Mirror.Dinghy"Tilman"

On September 5,1997 as " Jack de Crow " was navigating the River Severn in the vicinity of Shrewsbury he discovered that Diana Princess of Wales had died.The news came to Captain Sandy not by Facebook or internet news feed, but by reading sympathy cards affixed to a mountain of floral tributes left by the town's cenotaph. Local shops had windows decorated with images of Diana surrounded by flowers. Apparently the entire country was mourning, even the "lager louts" had stayed in and the town laid down in silence. Being a good natured and eloquent chap, Captain Sandy only slightly expresses his dismay at such an attitude to the passing of a royal mother of two, who passed away while out clubbing in the early hours with her boyfriend:- " The mood of those weeks had the bright uncrushable, brittle glitter of cellophane ..." So, apart from being written by a sailor, what does this have to do with sailing I hear you ask. Well, not a lot honestly, it was j...

My dream is to one day sail very far offshore and continue for a good while before turning for home. I'm a big believer in "going it with what you've got". But I reckon for an open ended voyage/ liveaboard, the Hunter 19 would be too  small. Not enough stowage for food and water, no headroom for whole days at sea or in port awaiting fair weather. I need a boat that l can call "home". Something I can carry 50 to a hundred  books, clothes for all seasons, tools and spares and still have space to spread out below. Hell I may even have guests aboard, or the kids may want to visit for a few weeks. However, as a small business owner, single dad and carer I don't have the money or the freedom to just move out right now. But when things change I  need to move before old age or cancer take hold. I've been lucky to come across two good books lately: "Sensible Cruising: the Thoreau Approach" and "Living Aboard Around the World". Both books ...

As the school holidays race by under a torrent of foul weather I've been working on Misty to make the most of my time. In a fit of pique I went out and bought myself a bimini hood. Ideally I wanted a hood to cover the sliding hatch so's I could sail or go below while protected from rain or beating sunshine. A few years ago I bought an engineless Folkboat up from Pittwater. In the height of summer over an almost windless three days I experienced really bad sunburn, mostly to the tops of my feet strangely enough. But it provided a reality check about gales vs. sun exposure. Well, it wasn't until I'd  bought the smallest Oceansouth bimini and laid it up in the cockpit that I realised it would not be a five minute job. Dodging a mid-boom mainsheet, backstays and sheet winches keeps you busy. I won't bore anyone with details, because every matchup between sailboat and bimini will be different. At the moment I still need to host the main to check how far forward I'...

Although I did have an afternoon sail at Shoal Bay in Tilman a week ago, I've mostly been working on his big sister Misty my Hunter 19 trailer sailer. She's my preferred craft for school holidays and once again they're upon us. By work I mostly mean modifying . Well, there was the broken tiller from last holidays that needed repairs. It was a job that kicked on way too long as it happens. I harbour bigger plans for Misty and I've taken the time to add a Samson post and collision bulkhead, some new deck treads over the anchor well and installed new ground tackle; a 12kg CQR and 40m of 6mm chain. Anyway ... a few nights ago a fellow on the " Dinghy Cruising Australia " FB page invited all comers to a raid nearby and I'm keen to join in. Unfortunately because it starts on the last day of the holidays I'll miss most of it. But, what I plan to do is begin cruising a few days beforehand and then catch the start of the raid. The Myall Lakes, where the ra...

   Tilman and I had our first, albeit tiny, sail on Newcastle harbour on Sunday. The day was almost filled with domestic and family stuff, but at around 3 pm we were liberated and the harbour was the nearest patch of water.    I'd not launched there before but was pleased to find a perfect little beach near the boat ramp proper and chose to kick off there. With a Land Rover tow vehicle, it was easy. We sailed off a windward shore in 5 knots and after 100 yards had our most difficult manoeuvre of the day to negotiate; a low bridge. I was certain the yard would not fit, so I sailed parallel to the underside of the bridge to see if the mast would go clear. Yes! So I loosed the main halyard and dipped the main, or momentum carried us on through.    Passing the main marina for the city was a visual feast, with many large yachts hanging out, few with people attached though. One sleek cat caught my eye, Fantastique , designed by a real sailor for sailing. Sleek...

We wake this morning to learn that Tony Bullimore has passed away from cancer, aged 79 years. He tugged at the heart strings of many Australians as we learned that his yacht had turned turtle in the Southern Ocean and that his nearest rescuer was 2,500 k away and would take four days sailing to reach home, if he could last.   He did and we all watched the footage of him swimming by his overturned yacht, him being dragged aboard a Zodiac and kissing his rescuer.    There was a collective warmth across the nation that our penny-pinching governments had done something generous and successful for a boat-person (they were mistreating refugees and still do). We kind of feel in love with Tony, so well prepared, professional, humble and appreciative. I recall seeing him reunited with his wife, not a fair-skinned English woman, but a dark skinned gregarious woman with a thick Caribbean accent. I remember thinking, "not what I expected", but hey that's cool, this guy just gets be...