Winter is now over and the Kayak project is complete with the launching in Canberra and test paddle in Malua Bay. So now preparing for the sail of the summer around Tasmania.
Just like the last dream trip, a lot of work had gone into Eye Candy prior to our leaving to cross Bass Strait, but in that case Andrew had done the work. It was now my turn to prepare Malua for the summer.
I asked the local Jubb slip if he could haul Malua out and antifoul it. As expected he said the first week in April the following year, so I said that would suit me just fine—so let's set the day. I called his bluff, at which point he got annoyed and told me to leave his boat yard, just as he had done on two previous occasions. I always give the locals a chance, but not again.
As you would have expected, I had my Plan A, so the following day Jim G and I set off for Wollongong harbour. The wind came up from the south as we headed off for Jervis Bay and our first overnight stop. The next day we were off around Point Perpendicular and up the coast, by which time the wind had risen to well over 25 knots from the west. A few reefs in the sail and some flat sea and we were steaming along towards Wollongong. We arrived and pulled up onto the courtesy mooring and went ashore to the slip. We found the Pasadena Star, a steel fishing boat on the large cradle with a number of large square holes cut in the hull and the welder Henry trying to cut and close the rust that almost sunk the vessel.
This delayed us a few days. They finally launched it on a Friday, so I could only go up on the slip on Saturday. No worries—Jim took the bus back to Bermagui and I went to visit Nicola at Fairy Meadow. I returned to Malua every night as I was moored alongside a fishing boat belonging to a cousin of Tony and Charlie L from Ulladulla—small world.
Work started on Malua after it had been very well pressure washed soon after coming out of the water on Saturday. Monday was a quick touch up of some undercoat and good clean of the waterline, and they were off spraying 80 to 20 mix of blue and black Seavictor 50 Jotun antifoul onto Malua.
The Swedish shipwright did a very good job while the other did all the masking of the through hulls, waterline and cleaning the prop. That was finished by noon and then he started on the Propspeed for the propeller. The clearcoat went on and next the zinc anode, and we were ready to go back in the water but had to wait eight hours for the Propspeed and the tide.
Tuesday dawned and we were ready to go but had to wait for the high tide, which was about noon.
The two shipwrights and I got on Malua after clearing away the sand from the slip rails, and the large cradle started to run down the rails into the water. Malua is rather light for the large cradle, so it did not run all the way to the end stops and we had to wait for the tide to rise before Malua floated off back into its natural environment. I dropped the fellows at the wharf and headed out into the sea for a trip south. I pulled into Jervis Bay for the night and out the following day to get into Batemans Bay before a very strong gale force wind came off the land about 1:00 that day.
The wild windy Wednesday hit me just as I was about to enter Batemans Bay with a force of 47 knots. The spray was coming off the sea in sheets. It was the most violent wind I have experienced in Australia. I had dropped all the sails as I saw it coming and tried to motor around Yellow Rock up into the Clyde River mouth of Batemans Bay. Malua would not make any headway at all. I had to keep the bow directly into the wind or else I would lose direction and be blown off course.
I tried sheltering behind the Tollgate Islands but that did not work, so I moved to Black Rock, but again the wind was too strong to motor into it. I eventually turned and headed for Bermagui with the wind on the beam and a good run down the coast.
At Montague the wind dropped, but the swell and confused sea made the last 12 nm into Bermagui a very violent and uncomfortable ride home. I entered the harbour in the dark but with little wind and came alongside to be welcomed by Macca. What a trip.
I now had almost a month prior to Christmas to polish the topsides, add a few extras and to get the inside of Malua ready for a three-month long cruise to Tasmania.
