Busselton feeder

The winds were a little shifty and fickle at the start causing a delay while the start boat tried in vain to set a line that would allow a start in the right direction. We chose a port end start, more by default than good planning as we weren't on the ball with the restart time. We picked the shifts quite well with Next factor first around the top mark and us close behind. Kites up and along until the wind died and back to head sails until the early seabreeze kicked in from the south. Down the channel we managed to go under Next factor and were first out the channel towards Coventrys with OP close behind. A sea breeze in from the South West and now it was just a question of what would happen as the day went on. Would it strengthen, would it hold, would it go back south. Should we go inside the reef chasing flatter water or should we go out. We had a drag race down behind garden Island with OP. They looked to have a bigger heady so when the wind pocked up we had the advantage, but when it dropped they did. In the end their sea miles showed taking us by 20 minutes but we learnt alot in our first ocean race on Charlotte. We learned that it is difficult to cook pizzas in the microwave oven when on starboard tack as they tend to jump out when you open the door. That the glass rotating plate from the microwave should be under the item being cooked not on top. We found all sorts of strange creatures during the night, one in particular that was often found foragging for food in the dark and was quite often found looking for mars bars on his hands and knees in the dark, but tends to growl and snap when woken from a nap. We found once again that the nav computer will without fail when you are in the middle of bouvard reef yet will work perfectly when in open water. And we decided that next time we may need to bring a kettle for coffee as it really doesn't weigh that much and caffiene is good. Best of all though is that we we discovered Charlotte is a dry boat even when bashing into it. It will be nice to get into a dry bunk on longer races. It turned out to be southwester until just before bunbury when it kicked left and to the south then kept bending to southeast to the finish just before 1am. OP first with us around 20 minutes behind just before 1 am then KD. Good racing with OP taking the overall win from us in second. Technically we should have won it easilly as our log kept saying we were doing between 11-25 knots ( I think it needs some calibrating) and our wind said it didn't get over 18 knots. Looks to be a good start for the lead up to race week and plans are well afoot for some serious on and offshore activities in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. Nav out

We're Back

Charlotte in her pen at Freo today.

After many months on the hard Charlotte was finally repaired. So have my ribs that were broken during the impact. The keel was sent back to sydney and rebuilt and centrecase replaced with a new one. Mast went back in this morning. She looks and feels brand new again and what a fantastic job by the guys who did the work.

The area around Fremantle has been resurveyed and our understanding is that the previously uncharted rock will become a new feature in the next chart update.

Today we went for a motor sail and tested the keel mechanism and instrumentation, then did the radio checks. All good. Safety review was completed back in the pen and all is in order for the Busselton feeder race on Saturday morning. Can't wait.

Charlotte will have the sail wardrobe refitted tomorrow and a test sail late afternoon with the boys planning a night on board to get accustomed again ready for Saturday morning.

See you on the water.

Naviguessor

August 29 - Disaster Strikes

Click on to enlarge

We reversed out of the Pen at 11:53am. The pressure was 1026 mBar and increasing, with clear skies, cool breeze on flat seas and a temperature of 15C. Conditions were near perfect for sailing. We lowered the keel, hoisted sails and were under sail. We were reaching at 60-70 TWA on a SW heading of 240degrees with full main and light heady at a speed of 7.2 knots in 8-10 knots of breeze from SSE (170-180 degrees). There was an outgoing tide at around 0.6 m with a minimum depth of 0.5 m expected at 3.28pm. We were just setting up to hoist a kite and bear away to the North when it felt like an explosion. We hit a submerged object that we presume to be rock at position 32 04.295 S 115 43.670 E at 12:08:33 hrs + 2 secs, 15 minutes after we left the pen. This about 0.8 nm SW of FSC harbor entrance about halfway between L and F mark. We hit harder than anything you can imagine. We hit once and stopped dead with nothing else felt. No bottom drag, no second hit. Watching the reply on Expedition is not enjoyable. Analysis of the track log on the computer shows the depth gauge was reading 5.3 to 5.5m depending the exact second we hit. Whatever we hit did not register. The minimum depth shown on the sounder on our track around the area was one measurement at 4.4 m about 15 secs after we hit but was generally showing in the 5.5 - 7 m mark for the minute prior and after the incident. Chart Depth indicates 5.1m and according to the tide charts we had 0.6m of tide at the time, meaning we should have had around 5.7m which is in line with what the depth gauge was showing. And yes the depth gauge is correct, it was showing 2.7 in the pen. We draw 3.6m of water with the keel fully down and therefore should have had more than 2m below the keel. We were reaching so there was very little heel. The point of impact looks like 200 mm from the base of the bulb therefore we hit an object that is at a water depth of around (3.4-0.6) 2.8 m Datum height. There is definitely no indication of any obstruction near this depth in this area marked on any chart. I have checked paper charts, CMaps, and Mapsource. Some charts suggest 3.7 near this area but with 0.5 we are still at 4.2m. There are rumours of old tall ship moorings in this area but we suspect a bit of reef sticking up here as anything else would have been destroyed with the impact 12 tonne at 7.5 knots coming to a dead stop. The lead on the bulb has been shortened by around 100mm and peeled back.

Nav was at the back of the boat and went flying into the wheel on the port side badly bruising a knee and chest and losing consciousness for a moment after being winded. My glasses ended up near the hatch and were smashed to pieces such was the force. The skipper flew through the air ending up near the hatchway. Another crewman nearly lost his head with a cut neck after flying into the hatch. Another was down below and flew the length of the galley. Another badly bruised his thigh against the winch. But overall everyone seems okay with just bruises and broken souls. We were lucky no one was seriously injured. Once we recovered from the shock we removed some floor panels and could see some water running in so we knew it was serious. We immediately rang Fremantle to start organizing the tammy lift ready for us while we lowered sails, started the motor and headed home. We were at the jetty at 12:21pm around 13 minutes after the incident and on the tammy lift shortly thereafter. The hydraulic keel lifted without any issues to full height for marina entry. The keel pin was inserted prior to the lift. The boat was taking on water we estimate at about 20Litres per minute and got to about 3 inches in the bilge by the time we got the boat out of the water. We had the manual bilge pumping as well as the auto bilge pumps. Here is a couple of downloads of our track showing where we hit, near L mark. We hit where I have marked “rock”. We have sailed within 10-20 metres of this spot many time before without any hint of a problem and previous log data shows the depth in this area to be 5-7 metres. The harbourmaster and DPI have stated they will be surveying the area to find out what we hit. The front of the keel is flat and the bulb has shunted on the skeg. There is damage to the carbon under the floor at the base of the keel. We cannot see any damage anywhere else. We will just have to wait and see. Could be a while before we are back on the water. I think I need therapy to get over this one.

The great card robbery

Magic Numbers! We have had the first Charlotte card night and some interesting stories can be told from the happenings of the night, although maybe not all the happenings……eh paddy! Must admit though the flying Irishman has new meaning for me now……lol The night started well and Navigator made an appearance showing off his latest scar from the shoulder operation, although he was making the most of it with us having to deal on his behalf. We all stood in awe of the piles of silver to which Brenton placed in front of him creating the scene of an impenetrable fortress. Mattman arrived with a marble bag of silver which underwent full inspection to ensure the cheap currency had been removed. Somehow Odam managed to stake a claim to some New Zealand funding which soon got withdrawn when it was realized that Odam could no longer make out what the pretty pictures were on the cards, this strategic maneuver by Mattman was timed perfectly as shortly after Odam had passed out of the couch! The ever so cautious Capt Blow Hard slowly let funds out whilst trying to read the opposition but after half a carton of Wild Turkey and coke forgot what he started so reverted tactics to just handing cash out. Navigator joined forces with Brenton’s impenetrable fortress of fear, but it was BJ and the little Irishman we call Paddy that reduced the castle to a mere shadow of itself, in fact I would say it resembled a paupers shack! There was a particular hand where the betting got confident to the point where there surely would have been a leprechaun whispering in someone’s ear and whoever took notice would take the pot, onya Paddy! Best hand of the night went to BJ for the four of a kind she had hidden away springing a trap on many newcomers to the game (not me). The thoughts of many turned from winning a great size pot to how many hash browns one could afford for tomorrows breakfast . On that note we called it an early morning and money bags were filled by some and not by others. All in all it was a great night which seemed to just fly by like the Irish exchange rate and looking forward to the next card night. Capt Blow Hard Nav note: Meanwhile poor Paddy is feeling guilty taking home $100+ more than he came with, but the rest of us don't mind as we just had a great time. Cheaper than a night club and You didn't mention that Paddy displayed his fine pole dancing characteristics at the end of the night. Mind you he may not remember, and don't want to!

Race 3 winter rerun

Time for the race report for all those intrepid followers of this blog site! As we were heading out to the start line we had our usual debate as to whether the keel was fully down or not, as for the past few weeks every now and then felt a movement within the yacht that just didn’t feel just right but everything we checked seemed to be alright. Well shortly after the gun OP seemed to have just slightly better height with the boat speed to go with it, our speed log seemed to be out which required us to double check how the log was inserted “just to be sure” but alias it was plunged correctly so it forced us to revert to using speed over ground to get some more accurate numbers which has its obvious inherent problems. During the first windward leg some discussion was going on as to if the keel was fully down as an out of sequence shudder could be felt every now and then, this resulted in various crew members going downstairs to press the button that lowers the keel. By this time OP was getting to the second mark ahead of us with their kite up in quick time from some good crew work, making it hard for use to make any inroads on the distance between the two yachts. Then the fun started as we were coming to the jibe point as the stand in navigator seemed to have a moment as the navigation system we use suddenly went deceptive and changed our boats position by some 800 meters. So the call came to get down to OPs line as we must be too high, unfortunately this proved to be incorrect as we shortly found both OP and ourselves trying to find a mark that was 800 meters to the West of us. By the time we rounded the mark we were at the back of the fleet playing catch up. On a good note we managed to successfully deploy the kite using the sock technology twice and with a few more practices under our belt look out! After the race and with a successful mission being achieved of missing all land we managed to locate Australia again! As when trying to pen her we found the keel would not lift up, so with reverse gear being used parked her alongside the re-fueling jetty, whilst some hydraulic oil was being purchased the crews fluid level needed topping as well, so some crownies were purchased. After fixing the problem and finding out the keel hadn’t been fully down all day, which could explain the log issue, decided a few quite drinks were needed prior to us heading home. Capt Blow Hard

(Nav note: sounds like a list of excuses to me!, Could have just said you stuffed up and you miss me)

Inshore Winter Series Race 7

Unfortunately the weather forecasts were not correct (how unusual). We were hoping for the wind to be around the 23 knots and decreasing in pressure but found it to be more like 30 knots at 10:30am with a good possibility of it greeting stronger.

 

However, we decided to head out and tackle the elements and if we were not joined by other yachts then at worst it would be a good training session.

 

As soon as the main was up 40+ knots was being felt and with the 4 to 5 meters of swell we knew this would be a good training day, as we have not had the opportunity to experience Charlotte in these conditions.

 

So out came the Offshore Musto Wet Weather gear and the inflatable lift vest/harnesses were taken out of their packaging and issued to the crew so all could get use to fitting them, reefs were put in the main and small head sails came out.

 

After about an hour and a half of tuning the gear it was about time to head in and pack Charlotte away, with sails down we found ourselves with an uneasy 15 degrees of heel from the near 50 knots of pressure hitting the bear stick as we were coming into the pen.

 

There was no need for worry as the man on the wheel (crewmen of the day) parked her without any hesitation and the boys got the lines on with plenty of time to spare.

 

So that’s all till next week when we can look forward the re-run of Inshore Winter Series Race 3.

 

Yours Truly

 

Capt Blowhard