Galini Delivery Voyage

[Troppo]

Oh.

Very sad.

troppo

[Shaun]

It wasn't Galini. Check the seabreeze site.

[Ianb]

A relief, but still a sad story.

[Alyosius]

Hi all, sorry was out camping last weekend and no mobile coverage. I'm still here and Galini is still in Brooklyn undergoing maintenance.

While I wasn't involved in this incident, it's definitely made me think about my own safety plan and weather it's up to the task - it will definitely be reviewed prior to putting to sea again.

I didn't think the conditions out there that weekend were that bad, so the similarities have definitely made me realise that disaster can strike during what one might consider a relatively safe period.

I appreciate the concern everyone. It is very appreciated.

[Troppo]

Hi Alyosius

It is a relief to know you are still with us! While sad that two yachties drowned, I am pleased to hear it was not you. It does underscore the fact that all of us who go out onto the water do well to be a bit conservative with what we attempt.

Once again, welcome back Alyosius. Good to hear you were out relaxing (on dry land) and that Galini is being repaired.

troppo

[RodM]

Ditto!

[Fat Controller]

Aloysius... I will add my sighs of relief to the others... nonetheless a sad time and a reminder of how cruel the sea can be. Thoughts go to the families at this time in an age where "shipwreck" seems so out of place or time... Stockton Bight is no place to be close to shore especially with any sort of a southerly sea running. We will await the inevitable reviews as to contributing factors.

[Alyosius]

Well, Galini is now (almost) home - just need NSW Maritime to put in the mooring and then I'll declare her finally at home.

So the story of getting her the last half of the way. It took two full days of sailing, with a break overnight at Newcastle for some crew rest.

Day 1:
My father, a mate and I met at Brooklyn and proceeded to load Galini, and we finally slipped lines just after 10. Motoring out into the bay, we raised both the sails and started a slow journey towards the bridge - for future reference planning a departure on the wrong side of a high tide can really slow down your trip - this will become relevant again tomorrow....
We eventually reached the bridge at around 11, and knowing that there wasn't much spare room, we dropped the sails and went under the bridge on motor alone. Well there wasn't much spare room as the VHF antenna went "TWANG!!!!" - ah....ok.....we are a little taller than I thought we were.....but fortunately that was the only thing that hit.
We raised the sails again and spent some time fruitlessly tacking up the river but really getting no-where very fast. We decided that as a matter of preparedness, we pulled into the marina on the seaward side of the bridge to fill up the fuel tanks. When we left again the sea was dead calm and we motored to where the Hawksberry river joins Cowan creek, turned for the sea, hoisted sails and made for Newcastle.

The forecast was 10-15 knots with swell 1.5-2 meters decreasing to 1-1.5 in the afternoon and we made good time maintaining a consistent 4.8 - 5.2 knots for the entire period we were at sea.
We started with a full main but quickly decided to goto the first reef and we kept that throughout the day. I elected to put the second reef in just prior to sunset as I'd always prefer to have not enough sail overnight than too much.

The day was rather uneventful, a little uncomfortable with the swell at times, but nothing unexpected. Sunset approached and I went down below to start the engine (no problem) and illuminate the Nav lights to test them prior to sunset......*flick switch*.....no nav lights.....ummm.....Turns out that with the changes the mechanic made to fix the engine (and bilge pump) and the removal of the dead second battery I no longer have power to any of the electrics besides the two radios....well that explains why the depth sounder didn't turn on this morning.
At this point we are about 4nm south of lake macquarie, so while dad starts trying to diagnose where the power has 'gone to ground' I call VMR Lake Macquarie to give them a heads up and ask what the conditions of the bar are incase we can't get it working and need to shelter overnight. Fortunately Dad managed to jury rig something and with engine running decluchted and in idle as a generator and backup and the nav lights working we decided we were exactly where we had planned to be so continued to Newcastle - thanking VMR Lake Macquaire for their assistance.

I called Newcastle Harbour at about 2300, told them our intentions and asked for any traffic. They gave us a very broad overview and suggested we call back at 5nm...I laughed and said I'd call back 30 minutes before entry, which we did and were told there was one outbound ship 2345 and 2 inbound ships at 0015 and 0100, and that we could enter via the channel between 2345 and 0015. Forewarned we proceeded in - and took probably an extra half an hour proceeding North as we strugged to find the leads for the channel. Eventually after the first ship had departed, we saw the first inbound ship - thinking that they would provide an excellent guide we informed Newcastle port that we would follow the first ship in, which we did and finally got alonside about 0100 and all turned in quickly to get some sleep. There was a very half hearted attempt to get the stove going but with no success in 5 minutes we decided that was a future us problem (for those that don't like suspense - it was stupid user error this time)

For those that have never been into Newcastle at night - it is the very definition of why the line about safe speed in colregs exist (that one of the factors to be taken into acount when determining safe speed is that of background lighting particularly shore lighting of the backscatter from her own lights).

Day 2:
While day 1 had been mostly uneventful - day 2 was to present us with several challenges and definitely take us outside our comfort zone - however as we prepared to sail at 8, coffee from the waterfront in hand it seemed that all would be a good day again.

We called Newcastle Harbour and informed them of our intention to depart. They informed us of one inbound vessel that would probably be in the channel as we departed, we said thanks and promised to keep clear.

We slipped lines and proceeded to sea, avoiding the previously advised large merchantman. We hoisted sails and made for the ocean, however shortly after getting into open seas, for reasons best known to no one - the main halyard decided to become detached. Halyard went to the top of the mast - main went to the bottom.....oh dear....that wasn't planned. Well we decided there was little we could do at the moment and made the decision to proceed on Jib and motor for the rest of the day. While not as successful as the previous day we still made just under 4.5 knots, so didn't have too much of an impact on our speed.

The rest of the day at sea proceeded mostly without incident, except that the battery didn't seam to be charging - damn we much have bumped something off the alternator last night - oh well should be fine and we entered Nelson Bay just after 2pm and began making our way across the bay, as a matter of course I dipped the fuel tank when we reached calm waters - 1/3rd of a tank - should be fine. It was at this point that our friend tidal stream came back to haunt us, slowing us considerably and in one spot even bringing us to a stop for a few minutes. However we got through the worst of it and then headed for "The Narrows," the deep section of Port Stephens that divides the eastern and western bays.
Suddenly the motor spluttered and died....Oh dear....I ducked down, shut the motor and seacock down and then checked the tank - yep empty. We added fuel to the tank hit go, she sprung to life, revved...then died...
Dad and I tried to reprime the engine while our mate kept us safe. We made it through the first section of the narrows but when we made the turn into the second section the wind wasn't doing us any favors. Our mate called for some assistance to handle the jib, but ultimately we ended up anchoring to avoid being blown onto the shallow ground.

Now safe we decided to take stock - we had no motor and no main. We had a working No1 jib. We also had some spare halyards (spinnaker etc). Grabbing a wrench out of the toolkit and attaching it to a spare sheet we managed to get it over the spreaders and pull a spare halyard onto the main side of the mast. Attaching it to the main we managed to hoist the main to the first reef and made another attempt to get through the narrows, which with the ability to point that little bit higher this time, we made it through.

However, not home safe at this point we slowly proceeded down the - reasonably shallow - bay and tacked down the eastern channel past bulls island. While reasonably deep at the center, this shallowed out very quickly, so dad put the jury rig back in and we got our echo sounder back. We tacked up to Taylors Beach and then ran out of wind, though at this point we thought that we would be pushing our luck to sail much further anyway. We anchored and were treated to a georgous sunset while we discovered that "Yes the stove worked - it was stupid user error"

Next morning after dad and I had another look at the engine and managed to bleed a few more bubbles from the system we tried to start the engine.....didn't kick over - out of power. Ho hum. Called VMR who we had been keeping advised the previous evening and asked for a jumpstart or tow. We made coffee while they arrived and enjoyed the scenery. I had a look at the alternator to try and find the thing that had become disconnected.

When VMR turned up they gave us a jumpstart kit. We kicked the engine and.....Success!!! we had the engine purring. We thanked them for their assistance and motored the rest of the way to the marina. While there wasn't much spare space below the keel we pulled in safe, offloaded, moved to the buoy and shutdown.
I tried to kick the motor over again to see if I'd managed to fix the alternator, but alas no joy - oh well a problem for another day. We packed up, secured and rowed ashore.

We made it.

So, what have we learnt?
Well I now know how to bleed and prime my engine. I have proven that it is possible to jury rig a main, and we successfully made the journey. I really need to have a look at the boats electrics, and my toolkit is missing some vital supplies, like a multi meter....

She will stay at Lemon Tree passage probably for 2-3 weeks and then we will move to my own mooring.

Now I just have to figure out how to get my bloody halyard back.....

[Phillip]

Well done to Galini and her crew!

How come the NSW Maritime are putting in your mooring, none of us got that treatment!

[Troppo]

I enjoyed your story, Alyosius. A few challenges to prevent you getting bored but you still managed to bring boat and crew in without any losses. That's a good trip in my book. Your sunset picture looks great. It is nice being out on the water.

cheers
troppo