Rugby

Photo from the rugby night.

Scooter Day

Was on the back seat of a scooter for the first time in a very long time. Manuel, my new crew came to Reboot today. He still has his scooter so we used it to run errands. It took me quite a while to settle down and feel comfortable. Although there are far more shopping opportunities here in Sydney we went to three stores before we found one with pop rivets in the correct size. I also bought a spool of wire as the per meter cost was quite a bit more. Tomorrow if it is quiet I will climb the mast and put the radar bracket back up.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Cat in a cabinet

Open a cabinet, find a cat! I opened this cabinet to get out XO's food. Came back, found XO. Fair winds and following seas :)

Aussie Day

On Friday I had an Aussie day. I was invited to a barbeque on Bondi Beach. Then we went to watch New South Wales lose at rugby. On to a house party. Which was broken up by a neighbor at 2300 because "you are making too much noise." Then to Bondi Junction to go clubbing. But we faded quickly and went home. A fun day. Fair winds and following seas :)

New Jib

It was quiet this morning and I had help so we got the new jib out of the bag and up on the forestay. It is an ocean jib so it was really stiff. Even though Neil Pryde has made earlier jibs there is always that moment when you wonder if it will fit. And yes it did. It looks very nice all furled up. Fair winds and following seas :)

Safety

Yesterday I was with the guys who drive the launch. They mentioned that one of their rental boats had gone aground in an area that is (of course) forbidden for renters. They were going over to recover it. I had been swimming so I volunteered to come as someone would need to swim to shore. When we got to the site the waves were running 2 to 3 meters and the boat had broached and was sideways on the beach. We took one look and abandoned the effort.

Today the marina work barge came out to pick me up. I asked about the launch. They told me that this morning they had gone back to recover the rental boat. Apparently the waves were much lower. The location is a straight shot from the harbor entrance so there is almost always swell. They got a line tied to the beached boat. As they tried to pull it off they were picked up by a wave and the rescue boat was thrown on shore. So now there are two broken boats. Apparently they were able to get the rescue boat launched and back to Balmoral but the prop is history and the engine got submerged. So now the work barge is the working dinghy service.

The moral of this story is that even if you think you know what you are doing you might not.

Fair winds and following seas :)

That airy feeling

Today I was walking back to the dock and felt airy. Sure enough, got back to Reboot and discovered a rip in the seat of my pants. At least my boxers were clean! Fair winds and following seas :)

Imponderable

Why does red Locktite™ come in a blue tube and blue Locktite™ come in a red tube? Fair winds and following seas :)

Tune in, turn on, drop out.

Wth due defence to Timothy Leary this is actually a post about sailing. I am getting ready to head north as the hurricane season ends. So each day I turn everything on. And some of it doesn't turn on. Corrosion is a major problem on boats. I have learned the hard way not to wait until the last minute to test all the systems. Fair winds and following seas :)

The "paywall" and "free" advertising

This is a rant. Be warned.......

[rant]

I have two modes when it comes to the Internet. When underway or anchorage hopping I tend to ignore it. When it allows me to procrastinate in port I spend far too much time on it. Which brings me to my rant.

As someone who travels from country to country I typically buy Internet access by the megabyte. I have concluded that my actual cost of access is 2x to 4x what I actually read. The reason: advertising (I never respond); sign up your friends (I never do); you might be interested in this (I never am); "sponsored posts" (a dimwit name for a paid advertisement that I never respond to); prefetch (downloading content I might look at (but never do) ; memories (that I don't care about); and so forth. The only solution is to avoid those sites. The current environment is worse than watching broadcast TV. So I am disciplining myself to limit my interactions to the absolute minimum.

That brings me to the "paywall." For years the only news web site that required a subscription was The Wall Street Journal. Since I have sailing acquaintances on the editorial staff I paid. At the time there was no "inline" advertising. Now there is. I am considering cancelling my subscription. Now everyone wants me to pay for their opinions. I am sure that like many others I take a pass. Do I really need to pay to read the biased news from NYT and WaPo? I think not. Not to mention all the "click bait."

So our first amendment rights are intact. Our ability to read the opinions of others not so much. Unless you are willing to pay. Sad.

[/rant]

Fair winds and following seas :)

An excellent article.

For those of you who love the "administrative state" realize that every President gets to replace the administrators. I have long held the view that "outsourcing" law to " administrators" and "experts" is not only unconstitutional but a really bad idea ( like sailing into a hurricane or me getting married again!)

XO is greatly relieved. Taiwan bans slaughter of cats and dogs for human consumption - BBC News

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39573426

The simplest things

It was unseasonably cold this morning in Sydney. I decided to fire up my cabin heater. I has to remove the sea cover for the first time in about 1 1/2 years. Yes. The wing nut spins. So does the screw. In 58 F temps and 20 knot winds I decided to take refugee in the cafe on shore. Tomorrow when it warms up I will attack the problem. Fair winds and following seas :)

Young Endeavor

Got a visit this morning from the Young Endeavor. They came in last night. We took the Balmoral Boatshed launch out to say hi.

https://www.youngendeavour.gov.au

Sunshine

I don't need a sleep mask. I use my tail.

Fact Checking

This article is great.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39180855

Fair winds and following seas :)

Sunshine

After almost one month of daily rain XO enjoys a sunny morning. Fair winds and following seas :)

Biosecurity Visit

Matt comes to Reboot to check on XO (The Wonder Cat.) Fair winds and following seas :)

My coffee lady

One end of the launch run is Reboot, the other is coffee. Fair winds and following seas :)

$1.00 Flyswatter

Next time I will go for the $2.00 model. Fair winds and following seas :)

No Rules

Like most production boats Reboot has Rule™ bilge pumps and float switches. They claim the lifetime of the switch is longer than my projected lifetime. Not so much. The good news is that the bracket is a snap in saving me all sorts of work. Mission accomplished. Fair winds and following seas :)

Bugs

The natural kind. One of the first rules of cruising is to never let cardboard on your boat. It is well known that cockroaches lay eggs in cardboard. In the past couple of days I have had a different twist. Flies. All of a sudden I have had a bunch of flies on Reboot. They were not healthy. That is they were easy to kill. I finally traced the source. At least I think I did. The boxes of kitty litter. When I opened one I discovered plastic bags of litter inside. Since then I have removed all of the litter from the boxes and the boxes from Reboot. No more flies.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Collision

Just rescued a Hobie Cat that had flipped and drifted into Reboot. The skipper was not heavy enough to right here. A quick grab of the top of the mast with a boat hook did the trick. Great little boats.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Grow Fur

Went out in search of parts (unsuccessful.) Came back, XO borrowed under the blankets. Time to regrow some fur after a year in the tropics. Fair winds and following seas :)

A mixed day

A couple of days ago I had major dental surgery. I have four holes in my jaw and about 16 stitches. I am living on otc pain medication. It is not a lot of fun.

April 1 is (was, here in Australia) the end of my insurance hurricane exclusion. I can now sail north to Cairns and get positioned for the Sail 2 Indonesia rally. With the aftermath of Hurricane Debbie in my path I am not in a big hurry to leave*. I do, however, need to focus on all those nagging tasks to get Reboot ready. [Procrastination is my finest skill, apathy my middle name.].

Yesterday it was quiet at dawn. And not raining. A miracle! It was a good time to take the old jib down. It came down without a hitch. Of course I had it close hauled so it would fall on deck. Reboot said "lets go sailing" and took off! Fortunately I was still attached to the mooring. I was hesitant to raise the new jib alone even in light winds. With a couple of people it is much easier to get underway and then raise it rather than going crazy around the mooring.

What to do with the old jib? Without knowing if the new jib fit I was hesitant to throw it in the trash. The obvious solution was to take it and my patch material to shore. The launch came out and we wrestled the jib aboard. It probably weighs about 80 lbs. We beached the launch and dragged the jib on shore. As I was laying it out flat a new 10 foot long rip was created. She of three ocean transits was truly dead. RIP.

My grocery delivery had arrived so I lugged it all to the launch. Back to Reboot. Put the groceries away. Tried to eat. Mouth exploded. Took some pain meds. Napped.

I was delighted when Garmin Australia repaired my GPSMAP 5012 chart plotter in 5 days. The sun was out. Great time to reinstall it in the cockpit. Plugged it in. Nothing. Discovered that the fuse was blown and the fuse holder corroded. Have every fuse on board but the correct one. Wonderful ability to procrastinate. Will get the proper fuse tomorrow.

The day continued. Meds wore off. Pain. Napped. Tried a couple of more projects. Minor glitches stopped them all. Gave up. More pain meds. Went to bed. At least I got the jib handled.

Fair winds and following seas :)

* As I learned leaving Norfolk, Virginia as soon as my hurricane exclusion expired being able to go does not mean it is wise to depart!

Kitty Litter

Cruisers soon learn that things you take for granted at the grocery store aren't available worldwide. Who would have known that one of those things is kitty litter? Who would also have guessed that the latest and greatest kitty litter (crystals) would come in cardboard boxes? Not good for sailors, cardboard harbors cockroach eggs and absorbs moisture. And kitty litter is heavy; a pain to carry large amounts back to Reboot. None the less we are stocking up for oir coastal transit to Cairns.
****
Fair winds and following seas:)

Minor damage

The first of the month is XO (The Wonder Cat) flee and tick day. I escaped with only one 2" long scratch. Victory! I don't have the heart to wrap him in a towel. When I was giving him eye drops twice a day he sat quietly in my lap. But he doesn't like the flee and tick liquid on the back of his neck. Fair winds and following seas :)