Mirror.Dinghy"Tilman"

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...