Wings Cruising Log

Hi, Well, we didn't make it for the Olympics, and we didn't make it for the Sydney Hobart, but Wings is finally in Sydney, Australia. We sailed into the harbor on Saturday after a long day spent crashing upwind in the rough ocean outside of Sydney Heads. What an arrival: We were tired, salt caked, and beat-up, but no break for us yet. We ran into a traffic jam which would do justice for rush hour in Seattle. There were so many sailboat races happening in the harbor we had to watch everywhere for right-of-way situations. Still, we had enough enthusiasm to raise our colors and hook up with a few local boats to compare our speed. Of course our ocean going set up of double reef and number 4 jib was hardly a match for the local harbor racers' full mains and number 3's, to say nothing of their 10 crew members' weight on the rail. But never mind, we had docks to find anyhow, so we bore off and headed to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA). Soon we had lines ashore and we were busy putting the boat away, stowing sails, safety equipment, running rigging and anything else loose. We figured it would be a while before Wings leaves this harbor, so who needs a boat all organized for the ocean? Shortly afterwards we kinda crashed.

Sunday morning we took a long walk around the area here at Rushcutter's Bay, found Edgecliff and Double Bay communities, the train and bus stations, grocery stores, etc etc. Then we came back to the yacht club and spent the rest of the day washing and waxing and more stowing. Flying the American flag and sitting directly in front of the club house we wanted to make sure we didn't give American yachts a bad name. At the end of the day Wings was starting to look like a normal boat instead of a salty battle wagon.

There, that's better, we said, now we can do some more sightseeing. So we had a full day riding trains, trams, monorails, ferrys and buses, plus quite a bit of walking, with time out to visit George on Moonshadow and to have a bottle of wine with some fresh fish for lunch at the fish market. Finally we picked up our laundry, got some film processed and staggered home Monday night with tired feet and a better feel for Sydney. It is a BIG, dynamic, beautiful, and expensive city. We know we are going to like being here. Now if only we can afford it.