Steve's fish. Knowing that Townsville was going to be the End Of The Road for the season meant that things were all a bit subdued. It was a relaxing trip north, with respective anchorages at Shag Islet, Cape Upstart and Cape Bowling Green. Easy sailing or motor-sailing, lots of flying the big Gennaker, and lots of lounging around in the sunshine on deck.
And the BIG news is that we finally caught a good, edible fish, with Steve Koehne reeling in a nice spotted mackerel. At last, all that trolling expensive gear from the back of the boat paid off. Fish Tacos for lunch!
We tried for mud crabs at our anchorages at both Upstart and Bowling Green, without any luck. It seems that our smelly tinned cat food bait hasn't been working lately. Maybe it's the wrong brand.
But, being a boat, (there's always a "but") something had to stop working, and this time it was one of the engines which wouldn't go. No go at all, the starter wouldn't kick. I phoned my sparky friend Colin in Townsville, who gave some advice but my attempts to short-circuit the solenoid with a screwdriver didn't work.
And the BIG news is that we finally caught a good, edible fish, with Steve Koehne reeling in a nice spotted mackerel. At last, all that trolling expensive gear from the back of the boat paid off. Fish Tacos for lunch!
We tried for mud crabs at our anchorages at both Upstart and Bowling Green, without any luck. It seems that our smelly tinned cat food bait hasn't been working lately. Maybe it's the wrong brand.
But, being a boat, (there's always a "but") something had to stop working, and this time it was one of the engines which wouldn't go. No go at all, the starter wouldn't kick. I phoned my sparky friend Colin in Townsville, who gave some advice but my attempts to short-circuit the solenoid with a screwdriver didn't work.
Fresh fish Taco just waiting to be eaten on the bridge deck.
In fact, I was lucky not to set fire to the engine with my little effort! However, the boat runs fine on one engine and we continued on our merry way towards the Townsville Yacht Club, when the comedy began. I had been quite happy with my recently-learned skill in steering the boat in close quarters, by working the two engines in opposing directions.....just like driving a Bobcat.
But with a strong crosswind, and just one motor, the boat proved to be uncontrollable. So we missed our berth on the first pass and careened off towards some big expensive boats, piles of rocks and a concrete slipway. Fortunately there was an empty berth that we were passing and we were extremely lucky, with an energised Colin on shore, to lasso the closest cleat. And with a bit of bumping, pulling and pushing, we were safely tied up.
But with a strong crosswind, and just one motor, the boat proved to be uncontrollable. So we missed our berth on the first pass and careened off towards some big expensive boats, piles of rocks and a concrete slipway. Fortunately there was an empty berth that we were passing and we were extremely lucky, with an energised Colin on shore, to lasso the closest cleat. And with a bit of bumping, pulling and pushing, we were safely tied up.
 Good Morning, Townsville! |  Safely tied up in Townsville. |
After the dramas in the Whitsundays, and this little effort in Townsville, I think Steve was happy to head for the airport and back home to the safety of Perth where he's doing his best to eat all of Western Australia's crayfish stocks.
And we recruited Colin Grazules to sort through our niggling little electrical problems, ordering a new solenoid and rewiring our anchor winch's remote switch, which had also been playing up. Then, started to think about the available space for giant Catamarans at the Townsville Yacht Club, which had been "Endurance"'s home for the cyclone season two years previously.
And we recruited Colin Grazules to sort through our niggling little electrical problems, ordering a new solenoid and rewiring our anchor winch's remote switch, which had also been playing up. Then, started to think about the available space for giant Catamarans at the Townsville Yacht Club, which had been "Endurance"'s home for the cyclone season two years previously.
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