Sailing around Australia; A Fusion of Fusions

Thursday 4 June 2015

Sailing around Australia; A Fusion of Fusions

Newcastle to Port Stephens NSW

4/6/2015 – A Fusion of Fusions

Easy Tiger and friend at Bobbin Head, Cowan Creek

Owning a Fusion 40 catamaran like our Easy Tiger, puts Leanne and I into a fairly small group, if you consider that there only about 70 of them throughout the world.

During our sailing around Australia adventures we saw one in a marina in Adelaide and had heard of another being built in the next suburb, but apart from those, other Fusion 40's are elusive.

We were in the Gippsland lakes just before Easter this year and feeling a bit lonely. Leanne was looking at the AIS (Automated Identification of Shipping) through a computer app called Marine Traffic, hoping to see a familiar boat name that was nearby, when she spotted a moving target.

Marine Traffic has a feature that allows the user to click on any boat marked on the screen, which will then show all the details including make, size etc…

When Leanne clicked on the boat Marine traffic was indicating as close by, we got quite excited to see that it was in fact a Fusion 40 catamaran.

After a grid search of Paynesville including canals and lakes, we found our prey. The Fusion 40 catamaran named Bossa Nova, was located on the hard stand. Neville and Amanda, the owners had their boat lifted out of the water to replace a propeller. They were also in the middle of anti fouling and a few other jobs, so socialising with real live Fusion 40 owners was minimal at that time.

Out of the blue, during the last few days of our Sydney Harbour sojourn, Neville sent us a text to say that they were in Sydney as well and heading north on Bossa Nova.

We altered our plans by a day, and met up with Bossa Nova in the Hawkesbury River at Refuge Bay. Since then we have sailed up the Cowan Creek to Bobbin Head together, then to Pitwater, Newcastle and this evening are both anchored in Port Stephens.

It is kind of unusual for us to look out and see… us. That is, with the 2 boats having the same design, they look identical.

Albeit that Bossa Nova is brand new, where Easy Tiger is now 7 years since launched. Bossa Nova is all white and shiny, where Easy Tiger is in need of a hull clean and polishing.

Neville and Amanda spent a couple of years planning and then three years of building their boat.

Leanne and I looked at quite a few catamarans when deciding to buy and since then have been on many, but we agree that Neville and Amanda’s Bossa Nova is probably the best designed and definitely the best finished cat we have seen.

It has been great to meet and spend time with fellow Fusion 40 owners. It has also been interesting to see how the 2 boats compare out on the water, however we will have to talk to the handicapper! With Bossa Nova a lighter weight and having nice new sails and with Easy Tiger dragging a grand collection of barnacles, they are showing us a clean pair of heels.