Tasmania to Africa
The Brexit
It's a thing. Today, against all the pundit's expectations, the Brits voted to separate from the guys over the channel. Wankers. But maybe it will be for the best, eventually. The Brits have voted to …
Sometimes, Depression is the Only Rational Response
The doctor says it's shingles, a variation of Chicken Pox that affects adults. Apparently you don't 'catch' it. The herpes virus that causes chicken pox lives in your nerves from childhood and when …
The First Night Onboard
Moving onto Anjea was a pretty simple event. Just grab my gear, stick it in the van, drive down to Hobart and load everything on the boat. Except I had a dreadful cold and all I really wanted to …
Big River
Northern NSW is endowed with some big rivers, bigger than anywhere else in the dry continent of Australia. Of these, the Clarence River is the biggest, most navigable and most easily accessible. …
Port Hacking
This marina is filled with power boats. There are very few yachts and Anjea looks uncomfortable. However, the locals are friendly and I soon find out that they did a Sydney to Hobart years ago or …
Time to Go Home
"It's time to go home" says Lesley.
Home. That's a funny word: Anjea is my home. What she means is back to Hobart, back to POW Bay and back to the boatyard. How sad that I know instantly she means …
Tiger Snakes and Mountains
As I snap the photo she strikes. I jump back, trip over the pathway and land on my arse, adrenalin pumping, ready to bash tiger snakes with the camera if necessary. But it was just a warning strike …
Mind Mangling
We were kind of warned about the Port Davey River but no amount of warnings could have prepared us for the mind mangling experience of being there. It is an awesome place, a beautiful river …
Mt Rugby and The Best Beer Ever
It turns out that Lesley and I are not the only yachties silly enough to want to climb Mt Rugby. We fall in with a bunch of others making their way to the summit of this awesome mountain, plopped …
On the Way West
We are travelling west across the bottom of Tasmania, from Recherche Bay to Port Davey. The fabled roaring fourties are quiet today but despite the light conditions we both feel exposed out here on …
Predicting the Future
When confronted by a complex system in an unknown state that you need to deal with into the future there is one thing you should do first: establish a baseline. It could be a used car, an existing …
Escape from the Boatyard
Today, finally, we made our escape from Prince of Wales Bay and the boatyard. It really was hard for me to grasp that it was finally happening, especially as I spent the morning running around town …
The Wooden Boat Festival
The Hobart Wooden Boat Festival was a lot of fun and incredibly popular. Even at 9am it was busy and by 11am I had had enough of the crowds and just wanted to escape. By then I had seen most of the …
The Offer
Making the first offer was easy. I just thought of a price, subtracted a large number from that, and sent off an email to the broker. The reply was 'no'. So now I had to really think about how much I …
The Survey
Pat will do the survey. He is a qualified shipwright and marine surveyor, has built his own aluminium boat, hates wood, and has a 'reputation' amongst yacht brokers. Sounds like he's my man. Before …
The Philosophy
ell, somehow I never expected have to justify my view of life, but now I find I do. Not that anyone has challenged me on my decision to buy another boat and go sailing, but I do feel that certain …
The First Time Solo
Lots of people are surprised when I say I intend to sail by myself. They think it's changing sails that's the hard part, or steering, or staying awake. While sail handling has its memorable moments, …
Winter in Hobart
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Walking to the clubhouse I fall in with another sailor, a local it turns out. I'm rugged up in several layers finished off with a beany, woollen gloves and padded jacket. He' …
Murder in the Marina
It was a beautiful afternoon, a gentle breeze, a few clouds, soft sunlight dancing on the water, and I was just mucking about cleaning and trying to enforce some kind of order on the bunch of entropy …
SPOF
Never put all your eggs in one basket — Don Quixote
Diversify your investments — any investment advisor
A single point of failure (SPOF) is a part of a system that, if it fails, will stop the …
Coxswain Grade 1 Near Coastal (NC) and the Student from Hell
The Cox course at AMC was not designed for me; I am not sure who it was designed for but their advertising is directed at Torres Strait Islanders. I find that a bit odd for a Tasmanian University and …
Progress in the Boatyard
Sailing with Lesley over Christmas was great but it exposed a few problems. First, of course, is the need to finish the stainless steel work at the back of the boat. This is an arch that holds the …
Dressing Up
Anjea got a new set of covers and I got an eyepatch.
My eyepatch was a consequence of an eye problem. It's all good now, but the pirate jokes got a bit boring! The best was Matthew Harper's …
Rocky and The Fitzroy River
Photo: Stavanger, Ellen Stanyer
Captain Robert Fitzroy was an English aristocrat with an interest in science and exploration, most famously selecting young Charles Darwin to join him in a cruise to …
Aground, and Only Myself to Blame
Well, when I anchored here I thought "It's going to blow gently from the South East, maybe the East, 10 knots max. So I can anchor close to the southern shore, no problems." Fucking weather forecasts! …
Plan B
The idea was to sail north from Scarborough Marina in the northern suburbs of Brisbane to Bundaberg, a distance of roughly 240 nm (440 km) but to stop overnight at Mooloolaba and again somewhere in …
The Queensland Coast
This is a sailing slog, with more than usual emphasis on passages and anchorages. I have tried to make it useful for Jean Marie, Arica and Beaujolais who are following us up the coast and have not …
The North Queensland Coast
The photo above is of Balding Bay, Magnetic Island's 'Nudie Beach', if you believe some of the locals. We didn't. But it's a beautiful spot, far nicer than the photo implies, and the walk there from …
Cairns
Fitzroy Island
Friday, 25 May 2018
On 9th June 1770, Captain James Cook sailed past an island off a prominent cape on the Australian east coast. He named the cape 'Grafton' and the Island 'Fitzroy' …
Hobart to Sydney
A long slog about a long trip — from Hobart to Sydney via everywhere in between. We tried to strike a balance between 'getting there' and 'stopping everywhere'. We made a few stops along the east …
Over the Top
Beautiful sunshine on a 33 degree winter's day. It was one out of the box and such a contrast to the almost constant grey of the previous days crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria and the top of Arnhem …
We Won!
Oh, Dili is so different! I had forgotten how much difference a culture makes. We've been immersed in Dili for the past 24 hrs and they are such a beautiful, trusting and generous people. Last night' …
Atauro Island
The photo above is just one of the hundreds of dolphins we passed on the way to Atauro from Dili.
The island of Atauro is less than a day's sail north of Dili and a complete contrast. Look past the …
Deep Chill
The name is a reference to the sensory deprivation experience of chilling out in a floatation tank — Gary, the owner, being interested in such things. I get the parallel but it isn't quite my …
The Equator, Gearboxes and Trust
My plan to sail offshore the Sumatra coast has stalled, run out of wind and at the same time acquired too many headwinds — and has now sunk. I knew that sailing the doldrums without an engine would …
Real Talk — Man Overboard
Personally, I only know one person who has fallen overboard. She was wearing an immersion suit and competing in a professionally organized sailing event. Even so, she spent several hours in the …
Back to Sebana Cove
Thirty years ago someone had a huge vision for a mangrove swamp in Johor, Malaysia, just opposite Singapore Island and sank a very large amount of money and effort into a marina and golf resort. The …
Goodbye Indonesia
Eric Tang and his mechanic at PAMarine have done a great job on the gearbox, which is now reinstalled and working perfectly. It took a while to get the required parts from Sweden but I believe it's …
Go Now or Later?
The 'eagle' is the symbol of Langkawi. Except it isn't an eagle at all but a kite, a Brahminy Kite to be precise. More photos here.
When I first arrived in Langkawi in December last year it was the …
Back to Java
Sailing past Java last year I stopped just once in the Sunda Straits, the north-westernmost tip of Java, a couple of months before a tsunami devastated Carita Beach, where I anchored.
Anakrakata ( …
The Magic Is About To Start
I hate drunks. They are insensitive, self-obsessed, boring, stupid, and uninspiring. Unless, of course, I am drunk too, in which case they are entertaining, insightful, delightful, clever, and …
Crossing the Indian Ocean
11 January 2020: Sabang, The Day Before
Clearing out of Sabang, Indonesia takes forever. First, it’s Saturday and everyone is just slooowwww. Then the internet goes down, then the power goes off, …
The Child In Charge
At the Ratco bus station in Tanga I am waiting for the bus. Not waiting for it to arrive – the bus is already here, but waiting for it to start. A bunch of fundi keep doing the same things: clean the …
Beating the Fever
My recent quick trip back to Australia was far more interesting, in all the wrong ways, than I originally planned. I knew of the ‘novel coronavirus’ in China when I left, but was not aware of any …
No Antidote for FGF*
*Fucking Great Fever
Yes! I am out of my self-imposed purgatory! I think. But it's not quite heaven here in Tanga. After isolating myself on Anjea for 14 days with no ill effects, I rejoined the …
The Essential and Exquisite Pleasure of Pissing
The shortest day of the year is nearly upon us – 21st June marks the middle of Winter, and another excuse to celebrate at the Yacht Club. So far we have celebrated quite a few birthdays and a batch …
A 1,300km Tanzanian Safari
I have the privilige of riding ‘The Beast’ Arthur's Honda 750 'Africa Twin' from Tanga, where Anjea is anchored, to Lake Natron in the Great Rift Valley, at the edge of the Serengeti.The crew for …
Tripping With the Maasai
Tears stream down my face. I fall behind the others and find a comfortable rock to sit and give myself some time and space. It is as if someone has slipped LSD in my water. I try to absorb the view, …
Background
Leaving Sebang, Indonesia in January 2020, I came down with a bad virus of some sort. It lasted a week or so and was noticable for its intensity and the amount of energy it sucked out of me.
I …
Gallery: Yes