So I am slowly pursuing my skippers certification and convinced Nancy to come along to become "Competent Crew" (someone has to take the helm while the tea kettle is put on the stove!)She was lucky enough to first take the wheel while we had two reefs in the sail in a lively morning blow on Moreton Bay - the boat is heeling right over (yes the horizon is supposed to be *level* - I was bracing in the companionway trying to stay upright!), the helm is fighting like live thing and we are flying along - our instructor referred to it as "trial by fire" and declared she was alright.
Things calm down at night - pleasant dinner out among the islands and the gentle lapping of water all around your berth..
The infamous "W's" - a serpentine set of lateral marks marking a channel - stray outside the channel and you are in deep muck. This was pilotage exercise - us students vied for who would NOT have to run this bit! (only 4 lateral markers are in this photo - its about 1 km long and a total of about 12 markers - which is barely enough to tell where the channel is.)
Nancy piloting us (safely) out of Raby Bay Marina.
If you look closely to her right you can see why she looks a bit gripped...
This is what happens when you miss a lateral mark - on a falling tide. A falling spring tide at that. Meaning that the water will not be as high as it was when this boat got stuck for 2 weeks! (and maybe not then).Not pretty at all.
A crane trying to figure out why that yacht is sitting on its dinner. The channel edge is about 3 feet in front of the bird (where the water pattern changes).- definite no-go zone!
Interesting name for a yacht - led to making long meandering epithets......
Great weather patterns - these were all around us but we were able to continue on through the gathering gloom, watch-lights fade..
Just stunning clouds as we cruise the island at the southern end of Moreton Bay. We are taking a big loop to get ready for a night run back north - training for planning and making night passages! Yea-boy!
I was navigator - responsible for getting us about 15 miles out from the islands to our night mooring in the Lazarus Gutter. All in the dark, racing along under just the jib (still doing 6-7 knots). Great fun!
Only one minor glitch in my plan - a simple transposition of course heading and our track took us right over the shallow bar I was trying to miss! We knew we had plenty of water to make the error but it was still a mistake....
Well *I* had fun planning this - no one else got the joke. I don't think they know who 
Jack Sparrow is down here. Or maybe they just knew I am not yet "captain"!
1 comment:
Rrrrrrrrrrrr! Aye aye Cap'n Dirk!
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