Wings Cruising Log

Wings is in the boatyard, but Judy & I needed a day on the water, so we borrowed a speedboat and headed out onto Sydney Harbor. The manager of the Sydney Superyacht Marina, Dara Johnson, loaned us his 20ft outboard powered runabout and Judy & I grabbed our jackets (its Winter here) and went boating. First stop, Noake's Boatyard, to check on Wings. The keel is on, the bottom is painted, and the interior work has been started, but... boy, would we rather be doing this work ourselves. The boatyard workers just don't do it like we would. Is that a surprise? No. They don't love Wings, like we do. Anyhow, we guess they'll do OK, but we have a list of things to bring up when we can talk to them on Monday.

So, a recap of where they are is: they have removed and replaced the keel... it's OK. They have removed but not yet replaced the rudder. Is it OK? We aren't sure. There is some corrosion of the shaft. We need to check this out some more before they put it back together. And, they have removed and replaced the chainplates.In the process of doing this they found moisture in the deck core material, and are fixing that. The mast is still off, and they are working on that. The work they are doing looks good. The mess below decks, however, is something else. We spent some time cleaning up the worker's mess and we wish they would be more carefull, but then, isn't that what we have to put up with for not doing it ourselves? Anyhow, the project is ongoing, and we can expect the same sort of thing for the next three or four months.

Next stop, the fuel dock. Dara told us it was low, but he thought we could make it back from the boat yard.Wrong! About 100 yards from the fuel dock the motor died. One look on the tank was enough, it was DRY! So we found a couple of paddles in the bow locker and started to paddle. Finally a guy in an inflatable gave us a tow and we made it to the fuel dock at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for 40 liters of petrol (a little down under talk for you just then).

Back on the road again we headed for Birkenhead. This is a marina next to a shopping center in West Sydney and we had a few miles to go before we got there. With a full tank we felt that we could be a little cavalier with the gas, so we put the pedal to the metal. Dara's little speedboat can hit 37, with the motor trimmed out and a few waves to work. This was fun but Judy thought that flying over the choppy Sydney Harbor at that speed in a 20 foot runabout was tough on the knees, Right, but did you feel that speed? Dynamite!.

Birkenhead must be an English name. There was one in Auckland too. The shopping center at Birkenhead, in Sydney, is a discount outlet center, in a bunch of old factory buildings, and we had fun exploring and checking out all the bargains. Then we hit the supermarket and bought our week's groceries. Indian food seemed to be on the agenda, and we bought a whole bag full of curry seasonings, plus some Nan bread and Mango Chutney. Now it was time to head back to the Sydney Superyacht Harbor. Another short run at full tilt, but be carefull of the groceries!

We put the speedboat away and made it back to the aprtment in time to cook up a bunch of hot lamb Vindaloo, washed down with a bottle of red Oz wine, and turned on the telly to watch the Lions (from England) and the Wallabies (from Australia) play Rugby football. This was the big game, sold out for a couple of weeks, and the final game in a series that happens only each 12 years, so it was the BIG DEAL. What intensity, what a game. Eighty minutes of mad scrambling, and in the end, Austalia won it 29-23. Do you think that resulted in some big celebrations?

We were pleased, a good end to a good day, and we did spend most of it on the water.

Fred & Judy