Sydney, enjoy the cooler times, stay dry and see you at our next monthly meeting.
July winner: Sunset in Strahan Harbour - Jeremy Clarke
Send your photos to Mike McEvoy to enter into 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.
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 going overseas to charter a yacht – to the Caribbean – and someone warns you that the navigation markers are different over there. Is this so, and what are the differences?
Oh dear – are any other parts of the world different?
Any other differences over there apart from nav markers?
You are looking at your GPS and wondering how to check its accuracy. Someone told you to look for the HDOP. What is this, and what are good or bad values?
Are there any other satellite navigation systems in operation apart from GPS?
What is the name of the wave caused by an undersea earthquake? Should we be worried if one is approaching?
You are sailing close hauled on a starboard tack offshore at night. A ship has remained on a steady bearing on your port bow for some time, and is getting closer. What if anything should you do?
While out sailing at night you come across a vessel in trouble, and decide to tow them back – however, it is quite windy and you decide to leave your motor off and proceed under sail with them in tow. What additional lights do you need to display to show you are towing another vessel?
While setting up for the tow in the question above, you go through the available lines. You have a choice of docking lines or spinnaker sheets. Which one should you choose?
You are on Sydney Harbour and see one of the new Manly Ferries approaching. Instead of the orange diamond, it has a flashing yellow light at the masthead. What does this mean, and who needs to give way here?
Past Events
Kings Birthday Cruise 10-12 June - Broken Bay/Cowan Creek
It was absolutely perfect conditions throughout the entire weekend, apart from for sailing maybe. Very light winds for most of the time and clear skies. Eternity, Kai-Rani went up in advance on Friday, and RaRa + Sanctum followed on Saturday in a light but sailable breeze. Plenty of whales to watch along the way, and even a jet fighter doing a low fly-over.
Saturday night was spent in Akuna Bay, where we also met up with an RPAYC cruiser, Windbird III (Roger and Anne) for sundowners. In the morning we had breakfast in the marina, which was lovely.
After breakfast we motored over to Bobbin Head where we had lunch at the restaurant.
Once lunch was consumed it was time to slowly motor back towards America's Bay for the Sunday evening. Sundowners with CCC members Bob and Sue.
Sanctum and Kai Rani on-route to Bobbin Head
On Monday we all headed home to Sydney, motor sailing most of the time, in a very light breeze.
Safety Raft-up in Sugarloaf Bay 17-18 June
As is tradition for the MHYC cruisers, the auditors meet up before the first official MHYC free get-checked day, to sort out the first batch of audits.
This year, there was only one auditor who could make this event, Mike McEvoy, and we would like to express our gratitude for him coming in Sisu to help the rest of us out.
RaRa, KaiRani and Slack'n'Off got through their audits over the afternoon and Dreamaway, who has not done one of these before, got a good briefing and head-start on the preparations needed.
Whilst Martyn and Anna in Slack'n'Off needed to head off early in preparation for Martyn's annual UK trip, the rest of us had a really good social 'after-audit' time on Dreamaway and made a significant dent to the supply of their wine cellar. There were some slightly tired participants on Sunday morning, whilst fry-up breakfasts were organised in each boat. Chris and Jo successfully caught a few fish.
Thanks to all who came, and in particular Mike for doing the audits and Jo and Chris for their hospitality.
/Niclas (RaRa)
Dreamaway in Sugarloaf Bay
AGM 19th June - including life raft demo
The Annual General Meeting was held, and the committee was re-elected for another year.
After the meeting, Phil demonstrated the function of a life raft, which you can see in the below video. It was rather exciting!
Feature article
Viking III - the journey begins
It’s always been a dream of mine to do a World Circumnavigation, so after Simon and I sold Delphin during Covid I started looking for a new yacht that would be a capable blue water sailor. I have always loved the quality of Swedish-built yachts so preferred Malo, Najad or Hallberg-Rassy.
Unfortunately, they don’t come up for sale very often in Australia, but after a couple of months of looking, I saw an HR 38 advertised in Port Douglas. Well with covid and the lockdowns and the Queensland lockout I was not able to get up and inspect the boat although chatted to the owner a couple of times and he said he was in two minds about selling as he was halfway through a circumnavigation. The ad for the yacht disappeared so I thought he must have decided to keep sailing.
As covid was coming to an end in 2021 and the Queensland border was reopening I thought I would just text Wayne the owner and see if he had sold the boat. He texted back to say no but was concerned about the prospect of sailing back to the UK without the ability to stop on the way because of covid lockdowns around the world, so I made him an offer sight unseen which he accepted. On the 19th of December the day Queensland opened I flew up to Cairns to inspect the boat.
When I arrived, the yacht had been well maintained in so far that the owner had replaced the engine, the teak decking, the rigging and sails, new instruments and 240-volt power throughout the boat. He had receipts for over $176,000 of work for the 5 years that he had been based in Australia.
Unfortunately, he was also a FIFO worker so did not use the yacht very much at all which I was later to find out was a big problem. The boat was very unloved and needed a thorough clean and lots of minor maintenance. I decided to look past all the minor issues and bought Viking III.
As anybody who has been to Cairnes in summer would know it's hot and humid and mould is a massive problem, but I set about getting Viking III ready for the first leg with Dallas and Simon. The plan was to wait till towards the end of Cyclone season and head south. It took me a full month of cleaning and minor maintenance to get the yacht to an acceptable level for the big journey south.
In early March 2022, Dallas and Simon arrived for the first leg which was planned to be Mackay.
Sunrise on the day of Departure at Yorkeys Knob Marina
We set off without much wind and quiet oppressive heat and motored for the first day to Mourilyan harbour, a well-protected sugar port with posts for visiting yachts with fore and aft tie-offs.
Storm at the entrance to Mourilyan harbour, on our arrival at dusk.
Unfortunately, the next day we again had little or no wind, so we motored towards our next planned overnight stop at Orpheus Island. It was during the morning of our second day that the engine started to splutter every now and then which was a concern given there were less than 400 engine hours on the nearly new Volvo D2 75 turbo. We spent a lovely night on a public mooring close to the eco-resort on Orpheus.
The following day as we motored towards Townsville the spluttering got progressively worse, especially at higher revs to the point where we thought we would need a tow. We were able to contact a mechanic who was able to look at the problem at short notice. The problem got progressively worse as we approached the Townsville yacht club so much so that I was concerned that when I brought the yacht into the berth that the engine might stall when I put it into reverse to stop the boat. Simon and Dallas stood ready with mooring lines to jump off and secure the yacht if we stalled. Fortunately, we docked safely.
The following day the mechanic came and identified that the fuel filter was full of water, he changed both filters gave me a couple of spares and suggested that I may need to change the filters a couple of more time on the way home.
We set the following day to Magnetic Island marina, on arrival I checked the filter and noticed that it was again almost full of water. I drained it and we set sail for Mackay. Two hours into our trip I noticed that the filter was again full of water, so we made the decision to return to Townsville yacht club to have the problem properly assessed.
The mechanic recommended that we drain the primary fuel tank, which we did and found that over half the tank was infected with fuel bug. The diesel fuel was literally a murky milk colour. We drained the tank entirely hit it with a litre of “Fuel Dr” then drained it again the following day.
I also had the mechanic look at the saltwater cooling of the engine. What he found was distressing. The new turbo had seized, and the elbow needed replacement. The engine although almost new had sat idle for almost two years. I was able to source a new stainless-steel elbow from the States and yes, I know there are issues with dissimilar metals but the reports that I read online are that with a separation gasket, this was not an issue. The new turbo was not cheap.
After a very expensive couple of weeks, the yacht was ready for the next stage of the voyage to Townsville that I will cover in the next instalment as the trades had well and truly settled in.
/Gavin Randall
Driftwood
The Wreck of the Dunbar
Although the Macquarie light was promently placed, and situated within a mile of South Head of Sydney harbour, It did not prevent one of the worst marine disasters in Australian history— the loss of the clipper ship Dunbar. On the evening of 20th August 1857 the Dunbar was about 12 miles south of Sydney heads towards the end of a voyage that had started in London 82 days before. A southerly gale was blowing and visibility was so bad that the sight of land was lost. When the wind veered to the south-east, Captain Green was unable to stand offshore. About midnight he called all hands on deck and decided to attempt to enter the harbour as an alternative. Shortly afterwards the Dunbar crashed into the cliffs between the Macquarie light and the enterance to the harbour. Next morning a coastal steamer reported sighting wreckage but it was not until 10.00 in the evening that the Dunbar’s identity was established. Of the 63 passengers and 59 crew only one person — a seaman named James Johnson — was saved. Johnson spent the remainder of his working life as a lighthouse keeper in the colony.
The Hornby light
Two months later on the 24th October, another tragic wreck occurred in the same area. The Catherine Adams on, an Aberdeen clipper ship, ran on the rocks of North Head, 21 people being drowned. As a result of the loss of the Dunbar and the Catherine Adams on the government decided that a lighthouse should be built should be built closer to the harbour enterance than the Macquarie light. Named the Hornby light it was placed on the inner south head and comprised a 30 foot, red and white tower with a 1500 candle power light. It was opened by sir William Denison, governor of NSW in 1858, and named Hornby after admiral Hornby, the father of lady Denison. Since 1953 it has been an automatic electric light.
Plagiarised by Jeremy clarke SV KaiRani
The Dunbar
Don't miss it, 17th July!
Calamity Corner
Around Gotland Race 2023
This offshore race of ~350nm is of some interest (at least) to the Swedish part of the MHYC Cruising community.
The weather this year was quite windy, with averages around 25-30kn and gusting above 40kn.
At the time of writing, only about 25 boats remain racing in the fleet of the more than 200 starters. The rest have retired!
As also seen in Sydney-Hobart last year, it appears as if many of the modern boats (and crew) are not quite fit for these types of conditions, although this is easy to say when you sit writing in a (relatively) warm and dry location...
There is also something to be said about making wise safe choices when the weather becomes too challenging.
Yes – in “Region B” of the IALA system, which includes the Caribbean, red markers are kept to port while heading OUT towards the sea (opposite to here). Furthermore, the red markers have a CONE on top, and the green markers have a CAN on top (again the opposite of here). Only the lateral markers are different – all others (cardinals, safe water, isolated danger etc) are the same in both regions.
“Region B” applies to the Americas (North, South, Central and the Caribbean) as well as to Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. The rest of the world including us is in “Region A – Red to Port” as my local chart tells me.
Yes – a couple. They do not use the V-Sheet for distress (I believe it is only used in Australia and New Zealand) – the international equivalent is an orange sheet or flag with a black ball and a black square on it. Also, the divers flag in the Americas is a red flag with a diagonal white stripe on it.
This is the Horizontal Dilution Of Precision and is based on the relative position of the satellites it is reading. Less than 1 is ideal; up to 5 is still OK; if it is anything over 5 then you are better ignoring the GOS and going back to traditional navigation (does happen occasionally and has led to at least one fatal accident in recent years on the Australian coast).
Yes – the Russians have GLONASS in operation; the EU has Galileo; the Chinese have Beidou, the Japanese have QZSS and India has NavIC. Some of these are available on instruments available here (the author has a handheld device that uses both GPS and GLONASS for instance).
Tsunami. Be very worried if you are in harbour or close to shore; if you are in deepwater offshore you may not even notice it going past.
Although you are the stand-on vessel, it does not appear that the other vessel is aware of you. The safest option is to tack and show your stern light to the vessel – this will slow your closing speed. Keep watching the other vessel and prepare to take other evasive action if necessary. Do not bear away to port.
None – rule 24 of the collregs is quite specific in that it applies to “a power-driven vessel when towing”. SO, both you and the other vessel should each display just sidelights and sternlight only.
The docking lines – these would be of nylon or other “springy” material which will cope with and absorb the surges in load when towing. Spinnaker sheets or other non-stretch lines will not absorb the surges - they may break or even worse transmit the surges to the boats where they can damage the attachment points.
The yellow light signifies that it is a high-speed craft, and should keep clear of you. I would still be cautious, though, and keep clear as they are large, fast, and could do considerable damage in an argument!
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
