Hafskip

After nearly a month on the mooring we’ve finally made it into Dry dock. This is where the work really starts!

Hafskip is in desperate need of an antifoul and we’ve had to wait for a high enough tide to get us into Edges Boatyard. I don’t think we really appreciated this until we actually navigated the narrow channel through the mangroves to get there, at one point there was no more than 10 centimetres under the hull…but Ralph kept his cool and we gently docked in the tiny slipway (...

One of the basic realities of life on board a boat is a limit to storage….this impacts on our voyage scope and extends to everything…food supplies, fuel tanks, batteries, water capacity…and even the toilet has a limit! So one of our key tasks is to increase storage/capacity where ever it’s possible…or make sure we can ensure continuous supply! (NB: please exclude the toilet, continuous supply is assured here)  

In terms of fuel for the engine and gennie we bring diesel on board and...

Lucky the weather has been a tad lack lustre over the last couple of days…it’s helped getting some route planning done…. What does that mean?....research and more research is what it means. We’re up on hard stand next week for a about a week doin’ the tough stuff…but after that we really do need to be heading north to be sure we can position ourselves nicely for a coral sea crossing which would see us in Papua New Guinea by October.

Why October?.. Quite simple really….we want t...

I have been pushed and prodded and now found competent to handle a recreational marine vessel thanks to 5 hours of intense tuition and scrutiny (not)….now isn’t that a fucking scary prospect… somehow I think there may well be a wee bit of difference between the ability to handle a 2 meter dingy and a 13.3 meter yacht with a 10 tonne displacement…but hey…who am I to argue with skipper Phil eh?... nonetheless I have my ticket to ride (aka. Licence to kill) …now it's time to put it t...

Live and learn

August 20 2010

There’s a chinese proverb that goes something like… “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand”....  and if you get all three you learn!

……………..

Well we’ve been out twice now…the first sail was a bit of a non-event…bugger all wind and lots of time spent fart-assing around with sails with little more than a breeze to fill them and a lost tender (recovered thank Christ)…. As per usual though th...

Getting to and from shore is a pretty important thing really…until yesterday I would have had absolutely no idea how to do it on my own! Yes that’s right I could have been stranded on Hafskip with no way to reach dry land aside from frantically waving my arms at passing dinghies or getting awful wet…..but thanks to yesterday’s lesson and some patient tutoring I now at least stand a reasonable chance of handling Houdini….even if I do seem to have a flair for missing neutral when I ap...

We’ve been makin’ a list an’ checkin’ it twice…

My word there’s allot to do before we’re blue water ready! Hafskip is a very seaworthy vessel but her original owner made quite a few alterations and enhancements that make her a tad complex to operate and understand. Not to mention the alterations we’ll need to make to ensure we can store and operate everything we’ll be needing….. Hmmm….I get the distinct impression that if Ralph wasn’t so technically minded we’d be s...

Monday was a big swell day.. ever watched your rubber duck throw itself against the side of your bath when you move in the water…. Imagine being inside the duck!  

With Ralph playing in the bilge again, add diesel fumes to some pretty unpredictable swaying and bobbing the inevitable result is a pretty queasy stomach.

As fortune would have it I had an optometrist appointment so headed for shore for a couple of hours leaving Ralph in the fumes and swell. Luckily Ralph’s stomach appears be...

Water, tender, waves, fender, anchor chain….they all work together in a weird kind of symphony. Funny how music creates order out of chaos… Rocked to sleep last night amidst the disjointed but strangely compatible melody imposed by wind, wave and steel.