Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy New Year!!

Brisbane has been all rain, rain, rain for ages now. We have not let this stop us from going out on the boat though. We were out a couple of weekends ago and had a range of weather from sunny at Horseshoe to storms with thunde and lightning which drove us down to Caniapa for the night and than an overcast Sunday at horseshoe where we met up with Craig and Luci fron Pabati. Last weekend we went out in company with Skimmer and aluminium Sayer yacht. A very pretty yacht with a superb open plan fitout down below. We were impressed and surprised when we discovered it was aluminium.
After boxing day we are hoping that the weather improves so that we can take off in the boat for a week. Doesn't look promising so far.

Blakesleys Cruise

At last the weather was good for a weekend cruise. Winds were from the ESE so we sailed to Blakesleys setting off early Saturday morning arriving at around 9:15AM. Blakesleys is a small sandy beach between Dunich and Canaipa on the Western shore of North Stradbroke Island. The WMYC cruising group arrived at lunch time and we joined them for a chat on the beach with sundowners later on Rob and Annette's boat 'White Star'.

The picture above is all that is left of a wrecked yacht on a sandbank adjacent to Blakesleys. The picture below shows what it looked like back in May 2010.

Back in the water tomorrow!

Lion Rampant will return to the water tomorrow. We felt quite lost not being able to use her this last weekend.

Lion Rampant Repairs!

Lion Rampant being launched with the new paint job last December.

Lion Rampant will be slipped next Tuesday for new antifoul. Should be back in the water by the following weekend.

St Helena Cup

We have just had a fantastic weekend sailing Lion Rampant in the St Helena Cup. The weather was 15 to 20 knots SE and rain for most of the weekend but this didn't deter 98 boats from competing. To anybody who dosen't sail we would be looked upon as lunatics!! We had 4 POB including Martin, Sally, Vicky and Lindsay. We were one of a team of three boats which comprised Lion Rampant, Soothsayer and Red Jam. Our team was to be called the Rampant red Oracles but ended up being Sooth the Red Lion. Our team placed second which we were very pleased with.

Combined Clubs Race August

 Sally and Martin
(Note Martin is on the helm here! How did that happen? I will have to buy a new tube of araldite!)

 Martin

 Jacq

Kate and Jacq "Love those bandannas!"

We had a great race last Sunday. The crew were Martin, Sally, Jacq, Kate and Chris who took the photos. The wind started at around 15 knots from the NE and built to about 20 to 25 knots direction varied. By the end of the race the wind was swinging westerly. We began the race without knowing what the day's course was and were unsure until we were quite close to Mud Island. The course turned out to be start to Locker light to Hope Banks around Mud Island back out to Hope Banks to the Locker Light and the finish. We had a very good start and kept going on one long tack out past hope Banks the first leg before tacking out to Mud and this seemed to be a good move. We popped the kite at the NW of Mud and held it out to Hope Banks where we had our first ever broach in Lion Rampant. This occured becuase of a number of things going slightly askew at the same time. We were about to drop the kite and were trying to hoist the genoa but it got caught on a knob on the cartridge (which it has never done before) and the cartridge came off the forestay. We had two crew to leeward ready to pull the kite in under the boom so there was not enough weight in the rail. Once the boat went into the broach I could do nothing with the helm and I had no option other than to dump the kite sheet until the trouble on the foredeck was sorted. It all worked out in the end but we did lose a bit of time. But hey it was fun and an adventure and that is what it is all about!!

Presidents Cup Race 2

In the first race of this 3 race series I elected to sail with no spinnaker. This was a mistake as the wind was so light I was left way behind and it was frustrating. For race 2 I elected to use a spinnaker. I was no better off in the results but I did achieve my goal of hoisting, gybing and dropping a spinnaker all by myself. Ray the autopilot was pretty good during these manouvers! My first spinnaker hoist was for a shy reach from empire point across to the red at the north of St Helena Island. I used our medium hounds height spinnaker and all the bands popped beautifully. It was too shy and I eventually (I did hold it nearly the whole leg) had to drop the spinnaker as I was heading to Tangalooma. The next spinnaker hoist was after the north cardinal on Green Island. I used a different spinnaker as I knew Ihad other packed spinnakers on board and so I had not repacked the first kite. But I couldn't get all the rubber bands to pop and I had to sail across the finish line with a pretty weird looking reef in my spinnaker. How embarrassing and frustrating. When I dropped this kite I checked the bands and discovered that the next band to pop was actually a double. No wonder it didn't pop. I think I will give wool a go for next time and only band the bottom half of the spinnaker as the shoulders don't really need banding anyway!

Lady Skippers Race 2010

This years Lady Skippers race was again hosted by WMYC in Brisbane and the major sponsor was Dr Lewinns. The event is to raise money for breast cancer as well as to encourage as many women sailors to take the helm of a yacht for the race. No male skippers are allowed and points are deducted for every man aboard a yacht. The weather this year was light and a little wet but it was a great day. Lion Rampant came away with two trophies. One for 3rd on handicap and one 3rd after adjustment for our one male crew. Part of the prize was skin products from Dr Lewinns so maybe I will look a little younger in the photos next year!! One thing I am sure of is that Hot Pink is definately not my colour so I will be toning it down a bit for 2011.

Presidents Cup Short Handed Series 2010

No pictures taken during the race but doesn't the duco look beautiful?? A bit of an 'All about me day'.

 

Berthing after the finish!

Waiting for the start

Harnessed!

Preparation before the start

Yesterday was the first of a three day series for short handed and solo sailors hosted on Moreton Bay by Wynnum Manly Yacht Club. Since last year's Presidents Cup I have felt a desire to try saling our boat alone just to prove to myself that I can do it. Also a valuable skill level for me to have should Martin ever go overboard and I have to take over. The forecast for yesterday was for 18 to 20 knots SSE so Lion Rampant was prudently set up with two reefs in the main (handkerchief size)! and the number three genoa. I kept out of the way of the big guns for the start and was soon near the back with my two reefs. They had to go! So I dropped one out and didn't notice that a knot had become jammed under a halyard on the front of the mast preventing me from hoisting the main further up. It looked bad with wrinkles so I decided I had nothing to lose by dropping out the second reef as it was only about 8 knots anyway and I felt it was unlikely to come in a whole lot stronger that afternoon. I dropped the second reef out and after a great deal of time trying to get the fat splodgy reefing lines to run by reaching out over the water to yank on them at the boom I had success. I discovered the trapped knot on the mast when I went forward to deal with the reef lines. With the main now all the way up speed was a little better but we were now so far behind that it was a miracle that we managed to catch and pass anybody. Second folly of the day was that I had elected to sail the series with 'no spinnaker'. I am hoping I can some how rectify this for the next race as I was the only boat with no spinnaker and it was frustrating. But I feel a great sense of achievement for having sailed the boat alone from Manly around Peel Island and back. It was a magnificent day. Can't wait for the next race! Martin sailed with Lindsay Granger in the short handed (maximin two people) on Lindsay's boat "Transition" a Young Galaxy 8.5 and they did very well finishing 2nd line honors!

Perulpa Bay

'Intrigue' at anchor

Roast Pork

The Cobb Barbeque (a recent boat acquisition) was used to cook roast pork and roast chicken! Food seems to be an important part of our boating.

Perulpa Bay is a great anchorage in a Winter westerly!
Had another great weekend cruising around Moreton Bay.

Star Olympic Training

Came across this HD video on another blog. Great when viewed full screen!

Sailor Profile - Andy Horton from Amory Ross on Vimeo.

Jessica Watson Welcome Home

Day 3 - The next day we sailed Lion Rampant back down the coast to Manly in 20 to 25 knot SW winds. This trip took 12 hours as we were beating into it most of the way. The crew for this trip was Sally, Martin and Jacqui Valk. It was freezing cold even with mutiple layers under wet weather gear so I will be buying some thermals before next weekend!! Jacqui seems to love extremely windy sailing and had me laughing till I cried at one stage.

Ella's Pink Lady outside Mooloolaba Yacht Club

Indigenous welcome!

Lady Margaret

Ella's Pink Lady coming into the Marina

Ella's Pink Lady surrounded by the welcoming flotilla!

Jacqui Valk

Trevor Hill on his boat Apriori in which he recently completed the Solo Trans Tasman Race placing first monohull. With Trevor are Jen Wilks and Chris Spurgeon.

Martin showing his pink bits! All crews and welcoming crowds made a huge effort to wear something pink to welcome Jessica.

Jessica's secret rig?

Police escort! I have only ever been offered one of these twice when pulled over for misdemeanours!!

Kate Greenwood

Jessica and Ella's Pink Lady sailing up the coast from Caloundra.

Day 2 - On the Sunday Jessica was due to arrive in her yacht Ella's Pink Lady at around 12:30 so we set off at around 9am to sail down the coast towards Caloundra to meet her. The wind was SW at around 20 to 30 knots. We joined a large flotilla of around 50 boats to sail with Jessica up the coast. She was also accompanied by police boats and helicopters. Large groups of people lined the shore to see her sail past. It was a stunning spectacle to see all the boats zipping around Jessica's yacht. Our crew for this day was Sally and Martin plus Kate Greenwood, Lady Margaret and Jacqui Valk.

Lady Margaret, Chris Spurgeon and Kate Greenwood.

Glasshouse Mountains between Bribie and Caloundra!

Kate's extraordinary Duck salad and necessary accompaniments!
Photo Chris Spurgeon

Sally, Lady Margaret and Martin.
Photo Chris Spurgeon

Early morning departure from the marina at Manly for the sail up to Mooloolaba on the first day. Photo Chris Spurgeon

Lion Rampant and her crew have just had a wonderful weekend. Friday evening we stayed on the boat in the marina so that we could set off at first light to sail up from Bisbane to Mooloolaba. We had NW to SW winds of 10 to 20 knots which made it a fabulous spinnaker ride for a lot of the way up the coast. The trip took us 9 hours. Our crew for the trip up to Mooloolaba were Sally, Martin, Margaret (Lady Margaret), Kate Greenwood and Chris Spurgeon.

Canaipa Cup

Sally and Martin

Sail trim after the start!

Sunset Canaipa

Chris relaxing!

Under sail in the Sunday race back to Manly (photos by Neil Planck)



Hull reflections!

Sunrise Sunday Morning

Cheese and champagne for our motor to Canaipa on Saturday


Pan fried Salmon for dinner!

Shipwreck off Blakesley's (We don't know the story here but presume that the skipper of this boat didn't know which side of the beacons to stay on to avoid the sand banks or else he was swept up on the banks in bad weather. ) This boat has been there for a few months now!


Towing a bunch of Blazer sailors on "Shrek" down to Canaipa after the race abandonment. It would have emptied their fuel tank (and their Esky) since they only had an outboard!

Chris our foredeck whiz!

Lion Rampant!

We just had a fabulous sail in this years Canaipa Cup. This is an annual event organised by RQYS for the combined clubs of RQYS, WMYC and MBTBC. I (Sally) elected to be skipper for this event. I was a little freaked out at the start as starts in a yacht are far more risky financially than dinghy prangs! We ended up at the business end of the start line right next to the start boat. A Hick 42 Ceilidh Lass was attempting to barge through between us and the start boat and a Beneteau First 40.7 Blunderbuss was below us pushing up. We are only just under 30ft so it is a little intimidating to be yelling for water at the skippers of these boats. We all broke free in the end without touching and even Ceilidh Lass made it through! The wind during the race got lighter and lighter and eventually some boats were floating backwards on a glassy sea. The race officials abandoned the race and we all motored down to Canaipa for the BBQ etc at Browns on Macleay Island. Next morning was light and we all motored across to the start at the tip of Macleay Island. An easier downwind spinnaker start this time saw us right up with some bigger boats such as Medina, Its Natural, etc at the first mark. We lost some ground on the next leg and then regained heaps on the leg following with our big white masthead kite! Sailing only three up (Martin, Chris and myself) I think we did quite well with a 5th on handicap in the combined clubs results.