Thursday, January 21, 2010

Sailing on Mudlark with Mac

So I finally got a day to go and see Maggie over the Christmas break. Due to the craziness that is the pre-Christmas birthday season, the pre-Christmas Christmas-party season, Christmas itself, then the holiday season and then getting called back into work on what was to be my sailing week - I hadn't seen the yacht since late October.
I did however get to see the start of the Sydney - Hobart on TV and had a quiet chuckle when the two yachts, which ended up 1st and 2nd, made a meal of their spinnaker hoist and douse, respectively!
Anyhow, back on track now, I was down at the Marina giving the boat a general tidy up and thinking about putting her in the water for a sail when I ran into a sailing buddy, Mac, who also owns a Jedda - Mudlark.

As it turns out Mac's crew for the day didn't arrive, so looks like cleaning / tidying / sanding and varnishing of timber, etc, on Maggie has been postponed. So out we go!

The winds started out as light and variable from the SW to SE. Once out, it becomes apparent that the better conditions are to be had to the west - out of the wind shadow created by French Island. The wind steadily rose during the day to a solid 15-20kts from the SW, requiring a reef in both the main and jib. Fabulous conditions - the only downer was the salt spray in the coffee...as if drinking coffee that isn't from an espresso machine isn't bad enough!

As you can see from the track output from my GPS, we didn't really go anywhere - but it was fun not going there!  


Here's me motoring back up toward the channel at days end.

And that is almost the end of today's story - once again i must remember my camera, as we were required to turn around in the Yaringa Channel due to a larger keel yacht being stuck in the mud! Quickly followed by another keel yacht being stuck outside the channel while trying to swing in to pick up the mooring buoy!

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