Mirror.Dinghy"Tilman"

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...

An internet search revealed a brand new 1.25 sq.m storm jib in 6 oz. cloth for $213 from Rolly Tasker Sails here in Australia.

Shaping a new tiller for Misty  has taken my attention these passed few days. Initially wandering in the bush to select a suitable piece of wood with a natural bend. Then sculpting away to reveal a suitable shape. I wanted fat  and I got it.    Daughter said it looked "like a tusk off something bigger than an elephant ". I'll take that as a compliment.    It compares favourably to the original and has more character and I know it's provenance having grown here on our land for may be a hundred years.

   the last day of the school holidays was spent improving our storm sailing credentials. what presented as the worst sail in my life actually developed into one of the most instructive day on the water ever. clearly, it was a day of extremes.    a strong wind warning had been issued for 20 to 30 knots, I'd run out of tomorrows with my son, so today we had to sail. he was keen but knew little what 30 knots did to a small sailboat, but he would soon learn more than he wanted to about heavy weather sailing.    the launch ramp was only partly protected, there was limited wave action but the W was closing the shore side on, making conditions busy rather than dangerous. all but for a small improvement I'd made the previous week we'd probably have made a clean escape from the shore. three times as we headed for open water after I'd lowered the outboard Misty screwed sharply to port sending us careening up the bank, before I realised that the engine lanyard was ...

   Before I begin my Sailing Report for today I wish to pay my respects to the Worimi People, the traditional inhabitants of the land. Port Stephens was sighted by Captain James Cook in May, 1770 who named it after Philip Stephens, secretary of the Admiralty. He observed smoke from Worimi campfires. The Tea Gardens and more so neighbouring Hawks Nest townships on the north side of the port have been colonised only relatively recently. In colonial times the picturesque Little Jimmy's Camp east of HN was one of the best known corroboree camps on the east coast of Australia. And through the early 1900's a group of 400 Aboriginal people camped near a timber mill, also near HN. Since then European settlers have transformed (exploited) the landscape by logging, sand mining and fishing. In recent times those industries have been exhausted and less destructive activities has prevailed. The principle attractions being the easy-paced lifestyle around the Myall river and beaches, do...

This guy is Ashley Coulston and I met him in Newcastle Harbourin the late 1980's when he was about to attempt a solo TransTasman crossing in his 2.4m egg boat. 1988 was a crazy year in Australia, being its bicentennial year there were gala events going on everywhere all year long. So, apart from the minute size of his boat, I didn't anything out of place with this as just another festive sailing event. I probably said "wow ... cute boat ... good luck". There was no way of going below for a peak because it was miniscule and with two onboard there wouldn't be anywhere to move. Nothing strange so far hey?    I did keep an ear out for any news and was disappointed to hear that "G'day88" was lifted aboard a freighter in cyclonic conditions.A bit sad, but these things do happen, nothing strange yet.     Today I learned two things: the first being that Coulston refitted "G'day88" and made a second attempt on the Tasman and was success...

"Yankee Girl" 10' long, homebuilt and sailed by Gerry Speiss across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A search on Google will provide a copy of the book which describes the design, build, test sailing and Atlantic crossing: "Alone Across the Atlantic". I borrowed a copy from Archive.org. It's the best read I've had in a while.