Ex-cyclone Oswald and Australia Day Wet Weekend

We are looking forward to a long weekend out in the harbor but when we check the weather forecast we realize  it's going to be another wet weekend in this Sydney summer. Anyway, with so much to do to get Zenitude ready for next sailing season we decide to stay the long weekend in the marina and get some work done. It's Australia Day on Saturday and the wind hauls all day, but it's a dry and warm day. Sometime during the night the wind stops and the rain starts. As it turns out, the rain starts and it doesn't stop for the rest of the long weekend.

On Sunday night the news from Brisbane are not promising. It is expected that ex-cyclone Oswald will be coming our way and high damaging winds will reach Sydney sometime during Monday. We talked with friends at Manly marina in Brisbane that reported having gusts of 68 knots wind at the docks. Considering that 72 knots is hurricane force, they were almost at that level. When the wind finally got down to 30 knots it felt like calm for them. News from Queensland are devastating and we are waiting for the storm to hit Sydney but besides the rain, it is surprisingly calm here at the marina. Amazingly we focused on the many tasks we had planned and actually got a lot done.

Waking up on Monday morning we find it's still very calm and it's still raining, heavily at times. The wind hasn't come yet and the rain hasn't stopped. Forecast is now confusing and we think we'll get anything between 20 to 50 knots winds, maybe unpredictable high tides, and for sure still lots of rain. Oscar decides to stay another night, we don't want to leave Zenitude not knowing how the moorings will hold, specially if tides are not predictable. The mooring rope may all of the sudden be too short if the tide rises too much, this is how several boats sunk in Bundaberg, 2 years ago when a cyclone hit them. I leave Oscar and Zenitude to come back to the appartment as I need to be able to get to work without too much drama. In the end, the dreaded wind misses Sydney as the storm goes in an easterly path out to sea. The explanation is a strong Southerly that is also coming this way and will reach us some time next weekend, has pushed ex-Oswald out to the east. Finally on Tuesday around noon, the rain stops and some little blue patches appear in the sky. Summer is back in Sydney.
G.

The holiday season

Christmas and New Year, came rushing and went so fast that we are now in the middle of January and it is all part of our memories.

Having spent many holiday seasons away from family we really appreciate when we can be all together, kids and grand kids. 

We enjoyed Christmas Eve in Melbourne, Christmas   Day in Sydney and New Year's Eve in Zenitude, quietly anchored in Rose Bay, with kids and grand kids keeping us busy and happy.

               



 New Year's Eve in Rose Bay                                                     

                                                 Happy New Year                                                                              

And the new bimini is ready

Installing the new bimini

It fits and it does look good!

Finished! I felt a mix of elation and worry when  finally I sewed the last stitch of the project 'bimini'. Will it fit? Will it look good? A big question mark as I was sewing the bimini at home, away from Zenitude. I couldn't try it on.
Installation took a little while, pushing here and there, until Oscar's hands were sore and the bimini in place.
What a relief, finally done. Considering that we bought the material 3 years ago and the project was always on the things to do list, we felt good to be able to finally write 'done!' next to the task 'new bimini'.

And our cockpit has a roof again.
G.

Back in Sydney

Leaving Soldier Point's marina in the afternoon we knew we would need to negotiate Newcastle ship traffic at night time. We could have waited to leave at sunrise but decided to do a night trip and arrive in Sydney in the morning ahead of a southerly change.  A bit stressful the night sailing as we had lost our Radar the week before, apparently a bad connection inside the display unit, and there is no signs that it can be fixed in the near future.

As we always do around Australia, we logged our sailing plan with VMR and off we went, on a nice weather window, winds from the East first, backing to the North before nightfall. I have to admit we are a bit rusty for sailing and after gathering all stuff we forgot to prepare ahead of time we were happily out at sea again. By nightfall, a bit north of  Newcastle we could see several cargo ships drifting, as they always do around that area. By the time we reached the port entrance it was night already. At our starboard side many lights showed ships at anchor, our port side showed ships drifting, luckily not many of them were moving. The few that were moving got us really confused. Without the radar we couldn't really estimate the distance. One that looked really confusing turned out to be another sailboat going the other way, another ship was showing red light when all of the sudden did a 180 degrees turn (red and green and then just green) and ended up crossing with us, starboard to starboard, too close for comfort. She was big. But soon the busy area was behind us and the rest of the trip was uneventful. The wind started to die by sunrise and completely died 5 miles from destination. By 10.00 AM we were happily at anchor in Middle Harbor and by 3.00 PM we were back in our old place, Cammeray Marina.(www.cammeraymarina.com.au)

Now Zenitude is back in Sydney and we have plenty to do to get her ready, first for a family New Year's Eve party, then for the Summer and after that, well, we have big sailing plans but still some decisions to be made.
G.

Soldiers Point

Soldiers Point marina is a great place to stay if you want to relax or get work done. Zenitude and Oscar arrive at the marina after leaving Oyster Cove boatyard and while the mechanic does his magic with the engines and the electrician with the battery bank, Oscar is busy working on the endless 'to do' list. We ended up loosing one of the batteries but finally got the new wind generator installed so now we are good with electrical supply, at least for the time being.

The marina has excellent installations, there are 2 good restaurants and the people are very nice and helpful. I'm coming on the weekends while Oscar remains in Soldier Point. The plan was to stay a week on Soldiers Point but we had to stay an extra week waiting for a weather window, we need northerlies or easterlies to be able to go down to Sydney and we need that during the weekend as I'm working during the week days.

In the meantime, work on the bimini continues during the little free time left, the deadline is sometime before Christmas, would it happen?:

   

hard work continues

Finally it seems that we can leave Friday for an overnight trip. The weather pattern has been pretty much the same, a southerly change every three days, we want to be in Sydney early Saturday ahead of strong winds and the cold front forecast for Sunday.

 

It is Friday afternoon and after almost 8 months without seeing open waters Zenitude is leaving Nelson Bay on a 90 miles trip towards Sydney. She looks great and with a lot less paint in the bottom it seems she is a bit faster. Everybody is happy.
G.

Work at the boatyard

Work in the boatyard is finished and Zenitude with a renewed look is back in the water. She had all the old bottom paint removed and replaced by new anti-fouling, including raising a bit the water line that was too low. She also had all the old stripes removed and replaced by new ones, polish and wax completes the new look. Sail drives are good. Seacocks are good except for one that is broken and needs changing. Oh well, always a worry, everybody is busy at the yard, nobody wants a small job so Oscar decides to do it himself. It is an underwater seacock so it has to be perfect if Zenitude is to stay in the water. Finally all is done, on November 20 she is down in the water happily floating again.

Oscar had been looking around making inquires and found a great marina in Soldiers Point with a very good mechanic and electrician to continue with the overall maintenance work. So that is where he is heading all by himself as I'm still working in Sydney. Going along the channel is a bit stressful with just under 3 feet depth at high tide in some places, but he makes it to the marina.
G.

Finally back

After almost 6 months overseas we are back in Sydney. Zenitude is still in Oyster Cove, Port Stevens. Work on the boatyard has started last week with a complete peel off the old antifouling. Inside, Zenitude is a complete mess and we have lots of work ahead of us, as always, coming back and getting things into place again feels overwhelming. Oscar is back and forth between Sydney and Port Stevens and I'm doing my bit as I have started on a big project that's been waiting for me for a long time: a new bimini!

Slowly we are trying to get back in shape and get Zenitude ready for a Summer in Sydney.
G.