On Tuesday I took a trip to Whitworths for some Spar varnish by Feast And Watson, bought a new broom and some hatch sealing tape and some vinegar. Vinegar you ask? Helps keep the smell of poo a little less noticeable from the pot.
I got to the mooring and started on the varnish on the hand rails and companionway. Cleaned the decks and stitched up a small loose thread in the lazy bag. The mooring was let go and I ghosted off in very light winds up towards West Head. I noticed what looked like a Mark 1 over near the Basin, but they were heading back in, so didnt get any closer. By the time I reached Flint and Steel the sun was just setting and the moon was on the rise, glistening on the wash from the outboard.... Sails were hanging like rags, so they came down about half way down the passage.
I picked up a mooring on the small headland between Americas Bay and Refuge and settled down to a barbecued chook and rolls washed down with a Birra Moretti and a cuppa before bed and watched a couple of episodes of Torchwood. The night was perhaps the most still I've ever experienced on a mooring. The water was literally like glass and the moon was about two nights off full, a perfect autumn night.
The morning gave me two choices, set sail for the mooring and finish my work there, or break the peace of the bay with my 12 volt polisher and sander. So in the interest of letting the others sleep I let the mooring go and sailed off in what became a reasonably good westerly that pushed me at a good rate under headsail as far as West Head, where I raised the main for the reach up Pittwater. I had intended to do a lap of Scotland Island because the breeze was so good, but by the time I got up to Stokes Point it had all but faded. I then noticed a Mark 2 heading right up the middle of the main Pittwater Channel, but I was too far away to see who it might be, then, looking across towards the basin I noticed another Top Hat, this time a Mark 1. Because the wind was getting fickle, I tacked over towards them and found it was Albetje, a Mark 1 that had a for sale sign on her. The owner was Dutch, but I didn't get his name, we copped a windshift to the North East, and I went one way, he went the other.
I was back n the mooring by about 1300, so got the polisher out and gave her a good rub down over the white gel coat. She's still a bit rough, but at least there's a bit of a shine. I also gave the top sides a bit of a wash with a broom and swept out the cabin, got rid of some black mould and fitted the new sealing tape to the forward hatch, unfortunately it wasn't that successful, because the arc of the cabin roof is slightly different to the arc of the hatch cover. Looks like a job for my return. Thankfully it doesn't leak during rain, only when you get a big one over the deck.
The weather over the last three days was the best for both sailing and working on the boat and I would have stayed another night, but we had a dinner date with a friend in the city, so I finished it off with a sunset ride on the Manly ferry to meet my girl. The 5.15 gets you to the bridge just as the sun is setting, finishing off three perfect days on the water.
