11/30/2013 0 Comments JBEarly morning stillness saw us untying the ropes at Ulladulla Harbour yesterday and setting off for JB - that's what the locals call Jervis Bay.
Now I've never been one for using exclusive lingo - I still like to use 'front' and 'back' and 'left' and 'right' - I still hate that idea people get of an elite club that has all the -'inspeak' down pat so others feel like outsiders! But everyone around here calls Jervis Bay JB or J Bay and we have found ourselves slipping into the lingo! We had a fairly good run up, the wind was right on our behind and the square sail would have been perfect but once again I had a battle with sea sickness and found it next to impossible to be upright, so without an extra set of hands Peter decided to battle on with the jibs and mainsail. I am beginning to wonder if my equilibrium is being affected by my new hearing aid. I have not sailed with it in before and it seems that so far on this journey I have been sicker than ever before. Mind you the children were very green and seedy yesterday too so perhaps sea-state is playing the most significant part. So we arrived in JB around 1 o'clock. As soon as we hit the calm waters of the bay it all settled down and everyone was up on deck ready to help. We were going to try and get a mooring over at a place called Hole in the Wall, where it is calm during a southerly, which we had. Now anyone who has been following us for a while will know that moorings have been the death of us! We have found it very hard to pick up moorings whenever we tried and our last attempt was so disastrous it left us feeling quite trepidatious! We have however learned a thing or two since then - we decided that trying to pick up a mooring from the bow-sprit that is so high above the water was a part of our problem. Some other boaties told us they always pick up the line at the mid-ships position so we thought we could try that. Plus we have a new boat hook as our lovely long one snapped in that last lovely attempt we made in Batemans Bay when we then got grounded and had to be pulled off the edge! Anyway enough said about that! So we came in, ready for another go, but with a better plan. As we approached the mooring buoy there was a bit of anxiety and the kids and I were all set, ready, prepared and - would you believe we picked it up first time, no hassles! Hurrah! Yes, we were quite thrilled with ourselves! As the one to pick up the line I was especially pleased - and it is quite clear that a significant part of our previous problems was the trying to reach down so far - the bow-sprit is so high above the water - the suggestion to pick it up at the lowest point of the hull was an excellent one. Peter managed to steer us right alongside the mooring and it was so easy for me to reach down and pick it up. We ate then and within an hour of stopping the children were off in the kayaks to explore. This, we reflected, is exactly why we are doing this. The opportunity the kids have to run off and explore beaches and new places is priceless. Watching them as they paddled away brought such a sense of joy to me - and this morning we have awoken to a beautiful day. We are surrounded by clean white sandy beaches, pure silica Peter told us, some of the whitest beaches in Australia. How awesome. Last night we ran the gennie for an hour and watched some local TV, used the computers and ran the dishwasher - we are feeling quite opulent these days and so much better equipped than when we arrived in Batemans Bay 18 months ago. We plan to spend a week or so here, and with such a big waterway about us, hope to do some sailing within the bay - putting up the square sail for some practice amongst other things. Ah JB we are going to love you!
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11/25/2013 0 Comments Ulladulla!We set sail on Sunday morning, after waiting for the tide to come up sufficiently to get us safely over the bar, about 11 am, in what seemed to be the perfect conditions. The sun was glorious, blue sky, 10 knots of wind from the south - perfect! Who could ask for more!
It was an amazing thing to sail out of Batemans Bay after such a long visit! We had come in needing to do some work and earn a few dollars but had never in our wildest dreams thought we would have stayed so long or left with such a sense of having done that for which we came! So much was achieved while we were there - and not just the dollars part! Both our health has stabilised - mine as well as Peter's and we have learned things we never expected to learn in Batemans Bay! Peter got so much sailing experience while we were there, and the children and I learned vast amounts about looking after our boat alone! I began to be a regular writer for the Cruising Helmsman and began my other adventure, the Miles Away From Abuse Facebook page which currently has over 4000 followers. And in addition we have left one family with a fantastic deck, another with a whole house and close friends with the starting of another B & B cottage. What a lot to have got done! But the time was definitely ripe for us to go on and so we waved goodbye to dear friend Jacq and set off. The perfect conditions stayed with us for most of the early afternoon before the wind died right down. Ah well! The 10 knots dropped to barely a whisper and as we were sailing directly north we found the motion of the boat become ever more rolley! And of course after 18 months with no sailing we all felt that motion unpleasantly! It took us until 11 pm to get into Ulladulla - making a massive 2.5 knots most of the way even with the motor on! Oh gosh! Still despite the slowness and the sickness we had a good trip. We left the bay and got into Ulladulla without any kind of mishap and although we did walk the boat up and down the wharf here looking for power several times before midnight, nothing went wrong! Nothing at all! Yay! And we even got power set up in the end! Since getting in the children and I have explored Ulladulla a little between rain showers, and Peter has been entertained chatting to everyone who has stopped by to see the boat as is the usual case! Yes, its not such an frequent sight, an 1800's inspired schooner tied up at the wharf! Jervis Bay will be our next stop, and each day we watch the weather closely, looking for the right day to set off. Currently it looks like Wednesday, but weather - well it isn't the stable science at all is it!? 11/23/2013 0 Comments Farewell Batemans BayAt approximately 11 am Argos departs Batemans Bay. We got out of our tricky little pen spot yesterday morning with barely a scratch thanks to some skillful helming by Peter and quickly slipped back into the sailing life! It is just like riding a bike we found - once out of the pen we maneuvered out of the tight corner of the marina we slipped into a year ago, and headed out into the river. The plan was to do all the tricky things and then slip down to the main wharf in the town, ready to say goodbye to those we have come to know here in the Bay, the family we built the house for and others. We had a lovely evening and with the sun rise heralding a beautiful day it is time to do all our final tie-downs, secure everything below and as the tide reaches its height motor down the river and over the bar.
Winds predicted for today should get us to Ulladulla by early evening where we will tie up for the night, ready to head into Jervis Bay on Tuesday - depending of course on the weather! 11/15/2013 0 Comments Getting Ready!The Day Has Arrived!
Yes. The house in Batemans Bay is done - and our next project - a quick trip up to Canberra to help lovely old friends Maureen and Maurice Tully with a building project on their Cook farm, restoring an old farm shed for use as a B&B ( check out http://www.rosebudcottages.com/) has also come to and end and yes, today is the day we head back to the Bay to start our final preparations for leaving! Out time in Canberra has provided us with excellent opportunities to spend time with our kids, and we have really had the best of times seeing them all, celebrated Erina's 16th birthday and generally had a good time, but the really good time starts now as we prepare to set sail! We have a few tasks to do to get ready, install the new dishwasher on board - yes - a compact dishwasher that uses only 8 litres of water per wash has been shipped and awaits us in the bay! So that will need installing and some cupboards that we have needed will be built and then we will be on weather watch full time, planning the actual day of our leaving. It will be some time towards the end of the coming week. People ask us where we are going, thinking we have a destination. We tell them 'North!' We know little really, but this is the 'plan' ~ head up to Ulladulla for a day or so, then on to Jervis Bay. We hope to spend a week or so in JB before heading on to Sydney Harbour - depending of course on weather. Once in Sydney we hope to spend at least until New Year's Eve, taking in the best view of the renowned fireworks display! From there, well Lord Howe Island would be lovely, or directly up to Coffs Harbour where we will be slipping Argos for a scheduled anti-foul, and then on to Brisbane. If you are anywhere along our route, please let us know so we can catch up with you. Please check out (and like) our new Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/argos.schooner?ref=hl which we will be able to update DAILY with our location and stories about what is happening, and which will provide you with instant access to all our latest news. Got-to-run! Ooops, I mean 'sail'! |
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September 2017
Our life aboard Argos has been seriously challenged this year with the surprise departure of our skipper. As a writer, diesel mechanics and the complexities of many aspects of Argos’ on-going maintenance are way beyond me! We would like to see Argos continue to sail and eventually hope to use her to offer support, encouragement and a break to people who are struggling in their lives. Any on-going help towards maintaining Argos would be greatly appreciated and enable us to achieve this goal.
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