Saturday, May 15, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Boring.....
Boring....
Yep. Me alone in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. Pretty boring. A few nice friends from last year here doing boat prep. Janet hasn't arrived yet.
The camera I have with me isn't talking to my laptop so I can't upload photos for this blog. Imagine thrilling photos like that of me in my sexy shear white painters poopy suit with hood, respirator and googles ready to sand bottom paint. Imagine action photos of the boat sitting on the hard in the typical dusty ship yard, very much the same the world over. Imagine....you get the idea.
Instead I'll risk boring everyone by recounting the past couple weeks getting the beast ready for another season. Let's see, got the prop shaft checked for trueness (about .0001 off, no factor) got prop checked for trueness (a couple degrees off, yes, a factor) reinstalled both, prepped for and applied anti-fouling bottom paint, got house bank batteries equalized, got anchor chain re-galvanized, installed new anchor swivel, painted primary anchor (nice silver galvo color), had scuba tanks hydro'd and filled, got cockpit cushions cleaned and a new one fabricated, got propane tanks filled, having sails delivered from repair, got new Aussie cell phone and internet service, having new auto pilot installed, spent lots of money and am very popular with the marina chandlery, had a rental car crap out on the return, spent more money (Australia's expensive, you like lots of government, you get to pay for it), serviced outboard (changed plugs, changed engine oil, changed gear box oil), serviced diesel (changed oil, oil filter, primary and secondary fuel filters), got the boat launched (that, at least, is thrilling for an owner) started waxing, got the dinghy together, started the engine on the first pull and ran up and down the river for half an hour without missing a beat, ran the diesel which is also smooooth, and now I'm planning my next move. Will it be to call the local canvas guy (it's a holiday here today) and have him overhaul the mainsail cover or go hit some golf balls at the local range? Does reverse coriolis effect in the southern hemisphere need to be accounted for in my best Tigers Woods replica swing?
It's good that Janet will be hear in less than ten days. I'm getting very eager to see her. She should be in on the 14th and we'll spend a few days getting her acclimated and then head out on the voyage for the year. The plan is to head up into and inside the Great Barrier Reef and day sail our way up the coast to the Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia, cross the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin and then spend a couple weeks in Darwin before joining the Indonesian Cruising rally. We should be in Darwin first week in July and we'll do some land travel from there. The rally departs the 24th of July and we'll head for Kupang and then work our way along the southern reaches of Indonesia to Malaysia and then Singapore. We'll head north back into Malaysia and then into Thailand around Phuket. We should be in Phuket sometime in October. We'll probably put the boat on the hard there and have the teak decks replaced (much, much cheaper there) and some interior refurbishing as well.
So as is said in airline operations, "That's the plan." There's a double meaning to that statement which is also well understood by cruisers. No plan survives beyond first contact with the enemy. The 'enemy' in this case being 'life'. We'll keep you posted. I promise to have photos as soon as Janet arrives with the number one camera. Thanks for your interest.
Yep. Me alone in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. Pretty boring. A few nice friends from last year here doing boat prep. Janet hasn't arrived yet.
The camera I have with me isn't talking to my laptop so I can't upload photos for this blog. Imagine thrilling photos like that of me in my sexy shear white painters poopy suit with hood, respirator and googles ready to sand bottom paint. Imagine action photos of the boat sitting on the hard in the typical dusty ship yard, very much the same the world over. Imagine....you get the idea.
Instead I'll risk boring everyone by recounting the past couple weeks getting the beast ready for another season. Let's see, got the prop shaft checked for trueness (about .0001 off, no factor) got prop checked for trueness (a couple degrees off, yes, a factor) reinstalled both, prepped for and applied anti-fouling bottom paint, got house bank batteries equalized, got anchor chain re-galvanized, installed new anchor swivel, painted primary anchor (nice silver galvo color), had scuba tanks hydro'd and filled, got cockpit cushions cleaned and a new one fabricated, got propane tanks filled, having sails delivered from repair, got new Aussie cell phone and internet service, having new auto pilot installed, spent lots of money and am very popular with the marina chandlery, had a rental car crap out on the return, spent more money (Australia's expensive, you like lots of government, you get to pay for it), serviced outboard (changed plugs, changed engine oil, changed gear box oil), serviced diesel (changed oil, oil filter, primary and secondary fuel filters), got the boat launched (that, at least, is thrilling for an owner) started waxing, got the dinghy together, started the engine on the first pull and ran up and down the river for half an hour without missing a beat, ran the diesel which is also smooooth, and now I'm planning my next move. Will it be to call the local canvas guy (it's a holiday here today) and have him overhaul the mainsail cover or go hit some golf balls at the local range? Does reverse coriolis effect in the southern hemisphere need to be accounted for in my best Tigers Woods replica swing?
It's good that Janet will be hear in less than ten days. I'm getting very eager to see her. She should be in on the 14th and we'll spend a few days getting her acclimated and then head out on the voyage for the year. The plan is to head up into and inside the Great Barrier Reef and day sail our way up the coast to the Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia, cross the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin and then spend a couple weeks in Darwin before joining the Indonesian Cruising rally. We should be in Darwin first week in July and we'll do some land travel from there. The rally departs the 24th of July and we'll head for Kupang and then work our way along the southern reaches of Indonesia to Malaysia and then Singapore. We'll head north back into Malaysia and then into Thailand around Phuket. We should be in Phuket sometime in October. We'll probably put the boat on the hard there and have the teak decks replaced (much, much cheaper there) and some interior refurbishing as well.
So as is said in airline operations, "That's the plan." There's a double meaning to that statement which is also well understood by cruisers. No plan survives beyond first contact with the enemy. The 'enemy' in this case being 'life'. We'll keep you posted. I promise to have photos as soon as Janet arrives with the number one camera. Thanks for your interest.
Love to all,
Bill & Janet
SV Airstream
Friday, November 6, 2009
To Sydney, Australia
Hello to all,
We’re in a comfortable hotel in the heart of Sydney, Australia with a cricket match on the tellie and tucker in our tummies contemplating our trip home tomorrow. A lot has happened since our last update so I’ll try to catch up a little.
Airstream left Luganville, Vanuatu about 1100 on the 19th of October in company with Glenn, Marilyn and Jaryd, our good friends on their boat Tin Soldier. 
I tucked two reefs in the main when we hoisted and five days later I took them out. It was that kind of passage. The forecast was for reinforced trades across the Coral Sea with 25-35 knots most of the way. We had hope for winds and seas well aft the beam and a reasonable ride. As it turned out things were a little more out of the south the first several days, pretty much a beam reach, and the ride was pretty darn ‘boisterous’ most of the way. We saw over thirty knots quite a bit of the time and over thirty five occasionally. Other boats reported more. Seas were maybe twelve- fifteen feet max but of fairly short duration and choppy. All in all we were happy when things calmed down a little the last day. Of course they ended up calming down almost completely and we motored the last sixteen hours into Bundaberg dropping the hook in the quarantine area at 0226 on the 26th. The passage worked out to 1086 MN total distance. Six days 15 hrs enroute for a 6.82 knot average, 164 NM per day. A good passage for us but since we had to get a little beat up it would have been nice if the wind gods had kept it up long enough to avoid the motor at the end. I know, I know, cruisers never stop whining about the winds. We didn’t break anything and wear and tear was minimal. All passages should be so lucky!
In this voyage we participated in the Port2Port rally sponsored by the Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club and Volunteer Marine Rescue in Bundaberg. They provided a radio net enroute and a week of festivities after the boats arrived. This being our first ever ‘rally’ experience I will say the folks in Bundaberg showed us a very good time and we enjoyed the opportunity for a low key week long party with old and new friends. It was a great way to end our cruising season.
The plan was to put the boat in dry storage in Bundaberg so we stowed everything away and hauled out on November 2nd.
We rented a car, threw our accumulated stuff from the season plus some sails into the beast and blasted off south for Sydney, not without some sadness at leaving friends and the South Pacific behind for several months. The good thing is a bunch of these people have more or less the same plans as us for next year and we’ll see them in March or April.
The nine hundred mile drive to Sydney went well enough with a night spent in Coolangatta on the way. The country side was lovely, mostly various forms of Eucalyptus forest with some agriculture and orchards. We saw several groups of kangaroos and the road kill was was definitely not North American. We spent a night in Manly which is a rather cool beach suburb of Sydney and delivered the sails to the UK loft where there’s a little work to be done. Since then we’ve done the tourist thing in Sydney.
We’ve been to the aquarium, the botanical gardens, the zoo, the opera house, the ‘Rocks’, the circular quay, the Sydney tower, the maritime museum, the replica of Cook’s ship ‘Endeavor’, the observatory park and we’ve tramped a good deal of the center of Sydney. All in all it’s a very nice city and well worth a visit. 
What’s really striking is the incredible contrast between life a thousand miles to the east in Vanuatu and here. Were back in a very modern and cosmopolitan place and the two realities are hard to reconcile. Of course there’s no need to reconcile anything. Both are quite real and both have their advantages. I just hope we can take the best from them and enjoy all that’s offered.
So tomorrow, the 8th, Delta Flt 016 shows 18 seats left in business and 96 in coach. Looks like we should get on to LAX. Just hoping for business! Horizon 2307 LAX-ACV is only half full so with a little luck we’ll be home at 1130 local, about twenty minutes before we leave! We get our day back.
Love to all,
Bill & Janet
SV Airstream
We’re in a comfortable hotel in the heart of Sydney, Australia with a cricket match on the tellie and tucker in our tummies contemplating our trip home tomorrow. A lot has happened since our last update so I’ll try to catch up a little.
I tucked two reefs in the main when we hoisted and five days later I took them out. It was that kind of passage. The forecast was for reinforced trades across the Coral Sea with 25-35 knots most of the way. We had hope for winds and seas well aft the beam and a reasonable ride. As it turned out things were a little more out of the south the first several days, pretty much a beam reach, and the ride was pretty darn ‘boisterous’ most of the way. We saw over thirty knots quite a bit of the time and over thirty five occasionally. Other boats reported more. Seas were maybe twelve- fifteen feet max but of fairly short duration and choppy. All in all we were happy when things calmed down a little the last day. Of course they ended up calming down almost completely and we motored the last sixteen hours into Bundaberg dropping the hook in the quarantine area at 0226 on the 26th. The passage worked out to 1086 MN total distance. Six days 15 hrs enroute for a 6.82 knot average, 164 NM per day. A good passage for us but since we had to get a little beat up it would have been nice if the wind gods had kept it up long enough to avoid the motor at the end. I know, I know, cruisers never stop whining about the winds. We didn’t break anything and wear and tear was minimal. All passages should be so lucky!
In this voyage we participated in the Port2Port rally sponsored by the Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club and Volunteer Marine Rescue in Bundaberg. They provided a radio net enroute and a week of festivities after the boats arrived. This being our first ever ‘rally’ experience I will say the folks in Bundaberg showed us a very good time and we enjoyed the opportunity for a low key week long party with old and new friends. It was a great way to end our cruising season.
The plan was to put the boat in dry storage in Bundaberg so we stowed everything away and hauled out on November 2nd.
We rented a car, threw our accumulated stuff from the season plus some sails into the beast and blasted off south for Sydney, not without some sadness at leaving friends and the South Pacific behind for several months. The good thing is a bunch of these people have more or less the same plans as us for next year and we’ll see them in March or April.The nine hundred mile drive to Sydney went well enough with a night spent in Coolangatta on the way. The country side was lovely, mostly various forms of Eucalyptus forest with some agriculture and orchards. We saw several groups of kangaroos and the road kill was was definitely not North American. We spent a night in Manly which is a rather cool beach suburb of Sydney and delivered the sails to the UK loft where there’s a little work to be done. Since then we’ve done the tourist thing in Sydney.
We’ve been to the aquarium, the botanical gardens, the zoo, the opera house, the ‘Rocks’, the circular quay, the Sydney tower, the maritime museum, the replica of Cook’s ship ‘Endeavor’, the observatory park and we’ve tramped a good deal of the center of Sydney. All in all it’s a very nice city and well worth a visit. 
What’s really striking is the incredible contrast between life a thousand miles to the east in Vanuatu and here. Were back in a very modern and cosmopolitan place and the two realities are hard to reconcile. Of course there’s no need to reconcile anything. Both are quite real and both have their advantages. I just hope we can take the best from them and enjoy all that’s offered.
So tomorrow, the 8th, Delta Flt 016 shows 18 seats left in business and 96 in coach. Looks like we should get on to LAX. Just hoping for business! Horizon 2307 LAX-ACV is only half full so with a little luck we’ll be home at 1130 local, about twenty minutes before we leave! We get our day back.
Love to all,
Bill & Janet
SV Airstream
Espirito Santo Log
This is being posted November 7, 2009 from Sydney, Australia. Written Oct. 19th it couldn't be posted until now.
18 October 2009
Hello to all,
Internet coverage here is almost zero but we'll see if this can get out.
Tomorrow morning, Monday 19 October, we plan to depart Luganville, Vanuatu for Bundaberg, Australia. By the route we intend to follow which skirts the reef structure north of New Caledonia, north of Chesterfield Reef and south of the Great Barrier Reef this is a voyage of about 1040 nautical miles. It should take about seven days. Forecasts are reasonably good. There should be plenty of wind but wind and seas should be slightly aft the beam for most of the trip so we hope to be not too uncomfortable.
The time spent here on Espiritu Santo has been very, very enjoyable. We've had cruising friends to socialize with and the local people are very sweet. The highlights of the stay have been the 'blue holes' near Oyster Island and diving the wreck of the President Coolidge in the entrance to the channel at Luganville.
The blue holes are two crystal clear fresh water steams which flow down into the bay near Oyster Island resort. You can dinghy up about a mile to the source of these steams which in each case is a limestone spring about fifty yards in diameter and fifty feet deep emitting a heavy flow of wonderfully cool, clear, fresh water. The mineral components in the water give it a sapphire blue tint. For people who spend their time aboard boats on salt water this in itself is quite wonderful. But what is really cool is the ride up the rivers.
These are deep enough to be easily navigated in dinghies using the motor and they are like jungle tours into Amazonia. The tropical forest grows over the stream and vines hang down into the water and cross above. There are parrots in the trees and it's wonderfully isolated from signs of human occupation. 
The blue holes themselves have to be the ultimate cruiser swimming hole and at one of them the local folks, who also visit for the same fun we do, have strung some lines from the Banyan trees on shore. You can climb up the trees easily enough about twenty feet (which seems like forty) and then swing wide from an over hanging limb out over the pools and do your favorite fancy drop after a couple swings. 
Even Janet, who has an often stated disinclination for heights, couldn't resist that fun. So we made daily visits to the blue holes and came back clean and refreshed, a little rope burned, but happy.
The Coolidge is one of the great wreck dives in the world. She was a major luxury liner built in 1931 for the Dollar LIne (which became American President LInes) to use in the Pacific. She was 650' long and she and her sister ship, the President Hoover, were the fastest and most luxurious ships in the Pacific. When the war started the Hoover was impounded in Japan and the Coolidge was converted into a troop ship. In 1942 with over 5000 troops aboard she struck a US mine at the entrance to the channel into Luganville. The skipper was never given proper information and was eventually exonerated fully. Two men were killed but most went ashore easily enough because the ship was purposely run up onto the reef to keep it afloat. Unfortunately it fell off the reef and sunk in about 220 feet of water about 90 minutes after striking.
So now the ship, essentially intact, lies on it's port side, bow towards the shore, about fifty yards off the beach. There is every imaginable form of ships gear and military equipment in her holds or around the wreck. I haven't handled live artillery rounds in forty years. They're lying in the gun tubs on the Coolidge just as they were when she went down. The shallowest portion of the bow is about 80 feet below the surface. The name and hailing port on the stern are at 208 feet on our depth gauges. We did six dives each with Aquamarine Diving. They were very professional and good in all respects but this was not diving for beginners. The wreck is a world heritage site and a Vanuatuan National Park so all diving is guided. Aquamarine has one dive master for each two clients. You gear up at the beach, do a briefing, and swim 50-200 yards out to a buoy, depending on where you'll dive that day, and descend to the wreck. 
We did one dive a day and that was just fine for us codgers. The first day they show you the bow sections and the promenade deck and they're obviously evaluating the cliental. This gets in about a 100 foot dive. The next dive is to cargo hold one and two and involves a little penetration into the wreck at about 110 feet. Next is a deep penetration to view the symbol of the ship, a porcelain statue of a medieval lady and unicorn which is a substantial penetration at 140 feet. You're supposed to kiss the lady, which I did, and I swear she kissed back. Nitrogen narcosis anyone? 
Next is a little trip into the engine rooms and engine control spaces and out through the main saloon at 156 feet. 
Dive five is to the aft deck swimming pool at 186 feet. You can try and count the number of tile colors visible. Not so super easy when you're just a little narc'd at 180 feet. 
Dive six is the stern, the prop shafts, the rudder and the ships name and then up along the full length of the hull. This is an over 200 foot dive. 
Not something I know of any dive operator doing anywhere else with clients. They use the Canadian tables for ascent and most of the dives have three or four decompression stops. It's pretty conservative and our dive computers were always less conservative than their decompression schedules. They have fixed line along the reef as it rises up from the bottom to help control decompression depth and spare tanks at the stops. Everybody is out of air by the time they get to the final stop and those spare bottles look pretty good. On the stern dive we had eight people and four dive masters and several of the clients were buddy breathing off the divemasters by the time we got to the first deco stop at 15 meters. This is not goofing around. The dive masters are Vanuatuans who are all young- middle aged, little, very fit guys who seem to have gills. They don't seem to use air at all. The guy Janet and I did the stern with has been diving the Coolidge for twenty years now, seventeen with Aquamarine, and has over 3500 dives on the Coolidge. Very confidence inspiring. Of course there are many, many different dives on the wreck. We did the standard introduction but some people come back again and again to explore and enjoy. So it was very interesting diving. I did not imagine us ever diving to over 200 feet, Janet at 54 and me nearly 62, and we probably won't do that again. But it was a great experience!
The photos from the Coolidge diving were taken from aquamarine's excellent website at http://www.aquamarinesanto.com/coolidge.html.
Love to all,
Bill & Janet
18 October 2009
Hello to all,
Internet coverage here is almost zero but we'll see if this can get out.
Tomorrow morning, Monday 19 October, we plan to depart Luganville, Vanuatu for Bundaberg, Australia. By the route we intend to follow which skirts the reef structure north of New Caledonia, north of Chesterfield Reef and south of the Great Barrier Reef this is a voyage of about 1040 nautical miles. It should take about seven days. Forecasts are reasonably good. There should be plenty of wind but wind and seas should be slightly aft the beam for most of the trip so we hope to be not too uncomfortable.
The time spent here on Espiritu Santo has been very, very enjoyable. We've had cruising friends to socialize with and the local people are very sweet. The highlights of the stay have been the 'blue holes' near Oyster Island and diving the wreck of the President Coolidge in the entrance to the channel at Luganville.
The blue holes are two crystal clear fresh water steams which flow down into the bay near Oyster Island resort. You can dinghy up about a mile to the source of these steams which in each case is a limestone spring about fifty yards in diameter and fifty feet deep emitting a heavy flow of wonderfully cool, clear, fresh water. The mineral components in the water give it a sapphire blue tint. For people who spend their time aboard boats on salt water this in itself is quite wonderful. But what is really cool is the ride up the rivers.
These are deep enough to be easily navigated in dinghies using the motor and they are like jungle tours into Amazonia. The tropical forest grows over the stream and vines hang down into the water and cross above. There are parrots in the trees and it's wonderfully isolated from signs of human occupation. 
The blue holes themselves have to be the ultimate cruiser swimming hole and at one of them the local folks, who also visit for the same fun we do, have strung some lines from the Banyan trees on shore. You can climb up the trees easily enough about twenty feet (which seems like forty) and then swing wide from an over hanging limb out over the pools and do your favorite fancy drop after a couple swings. 
Even Janet, who has an often stated disinclination for heights, couldn't resist that fun. So we made daily visits to the blue holes and came back clean and refreshed, a little rope burned, but happy.The Coolidge is one of the great wreck dives in the world. She was a major luxury liner built in 1931 for the Dollar LIne (which became American President LInes) to use in the Pacific. She was 650' long and she and her sister ship, the President Hoover, were the fastest and most luxurious ships in the Pacific. When the war started the Hoover was impounded in Japan and the Coolidge was converted into a troop ship. In 1942 with over 5000 troops aboard she struck a US mine at the entrance to the channel into Luganville. The skipper was never given proper information and was eventually exonerated fully. Two men were killed but most went ashore easily enough because the ship was purposely run up onto the reef to keep it afloat. Unfortunately it fell off the reef and sunk in about 220 feet of water about 90 minutes after striking.
So now the ship, essentially intact, lies on it's port side, bow towards the shore, about fifty yards off the beach. There is every imaginable form of ships gear and military equipment in her holds or around the wreck. I haven't handled live artillery rounds in forty years. They're lying in the gun tubs on the Coolidge just as they were when she went down. The shallowest portion of the bow is about 80 feet below the surface. The name and hailing port on the stern are at 208 feet on our depth gauges. We did six dives each with Aquamarine Diving. They were very professional and good in all respects but this was not diving for beginners. The wreck is a world heritage site and a Vanuatuan National Park so all diving is guided. Aquamarine has one dive master for each two clients. You gear up at the beach, do a briefing, and swim 50-200 yards out to a buoy, depending on where you'll dive that day, and descend to the wreck. 
We did one dive a day and that was just fine for us codgers. The first day they show you the bow sections and the promenade deck and they're obviously evaluating the cliental. This gets in about a 100 foot dive. The next dive is to cargo hold one and two and involves a little penetration into the wreck at about 110 feet. Next is a deep penetration to view the symbol of the ship, a porcelain statue of a medieval lady and unicorn which is a substantial penetration at 140 feet. You're supposed to kiss the lady, which I did, and I swear she kissed back. Nitrogen narcosis anyone? 
Next is a little trip into the engine rooms and engine control spaces and out through the main saloon at 156 feet. 
Dive five is to the aft deck swimming pool at 186 feet. You can try and count the number of tile colors visible. Not so super easy when you're just a little narc'd at 180 feet. 
Dive six is the stern, the prop shafts, the rudder and the ships name and then up along the full length of the hull. This is an over 200 foot dive. 
Not something I know of any dive operator doing anywhere else with clients. They use the Canadian tables for ascent and most of the dives have three or four decompression stops. It's pretty conservative and our dive computers were always less conservative than their decompression schedules. They have fixed line along the reef as it rises up from the bottom to help control decompression depth and spare tanks at the stops. Everybody is out of air by the time they get to the final stop and those spare bottles look pretty good. On the stern dive we had eight people and four dive masters and several of the clients were buddy breathing off the divemasters by the time we got to the first deco stop at 15 meters. This is not goofing around. The dive masters are Vanuatuans who are all young- middle aged, little, very fit guys who seem to have gills. They don't seem to use air at all. The guy Janet and I did the stern with has been diving the Coolidge for twenty years now, seventeen with Aquamarine, and has over 3500 dives on the Coolidge. Very confidence inspiring. Of course there are many, many different dives on the wreck. We did the standard introduction but some people come back again and again to explore and enjoy. So it was very interesting diving. I did not imagine us ever diving to over 200 feet, Janet at 54 and me nearly 62, and we probably won't do that again. But it was a great experience!
The photos from the Coolidge diving were taken from aquamarine's excellent website at http://www.aquamarinesanto.com/coolidge.html.Love to all,
Bill & Janet
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