Twilight Sailing

But first about - A Graduation Ceremony.
Before I get into the drama's of learning to sail stories I'd like to mention that today (oops technically yesterday now) was CDU Graduation Day. This year for the first time CDU graduated some very special people who have managed to complete the Mawul Rom Project at Galiwin'ku. This was a very special occasion, graduands received a Masters in Indigenous Knowledges! Congratulations to those who graduated especially those members of my adopted Gupapuyngu family who have worked so hard! I was proud to see you there today! I wanted to jump for joy and cheer you but of course the atmosphere required a little more restraint!

(Academic protocol doesn't encourage emotional explosions)

Sailing


Over the past few months I've managed to complete two basic skills courses in Sailing and have even attended 4 Twilight races at the Darwin Sailing Club. It's been a real hoot! I love being on the water. Attending sailing classes has made it possible for me to experience some of the basics of sailing a yacht and provided some great moments bobbing around in the sea.

Today was the Darwin Sailing Club's final Twilight Series 'Non Serious' sailing race. This was possibly my last chance to sail until next year and I kind of spoiled it a bit by being a little too blase. Today there were no Pacer dinghies available and my regular sailing partner deserted me to crew on another boat so I had to take out a Pico. Actually I was looking forward to finally sailing solo and not having to share any of the boat with someone else but the rapture soon wore off! Picos are smaller dinghies than Pacers and the reduction in hull size means, surprise surprise, they're more cramped! With no jib to watch for my boat's orientation in relation to the wind, I soon discovered that it is a little harder to avoid the no-go-zone! Another problem which made things worse for me was the fact that the hull is more like a flat platform, which means there's not leg room. I ended up nearly dislocating my right knee 3 times!

It happened all to quickly! Directly as a result of two important factors... My lack of experience in these boats coupled with lack of concentration lead to me trying to quickly move from one side of the boat to the other during a Tack or a Gibe, resulting in my torso and everything else moving in one direction while the lower part of my leg is caught sideways under the weight of my body! The result of this unfortunate maneuver was the unmistakable shooting pain of two leg bones unwilling to maintain their relationship within the bounds set by my kneecap! I experience it as a deep pain stemming from a knee that will not bend in the usual way. It hurts, I swear, I thump the side of the boat and there's a sickening feeling like my leg won't straighten, but I try and then *POP* it's back in place. This happened three (3) times!!! Strangely now, just after midnight I can feel the pain in my hip joint! How odd!
Despite the physical discomfort and frustrating lack of skill at sea, I still managed to have a pretty good time. At least I was out there and it truly is beautiful to be propelled in a wind powered boat!

The sailing club is a new social experience for me. I found it quite a laid back and relaxing scene.When the race is over we all go back to the club and enjoy a bit of social activity and one or two free drinks from the esky. It's good fun actually but unfortunately the season is over which will mean I am at risk of forgetting everything I've learned before the season starts again next year. Looks like it's back to paddling around in the canoe with the kids.

Water craft (canoe)

Where to paddle?

You can cast me with the dreamers and see if I float!

For too long I've wanted to sail but done nothing about it! I hadn't realized how long I'd been dreaming (and talking) about it until I ran into a guy I used to work with who happened to ask me if I'd sailed around Australia yet!

"What?!" How did he know I'd been thinking about boats, sailing, the sea and fascinating exotic coasts lately?

When I asked, "What do you mean?", he just laughed and said, "You've been talking about that for years!"

Talk talk talk! That's about all I've done! Of course I haven't been in a position to just up stumps and set sail, I have responsibilities! But what good is just dreaming and boring people with 'one of these days' stories?

Well a few months ago I decided to do something about it and I bought my very first water going vessel! An old canoe from the tip shop!

It floats and paddles well but there aren't many places close to home that I can paddle it! So I'd been playing with the idea of turning it into an outrigger sailing canoe... I was getting pretty excited about how I might make it when the next step in my sailing life occurred. My wife suggested I could do a sailing course at one of the local Yacht clubs.

So last night I attended my first theory session and discovered there is quite a bit of physics involved with sailing a yacht! Suddenly the idea of chucking a few poles across the deck of my canoe, attaching a piece of polly pipe and erecting a couple of poles and a sheet (a sail not the piece of rope that controls the direction of the sail!), might get me into more trouble on the water than I'd expected! I learned about the significance of a keel and a whole bunch of other stuff that kind of blew my naive dream out of the water... or potentially onto a 'lee shore!'.

Yes marooned on a Lee Shore is where I could end up if I try to sail without a keel... Or capsized if I were to try to fix a sailboard mast to the hull of my vessel without any way of lowering the sail!

Ha already practical reality is taking the place of ignorant dreaming.. I hope as I continue through the course I will be able to maintain some of the romantic naivety that inspired me wonder about what could be just over the horizon!

Now I'm looking at the old canoe with fresh eyes!

Now I'm really pumped! They're only baby steps

Fixing stuff

Well living up here in the Top end can guarantee one thing above all else. Your stuff won't last half as long as it does down south. I'm sure there must be a breakage / rottage probability factor that increases the closer you get to the tropics.

This weekend we discovered that the rear wheel bearings on the car are about to seize, the chipboard cabinet that our extremely heavy TV sits on has buckled and is at the point of collapse after one too many years in the humidity, our DVD player will only play when it feels like it and the horizontal beams on our fence have been consumed by termites.
So today we started fixing the TV cabinet and I had a go at repairing a couple of my bikes. As usual I tried doing everything at once and ended up in a huge mess, I was just about to ride my bike to the tip for some materials when the sky opened up and down came the rain. That's Darwin for ya!
In past years I'd found that all my good quality work boots had lost their soles to some kind of parasitic rubber eating bacteria! I have finally given in to the fact; the only footwear that can meet the high demands of a tropical environment is the humble yet resilient thong. I'd always hated thongs until I came to Darwin. Back in Victoria I much preferred to go barefoot but up here we have killer germs that live in the soil and can enter the blood of innocent barefoot pedestrians and gardeners. It's a tough place for the unshod.


Raleigh in need of repair

My list of urgent bike repairs is growing. My mule (carry anything bike) The Raleigh needs so much stuff I should probably get rid of it but it has a nice large frame and has been my most reliable transport for the past 6 years. I've decided to give it a new crank, new peddle arms, new wheels, brakes and maybe a new gear shifter(when I say new I mean working).

The shogun, my road bike, hasn't been ridden for about 3 years I need to grease all the bearings and lubricate the cables, it'll also need new handle bar tape. The new mountain bike I picked up from the tip needs a whole new crank, peddles and all and will also want new gear shifters and handle grips, and a gear service.

Yesterday I started fixing all this stuff and my lack of knowledge brought me to grief with more than one component but I will persist.





Two tugs in the sunset at Fort Hill Wharf

On Friday night I took the family out for dinner at Stokes hill wharf. It was a lovely cool night and the atmosphere was quite relaxing. I thought these tugs looked great with the sun setting behind them.