BOATS AT THE CLUB

This is another in the series of articles aimed at providing you with an insight into new boats and other boats of interest at the Club. Contact Patricia Catley through the Club if you are interested in having your boat featured here.

At the end of March 2021 Dave and Janet Buxton proudly took ownership of a boat berthed at the CYCSA and continue to delight in their purchase. Grace is a Cole 34, measuring 10.4 metres and built in 1988 by Coordinated Marine in Syd Fischer’s yard in Sydney. Since then many changes have been made to improve and update this delightful yacht. It all began in 2020 when the Buxton family made a decision to buy a boat. Dave knew a lot about dinghies but not keel boats and he was fortunate to meet Rod Hunter where discussion about cruising and the various types of yachts led Dave in the right direction. By word of mouth he met Chris and Rosalie Morphett who owned the Cole 34 at the time named Selkie. By the end of March 2021 the boat had changed hands and also changed name. The background of the name change included an appreciation of beauty and elegance but also from a theological perspective of an unexpected, undeserved favour and a gift from God. Conscious of the complex systems a keel boat brings and his responsibilities as skipper, during 2021 Dave enrolled in a Radio Course, Competent Crew, and Day Skipper theory and practical. One of the selling points of the Cole was the 6’4” headroom as Dave and Janet’s son Bob is that tall. Over the past year a significant refit has begun with a new water heater, engine, autopilot, cockpit shower, batteries, electrics and electronics. New sails and a rebuild of the instrument panel and chart table were completed with solar panels to be added by next summer. In 2021 a Nanni 30hp engine was installed to replace the 26hp Sole. The instruments and radio have been upgraded to B&G with three displays above the companionway and a 9” chart plotter and VHF B60 radio with AIS. A spinnaker will be added next year with the running gear already in place. Grace can sleep four singles or, at a squeeze, two couples and two singles in a V-berth, a saloon double, saloon single and a starboard quarter berth. A shower in the head now has a companion in the cockpit to enable a quick wash off after swimming. A two burner meth stove and twin stainless steel sinks complement the galley. Dave’s background in sailing includes fifty five years of dinghy sailing and racing in various classes up to Mosquito catamarans. In the 1980s he crewed for two Adelaide to Port Lincoln races and a Lincoln Week regatta. He had always dreamed of owning a keel boat having admired an S&S 34 in Port Lincoln in the mid-1970s. As a child living in Canberra in the 1960s Dave would regularly listen to the radio position updates of the Sydney to Hobart race and then plot their position on a map. During the summer of 2021/22 Grace has had four trips to Port Vincent and a single handed sail to Port Lincoln as well as numerous day sails with family and friends. Grace can easily be sailed single handed or with crew. During the recent Anzac weekend at Port Vincent conversations over some excellent wines resulted in significant interest in sailing to Port Lincoln next summer single handed in company with others. Anyone keen to join Grace et al on this journey are most welcome and Dave would love to hear from you. Several skippers have also shown an interest in sailing to Port Augusta giving Grace plenty of sailing time in South Australian waters. Other possibilities for the future are Tasmania and the east coast. Dave hasn’t got racing completely out of his system and still has an ambition to complete a Sydney to Hobart. He recalls Sir James Hardy saying that no one should go to Hobart in a boat shorter in feet that their age in years which means Dave should be looking at a pocket maxi. But one possible dream would be to race, or realistically cruise, to Hobart with his son Bob in the two handed division. Perhaps 2024 will be the year? We will watch out for you Dave! Dave and Janet appreciate the many new friends they have made in the CYCSA who have all been very welcoming and appreciate the many boat owners who have shared their knowledge and experiences. They realise there is still much to learn and are lucky that good health and energy means they can look forward to many new adventures ahead. Thank you for sharing the story of Grace with me and Club members. I wish you, Janet and Bob, happy sailing hours for many years to come.

Patricia Catley

Elouise is a Catalina 470 yacht that Mark and Kate Johns purchased in Tasmania in September 2021 before bringing her to her new home in the CYCSA. The original owner had ordered the boat from the manufacturer in Florida, USA in 2009. She is hull number 169 and the owner was eagerly waiting on the dock in Melbourne when she arrived by ship. He and his wife moved Elouise to Tasmania and sailed her to Kettering where she was based until sold to the Johns family. The boat had already been named Elouise when Mark and Kate decided to buy her. Like the boat itself, it’s a pretty name, so there was no need for change. The name suits the boat so Elouise she will remain. She had been very lightly used and the 75hp Yanmar shaft drive had done only 187 hours. She has a Leisurefurl in-boom main and 135 percent genoa in good condition. Elouise has a shoal draft that draws 1.75 metres. The boat was re-rigged in Kettering thanks to the local rigger, Angelo Perry. After a few trips to Tasmania with Rod Hunter to get to know the boat a little, Mark and Kate decided to leave her in Kettering for January so they could cruise the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, Storm Bay and Norfolk Bay. In early February 2022 Rod Hunter and Darren Harvey joined Elouise for the delivery to Adelaide. Darren had purchased Mark’s previous boat, a Beneteau Oceanus 43 named Free Fallin, and they became good friends. They took their time on the journey to Adelaide first heading east to Mariah Island via the Dunalley Canal. The draft on Elouise came in very handy in the shallow waters. The next night was spent on the northern side of Schouten Island, followed by Eddystone Point and then Beauty Point where they spent a few days catching up with Rod’s mate, Steve Wilkins. The next port of call was Devonport followed by an overnight sail to Portland and then Robe where they again stayed for a few days. Finally, an overnight trip brought them home and into the CYCSA. According to the brochure from the American production yacht giant the 470 offers a level of performance, comfort and safety that effectively raises the bar for the entire cruising category. For those who sail her the big 47-footer knows no bounds. Below deck is comfort at its utmost. Elouise has a large rear owner’s cabin and a forward Pullman berth with heads fore and aft. The saloon table drops to allow a total of six berths should extra visitors come to stay. Offsetting the enormous aft beam are twin wheels that offer a clear view down both sides of the headsail. Crew members meanwhile have plenty of seating in the wide cockpit. Mark’s life with boats began when his father built a houseboat in their backyard in the early 1970s and Mark helped him with that. He spent hours steering it and getting the feel of handling a heavy boat albeit in the river. Later in life Mark bought a Quintrex runabout and took his sons on day trips skiing on the Coorong. Mark joined the CYCSA about eight or nine years ago with the Qintrex on a hardstand. Having never sailed but loving the idea of powering a boat with the wind alone, in 2017 Mark and Kate bought a Beneteau Oceanis 43 called Free Fallin’ from Club member Steve Harrington. With Rod Hunter’s help they learnt to sail her and spent time looking after her at the Club. They have enjoyed being part of the Club and cruising in South Australian waters including Port Lincoln and the Banks Group, Kangaroo Island and Gulf St Vincent. They were soon hooked on sailing and Kate spotted Elouise on Yachthub and as much as they loved Free Fallin’ they decided to take the plunge and get their next boat! Mark and Kate love Elouise and the more time they spend with her the better she gets. They hope to continue cruising locally and to take her up the east coast eventually. Thank you for sharing your boat with Club members and I wish you many happy sailing days in the future.

Patricia Catley

On 26 April, while the sun rose astern, we quietly slipped out of Risby Cove in glassy conditions. Motoring on our port engine at 6.3 knots, we passed through a benign Hells Gate at 08:00. Once south of Cape Sorrell we found an eight-knot breeze, set the main and jib, and motor-sailed in relaxing conditions at 5.7 knots. At 11:09 we spotted our first whale of the trip, a pilot whale. Alas it dived before we could take photos. Two hours later as we passed Point Hibbs the wind dropped to a paltry four knots. We adjusted our course 10° east for Low Rocky Point which we reached at 17:50. Another easterly course adjustment followed that took us just south of Shark Jaw Reef. Our destination was Port Davey, the cruising grounds at the far end of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, a place that delights hikers and sailors alike and is only accessible by light aircraft or boat. In contrast to Macquarie Harbour the approach to Port Davey is wide and welcoming, albeit less so in strong westerly conditions. We headed for Whalers Cove, the anchorage that is nearest the entrance and the one that requires the least amount of navigation. Shortly before midnight we anchored in calm conditions at a depth of nine metres and promptly crashed into our beds. Our ‘day sail’ had covered 98 nautical miles in 17½ hours. The following morning we treated ourselves to a leisurely ten o’clock start. We skirted the north side of the appropriately named Breaksea Islands that protect the entrance to the Bathurst Channel. The sun came out just as we entered the channel and for the next two hours we enjoyed stunning vistas and mirror-flat waters. Our first stop was Casilda Cove seven nautical miles away. Two yachts already occupied the best positions in the small cove so we anchored further in, closer to rocks than ideal. After lunch we went ashore and hiked to the top of nearby Balmoral Hill. The 1.6km trail is only accessible by boat as it is disconnected from the park network. For a very modest amount of climbing this hike affords stunning views and is highly recommended. From the summit of Balmoral Hill I spotted a sandy cove to the east and decided to move Arriba there for the night as I was not comfortable staying at Casilda Cove in the overflow spot. Mindful of the rocks barely 20 metres away, I spun Arriba around the instant the anchor was clear, a manoeuvre which took us closer to the eastern side of the cove. A second later there was a sickening thud as the starboard hull hit a submerged unchartered rock. I quickly hit reverse and retraced our track out of the cove. Thirty minutes later we anchored in the cove I’d spotted earlier which was not named on the charts. I immediately jumped into the water to inspect the damage. Fortunately, our first ding of the trip and hopefully our last, was just a 30cm long scrape about 5mm deep along the outer edge of the starboard mini keel. Phew! Just before sunset Meredith and I took the dinghy ashore and walked along the beach. The sand was very coarse, yet soft and as our feet sank in it was like receiving a shiatsu treatment. We enjoyed it so much we walked up and down the beach twice. The following day turned on glorious sunny weather. Mount Rugby, the tallest peak in the region at 773m, was beckoning. The peak is often shrouded in clouds and Liam and I had already decided we would only climb it in good weather. Well, we would be hard-pressed to have a more-perfect day so, at 09:47, we weighed anchor and relocated to Iola Bay, 2½ nautical miles away. From there Liam and I took the dinghy across to the trailhead on the northern side of the channel with Meredith and Vela being happy to lounge aboard Arriba in our absence. As for the Balmoral Hill hike, the Mountt Rugby hike is only accessible by boat. Unlike the former however it is a gruelling seven hour round trip climb which in most places is better described as a wombat track than a trail. Nevertheless the marvellous views from the summit justified our exertions. Around 19:00 we had a minor emergency when the anchor briefly drifted. I reset the anchor, paying out more chain, and in the process the dinghy’s painter wrapped around the port prop. It was still light so I dived in and untangled the rope and enjoyed an impromptu evening swim. The next day we were underway at 06:29, not because I like early starts (although I do), but to take advantage of the rising tide. Our destination was the landing at Melaleuca Inlet six nautical miles away. The inlet is a windy narrow creek that is flanked by a mix of lush temperate foliage and heath. We found it to be a more intimate, varied and adventurous nature experience than the lowest reach of the Gordon River. In two places the creek opens up into wide shallow lagoons and it is here that one must be extremely careful to stay on course as indicated by wooden sticks delineating the channel. The main channel is less than two metres deep at high tide so keelboats need to be particularly careful. The inlet is not navigable for yachts beyond Melaleuca Lagoon. The same two boats from Casilda Cove two days earlier had again pipped us and tied to the remains of an old wharf having come on the previous evening’s high tide. Our only option was to drop our anchor in the middle of the creek

and tie our stern to one of the many large trees lining the water’s edge, a feat Liam accomplished by taking the dinghy ashore. Satisfied that Arriba would neither drift away nor run aground we took the dinghy up river another half a mile to the official dock which I am guessing is suitable only for vessels that draw less than 0.5m. From there it was a short walk to the airstrip and the hut that serves as the waiting room. The big attraction was free WiFi and my crew scrambled for their phones and laptops as if they were rediscovering a long lost civilization. The next internet access would not be until we reached the town of Southport many days away. Arriba does have Iridium Go satellite internet for weather and emergency communications but the bandwidth is inadequate for much else. We were back on board at 13:35. The depth had fallen another 0.5m so we waited two hours for the tide to start rising before departing. Then, with the confidence that comes only from having a GPS track to trace, we sped downriver in under an hour. When we re-entered Bathurst Harbour the wind was a steady 20 knots from the ESE, the best sailing conditions in over a week. We sailed to Moulters Inlet where we considered spending the night but we found it to be shallower than the charts indicated, an actual depth of 2.1m at high tide vs 2.5m AHD on the chart and would have required anchoring hundreds of metres from shore. Instead we re-entered the Bathurst Channel where, under mainsail alone, we extracted 6.2 knots boat speed from a 10 knot breeze. Our home for the night would be Clytie Cove. This pretty cove has deep water to within 30 metres of the heavily-wooded shore making it possible to tuck in close to escape from the wind and tying to a tree if necessary. The following morning, in the mood for exploration, we ventured to the far northern end of Joe Page Bay. From there we took the dinghy into the Spring River but it was too shallow to go far. By 12:49 we were on the move again and anchored at the north western corner of Bramble Cove. We shared the large cove with four other yachts and met the owners of one of them, Talisman, when we went ashore to hike up Mount Milner (pictured above). The trail starts at the southern side of the beach in the NW corner of the cove and offers stunning views of the coast and the dozen or so inshore islands. That evening we were treated to one of the most gorgeous sunsets of the entire trip. For the past four days we’d been enjoying the protected anchorages of the Bathurst Channel but for our last night we returned to Port Davey. At 07:41 we set out for Paine Bay where we anchored south west of Bar Point. From there we explored the first five kilometres of the Davey River by dinghy. The highlight was encountering large numbers of black swans who took to the air by the hundreds as we approached. The river is deep enough to go further but there are many submerged and partially-submerged snags. The trip would be inadvisable after a big rain which likely clogs the river with all manner of flotsam.

After lunch we moved to Spain Bay, 9.4 nautical miles to the south, where we anchored at a depth of four to five metres off the southern beach. The bay, which offers protection from all but the NW quadrant, is the ideal staging point when sailing south from Port Davey. In the meantime we had time for one last hike, namely an easy jaunt to Stephens Bay, a 3.85 kilometre round trip. Standing on that windswept beach we gazed upon the wild Southern Ocean. In 18 hours we would be on that ocean bound for South East Cape, one of the five great capes. The Tasmanian Anchorage Guide recommends two weeks to do Port Davey justice and to explore every nook and cranny it would probably take that. But in five days, blessed with fine weather, you can certainly pack a lot in.

Alan Noble