System of a Downer

Wednesday April 23

Up early. Systems on. All Good. Engine running and ready to haul anchor.

Aqua Vitae ready to go pulls up the hook and makes ready. Just then a call from Nick on Divided Sky informs us that their engine won't start.
Bummer.
Sounds serious and not a quick fix. Mike hops in the dinghy and goes to help sort it!

Shut systems down and turn off engine.
Wait.
Wait a bit more.

Finally the call comes through that the engine is fixed but its just too late for a daytime arrival at the Abrolhos so we decide to lay over. And Mike isn't feeling too good. Let's all have a day off!

Mike gets worse and goes to bed. Hmmm.

We relaunch Toby and head off to console ourselves with a coffee at the Dome.

Mike gets worse and is taken to hospital for tests. Feeling dizzy, collapses. Not good.
We all are worried and decide that a few days more here would probably be a good idea to allow Mike time to recover and any way, the winds are unfriendly.

Mike discharged from hospital feeling better and nothing found.

A few days of relaxing and waiting for good weather.


Saturday 26th April

Strange day. The weather I mean. Watched the dawn rise over Geraldton as we were rudely woken by a strange banging sound from the aft end of Moonshadow. Crawling out of the nice warm and cosy bed to investigate, I found a buoy in the harbour was knocking on the hull. The wind had changed to a northerly and as we had a long rode hanging of the anchor we had drifted around to the buoy. Easy fix... shorten the rode. Not so fast Jeremy; the dinghy (aka Toby) which was attached to the stern had decided to wrap its painter around the buoy and took some persuasion to let go! Finally shortened the anchor and all was well.

Getting down to the jobs for the day, I remembered that there was a rolled up hose in one of the cockpit lockers. You know the sort. The flat ones that roll away to almost nothing and can be stored in a small space.

Well, the deck needed a wash as it was covered in detritus from the Port Denison mooring ropes and sand from our constant travels to the beach. What a good idea! So I got out the hose and carefully unrolled it along the deck. After searching around for an adaptor for the deck salt pump outlet all was connected and ready to turn on the pump. Easy peasey. The sea water gushed through the pump and I could see it plumping up the flat hose then all at once we had the Moonshadow equivalent of the Trevi fountains. Arcs of water squirting from a thousand places along the hose. The hose came with the boat and this was the first time I had tried it! (Note to self: Ditch the hose! There is no place for hose sentimentality on this boat!) Fortunately we have a 'common or garden' hose hanging from the rail so a quick swap was in order and I was able to complete the task I had set meself. Clean decks at last.

Margie decided that as it was our last day in Geraldton, it would be a good opportunity to get those 'last minute' essentials before we sailed at the crack of dawn tomorrow for the Abrolhos Islands. It was a shock to come out of the shopping centre to be greeted by torrential rain. Needless to say we were not wearing any rain gear so got soaked on the walk back to the dinghy. There was a two dollar shop on the way and we thought it might be good to buy a two dollar umbrella that was prominently displayed at the entrance. We were surprised to find that the umbrellas were priced somewhat richly above 'two dollars', and as we were already dripping wet we gave it a miss. Leaving the 'two dollar' shop we noticed that the sign had 'and more' in small print below the prominent 'two dollar shop' sign! Lesson learnt.

Returning to Toby, waiting patiently on the beach we found that she had filled up with rain water and the first job was to bail her out before we could launch her. We had to go as we had an invitation to sample Robyn's famous and much heralded 'pavlova surprise', a special treat that she had made to celebrate Karen's birthday. We called it a 'pavlova surprise' as the first attempt was apparently burnt on the bottom and Robyn thought it was inedible!

Margie is getting to be an expert on Driving Miss Toby and power planed us back to Moonshadow for dry duds before we joined Nick, Robyn, Karen and Mike on Aqua Vitae. The pavlova was superb.

So it's off to the Abrolhos tomorrow which requires some preparation and getting back on board to hoist Toby on Deck and deal with the 'anchoring chaos', tidying and getting ship shape for an early start.

The adventure starts again tomorrow...

Port Denison to Geraldton

An easy sail to Geraldton, arriving late afternoon, Margie still suffering a little seasickness and unable to go below decks for any length of time. We followed the lead lines in and dropped anchor in the harbour and rigged up the snubbers to ease the shock of the chain on the rollers.

Easter Monday.

We set Toby up and took a ride to the beach feeling like explorers. Margie and I walked for miles today exploring the delights that Geraldton has to offer on a public holiday. We ended up hiking the hill to the HMAS Sydney Memorial and spent some reflective time taking photos and thinking about all those names on the granite walls. The dome is covered with steel seagulls representing all the lost souls. A sobering thought.

We returned to Moonshadow and had a relaxing evening rolling in the swell with an attentive ear on the anchor alarm.

Tuesday 22nd

A busy day planned with some maintenance to do and modifications to the electric 12 volt outlets so we can charge the phones and iPad. That done, the three amigos met at the Dome cafe and then thought that a trip to the Geraldton Maritime Museum was in order. A leisurely couple of hours learning about the history was great but the highlight for me was the wildlife photographic exhibition in the gallery. Stunning work.

Being Tuesday and not a public holiday we decided to go and get the replacement boathook from the chandlery. We went back to the dinghy so we could ride around the bay and save ourselves a very long walk. Strangely, someone had interfered with Toby, removing the sand anchor and pushed her to the waters edge. Lucky we got back when we did or we might have lost her.

We rode around the bay and got to the chandlers only to find out that, no, they didn't have a boathook. (They sold the last one yesterday!) Not to worry, there's the Fishermans Cooperative around the corner and they are bound to have one. Around the corner was another hike, but we got there. "One boat hook please," was answered with a blank stare and the offer of a gaff hook or a broom handle with a plastic fitting that didn't fit. Not having much luck finding one. Who'd a thunk it?

Anyway, back to Moonshadow sans boathook. We had work to do for a 6.30am start on the sail to the Turtle bay in the Abrolhos. All done with time to spare; Toby hauled on deck and lashed down. We are ready!

Good God It's Friday!

'Plan B' at Port Denison

Happy Easter to all. We met at the Beach Cafe for breakfast and Karen & Mike had somehow persuaded her Mum and Dad to drive up with replacement parts for Aqua Vitae and Divided Sky who were having bad problems with their wind generators.

Having access to a car, the lads took advantage of the opportunity to load the empty diesel jerry cans and head for the servo where Mike thought it would be a good idea to wash the forecourt with diesel from the fast flow pump. After cleaning that up we headed back to the dinghys to load the fuel on board the boats and prepare for yet another sundowner on Aqua Vitae.

No shopping today, everything shut for Good Friday, but there's always tomorrow.

Tomorrow became today (Saturday) and still having a 'slightly' overheating genset I thought it prudent to check the second heat exchanger and sure enough the upper chamber had a blockage too. The high tech 'bent coat hanger' treatment worked a treat and allowed me to flush the system completely. The outflow from the side of the boat seems normal again so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this time. Why is it that these jobs always take much longer than the estimate? Nick calls it the 'Boat Factor' and it works like "2 hours to the power of boat factor".

After sundowner on Moonshadow we prepare to leave Port Denison and hoist Toby on deck again. Tomorrow we set sail for Geraldton.

Bright and early we rose to greet the dawn and made our way to the Beach Cafe for breakfast with the 'Three Amigos' and the crew from Grey Douglas.

We decided to find the chandlery so that we could replace the errant boat hook, but after a long walk we found the chandlery to be lacking such an implement, or any of the other things on our shopping list. Ah well, there's always Geraldton and Rob Hills reliably informs me that there is a great chandlery there.

I had been having trouble with an overheating genset so my day's task was to fix this particular problem, and fast. We rely on the genset for recharging the batteries and for powering the watermaker so it is an essential piece of kit! After taking it to pieces I discovered that the heat exchanger was partially blocked, but a judicious poke with a bent coathanger dislodged what appeared to be a broken off piece of zinc anode. Stared her up and no more overheating. You bloody ripper!

A few other jobs kept us busy today until the BBQ on the beach gave us all a chance to unwind.

The next couple of days were pretty slack, just relaxing, pottering and preparing for the sundowners!

Hillarys to Port Denison

Crack'o'dawn arrived which saw the three yachts sail majestically out of Hillarys and set a course to Port Denison, a fairly long sail all day, all night and all the next day, arriving after dark in the Port Denison harbour. We found a mooring to cling to but in the process we lost the boat hook over the side which sank to the bottom of the very murky water. Rather than go diving for it we thought it much easier to go and buy a new one. How hard can it be to buy a boat hook, we thought. The one we lost was old and bent anyway, but more on that later.

The sail from Hillarys was a great introduction to 'the cruising life' calm seas, gentle breeze and time to get used to the on board routines of checks, navigation and logging. We sorted out the watches so that we were each given a chance to rest through the night sail. The moon was full and gave us good visibility. Not much traffic but a few craypots to keep us on our toes.

Freo to Hillarys

A great sail to the far flung port of Hillarys. Yes its only a short hop but a good introduction to the seafaring life and allowed us a few moments to get over the blues and sad farewells. Karen had pre-booked us a berth which was a difficult access for anyone, but Margie on the helm guided Moonshadow without even touching the sides.

After organising the boat for the early start to Geraldton, we enjoyed a long hot shower at the club and slept till the crack'o'dawn!

D-Day!

Well finally the day has arrived. All the years of planning and dreaming have come down to this. It's D-Day!

After meeting Gregg and Sue for coffee and then shopping we had a lovely surprise of a visit from Heidi, Jason and our two beautiful grandchildren, Maddie and Zac who came on board for last farewells. I know that this is going to be sad, but you get that.

I distracted myself with the myriad of last minute tasks: disconnecting the landline phone wire, preparing the ropes, taking down the TV antenna and unplugging us from the mains power supply. Oil checked, chartplotter and instruments on, decks cleared, fenders stowed, spring lines off, computers set, wifi enabled... The list is still endless but now is the hour.

Sad goodbyes on the dock; tears and hugs, love and nervous laughter and then it was time. Thanks to David for hanging on to the last line to shore. (Oh, and in case you're wondering... We do have your Bosuns hat! You left it in the cockpit. Never mind, it will get good use as our 'Wilson' on our travels!)



Margie took her position at the helm and expertly guided Moonshadow out of the pen that has been our home for the past 8 years. Time for forward gear and we headed down the runway towards the Harbour exit. Waving to the family forlorn on the dock was a bit tough and brought tears to our eyes yet again. We shall miss you guys so much.

We met with our fellow travellers, Mike and Karen in their newly christened yacht Aqua Vitae, and with Nick and Robin aboard Divided Sky. While Margie steered into the wind we hoisted the main and we were finally on our way.

Friday On My Mind!

Another day of running around attending to all the last minute details. We managed to stow everything on board including our music equipment. Finally decided to take three guitars as I just couldn't decide between them. It's like having children and not being able to separate them.

Moonshadow is looking great. Ship shape and Bristol as they say! We love the look of her new livery. We also now have shirts and caps with logos that arrived the other day so we feel very smart.

Friday night allowed us the time to spend with friends for a farewell do at Fremantle Sailing Club. A pleasant time was had by all but as we had an early start we decided to get back to Moonshadow and continue with the organisation of the boat. We had hoped to do our provisioning on Friday, but decided first thing Saturday would be a better idea. So up early on Saturday we met Gregg and Sue for a last cappuccino at The Mill Bakehouse, had a bit of brekky and headed out to IGA. Trolley full! Back to the boat and more stowing. Is it just me or does Moonshadow look lower on the waterline?

Waiting patiently

Moonshadow waiting patiently in her pen at Fremantle Sailing Club showing off her new livery. Tomorrow we leave for points north. How exciting is this!

Harley and Me

Sad to be leaving my Harley!

On the ride to Toodjay I stopped to take this photo of my last ride before we go sailing. Ah well, such is life!

T-2 and counting...

Now its getting serious!

Our Saturday departure is on track and still we have so much to do.

Yesterday we took delivery of the new Sat Phone. It really is for emergency use only and will give us peace of mind that wherever we are in the world, we will be able to contact civilisation. We think of it as an essential piece of safety gear and will give us that extra level of confidence when we are in remote places. The 50% government subsidy on the capital cost of the phone was an unexpected bonus.

The interior of Moonshadow is now 'ship-shape' and ready for cruising. All the 'junk' has been removed, inventories completed and navigation station organised. Safety systems are all in place including AIS, HF Radio and communication systems. A high gain antenna for our Telstra wifi has been installed on the aft rail so we should be able to pick up some signal if we are not too far off the coast. This means that we will be able to receive emails and write to this blog as well as update the web site.

Moonshadow has also been allocated an official HF Call sign VJN4554 as both Margie and I have qualified for our ships HF operators licence.

These are our channels of communication if you don't have them already:

Email: jeremy1@iinet.net.au

Blog: www.moonshadowone.blogspot.com.au

Photography Website: www.jeremydixonphotography.com.au

Moonshadow website: www.moonshadow.net.au

Skype name: sv.moonshadow

Facebook: Jeremy Dixon

We would love you to keep up to date on the blog, and please feel free to leave comments, as a way of keeping in touch with you.

We have another load of 'stuff' to take to storage in the sea container at Heidi and Jasons place. It's busting at the seams! We have a car trailer to take the old Toyota as well as the Harley Davidson, which we have not been able to sell as yet. We might take her up to Darwin, which will be fun!

If anyone wants to buy the Harley, please let us know! :-)

The phone landline to Moonshadow has been disconnected, the mail re-directed and the decks inspected. (Sorry, that was terrible prose, but after all this is a blog!)

Ok, That's enough for now. Onwards and upwards..

Sunday morning was bright, clear and sparkling. Unlike Margie and I who had spent the night cleaning, sorting and organising until about 4am. With that complete we were able to prepare Moonshadow for a 10am departure schedule with Aqua Vitae for a sail to Rotto and back.

We had invited my son, Daniel, to join us but he was working late and had overslept. An apologetic phone call and a promise that he was on his way kept us in the pen until he got to Moonshadow. We cast off, and set out to catch up with Karen and Mike in Aqua Vitae who were waiting for us just north of Carnac Island.

We set the mainsail and with much joy we turned off the engine. There is nothing quite like the sound contrast when the engine is silenced. The wind starts to sing in the rigging and Moonshadow just comes alive. She feels different, it's like suddenly she lets her personality loose and starts to talk to us, grateful to be sailing and not stuck in a pen. The waves break on the bow and the thrust of the wind pushes us to over 7 knots. We unfurl the Genoa with the wind aft of the beam, and Moonshadow settles down with this stable and balanced rig.

All the systems have so far checked out OK. No leaks, except where I left a hatch open, but Margie spotted it before it did any damage. The new chartplotter is amazing; big screen, accurate and now complete with a fish finder that gives us depth readings! The Autopilot is working perfectly and we are able to relax a little and tidy the sheets.

Margie and Daniel are feeling a little seasick. Margie ventured down below decks, which is always a mistake, thinking of making something to eat, but she soon came back up with only a coffee!

We thought we would head back to Fremantle so we turned around and took a leisurely sail back to FSC.

Test sail complete and all systems are go for Saturday.

Our departure is now four sleeps away! Still much to do. I would rather be this busy doing things and getting organised than being morose about leaving family and friends behind as we embark on this 'Sea Change'.

OK. Time to post and get on with it!

7 days and counting.

Where does the time go? All of a sudden we have one week left of being 'landlubbers'. The to do list is finally getting shorter and more manageable.

Yesterday Margie and I finally got our Skippers Tickets, something we have been meaning to do for ages. (Margie got 100% on the theory exam and I guess I'll never hear the end of that!).

We fitted the new black box fish finder and transducer as we had a problem with the existing depth sounder. All went well until we switched it off and on again, only to find out that the software in the chart plotter was corrupted. Finally we're installed the software and all is working perfectly now, although it took a day to establish the cause and the fix. 

Emptying Moonshadow of the domestic clutter from being liveaboards to cruising mode is still happening.  Space is at a premium and finding homes for the essentials is a challenge. Do we really need this is a constant question. Tools have been culled and packed away, provisioning is half done and safety requirements for offshore cruising have been completed. All our computer gear has to be culled and packed. Our landline for internet access has been cancelled to be replaced by a wifi modem which is so much slower than broadband but at least we will be able to communicate while at sea, when in range, that is!

The new livery is now on the stern reflecting the name change to Moonshadow 1, as required because of the Australian Ships Register. It looks very smart!

4 hours in the dentists chair to take care of root canal work was a bit of a marathon, but now all is fixed. Best dentist I've ever had! (Can't show you his face but it's Alisdair Wallace in Fremantle. Brilliant and highly recommended.)

Today is our last gig at the Buffalo Club in Fremantle. Starts at 1pm and Gregg Boalch will be joining us for the gig. Should be fun. We then have to move the musical gear on board and get it all safely stowed away for the trip.

On Sunday we plan to do a quick lap around Rottnest Island to test the systems, get the sails up and generally have some fun with our traveling companions, Mike and Karen in Aqua Vitae, and Nick and Robin in Divided Sky. I have invited my son, Daniel, to come and crew for this little shake down cruise so I'm looking forward to that. 

Oh well! Back to the 'to do' list for now.