Innholdsfortegnelse for July 17 i Cruising Helmsman

THIS July issue marks the third edition under our new design and I am happy to say the feedback coming back consists only of ‘thumbs up’. That is a relief! At time of writing the previous June issue was only just hitting the newsagents so, as yet, I have not heard reports back on our big feature on Cyclone Debbie. This July issue our big feature is on anchoring, written by the venerable Bruce Nicholson who has been writing quite a few stories for us regarding setting your yacht ready for cruising. this includes preparing yourself and the crew! The two signature features for this July issue is ‘getting out there’ and the South Pacific. So following on from the anchoring article we have a number of stories about how…

CRUISERS are the silent member of sailing, happy to do what they do for the sake of it, not for the glory. But some have done some extraordinary cruising and they should be recognised for their efforts in making cruising and sailing a better place for us all. That is the premise behind the ‘Cruiser of the year’ award currently being assessed for Australian Sailing’s 2017 sailing awards. Alan and Patricia Lucas won the inaugural award in 2016, who will win this year? The nominee/s do not have to be Australian, but with an all-Australian selection panel it would not take much to realise that an expat would have to be quite extraordinary to top a local! Jack and Jude Binder would be a good example as cruisers deserving a…

PALMERSTON Atoll was the most unique and incredibly isolated place we visited while sailing across the Pacific Ocean and there is no other place like it on earth. Situated on the top of a submerged ancient volcano and consisting of a small number of sandy motus, the largest six being: North Island, Leicester, Primrose, Toms, Cooks and Palmerston. The latter being the only inhabited island on the atoll. The atoll is a continuous ring of coral reef enclosing a beautiful blue lagoon. Approaching the atoll is not always easy depending on the weather and sea state. Finding the entrance to the lagoon can be treacherous but not required, as the mooring balls are located outside of the reef and, therefore, a roadstead anchorage. This can however, make the anchorage extremely…

TRAILER SAILING MADE EASIER Like many other TS owners, Petr Baum put a lot of thought into making his large, comfortable TS, an Austral 24, easier to rig and launch. Some time ago, we featured Petr’s single-handed mast raising system on what is now his previous boat. Petr’s new boat may well be the answer for other sailors who now feel that managing a TS is too difficult, yet don’t want to defect to the dark side and buy a keelboat, dealing with all the hassles that go with boats kept afloat. After much consideration, Petr had Denman Boats in Tasmania build one of the innovative designs from Swallow Boats in Wales. The Baycruiser 20 is a water-ballasted ketch with carbon fibre masts. All-up weight is just over 450 kilograms,…

IN 1980, I sailed from Sydney in my 48 foot ketch The Lady Faye with five friends, bound for Fiji where I had been appointed as a lecturer in marine biology and fisheries at the University of the South Pacific. As the passage from Sydney to Fiji was across an almost empty part of the Pacific Ocean, I looked on the chart for a place where we could break the trip. Our course meant that we would pass close to Hunter Island, a small and isolated island where I promised the crew we could take a one-day break if the weather was suitable. In those days, in the absence of GPS, it was all sextant work, which Barry and I shared and we congratulated ourselves when tiny Hunter Island came…

HAVE you ever spent 13 months squashed into a four metre by two metre space with two toddlers? Well, we have. For over a year, Slade and I have been on 24/7 parenting duty. There has not been a night off, a babysitter in sight or any helping hands. Rearing kids afloat is no easy task. For 394 days straight we had soldiered on alone, raising our kids afloat in five different countries and our patience had worn thin. Tensions on board Eos were at an all time high. Chaos had replaced our, somewhat organised, parenting. The hull was closing in on us, our small 34 foot yacht becoming a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare. We arrived in Fulunga, an island in the Lau group of Fiji, stressed out of our minds,…

HELD every year at La Grand Motte in France the eighth edition of the International Multihull Boat Show keeps growing. The popular seaside resort on the Mediterranean coast includes a large harbour and marina suited to displaying multihull yachts of all sorts. With two million tourists per year it is one of the favourite resorts of the French. When this year’s show closed on Sunday April 23 the windy weather of the first few days had given way to Med. sunshine. More than 14,000 visitors looked through over 50 catamarans including: Bali, Catana, Fountaine Pajot, Lagoon, Leopard, Nautitech and Outremer. Three trimarans were also on display: a Corsair Pulse and two Neels. The organisers were happy to announce that over a hundred yachts had been sold over the five days.…

PUMP IT, DON’T DUMP IT MY name is Caitlin Philipps and I am a seventeen year old from Victoria. I have had the pleasure to write for you at Cruising Helmsman, firstly with my sister about kids cruising Port Stephens and the Myall Lakes and secondly, ‘Jodie’s rescue’ book review (sorry again for the lateness of that article). I am involved in a lot of ocean conservation, I was an alumni member of Ocean Youth, a youth ambassador program for the SEAlife Trust. I am still in alliance with Melbourne Aquarium and its conservation work and I am currently a member on the World Oceans Day Youth Advisory Council for The Ocean Project. My campaign work stretches outside these boundaries though with my initiative ‘Pump it, don’t dump it’. When…

HELPFUL BLOG ON MORE THAN JUST OUTBOARDS Mercury Marine has begun a boating information blogsite: Mercury Dockline. The new website will focus on the boating lifestyle, featuring content that goes beyond engine specifications and propeller pitches. While it does concentrate on motor boating, Mercury Dockline focuses on educational and entertaining stories, videos, photos and content intended to engage boaters of all types. The site includes tutorial videos on maintaining your outboard and other tips; as well as a myriad of fishing tips and stories about enjoying the boating life. www.mercurydockline.com FENDER COVERS CUT TO FIT Fenders are a necessity on board a yacht. While they may protect the hull from damage while moored alongside a wharf or other yachts, they can still transmit grease, grit, paint and other nuisances onto…

IF you are holding this magazine in your hands, you probably have already thought or dreamt of this: to cruise for a year or maybe more, to cruise far from work, neighbours, colleagues, college, bills, pollution, elections … etc. There is the passion you have had since you were young, that incessant call to go to sea. Was it your exhaustive reading of all the tales of long sea voyages which slowly contaminated your thoughts, or the nautical press invading your lounge table? Then there is this incessant rhythm of sameness: work – work – work. Maybe your few weeks of annual holiday has allowed you to discover other shores. But, far from satisfying your appetite, they acted more like a drug. With each cruise you become more intoxicated and…

ROSSEL Island is just a speck in the ocean and has often been described as the tip of the tail of the Louisiades Archipelago. It is the most easterly of the Louisiades islands, lying approximately 210 nautical miles from mainland New Guinea and was named after de Rossel, a senior officer on the French expedition of d’Entrecasteaux, 1791-1793. The island is protected from the vagaries of the Coral Sea by a wide fringe of coral reef with entry into the 40nm long, 5nm wide lagoon via the Western Pass and clearly marked on electronic navigation charts. ALL HANDS ON DECK The entry to the lagoon is easily identifiable though sailors would be well advised to make their way, albeit slowly, toward the towering sprawl that is Rossel; the mountains of…

DESPITE the unwelcome intrusion of Cyclone Debbie, a hundred women still made the trip to Port Stephens for the ‘Women who sail’ Gathering. More than just an opportunity to catch up with old friends, this second Gathering followed on from the first held last year with interesting presenters and demonstrations providing useful information for the group of female sailors. ‘Women who sail Australia’ is a support network for women involved with and interested in, all things sailing, boats and the ocean. Begun just a few years ago as a closed Facebook group, WWSA has grown to close to 2000 members making capable to offer opportunities for members to connect, learn and share experiences in person. Yoga and safety demonstrations were followed by presentations including: storm tactics from Lin Pardey plus…

PAPUA New Guinea remains a mystery, although it is only separated from Australia by a little under four kilometres at the narrowest point. For many it is still the ‘Land of the unexpected’. So what can you expect? Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the most culturally-diverse countries in the world with 852 known languages and much of the population living in customary communities. It is a sailors wonderland with about 600 islands and 5,150 kilometres of coastline to explore. Port Moresby, or ‘Pom’ as the locals say, is the capital and the home of the Royal Papua Yacht Club (RPYC). The city has undergone significant and rapid development in recent years. For sailors, this means all the facilities and comfort of home combined with all the cultural diversity…

THE Sail Indonesia rally fleets joined others who had sailed and motored in from different parts of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to be part of the marine festival celebrations. We were all anchored in the Tanjung Pinang anchorage and by our calculations we estimated there was about sixty vessels more or less in the anchorage on the final evening. The vessels ranged in size from something that looked like a floating block of flats to small sixteen foot cabin cruisers. This is a well-protected anchorage for anything other than weather coming in from the west. So, after the day’s hectic social events, we were enjoying a drink and winding down prior to heading back out to the boat. At around midnight we noticed the lightning on the horizon to the…

WHEN I purchased my Martzcraft 35, Sapphire 4 in 1993, the plan was to stay on the corporate treadmill with periodic cruising trips along the NSW coast and occasional cruises to my home state of Tasmania. The Martzcraft was a proven and comfortable sea-going ship which would more than suffice for my plans. The possibility of sailing further afield seemed little more than a pipe dream. Soon after, I met Janet and everything changed. Janet also owned a Martzcraft 35 and had similar, if not more, ambitious plans. After we got together, pooled our resources and downsized to one Martzcraft, the possibility of a full-time cruising lifestyle became a reality. UNDERWAY Our travels took us cruising along the Australian coast between Tasmania and Queensland until we ventured into the Pacific…