Leg 1 - On the way

Someone has to do all the work.

Finally we threw off the ropes and headed to sea.  We left Mandurah at 5 am and set a course for Bunbury. Six hours of sailing and three hours of motoring later we arrived. On passage we saw many dolphins, drank heaps of tea and ate Mum's corned beef. Life just does not get better than this. It was all a bit of a blur as the hectic preparation finally took it's toll. We are wrecked, no not the boat - just us, we are wrecked. We plan to sleep and cuddle a lot; renew the bonds of friendship and increase our human water levels.


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At 0500 Sat 16th Nov we handed our mooring lines to the crew of Urchin and of Spinifex, then we were whistled off enthusiastically by B1. WEEEEEOOOO! WEEEEOOOO! Phew!

Can't believe we F I N A L L Y  did it!

The cast of Deliverance who occasionally occupied the houseboat in the adjacent pen must have got a shock at that hour. WEEEEEOOOO! WEEEEOOOO! WEEEEEOOOO! WEEEEOOOO! We certainly won't miss the sound of the sacks of ice and clanking of cases of beer that heralded their arrival every couple of weeks as they settled in to constructively utilise their leisure time every FIFO swing. It was always the overture to 48 hours of loud music, hacking coughing, guffawing laughter and animated eloquence "F" style!   F*&@ being the noun, verb, adjective and pronoun of choice... until inevitably they all passed out. Always just a matter of time really and luckily for us, they passed out by 10:30 pm on Friday night so we could get a bit of rest before setting off!

The day was quite benign with a gentle easterly ready to push us down the coast while we were heady with delight and amazement that we had got to this point. Thank you Neptune, we did need that! I was highly emotional for half the day while the Bloke, in King Julien character (AKA Madagascar), sang "You gotta Move It! Move It" to cheer me up.

The inevitable wind shift on the way to Bunbury was not for the usual block buster SW'ly sea breeze but for no wind at all so the Iron Donkey got us there in the end. We decided that the current although still sucking us along at 2-3 knots, was going to make the day too long.

A day of Firsts to follow the day of lasts! First cray pots (avoided), first dolphins, first flying fish, first Cape  (even if it was just Cape Bouvard); first fishing boat anchored on our pre-planned autopilot GoTo Waypoint (how do they always know we are coming!); first Seal which greeted us at the leads into Bunbury Harbour! A Diamond day to begin an adventure.

We are hoping that Urchin will 'Move it- Move it' too and get here ASAP. They are a part of this plan too.

Spashdown and countdown

The Mandurah shuttle is still in operation although not for much longer.
Zofia is now on the hardstand and we were thrilled that the engine was serviced the same day she went up. That leaves the polishing and anti-fouling work. This year the antifouling work will be a bigger job since we have a bit of plaque near the waterline. It would be great if Rob can get that sorted on Monday/ Tuesday. We've already missed the lovely easterlies for this week and Easy Tiger left today for Bunbury in the wee hours to use the last of the easterly flow. The Bloke is getting very twitchy now with multiple daily Predictwind logins and wagging a finger accompanied with exclamations of "Oh! Look. Look!" in reference to the easterly wind pattern which we are missing. To be sure it will come again and hopefully we'll have got it all done and it will be our time to cast off and turn south.
The Bloke got inspired with the canvass renewal and thought 'in for a penny, in for a pound' forgetting of course that Zofia is a boat and there ain't no such thing as a penny when it comes to boats. So another thousand it will be. Anyway the girl is being dressed up and we now have pockets! The noodle on the stern life lines installed so that the Bloke can lean out in comfort is now encased and supports 2 nice pockets for our jib sheets. Since adding the inner forestay there has been an extra rope lying about since the winch can only hold one. A nice result as everything is now tucked away neatly allowing even for the comfort of a water bottle to be close to hand. Oddly, the French forgot cup/bottle/can/wineglass holders at the helm station! Our solution will do nicely. Anyway, the canvass winch top hat can sit more snugly too when we are in port (oops, another drinking reference!).
Now that Easy Tiger has left we feel that progress has stalled to a glacial pace but we do have the sails back now and the canvass parts are arriving element by element and stud by stud (why Danny the Dane doesn't have a pocket full of the things is a mystery. Seems inefficient to keep returning to the workshop just to return with 2 more!). The crew of Urchin face a much bigger task - replacing a motor!
On the upside we can have had a few more evenings at the  Kardinya Hilton and a few more farewell wines or three...hic!

Does my bum look big in this tammy lift?

The girl was splashed in on Wednesday so we've been in overdrive! Wash down the dust and grime from 5 days on a dusty and very windy hardstand, attach the sails, fill water tanks, get smartened up, wash everything, charge up everything, deliver car back to Perth and clean it.....more lists.
The poor car has performed like a ute despite being a hatch and certainly couldn't be left as it was if we expected anyone to turn over the motor from time to time. Besides, if left as was, it would probably give us nasty flashbacks when we return for visits.
Mood swings? Did we mention the mood swings? Will we ever get all this stuff to a resolution and be gone? 6 weeks ago, of our fleet of 3 boats we would all have agreed that we alone could have left if we wanted as all was pretty much ship shape and ready, the Bloke's planning and efforts in preceding months a triumph of project management! Suddenly, the sails are down, the canvass off: naked really, and our lift delayed 10 days! Finding it hard to engage with the conversations that start with "Oh we thought you had gone already" or the "When exactly are you leaving?" Mmmmm. Can't wait to say "thanks for everything, goodbye and hope we don't need to see you again ....(for a while anyway)". .... meant in the nicest possible way of course. So we are looking forward to a flood of "Lasts" including last visit to the Chandler (sorry Andy), drives to Perth and back and most of all last drinks!

So on the verge of departure we have a few thanks, in particular:

• The Manager of the Kardinya Hilton for all the love, support, care and assistance in getting our dream to fruition even if it meant sacrificing a couple of hundred Mummy Monday's
• Viv, Emma, Lucas, Amy and the littlies for hopefully forgiving us for buggering off
• Roger and Jill for offering to store our "stuff". We are optimistic that the Floreat winebottle borer beetle might leave us a few nips to share when on shore leave
• Roger again for weather advice 
• Keith for offering to sail The Bight with us when everyone else said they had to stay home and wash the cat
• Andy and Bek at Hardware for Boats Mandurah for always getting stuff in for us
• Big Dave at Diesel Marine Maintenance for keeping our Yanmar in good nick and for teaching us how to look after our Iron Donkey. His tips on his website are excellent too - see www.dieselmarinemandurah.com.au
• Noelene at the Mardurah Marina for being a great host/landlady for us and Zofia for 5 1/2 years
• Andrew and Carolyn Bellamy and the beautiful Revision II for inspiration and encouragement - our mentors! Same goes to Missie, Paul, Tim & Ben from Wendera
• Dale, Catherine and Oceana our best ever marina pen pals on Georgia 
• Claire who took off in her winebago 2 years ago. A pathfinder!
• Scott Olney from Liquid Leisure who made sure we had all the right Musto kit to keep us dry, warm and comfortable. The Dubarry shoes are winners too BTW.
• All the jetty rats past and present for stories and dreaming times
• Lastly but not least, B1 and Maree from Urchin and Leanne and Steve from Easy Tiger for wanting to share this journey. OK guys, let's just do it!

Zofia said "aaaah" as she was eased back into the water. Note sun shades and pockets. Gotta love the bling!

Mind the teeth!

Oh dear, the teeth on the cogs of the clockwork have broken. The Bloke's superb planning has struck a delay. In the general scheme of things this is nothing compared with what we can expect mother nature to throw at us. Our micromanaging landlubber ways must be reformed!
Your clue to happenings is the interesting new loop added to our track. You're not mistaken - Zofia went for a walk in a mighty zimmer frame this week - ON LAND!
What should have been a routine lift, reapplication of anti-fouling, engine service and general polishing fest had to be abandoned when the lifters didn't have a cradle to put Zofia in. This was not entirely a surprise for us since we'd already observed 2 other yachts on the hard-stand and cradles are few. In fact, we confirmed not once but twice on the day before the scheduled lift that Zofia could be accommodated. Apparently the lifters knew something we didn't but then it turned out to be the reverse: the lifters didn't know anything at all so Zofia got her derriere power washed, had a suspended trip around the hard stand for a view of what might have been, and then got put back in the pond. Now we wait for a cradle to become available.
Are we grinding our teeth? Well, maybe to begin with. Is this delaying departure? Not at all since we had a couple of light globe moments recently that will no doubt create 'white out' conditions in the bank account but will add a few days to exit date. First of all, attempts at getting another season from the bimini and dodger failed to provided total confidence. The dodger we both agreed was a success story after treating it with Renovo, but somehow the binini seemed a bit thin. Sadly our favourite canvass trimmer Ron is out of action after back surgery so after getting recommendations for other local canvas people a quote was sought. It turns out that the reason for the seemingly thin bimini was that it was made of Sunbrella while the dodger was of Sunbrella plus. The things you learn. So we talked ourselves into believing that only the bimini would need replacement (with the addition of some side flaps) and that the dodger would be OK for one more season. Quote accepted but "we'll only get the bimini done thanks".  I don't recall being on "stupid" pills but obviously they have slipped into the diet.
We had asked "Phillippe the rigger" to visit to create a new furling line for the mainsail and since it was hot and the bimini absent at the trimmers, he had to shelter beneath the Dodger. We unzipped the centre panel for some air flow on a hot day -  ahhhhh so lovely. This even improved our view when Phillippe casually popped up the mast for a quick once-over to confirm the rigging from masthead light to foot. We got a tick BTW; all good - phew! The Bloke was so proud too that Phillippe's aerial work was accomplished using the newly serviced winches. The smooth clicking of the pawls - music to his ears. A few cable ties were attached to our wind instruments by way of a "while you're up there" request. Wretched parrots love to peck at the VHF antenna and bend it when they hang off it. The upturned and un-snipped cable tie ends should be a good deterrent. If we had been up on the hard stand as scheduled, Phillippe could not have made his inspection so this is clearly one bonus from the days earlier hardstand walkabout disappointment.
The 2nd bonus for the day came in the last moment rush to pack up and get back to Perth for our (postponed until Tuesday) 'Mummy Monday'. The attempt to zip down the centre panel in the dodger was met with resistance. I declared this needed a bloke since it seemed jammed. The Bloke declared this needed Innox, and lots of it. Ooops mind the teeth, they seem to have parted! And that is why, pink faced, we took the dodger to the canvass trimmer the next day to be replaced along with it's neighbour - our bimini.
So how is this a bonus, except for to the trimmer who has the joy of more work and some eye rolls? Imagine how annoying this could have been going across The Bight? 
Teeth grinding is banned! We will leave, I'm sure by mid November. This is after all when we originally projected we would leave anyway and we will depart with everything in good service so that the only surprises will be from Mother Nature herself!

Our lucky rainbow

Eva is at the Mandurah Boat Show today. This is the last day and she has worked on the Musto stand for the entire show. Here she is with Trudy, one of the Melbourne Musto Team. We had the crew from Musto over to "Zofia" for dinner last night and I cooked my first meal on the boat. Went alright - no one reported any medical issues this morning except for a desire to drink water and an undertaking to never drink wine again. I just can't imagine what has caused this reversal of preference.

Spiders Webs

While up in town for a couple of days getting a few more loose ends sorted (sadly not all done yet but 'getting there') my busy bloke declared he'd had enough and headed back to Mandurah by train. "Stuff to do!" was his war cry. Actually it's more like stuff to stow. Where will everything fit? I'm not done bringing stuff and he's VERY afraid - even though he at least knows it's not 50 pairs of shoes. Did he marry a centipede or the sister of Immelda he wonders?
In solitude, the bloke has been busy with a great surprise waiting for my approval. The spare ropes and spare cushion for that extra bunk (that theoretically could be created in the saloon) have been stowed in the stern cubby beneath the gas locker. Great work and a super use of a volume of space that although tricky to get at, is none the less like having a garden shed. All those ropes resting on the hull behind our bunk seem to be slightly muffling the hull slap at night. Now that has got to be a good thing. Yup; it's a Tick.
Better still, are the Spiders Webs. I'll include a photo ASAP but these ingenious installations extend the ledges we can stuff useful items like hats, caps, gloves and stubbie holders. Hard to believe that it's taken 5 years to think of it. Huge Tick from me. Just such a sneaky clever use of a bit of jelly rubber and webbing.
With all this fine work going on while I'm not around, I think I'll pop off to Brisvegas to visit the kids and give the bloke more opportunities to shine.
Speaking of 5 years, we have actually accumulated a bit of junk on board over these years so nothing is off limits now for inspection with a view to culling. Lockers and contents are being rationalised, rearranged, consolidated and inventoried  - only bloke-made spiders webs allowed on this boat!

Zen and the art of Dingy Maintenance. What else would you do on a Sunday afternoon.  All the little jobs just have to be done. With The Mandurah boat show coming this week we are preparing to entertain the "Musto Crew" and all other blow-ins. Eva got a gig on the Musto stand so I will be living with the retail queen next weekend. I am sure lots of stories will follow so stay tuned.

Testing testing!

The shaggy green beard on Zofia's bow got rustled yesterday when we took her out of the marina. The beard and our log book said it all - pen bound since the June long week-end! All our energy and time in the intervening weeks spent preparing for our new episode. Well that's not totally true because we did pop over to Brizvegas for a 30th birthday and grandchild immersion AND there was  Le Tour De France that needed a good looking at! Anyway the end result was a shaggy bum and rusty skills.
On test this week are the new solar panels now doubling the capacity of the old one, more power management systems for the fridge and Engels, the new drogue, anchor buoy plus metal gizmo that will ensure that the anchor snubber does not drop off the chain. Too early to trial the wind catcher seeing as the breeze is piping though from the south west as I write. No need to fiddle with the docking sticks yet either. Listing all this prompts me that this amounts to a lot of shopping and a lot of installing! No wonder the bloke has been busy.
In any event it was great to get out on the ocean and pop up to Becher Pt. Just when I commented how strange not to have seen any dolphins, the Comet Bay mob arrived and escorted us into Warnbro Sound. There were about 8 well fed adults plus a juvenile that played; twisting and lunging through the bow wave for around 30 mins. Fun time was over in an instant however when it was time to jibe and head for the anchorage. The old 'use it or lose it' horror emerged when the port side jib winch was stuck. Manly force saved the day but the winch maintenance, so long muttered about, now emerges as a necessity rather than a nicety! Good to get this sorted when the chandlery is only a short walk away.
Initial fears on arrival from the bloke that the solar panels were not working were followed but much activity down the man cave lazerette. Oh, and did I mention muttering and moaning? It turned out to be an overnight success. 8-9 amps were being fed in by morning making it possible to return all the manuals, which were lying open all over the saloon, to be stored away for the next 'excitement'. No modifications were in fact needed except for the passage of the sun.
A decent sized swell that was making the anchorage rather rolly promoted the bloke to trial the drogue's capacity as a roll arrester (Seabrake). The bloke has given it the thumbs up. Now that it is calming off it does look very handsome being dried dangling from the storms'l halyard. I' m less keen to need to use it in a following sea but reassuring to know its simple to deploy and highly likely to deliver a good outcome.
Verdict on the anchor buoy is positive although my deployment will need fine tuning. The bloke thinks it helpful to know where the anchor is and we were floating right over the top of it this morning in windless conditions. Our location confirmed by the boing, boing of the hull tapping the buoy. Good morning- rise and shine! Some schoolboys in a dinghy thought it warranted some inspection. They were probably hopeful to be able to poach some crabs or similar. Zofia would have been too big a prize to smuggle home!
The metal gizmo that secures the anchor snubber is a winner. Attached easily and has not worked itself loose, unlike its hook predecessor.