projects:sailing:blog:7_moreton_bay
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projects:sailing:blog:7_moreton_bay [2024/01/19 07:42] – created tjhowse | projects:sailing:blog:7_moreton_bay [2024/02/01 04:04] (current) – tjhowse | ||
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====== Moreton Bay ====== | ====== Moreton Bay ====== | ||
- | We live in Brisbane, which is right next to Moreton Bay, on the eastern-most part of Australia. It's a part of the Pacific Ocean, or the Coral Sea if you're a < | + | We live in Brisbane, which is right next to Moreton Bay, on the eastern-most part of Australia. It's a part of the Pacific Ocean, or the Coral Sea if you're a < |
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===== Marine Assist ===== | ===== Marine Assist ===== | ||
- | Volunteer Marine Rescue is an amazing institution. People who donate their time, effort and money to help make our waterways a safer place. If you get into a pickle they can send out a team to fish you out of the water and maybe tow your boat back to shore. They accept donations, but I figured it would be best to codify | + | Volunteer Marine Rescue is an amazing institution. People who donate their time, effort and money to help make our waterways a safer place. If you get into a pickle they can send out a team to fish you out of the water and maybe tow your boat back to shore. They accept donations, but I figured it would be best to formalise |
I don't really have a feel for what constitutes a call-worthy mishap. I expect we'll know it when we see it. You don't need a policy for VMR to respond to your emergency, but relying on them for our safety without giving something in return feels… inconsiderate. Hopefully we'll never have to call them up. | I don't really have a feel for what constitutes a call-worthy mishap. I expect we'll know it when we see it. You don't need a policy for VMR to respond to your emergency, but relying on them for our safety without giving something in return feels… inconsiderate. Hopefully we'll never have to call them up. | ||
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===== Insurance ===== | ===== Insurance ===== | ||
- | Our boat cost AUD$1600. Insuring it would be silly. We'd be sad if it sank, but we wouldn' | + | Our boat cost AUD$1600. Insuring it would be silly. We'd be sad if it sank, but we wouldn' |
===== 2024-01-10 Moreton Bay ===== | ===== 2024-01-10 Moreton Bay ===== | ||
- | The wind forecast was bumping around 10 knots, the boat was ready with our new [[projects: | + | The wind forecast was bumping around 10 knots, the boat was ready with our new [[projects: |
- | Our goals were to familiarise ourselves with the boat ramp, practice manoeuvring through the marina, and spend some time in the bay. A few days prior we'd been to look at the boat ramp just north of [[https:// | + | Our goals were to familiarise ourselves with the boat ramp, practice manoeuvring through the marina, and spend some time in the bay. A few days prior we'd been to look at the boat ramp just north of [[https:// |
- | When we were rigging up at the boat ramp, in one of the designated rigging zones, the wind was blowing directly into the mouth of the marina. I thought this would be too difficult to sail into so I planned on paddling | + | The wind was blowing directly into the mouth of the marina. |
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- | We pushed off and started paddling | + | We pushed off and started paddling. We did comically poorly. We made about three meters of headway thanks to the push-off, then canted sideways and drifted gracelessly back towards the dock. There were some VMR crew working on one of their boats next to the ramp who kept admirably straight faces and offered advice like "At least you're blowing back to the dock!" |
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The wind had picked up to 12-15 knots while we'd been faffing about in the marina. There were the hints of whitecaps. I was trying to think of how I'd get the front bit (tack) of the jib tied off to the front of the boat while we were bucking around. Poor planning came to our rescue as we ran aground on a sandbar just north of the channel. We'd been warned about this sandbar during our keelboat lessons, but I was less concerned in the case of our beachable cat. I jumped in to the half-meter of water and rigged up the jib. Easy peasy! With all the sails up the boat became much more manageable. We did a few good runs back and forth between the sandbar and the channel, getting a feel for the stronger wind and choppier water. | The wind had picked up to 12-15 knots while we'd been faffing about in the marina. There were the hints of whitecaps. I was trying to think of how I'd get the front bit (tack) of the jib tied off to the front of the boat while we were bucking around. Poor planning came to our rescue as we ran aground on a sandbar just north of the channel. We'd been warned about this sandbar during our keelboat lessons, but I was less concerned in the case of our beachable cat. I jumped in to the half-meter of water and rigged up the jib. Easy peasy! With all the sails up the boat became much more manageable. We did a few good runs back and forth between the sandbar and the channel, getting a feel for the stronger wind and choppier water. | ||
- | We were having a hard time tacking. In retrospect I think this was down to my hurried jib rigging. Even with the jib-raising-rope (jib halyard) cleated as tight as possible, the leading edge (luff) of the jib was still floppy. We worked around this by doing some downwind gybe turns, which involve travelling a greater distance | + | We were having a hard time tacking. In retrospect I think this was down to my hurried jib rigging. Even with the jib-raising-rope (jib halyard) cleated as tight as possible, the leading edge (luff) of the jib was still floppy. We worked around this by doing some downwind gybe turns, which involve |
- | Before too long Michelle lost her hat again. Fortunately we'd just had another | + | Before too long Michelle lost her hat again. Fortunately we'd just had another encounter with the sandbar so I was able to wade over and pick it up. Michelle also hopped off the boat. Losing the weight of two adults was enough to float the boat again and start it merilly sailing itself back towards the channel with Alex and Sam onboard. There was some focussed panic as I splashed back to the boat. Luckily it was slowed by Michelle being dragged along behind. We got back onboard and I steered us back around onto the sandbar for a breather and to answer the call of nature. |
- | During these events I peripherally | + | During these events I became aware of a buzz in the air. I initially thought it was the wind through our rigging, but soon the kids were shouting "Look! A drone! A drone!" |
It was around this point we noticed our mainsail had a problem. It has a boltrope sewn into the bottom edge (foot), and this is supposed to tuck into a slot in the boom. About half the foot of the mainsail had pulled out of this slot and the trailing corner (clew) was flapping in the breeze, only held on by the rope that pulls the foot of the mainsail tight (the outhaul). It seems there had been enough force on the sail at one point, probably during a gybe, to pop it out. I suspect this was caused by inexpert rigging. I had re-done the outhaul at some point to make it tighter, but neglected to loop it around the boom to tie the clew securely down to the boom. We'd been on the water for a couple hours by this point so we decided to call it a day. | It was around this point we noticed our mainsail had a problem. It has a boltrope sewn into the bottom edge (foot), and this is supposed to tuck into a slot in the boom. About half the foot of the mainsail had pulled out of this slot and the trailing corner (clew) was flapping in the breeze, only held on by the rope that pulls the foot of the mainsail tight (the outhaul). It seems there had been enough force on the sail at one point, probably during a gybe, to pop it out. I suspect this was caused by inexpert rigging. I had re-done the outhaul at some point to make it tighter, but neglected to loop it around the boom to tie the clew securely down to the boom. We'd been on the water for a couple hours by this point so we decided to call it a day. | ||
- | We pointed back towards the channel and I searched the traffic for a spot to slip in. Nominally a sailboat downwind of another sailboat has right of way, and a sailboat has right of way over a motorboat, but you can never be certain of other boaters' | + | We pointed back towards the channel and I searched the traffic for a spot to slip in. A sailboat downwind of another sailboat has right of way, and a sailboat has right of way over a motorboat, but you can never be certain of other boaters' |
Our main lessons learned today: Never try to sail without both sails, make sure the clew of the mainsail is tied to the boom properly, and scan the skies before doing a wee in the ocean. | Our main lessons learned today: Never try to sail without both sails, make sure the clew of the mainsail is tied to the boom properly, and scan the skies before doing a wee in the ocean. |
projects/sailing/blog/7_moreton_bay.1705650154.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024/01/19 07:42 by tjhowse