Sailing Around Australia; Ups and Downs

27/ 4 2014 Ups and Downs

Another week of our layover in Port Lincoln has passed with quite a few ups and downs.

On the up side we have been tinkering away with our long list of repair and maintenance jobs that need doing on Easy Tiger, before we recommence our sailing around Australia adventures. The down side has been our bank account and a severe dose of cabin/boat /marina fever.

New ropes, better flush out points for holding tanks and several other tasks have been completed. A new propeller is fitted on the starboard side. A new anchor winch has also been ordered. It's only money!

Unable to go anywhere due to waiting for repairs, our time been filled by walking in to town (about 5 k's) or reading, trip planning (can't wait to get it done) and Leanne has started going to art classes.

But, as usual with cruising sailors, the best cure for down time is socialising. This has occupied us over the past week.

With B1 and Maree back in Perth, B2 and Eva down at Memory Cove, Mike and Jan aboard their new blue yacht "Steel Sapphire" made a welcome sight in the marina over Easter. They have come from New South Wales and are headed for their home port in Hillary’s, Perth.

They were a great source of information on places to see and things to avoid on the east coast and we directed them northwards to Streaky Bay, where they are now.

Also ANZAC day we had another chance to get off the boat. We had a lovely day out with Sonia and David Kerr. Sonia and David are Port Lincoln locals who have just purchased a catamaran. David, a mate and a hired skipper have sailed it from Maloolabar reaching Sydney before bad weather has put a hold on the delivery to Port Lincoln.

Travelling with them on road to Coffin Bay was a really nice chance to see more of the outer land areas of Port Lincoln. We visited the Coffin Bay Pig farm that also has antiques for sale as well as a little café. Very quirky little farm yard but honestly the best pancakes and ice cream, ever.

Zofia arrived back in the marina, during a 40 knot gale. They had been battered by strong winds and choppy seas. On their arrival they had to tie on to the collection jetty as the with the strong wind there was no way they could have negotiated their way into the allocated pen without much damage.

On the subject of damage, one of the tourist operators tried to take a pontoon with a shed on it out of the pen at the end of our canal. With a light wind blowing and inexperienced kids aboard (obviously not even briefed) they managed to get their big aluminium tourist boat into the pen next to us with the pontoon hard up against Urchin and Easy Tiger. That left a mark on Urchins bow. Hopefully they will be able to polish out the marks without any major repair work required.

As I said to the guy as I was trying to get them unraveled from my spinnaker pole, if he had let me know what they were trying to do, I could have organized several pairs of helping hands.

We may have solved our anchor witch problems. It turns out that the existing winch (that the electrician told us is nearly burnt out) was mounted horizontally, but it is made to be fitted vertically. That would mean that there is more chain on the winch and therefore it would not jump off and get tangled which is the main problem.

But of course this is not easy. Stainless steel brackets have to be made to turn the new anchor winch 90 degrees.Gary, who has a boat across the jetty and happens to be a welder / fabricator, has offered to fabricate a new anchor winch pedestal and we are about to order the new anchor winch.

During the week our daughter, Bree, contacted us to say that she would be in Perth the same time as us. We were really excited at the thought of seeing and spending a couple of days with her. Not to be outdone our son, Luke, then let us know that he would have some days off when we get back to Port Lincoln and he would come for a visit.

Today we have been brought back down from the excitement as Bree unfortunately has had a change of plan and it is too hard and expensive to get to Perth. Luke also had a change of dates and he will be in Port Lincoln when we are not.

What a week of ups and downs.