A falling star

As I stopped counting the days, I was told that the Maggie B sailed out of Lunenburg harbor a year ago today. I haven’t written into my blog in months as I preferred to think instead. Seeking the permanent in the eternally changing environment, inner growth and the aspiration for a better understanding of the world describes this last year for me. So many things have changed on the surface, we’ve visited so many lands and crossed paths with beautiful people everywhere but even with this constant change, all had remained the same. The only change seems to be growth.

Yesterday we had the last show of Dream Macons, this wonderful and creative play that Hannah and I played in at the Salamanca Art Center in Hobart. Something special happened during the last minutes of the play. I believe to be the only one having seen it but it does not seem to be a coincidence, neither the fruit of my imagination. I was waiting for my last queue to come out onto the balcony, my face painted white, I stood in a darkened corner of a room on the third floor of the building looking out into the vast sky above the trees blown in the wind, concentrating on a star. In those moments I find it so hard to separate myself from everything around me as I feel that I am melting in. Acting in a play requires coming back to my personality in this life and being in my character as an actor. As I was gathering my forces to act and come back to this reality, a star fell out of the sky, at the exact place I was looking at.

I think I caught it and it is still with me, hidden in my pocket. I don’t know what I will do with it yet but I feel its presence. Soon after I lost my watch. Something has started over a year ago and there is no way of going back. I don’t know if this will be my last entry into this blog or not. I am planning to sail to New Zealand with the Maggie B and then return home and keep on moving forward, wherever I need to go. Maybe, with a later perspective, I will be able to tell you about these experiences. This year has been amazing and intense, I’ll try to write a book about it but I need to be away from the boat. The feelings need to be turned into understanding.

Location: Schooner Maggie B in Hobart
Friday, 03.23.2007

The Schooner Maggie B continues very happily tied up at Elizabeth Street Pier in Hobart as of March 23rd. Tonight is the opening for Dream Masons, the opening show for the Ten Days on the Island Festival. We are proud that Hannah and Bori have significant parts, as theatrical unrollers of the series of banners that frame each scene. Owen and Frank have also been working hard as riggers, helping finish last minute details.

We haven’t done too much boat work as our attention is on Dream Masons. Nevertheless, we have replaced two bilge pumps, drained and refilled the hydraulic steering system, ordered new cockpit cushions, ordered new paper charts for the South Pacific, got electronic charts for the same region, replaced some broken electronic systems, etc. One of the big surprises is that our main Danforth steering compass is broken. It had occasionally been sticking on one heading, not great. Some other yachties had said that it was because it was a Northern Latitudes compass and was trying to point upside down here (an error called “dip”), but local adjustors say some piece inside is plumb broken. Fortunately it has a three year warrantee, so perhaps it will be replaced for free.

We are all marvelously happy to be in such a neat town as Hobart. A gem. Some observations: less obesity than in Fremantle — lots of bush walkers; very boatie/yachtie, a high proportion of people know what they are doing on the water and appreciate wooden boats; in respects to Fremantle, more people have kids and fewer have dogs; warm days, cool nights equals perfect weather; very artsy, hippie, down-to-earth, organic; a great outdoors cafe society where in a block you can both get a perfect Guinness and a perfect macciato, with excellent fresh (organic) food everywhere. Other towns we ended up quickly with favorite restaurants and pubs, here we still have a dozen of each and new ones continue to be discovered.

The Salamanca Saturday market just must be experienced. Yes, there are some silly wooden toys and strange t-shirts, but mostly it is marvelous people who tend sheep, card, spin and knit during the week and sell lovely hats and sweaters each Saturday. This is a lovely time as there are many growers here with their best apples, raspberries or flowers. There are bands and buskers on every corner. We all are quite taken with it.

Our general plans are to work Dream Masons through next Tuesday, then focus on the boat through the end of next week. Then probably a motor tour of inland and a sail back around to the SW coast, then a bit more fun in town, then off to New Zealand sometime towards the middle of April.

All is well.

Schooner Maggie B in Hobart, Tasmania

The Schooner Maggie B is safely docked in Hobart, Tasmania, at Elizabeth Street Pier at 42° 53 S, 147° 20 E. The city looks marvelous and is sure to be our favorite spot (so far). More to come.

All is well.

Location: 43° 26S, 144° 48E
Thursday 12:00, 03.15.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 43° 26S, 144° 48E at noon on March 15. Our wind is petering out and it is overcast and raining lightly. We have come 1739 NM from Fremantle and have 127 to go to Hobart. The computer now says we will arrive at about noon tomorrow (Hobart summer time, which is +11 from UTC). I guess that it has to rain a lot here to make the rain forest….

We will pass Whale Head, which is the Southeast Cape of Tasmania at about dawn tomorrow. Being daylight, we have the confidence to “go inside” on our way to Hobart, taking the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, which runs between Tasmania and the Bruny Islands. It is about 40 miles long and less than a mile wide in some places. One cove is described as “the prettiest anchorage in the Southern Hemisphere.” We have seen some fairly pretty ones recently, so it will be interesting to compare.

This Southeast part of Tasmania is the apple and berry growing part of the country. They supposedly grow almost 400 different kinds of apples. As it is just coming into fall here, perhaps we could get jobs as pickers?

Commanders Weather just sent a quick note to say that things should be quiet for the next 24-36 hours. They say that they had to route Ellen MacArthur south to 54-55 South to get clear of a high in the Great Australian Bight. Glad we’re not down there!

Regular readers will note how often we have been able to arrive in a new town for Friday Night. Planning, planning, planning.

All is well.

Location: 43° 04S, 140° 42E
Wednesday 12:00, 03.14.2007

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on March 14th was 43° 04S, 140° 42E. We are motorsailing at 7.1 knots, headed due East for the southern tip of Tasmania. The wind is just beginning to fill in from the North as the high continues its way East. It is a surprise for all of us to be essentially becalmed in the Roaring Forties — not that we want another gale, just it is unexpected.

We have come 1558 NM from Fremantle, have about 246 to go to the SW corner and 326 to go to Hobart.

We should see Tasmania about dusk tomorrow. Our thoughts are to continue to Hobart, arriving perhaps before noon on the 16th. That will give us time, perhaps, to help our friend with the final preparations for the Festival. We hope that once we have spent some time in Hobart, we will learn all to best spots to visit by land and sea, and then we’ll take the opportunity to visit some of the wild areas.

We have regular albatross on patrol around us. We are pretty sure that one is young Black-browed and another (photo already up on the web) is a Yellow Nosed albatross. Our bird guide tells us to differentiate between the Northern and Southern Black-browed by the color of the eye’s iris. Good luck!

All is well.

Location: 42° 10S, 136° 58E
Tuesday 12:00, 03.13.2007

The Schooner Maggie B’ noon position on March 13th was 42° 10S, 136° 58E. We are motoring towards Tasmania in essentially no wind as the latest high is right over us. We should have some wind from the North tomorrow as the high moves East past us. It is overcast but with good visibility, there is a long swell from the SW but no waves or chop.

We have come 1384 NM from Fremantle and have 414 to go to the SW corner of Tasmania.

One of our most interesting recent failures is with our Danforth steering compass. It locks up from time to time and is no longer dependable. It appears as if the part below the card has come loose in some fashion. This comes as quite a surprise as one would think that it would be just about the last thing on the boat to fail. We’ll just have to drink the alcohol in it and rely on the GPS.

Today was rather boring. If you are sailing, you are always working to optimize all the elements, to take advantage of the free energy resource. Motoring, you put the autopilot on and rumble along.

We celebrated the quiet day by first cleaning the boat and then having a movie party. After lunch (ginger and garlic shrimp with rice and salad with basil vinaigrette dressing), we set out a plate of apples, cheeses and chocolate, strapped the computer to the bulkhead, and watched My Fair Lady (Harrison and Helburn version, natch). The nice additional touch was that we were able to connect the computer to the Bose sound system, so it was almost SurroundSound. Yo Ho for the Life of the Sailor!

All is well.

Location: 41° 21S, 133° 27E
Monday 12:00, 03.12.2007

At noon today, the Schooner Maggie B was at 41° 21S, 133° 27E. We are motoring with only the main up to help a little. The wind is 110 degrees magnetic at 7-8 knots and there is a fair sea running, so no chance of sailing, even if the wind wasn’t right in our face on our course to Tasmania.

We have come 1221 NM since Fremantle and have 579 to go to the SW corner of Tasmania.

We have tentatively decided to call the Yanmar engine Nane, after the great sea dog we met in Mauritius. Of course, we will seek Didier and Celine’s permission. Nane is good in water, hardworking, loyal and only needs a bit of care and feeding. Just like a good engine? The inspiration came to Owen when he was in the engine compartment after we pumped out all the water from the storm, and when I started up the engine, it shook the water off like a wet dog (Owen was standing too close).

We have a primitive seabird identification book, but we have ID’ed an adult Yellow Nosed Albatross (photo up on the website) and a Grey Headed Albatross (photo as soon as it stays in one place for a moment…).

We seem to have finally gotten all the water out of our fuel tanks. It must have forced its way into the tanks during the storm, possibly through the on deck vents. Our latest addition to our boat work in Hobart is that our outhaul pulley is delaminating from the inside of the boom end. We have rigged a strop to decrease the chance of a major failure.

We haven’t decided just what to do when we arrive at the SW corner of Tasmania (in about three days). Whether to explore the wild area of Davie Straight or to continue the 100 NM to Hobart and find a good spot on the wharf. We’ll take a vote, depending on wind, weather, and attitude, and then after the vote, The Captain will decide….

Lunch was Australian steaks with baked potatoes, steamed cauliflower and peas, with a nice lettuce and tomato salad and King Island cheddar cheese. South African Shiraz washed it down perfectly. Yum!

All is well.

Location: 40° 15S, 130° 35E
Sunday 12:00, 03.11.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 40° 15S, 130° 35E at noon on March 11th. We are out of the bad weather, shaking ourselves off like wet dogs, headed directly for Tasmania at eight knots under all plain sail. The wind is from the SSW at 12-15 knots. We have come 1068 NM from Fremantle and have 716 to go to the SW corner of Tasmania.

The skies have mostly cleared and we have carpets, towels, boots, socks all hung out to dry. We are running the Yanmar to keep it healthy, but also to circulate some heat in the cabin and heat hot water for showers (ladies first!). We had lunch on deck for the first time in a while. Hannah made hamburgers with a mushroom, onion, olive and corn hot chutney dressing. We had fresh steamed celery and cauliflower. Hannah found 100 tiny green worms in the cauliflower when preparing the dish and threw them all overboard. It is awful seeing them wiggling their way after us, squeaking for help, chased by every bird and fish in the ocean.

As regular readers and family will know, chocolate is a regular issue on board. One of Fremantle’s many charms is the Chocolate Factory, which is only two blocks from the Fremantle Sailing Club. We definitely stocked up there. We also have gotten lots of lovely chocolate bars stuffed in packages. Today, at lunch, we laid out all our chocolate, just for taste quality control and to inventory. We had: Mango Crush, Dark Chocolate with Rosemary, Macadamian Nut Dark Chocolate medallions, Hazelnut medallions, Chili Chocolate, Raspberries in Dark Chocolate, Ginger crystalized in Dark Chocolate, 55% Dark Chocolate, Lavender Dark Chocolate, Cadbury Thins milk chocolate, Mint Organic Chocolate, Lavender Organic chocolate, Dark Chocolate Ginger, and Dark Chocolate coated plums. So much chocolate, so little time….

We are slowing down a bit, only 197 NM yesterday. There is a new high filling in behind us which will position fairly far south, so we may have light, unfavorable, or no wind tomorrow. We are heading south of the rhumb line to minimize our adverse winds.

All is well.

Location: 39° 06 S, 126° 39 E
Saturday 12:00, 03.10.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 39° 06 S, 126° 39 E at noon on March 10. We are getting thrashed a bit with a proper SW’erly Southern Ocean gale. A bit more than predicted. At noon the wind was at 220 degrees at 30 knots. This is good as there was sustained 40 knots during the night. The barometer is now up to 1008, from a low of 999 last night. The seas have made up quite a bit and are generally about 20 feet, with occasional higher. These Southern Ocean waves seem to have more tricks that theirmore northern colleagues. We are getting water into the boat and into our foul weather gear in all sorts of new places.

We are making 9.3 knots direct for Tasmania. We did 229 NM in the last 24 hours, sailing under jib and double reefed main.We have come 871 NM from Fremantle and have 908 to go to Tasmania.

We have the usual sort of heavy weather boat issues. Every drop of water or gunk in the fuel tanks has headed straight for the Yanmar and Onan Genset. But all has been heroically filtered out by our twin RCI vortex fuel purifiers. These little gems work perfectly, clearing out water and debris without the use of filters, so that when its insistent alarm goes off, all you have to do is drain it and get going again. No need for new filters! We had to drain it seven or eight times since midnight, as well as draining the low point in each fuel tank. We seem to be OK now, with the Yanmar purring along, charging the batteries, heating hot water for showers and circulating warm water through heat registers in the cabin to dry things out.

We got a little water (salt) of unknown origin in the mid section and a fair amount in the engine compartment. Both our mid and engine room bilge pumps are inoperative due to unknown causes. We manually pumped out the mid section and ran our BIG pump (100 gal/minute) to clear out the engine room. We also have another portable bilge pump that can be used anywhere.

Today we had another first! The Sat Phone rang — our first incoming call ever! I was listening for the RCI filter alarm and heard a different noise. What now? The Iridium Sat Phone was beeping and had “incoming call” on the screen. I picked it up and there was my son, Alden, in Chicago. While thrilled to hear from him, I was perhaps a bit short: “What’s up? We’re getting a bit thrashed here.” He and I had just been emailing about sat phones and I thought he was testing the link. Alden says, “I know you’re getting thrashed, I just had a call from the Australian Coast Guard!” Captain/Dad: “????????” (Speechless). Alden: “Your Emergency Locator went off for a second and only gave your ID, but no location, they looked you up and called the house.” Captain/Dad “??????” (Speechless). Alden: “What’s your position and are you OK, I have to call them back.” Captain/Dad says we are OK and gives Lat/Long and asks that the Australians call to check in.

We have our very high tech EPIRB locator in with our life raft and other rescue gear. The EPIRB gives out our unique identifier and can, within 30 seconds, give our position from GPS within 100 feet. If activated. The unit I have is sealed, very watertight and NOT automatically activated when in the water. You have to lift a cover and throw a switch. Then everyone on the planet knows you are in trouble. Somehow a lot of water got in the compartment and jostled the EPIRB just enough that it let out a tiny message, and just that was enough to alert the world. Reassuring, somewhat. The Coast Guard guy who called just after Alden hung up was very understanding.

We had been thinking of exploring the wild SW coast of Tasmania before we go the last 80-100 miles to Hobart. Right now we are rather more eager to meet in a cozy pub in Hobart. Actually, we are up for meeting in a cozy pub anywhere.

But the Maggie B is handling all this with total class. The sails are perfect, the hull is sound, the motion is generally easy, Jorge is doing an excellent job of steering and…

All is well.

Location: 38° 05 S, 122° 00 E
Friday 12:00, 03.09.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 38° 05 S, 122° 00 Eat noon on March 9th. We are headed straight for Davie Sound in SW Tasmania, 110 degrees magnetic at 1136 NM. We have come 642 NM since Fremantle. We are doing 8.5 knots with the wind at 180 at 25 knots. The seas are lumpy, with fair wave chop and swells from both NE and SE. The sky is overcast with promise of more light showers. The barometer is continuing to drop and is at 1002 (999 as I write this at 1700). We have the jib up full, the fore down and furled and the main with two reefs. The boat is comfortable and dry (at least below decks!).

Quote of the day: Future: One of the crew with his/her granddaughter: “Grandfather (grandmother) - how windy was it when you first crossed the Southern Ocean to come to Tasmania?” Answer: ” Aaaarggg, Maggie, it was so windy that there were whitecaps in me cocoa!”
We are learning Aussie Talk. Some of it rather resembles English, though we do not want to be associated with any Pommie B*****ds. My favorite is “Good Onya” which is “good for you,” or “well done!” The everyday greeting is: “How ya gong,” as in “How are you going.” A basic cup of coffee with milk is a “flat white.” “Bugs” on the menu of a top restaurant should not startle too much as they are medium-sized crayfish. So much to learn!

I realize that some of these reports have made it sound as if the systems on the Maggie B are a basket case. Certainly we have had some things to fix. But I wanted to take the time to highlight the systems that have worked great for the last year and 17,500 miles. The first that comes to mind is the Onan diesel Genset. Yes, it did eat one impeller a bit early, but it spat back all the pieces and the change was easy and it shut itself down as soon as it noticed the problem. It has worked 642 hours for us so far with essentially no maintenance other than changing oil. Another is the Spectra Watermaker. It has produced 1800 gallons of fresh water for us with barely a hiccup (one new salinity probe). Bravo! More tomorrow.

We are driving for Tasmania with a careful eye on this one low ahead of us. It is supposed to exit SE fairly fast, so we should have an easy time after it. Perhaps six days to Davie Sound. It should be marvelously wild.

All is well.

Location: 37° 32 S, 32° 118 E
Thursday 12:00, 03.08.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 37° 32 S, 118° 31 E at noon on March 8th. We were headed 140 degrees at 6 knots. The wind has come around to SW at 14 knots. It is overcast with some breaks to the West. The barometer is steady at 1007.

We have come 472 NM from Fremantle and have 1299 to go to Davie Straight in Tasmania.

We’ve had the front come through, with the windshift from north to SW. We have perfect sailing conditions for SW Tasmania, with a nice fresh SSW breeze. But we have a problem. This nice little front that just passed becomes something rather nasty by the time it wraps itself up a bit in the middle of the Bight. Winds of 50 knots with higher gusts! Yike!! So our job right now is a tough one for the Maggie B — go slow and don’t overrun the front (it will slow down a bit). So we’ve double reefed the main and will double reef the fore by sunset, but we are still going over eight knots….

This storm is a bit unusual in that there is less wind to the south, and also the Bight is best know for light or no winds, though the Bass Straights at the Eastern end has a nasty reputation. We’ll keep a careful eye out.

From loving to stay in Fremantle and our attraction to Tasmania, we have bypassed much of Australia’s Southwest and Southern Coast. Some of the names that we have missed are fascinating: Quindabelup, Mooringa, Moulyinning, Jerramungup, Warrawoona, and “Ivy Tank Motel.” Less interesting for sailors is: Windy Harbor and Foul Bay.

Earlier I mentioned that Australian Customs were interested in what bottom paint we had and when it was applied. I feared that they were perhaps after boats coming in with banned bottom paint. The true story is worse. Australia is concerned that boats arriving might carry some bottom pest that will infect Australian waters. There is a proposal to make all arriving boats to have been recently hauled and had new anti-fouling applied and then are hauled and cleaned AGAIN within a week of arriving in Australian waters! It seems a little mad as I can’t imagine that it will apply to all the huge container ships, so why pick on the little boats? The Fremantle Customs seemed pleased that we had been hauled and repainted in December, but there was no talk of getting rehauled. Perhaps cooler heads have prevailed.

All is well.

On the way to Tasmania

Books we are reading: Hannah is reading “Pride and Prejudice,” Bori — “The Soul in Tibet,” Owen — a Fremantle Historical Society publication called “The Globalization of Containerization,” and Frank — “Mayflower - Courage, Community and War.”

Recent DVD’s we have enjoyed off watch include “Cold Mountain” and “The Prairie Home Companion.”

Location: 35° 37 S, 116° 39 E
Wednesday 12:00, 03.07.2007

At noon on March 7th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 35° 37 S, 116° 22 E We were making 6.7 knots more or less straight for the SW corner of Tasmania. We have gone 291 NM since Fremantle and have 1443 until Davie Sound. At this speed we will be there in about nine days.

The skies are clear and the temperature is perfect for t-shirt and shorts, though the bright sun can burn quickly. We had a lovely lunch in the cockpit — shrimp in garlic and a big mixed salad with fresh avocado and tomatoes. We are cleaning the Fremantle dirt off and finishing all the 1000 little rigging jobs.

The moon is three days after full and gives us a lovely moonrise just as Venus is setting in the West. Jupiter is climbing into Scorpio and gives the midnight watch a perfect “steering star.”

Being back at sea is great on our feet. We all are barefoot most of the time and our feet spread out somewhat. Getting squished back into shoes ashore (Hannah even has high heels!) is, literally, a pain.

We have been puzzling over the mystery of what happens to the Big Ships during the day. At night they seem to be all around us — perhaps a dozen within ten miles last night. During the day we keep just as good a watch but there are no ships. Perhaps they hide underwater during the day like in Pirates of the Caribbean II?

We are very tuned into a front developing to the West of us. We are just beginning to see the barometer fall and some faint high clouds. The GRIB files call for winds of up to 55 knots, developing once it is past us as the front concentrates its low in the middle of the Bight. We will stay clear of that area, probably by running off to the South. Commander’s Advice is going to be carefully attended.

All is well.

Know Your Boom

While in Fremantle, we also found and fixed a problem we didn’t know we had. Our boom is carbon fiber and hollow. The main outhaul goes into the boom about a fourth the way back from the mast. Three-fourths the way back there is a cross-member inside the boom to support reefing lines. At the end of the boom there are two rollers to guide the outhaul line up and out to a clear, handy place to attach to the sail. It would make sense to run the line straight back and clear to the rollers. Unfortunately we found that the line had been run OVER the cross member, from which it had to cut sharply down to meet the first roller. So as the sail worked, the Spectra rope sawed into the cross member and the cross member sawed into the Spectra line. The line is now reversed and cleared and no great damage to the cross member.

Location: 33° 59 S, 114° 39 E
Tuesday 12:00, 03.06.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 33° 59 S, 114° 39 E at noon on March 6th. We are still on Western Australia Summer Time, which is nine hours later than Universal Time. We were making 4.4 knots on a heading of 160, as the SE’erly was dying out getting ready for the land breeze. By 1300 we were motor sailing at seven knots. We are off the Marguerite River, and will pass the “corner” of SW Australia this afternoon. We have come 138 NM from Fremantle in the last 20 hours, and have 1563 NM to go to SW Tasmania.

Last night at 0200 hours we were under full sail, close hauled and had a medium sized ship approach us from our port side at 15 knots. Both eyeball and computer said that we were going to get very, very close, so even though we had right of way, we tacked away, which allowed the ship to pass safely less than a mile from us. They didn’t reply to VHF calls nor seem to notice us in any way (deck lights were on highlighting the sails).

We had a lot of work done in Fremantle. Getting the three sails off, repaired and back on again was a huge job. Rips and wear fixed up plus five battens replaced and sewn into their pockets (see if they can get out now!). Sailmakers W.A. did a great job and provided lots of good advice. We just about lived at Wilson Marine, a chandlery, getting some new Australian blocks from them, which hopefully will last better than our Lewmars. The Chart and Map Shop is one of those stores I shouldn’t be allowed into. Every sailing and adventure book, map, chart or poster one could imagine. John Mason of Creations Wood Gallery made our lovely compass piece. We polish the kangaroo penny daily. Ian Duperouzel at Yanmar Diesel had everything we needed, or found it if it wasn’t already in stock. Taylor Marine took in our Furuno gear, tested everything, and reinstalled it so that it now works fine. But not having found a problem means that the gremlins are still in the box somewhere, ready to kill again. Finally, Yacht Grot, the “interestingly” named ship chandlery supplied us with lots of new rope so that all our running gear can be wear-free. While they had just what we needed, at a fair price, the colors are such that we have had to learn new names (”Haul on the fuchsia reefing line!”).

All four of us found Fremantle such a nice place we all could imagine living there.

The Fremantle Sailing Club is by far the best Yacht Club we have been to. Great showers (Hannah and Bori took so many hot showers that they should be clean through the end of April). Free wireless internet in the bar, which has 12 different beers on tap. Very good food in the restaurant. Lovely people. One totally impressive thing is that one of the big varnished boards up on the wall is a listing of all the club members who had sailed around the world. Sixteen!

We managed to embarrass ourselves when we went over to fill up on diesel at the Club. We have high-tech air/fuel separators on each of the fuel tanks. In them, there is a one-way valve. That valve, after a year and 16,500 miles and a bit of salt water corrosion, can change from a one-way valve to a “no-way” valve. If that happens, and you have a filling line with fair volume, your diesel filler becomes rather like the man in the restaurant in Monty Python’s “the Meaning of Life” after “one last wafer-thin mint.” Not nice for anybody around. Of course, the air/fuel separator, once found and disassembled, fills its compartment (the Captain’s closet) with a fine mist of diesel. Sigh. But all fixed now.
We also found and fixed a problem we didn’t know we had. Our boom is carbon fiber and hollow. The main outhaul goes into the boom about a fourth the way back from the mast. Three-fourths the way back there is a cross-member inside the boom to support reefing lines. At the end of the boom there are two rollers to guide the outhaul line up and out to a clear, handy place to attach to the sail. It would make sense to run the line straight back and clear to the rollers. Unfortunately we found that the line had been run OVER the cross member, from which it had to cut sharply down to meet the first roller. So as the sail worked, the Spectra rope sawed into the cross member and the cross member sawed into the Spectra line. The line is now reversed and cleared and no great damage to the cross member.

The Commanders Weather should be posted on the web site. We have great conditions now, but a front with a fair bit of power is headed our way towards the end of the week, which should make our life in The Great Australian Bight somewhat interesting. Not sure yet how we’ll play the pressure, but we’ll take it carefully and respectfully.

Owen made a great Fritatta for breakfast with a pile of our fresh veggies. Perfect way to start out for those of us who were interested in solid food.

All is well.

Back at sea, en route to Tasmania

Monday, March 5, 2007 €” The Schooner Maggie B is at sea again. We left the lovely Fremantle Sailing Club at about 1630 today, underway for Tasmania. I will start noon position reports tomorrow.

We hope to be in Hobart for the start of their bi-annual “Ten Days on the Island” Festival, which starts March 22 or 23. If we have the time, we also hope to explore the wild SW coast of Tasmania, especially a place called Port Davey at 43° 20S, 146° E. Users of Google Earth will notice that not only there are no buildings there, there are no roads. It apparently takes six days to walk in from the nearest trail head, or get dropped off by sea plane. It is supposed to be lovely.

We will have more impressions of Fremantle and our marvelous stay there tomorrow.

All is well.

Commanders Weather Corporation
Sunday 15:30, 03.04.2007

From: Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Route: Fremantle, Australia to Hobart
Departure: 0500utc Mon, March 5, 2007
Prepared: 1530utc Sun, March 4, 2007

Summary:
See no problems with leaving tomorrow (Mon) afternoon, but we’ll have to watch out for rougher conditions by later in the week, as a cold front pushes thru the area!!

a) Wind speeds <10 knots closer to shore, but maybe into teens offshore

a) Wind shifts more into the SE or S-SE close to shore, but b) Think you could run into SE winds into the 20s later in the afternoon/evening.

a) Wind diminishes from the E to NE, as you near this ridge during day on Tue,

a) Will be increasing chance for squally showers as front approaches
b) Wind shifts into NW, then turns into the SW to S behind the front late Wed night or Thu AM

By later Thu or Fri, low pressure strengthens to the south, while highpressure (west of 110e) expands toward the east.

a) Could be a period of 30-40 knts w/higher gusts
b) With colder SW flow, there could be some instability type clouds with showers
c) Seas may reach 15 ft

Routing

Wind Forecasts
Wind direction TRUE, speed in kts, time is UTC

Mon, March 5
00: 070-090/8-14
06: 100-130/6-12 depart
12: bcmg 130-150/18-28
18: 130-090/24-12 Weather: Fair to partly cloudy Seas 6-10 feet, wind wave chop mixed with SW swell

Tue, March 6
00: 080-040/ 8-14 near 34s/114e
06: 030-060/ 5-10
12: 070-090/12-17
18: 020-050/16-24
Weather: Increasing clouds with a chance of showers and squalls late Seas 7-10 feet, SW to WSW swell and increasing chop late Wed,

March 7
00: 360-030/17-25 near 37s/115 30e
06: 340-010/15-22
12: 320-350/12-20, squally showers near front
18: 300-330/10-16, chance of shifting to 220-240
Weather: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers and potential for isolated squalls Seas 6-8 ft, SW swell

Thu, March 8
00: bcmg 180-210/17-25 near 38s/119e
06: 170-200/12-20
12: 200-230/10-15
18: 210-240/12-18
Weather: Variably cloudy with a few squally showers likely, then partial clearing Seas 4-7 feet, mainly SW swell

Fri, March 9
00: 210-240/18-26 near 39s/123e
12: 210-240/25-40, higher gusts?
Weather: Variable clouds with a chance of showers and squalls Seas building to 10-15 feet, increasing SW swell and wind wave chop

Sat, March 10
00: 190-220/25-40 near 40s/126 30e
12: 210-240/30-15
Weather: decreasing clouds Seas near 15 ft, large SW swell

Sun, March 11
00: bcmg light/variable near 41s/130 30e
12: bcmg 300-330/ 7-12
Weather: fair skies Seas down to 6-9 ft SW swell