I looked out the window this evening & saw the moon. Immediately, I thought about Callisto & our sail from New Caledonia to NSW, Australia It has now been nearly a month since our journey but the experience & affect of a week at sea are still with me. I'm relaxed, a little disconnected & feeling good. The boys got in ahead of me with their comments, which echo much of my own sentiment....including the fact that Roger got the better bunk! When you are being thrown around & trusting your lee-cloth, the less room the better in your resting spot. I flew from San Francisco to Sydney & spent a wonderful 4 days enjoying the hospitality of an old friend, Lee Tredinnick, before meeting up with Michael in Noumea. I left early spring weather in Sydney for the perfect weather of New Caledonia ...not too hot, not too cold & not too humid. This was very much a trip about the journey, not the destination. Once Roger arrived and the question was answered about who the 3rd crew member was, it was plain sailing. My preparation of being rested & hydrated to avoid sea-sickness failed miserably. By the time the wind shifted on the first day at sea, I had the worst bout of mal de mare in my history on the sea ...& it did not stop until the wind shifted off the nose. There is something about watching the phosphorescence in the water, while throwing up in the dark, with the southern sky & a moon like tonight that makes it all worth while. My shipmates took good care of me, with fluids & gentle suggestions of what was best to do to feel better. The wind shifted, I recovered & we settled into life aboard Callisto and a week of blue water sailing. The company was great, the sailing was what the weather gave us & I was not ready to stop when we docked into Newcastle 7 days later. The last night of sailing along the NSW coast gave us a beautiful sunset, a full moon and at 4.30am, we were all up with a good cup of tea ready to arrive in Newcastle. If I could have changed something, it would have not to have been on a schedule to leave. My best parts:
The companyThe whalesThe starsBeing able to absorb myself in a 900 page novel, nearly finish & really enjoy the book!I have been fortunate to join Michael & Ann on several adventures on Callisto...& to be there when she was an idea and a brochure on the coffee table. I'm looking forward to what the next one will be.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Back down under
I’m back in Newcastle after a grueling 30 hours of travel. The weather is much warmer now and there was one huge thunder storm yesterday. I was able to find a mooring in Sydney just 3 miles west of the famous bridge in a suburb of Woolich which I’m told is very pleasant with good connections to downtown Sydney. When Ann arrives next week we can start our inland tour of New South Wales.
I’ll probably leave for Sydney tomorrow weather permitting.
I’ll probably leave for Sydney tomorrow weather permitting.
Reflections on our San Diego Trip
It was excellent to return home and visit with some of our children and visit the desert and see some old friends there and also to search for and buy bucket loads of boat parts. We also got to do the accountant and doctor thing and I hope all will be well for a year until we are back again.
We spent two days in Rancho Mirage with Len and Kathy Schwartz and visited Eisenhower Medical Center and enjoyed the perfect fall weather and some very good company and generally caught up on all the happenings in town.
We also went to San Francisco for a few days to see our son James and his girlfriend Katie. We had a wonderful day out in Point Reyes complete with a picnic lunch of fresh oysters, local cheeses and a nice Pinot Noir.
We visited the farmers market which was a mob scene and also saw the Occupy San Francisco brigade on the Embarcadero in tents. No violence but it did look pretty dismal.
We did all the touristy things and shopped on Union Square. There was quite a contrast between the big name stores and the tent city. All the shops were busy and I wondered to myself, “what recession”
James and Katie showed us many of the city things that we would not have found by ourselves
We got lucky with the weather in San Francisco too, crystal clear and warm.
Joanne and Tracie Hughes met us for lunch and the time passed very quickly.
San Diego is just as we remember it and I regret that I did not spend more time there on this trip. Next time perhaps.
Photos to follow.
We spent two days in Rancho Mirage with Len and Kathy Schwartz and visited Eisenhower Medical Center and enjoyed the perfect fall weather and some very good company and generally caught up on all the happenings in town.
We also went to San Francisco for a few days to see our son James and his girlfriend Katie. We had a wonderful day out in Point Reyes complete with a picnic lunch of fresh oysters, local cheeses and a nice Pinot Noir.
We visited the farmers market which was a mob scene and also saw the Occupy San Francisco brigade on the Embarcadero in tents. No violence but it did look pretty dismal.
We did all the touristy things and shopped on Union Square. There was quite a contrast between the big name stores and the tent city. All the shops were busy and I wondered to myself, “what recession”
James and Katie showed us many of the city things that we would not have found by ourselves
We got lucky with the weather in San Francisco too, crystal clear and warm.
Joanne and Tracie Hughes met us for lunch and the time passed very quickly.
San Diego is just as we remember it and I regret that I did not spend more time there on this trip. Next time perhaps.
Photos to follow.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Some comments from Roger
I flew into Noumea on a Sunday and was greeted by warm afternoon and bright
sunshine; but that was to be short-lived as the next day, Monday, it rained.
Anyway, umbrella-less (we're roughty-toughty sailors you see),we cleared out
at Customs and Immigration, provisioned for the trip and motored out a few
miles to pick up a mooring ready for an early getaway the next morning
(Tuesday).
Joanna was already on board and so the first-come-first-served rule meant
that she got the double berth. Well, being an old sailor and all, I
struggled along regardless and enjoyed the entire trip on an extremely
comfortable sea berth (between you and me, I think I got the best deal so
don't tell Joanna). Really the facilities and accommodation on Callisto are
superb and this, coupled with the very enjoyable company of Skipper Mike and
co-crew Joanna, made for a great experience.
Callisto is a real joy to sail. Putting aside the obvious comfort and
convenience of electric furling gear and winches (sail handing equipment),
she sails so easily and is very tolerant. Weather on the trip ranged from
winds of 30 knots on the nose right through to an oily-calm sea. One day we
had every possible piece of cloth that can be hung at the same time hanging
from the masts. Mizzen, Mizzen Staysail, Main, Staysail and Genoa. We
screamed along and actually covered 186 miles in a 24 hour period. If the
conditions had prevailed a little longer, it could have been a 200-mile day.
Mike called a 3-watch rota of 3hrs each to take us through the nights which
meant we each had a 6 hour sleep every night; luxury, sheer luxury it was.
The company was great. We all enjoyed being together and worked so well it
seemed that words were often unnecessary (except during the conversations of
course). We sorted out all of the world's problems but ultimately decided
that our ideas probably wouldn't catch on so I'm not going to mention them
here.
So, what were the highlights for me? In no particular order they were: Truly
great company, wonderful sailing and ....seeing Wales! oops sorry, I meant
Whales. Yes, we saw a pod of Whales passing by as the travelled north. They
were no more than 200m away and were rising halfway out of the water and
blowing regularly. It was a wonderful sight.
When we finally arrived in Newcastle harbour 7 days later and just after six
in the morning, it was a beautifully clear, sunny morning and that gave us a
very calm and peaceful finish to a terrific trip.
Thank you Mike, Thank you Joanna.
sunshine; but that was to be short-lived as the next day, Monday, it rained.
Anyway, umbrella-less (we're roughty-toughty sailors you see),we cleared out
at Customs and Immigration, provisioned for the trip and motored out a few
miles to pick up a mooring ready for an early getaway the next morning
(Tuesday).
Joanna was already on board and so the first-come-first-served rule meant
that she got the double berth. Well, being an old sailor and all, I
struggled along regardless and enjoyed the entire trip on an extremely
comfortable sea berth (between you and me, I think I got the best deal so
don't tell Joanna). Really the facilities and accommodation on Callisto are
superb and this, coupled with the very enjoyable company of Skipper Mike and
co-crew Joanna, made for a great experience.
Callisto is a real joy to sail. Putting aside the obvious comfort and
convenience of electric furling gear and winches (sail handing equipment),
she sails so easily and is very tolerant. Weather on the trip ranged from
winds of 30 knots on the nose right through to an oily-calm sea. One day we
had every possible piece of cloth that can be hung at the same time hanging
from the masts. Mizzen, Mizzen Staysail, Main, Staysail and Genoa. We
screamed along and actually covered 186 miles in a 24 hour period. If the
conditions had prevailed a little longer, it could have been a 200-mile day.
Mike called a 3-watch rota of 3hrs each to take us through the nights which
meant we each had a 6 hour sleep every night; luxury, sheer luxury it was.
The company was great. We all enjoyed being together and worked so well it
seemed that words were often unnecessary (except during the conversations of
course). We sorted out all of the world's problems but ultimately decided
that our ideas probably wouldn't catch on so I'm not going to mention them
here.
So, what were the highlights for me? In no particular order they were: Truly
great company, wonderful sailing and ....seeing Wales! oops sorry, I meant
Whales. Yes, we saw a pod of Whales passing by as the travelled north. They
were no more than 200m away and were rising halfway out of the water and
blowing regularly. It was a wonderful sight.
When we finally arrived in Newcastle harbour 7 days later and just after six
in the morning, it was a beautifully clear, sunny morning and that gave us a
very calm and peaceful finish to a terrific trip.
Thank you Mike, Thank you Joanna.
Back in the USA
Ann and I are back in our apartment in San Diego after the usual hassles with air travel. It is a long trip but clearly more efficient than sailing. It's good to be back, now that the jet lag has gone away. We will spend some time re-exploring San Diego and visiting friends, hunting down spare parts and doing the doctor, dentist thing. We plan a trip to the Coachella Valley tomorrow and the time is flying by.
New Caledonia- Australia. Some thoughts
Some comments about the cruise from Noumea to Newcastle.
Joanne arrived at the end of September and Roger on October 1st from Australia and we spend the day putting the dinghy away and doing our final preparations for leaving, shopping for fresh food and checking out of New Caledonia. This was very easy and took an hour only and was free unlike the constant handouts in Vanuatu. We left the marina and took on some duty free fuel.
The weather was windy and cold and we decided to spend the night on a mooring at Ilot Maitre.
By the folling morning the weather had cleared and we left soon after dawn for Passe Amadee. Once out of the barrier we ran into some swell from the prior frontal system and we did well sailing and motor sailing for most of the day. There were some line squalls but it was other wise clear. The wind died that night and we motored most of the second day. Day three gave us an ideal 15 knots of breeze, we had every rag up including the mizzen spinakker and we made excellent progress. These conditions changed by the end of the day and we ran into some massive line squalls with a great deal of lightening and rain and the inevitable head winds as the front blew through. Over the last 36 hours the wind went north and we were able to motor-sail quite effectively until we arrived in Newcastle.
This was a different cruise from the usual trade wind sailing where we set the sails and have steady conditions for day after day. On this trip , we had pretty much everything from flat calm to head winds on 20 kts to a screaming beam reach. Callisto, as usual, handled it all with ease and we had no problems or equipment failure except for the mainsail furler which would not work well under load and will have to be taken apart and repaired.
We saw whales on the calm days and some dolphin but did not do any fishing as we had more than enough food to be consumed before the quarantine guys took it away. And take it away they did! Even though we were told that that dairy products from the EU were ok they took almost all of it away and I had to pay for the dubious privilege.
This was a very enjoyable cruise, It's great to have an all British crew as they all appreciate the need for proper tea. In fact, I drank so much tea I thought my kidneys would float away.
Apart from some initial mal de mer , we all ate well and having three crew also meant easy watches and plenty of sleep.
The trip was 1090 nautical miles and was completed in just under seven days for an average speed of 6.6 kts. We motored or motor sailed for 110 hours and burned just under 400 litres of fuel.
Joanne arrived at the end of September and Roger on October 1st from Australia and we spend the day putting the dinghy away and doing our final preparations for leaving, shopping for fresh food and checking out of New Caledonia. This was very easy and took an hour only and was free unlike the constant handouts in Vanuatu. We left the marina and took on some duty free fuel.
The weather was windy and cold and we decided to spend the night on a mooring at Ilot Maitre.
By the folling morning the weather had cleared and we left soon after dawn for Passe Amadee. Once out of the barrier we ran into some swell from the prior frontal system and we did well sailing and motor sailing for most of the day. There were some line squalls but it was other wise clear. The wind died that night and we motored most of the second day. Day three gave us an ideal 15 knots of breeze, we had every rag up including the mizzen spinakker and we made excellent progress. These conditions changed by the end of the day and we ran into some massive line squalls with a great deal of lightening and rain and the inevitable head winds as the front blew through. Over the last 36 hours the wind went north and we were able to motor-sail quite effectively until we arrived in Newcastle.
This was a different cruise from the usual trade wind sailing where we set the sails and have steady conditions for day after day. On this trip , we had pretty much everything from flat calm to head winds on 20 kts to a screaming beam reach. Callisto, as usual, handled it all with ease and we had no problems or equipment failure except for the mainsail furler which would not work well under load and will have to be taken apart and repaired.
We saw whales on the calm days and some dolphin but did not do any fishing as we had more than enough food to be consumed before the quarantine guys took it away. And take it away they did! Even though we were told that that dairy products from the EU were ok they took almost all of it away and I had to pay for the dubious privilege.
This was a very enjoyable cruise, It's great to have an all British crew as they all appreciate the need for proper tea. In fact, I drank so much tea I thought my kidneys would float away.
Apart from some initial mal de mer , we all ate well and having three crew also meant easy watches and plenty of sleep.
The trip was 1090 nautical miles and was completed in just under seven days for an average speed of 6.6 kts. We motored or motor sailed for 110 hours and burned just under 400 litres of fuel.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
arrived
Newcastle, Australia
We arrived safe and sound in Newcastle, Australia at 0615H at sunrise. It's a beautiful clear day and we are sitting on the quarantine buoy waiting for the customs and immigration to show up at 0900H.
All in all it was a good trip but we did have to motor and motor sail a great deal of the time. Clean up first and full analysis to follow.
We arrived safe and sound in Newcastle, Australia at 0615H at sunrise. It's a beautiful clear day and we are sitting on the quarantine buoy waiting for the customs and immigration to show up at 0900H.
All in all it was a good trip but we did have to motor and motor sail a great deal of the time. Clean up first and full analysis to follow.
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