R2AK

I have been in Oregon for the past month with my new "toy." It's 18 feet long, red, and needed some TLC. Alex was here for three weeks and my dad stopped by for about a week. Alex rigged the mast and added a few essentials to modify it for a long-distance race. B4B2 or "Bobbles" is nearly race ready. She could use some polish. Cosmetics aside, the rest is completely functional. I have replaced a rotten rib/bulkhead, the floorboards, and build a couple shelves under the deck for the batteries. There are a half dozen little things left to be done, but the big jobs are behind. Getting to the starting line and gallivanting north is the next leap.

Behold: Alex's solution to our inability to find a fiberglass roller anywhere in Portland.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Landslides and Washouts

In the past few years I have bicycled along two highways that are now closed. It's a strange feeling that something I have seen and traveled over is now rubble in the ocean. Highway 1 on the California Pacific coast was closed last year because of multiple landslides. The section of highway south of Monterey, California, wound high on a hillside that, on reflection, probably was not as stable as it felt.

Highway 1 from my 2012 bike trip

It's easy to see how a landslide might be inevitable.

The second is the Kaikoura Coastal Highway, strangely also Highway 1, in New Zealand. The section of road southwest of Kaikoura is near to the water with high, sloped cliffs towering above. The cliffs gave way in an earthquake last year and covered several sections of the road.

Kaikoura: low-lying with high coastal cliffs. From 2014 NZ trip

The town of Kaikoura was completely cut off from the road system for a time after the earthquake. When I first heard about the quake, my biggest worry was for a tsunami. Kaikoura is not far above the high tide mark. They managed to avoid the water attack and just had to deal with the aftermath of sliding hillsides.

B4B2

I've arrived in the northern hemisphere!

While in Tasmania, I was working 10ish hour days for a demolition company in Hobart. I didn't pay much attention to e-mail over a busy few weeks. During that time Alex found a small sailboat on craigslist in Washington state. At the end of each workday I glanced through group e-mails and pieced together what was happening in the north. 1) Alex agreed to buy the boat, 2) my sister in Oregon agreed to pick it up and trailer it across the State line to park in her driveway, 3) Alex entered the two us in the Race to Alaska, and 4) all that was needed from me was to send funds for the boat and gas. I'm fairly sure I agreed to all this at some point, but those few weeks really were a blur.

So now I am in Oregon, with Alex and the freshly christened B4B2. B4B2 is the amalgamation of Berrimilla4 and Bob2. Alex's Berrimilla is already on the fourth edition and, while Ugly Bob (the first Bob) hasn't officially been launched yet, he has already claimed the title as first in the Bob fleet.

B4B2

B4B2 needs a bit of fresh fiberglass, some of the inside lumber needs replacing, and Alex is working on the rigging and shroud replacements. We'll add a few extra bits and pieces for the race and strengthen the deck below the mast. We're watching the R2AK website and waiting for more teams to register. Thus far, we're in good company with another craigslist find!

Looking back at old posts, I remembered Collins Falls, a fairly pathetic example of the noun (23 Jan 2017.) I went back several months later and found it in much better form.

Collins Falls, looking much better in April.

A Short for a Cloudy Evening

In June I went to see my favorite band from when I was about 11 years old; Hanson! They eventually lost my favor to Glenn Miller and Modest Mouse, but until then they held the heart of an adolescent. I heard they were in Sydney and happen to have a few tickets left. I ended up on the dance floor with 200 of my fellow 30ish-year-old fans who have followed them for the last 20-odd years. One has not lived until singing MmmBop with Hanson.

A small accomplishment was finally catching a lizard on film. These little guys run all over Sydney, but always dive for cover the moment I walk by. This fellow was sun bathing and posed while I hovered with a giant lens. He's about 2.5 inches long and laying on the corner of a cinder block.

On a side note, I applied for a second year visa in Australia. My application was rejected, so I am heading back State side in a couple weeks. More travel plans in the works! In the meantime, here's a picture of me tickling a shark.

-M

Addendum to Critters

1) A friend in the house. She's a huntsman and keeps the bugs away.

2) This WAS my bed.

Bob's Brother and Strange Critters

Way back in February, I went to the Hobart Wooden Boat Festival. There were square-rigged ships, dinghy kits, and lots of home-made boats on display. I had heard that a certain boat and its builder were going to be at the festival so mostly I made the journey to find them. Peter Deck lives a bit north of Hobart and brought in his own home-build, 14-foot, lug-rigged Houdini! It was a complete example of Ugly Bob! Alex met Peter last year after looking for Australian builders of the John Welsford boad designs. They met and Alex connected Peter and me. At the festival, the small boats were scattered throughout a large parking lot. I recognized the Houdini from half a block away and went right over to Peter. We talked boaty stuff for a while and he let me climb into Dexterity and look in hatches, under floorboards, and wiggle everything that moved. There were one or two details of the design that neither of us understood and we were relieved that we had come to the same conclusion and made similar modifications. Peter has taken the time to make a beautiful Houdini, where Ugly Bob is more of a rough cutout. Bob will sail just fine and will likely have to put up with rougher waters and greener sailors. The only modification I made that no one else seems to have done (Peter or builders from online forums) is widening the forward hatch. I found that by making the hatch two inches (5cm) wider, I could fit my shoulders through and work on the inside. One of the few advantages to being a (relatively) small builder is having one or two more sizing options on boat hatches, window cutouts, and water tanks. (John, owner of the BAB/Excentrique was very excited that I fit head-first into the water tank to make repairs rather than needing cut a larger hole in the lid.) I left Ugly Bob unfinished in Alaska and I am constantly annoyed by the thought of an unfinished project. Now that I have met Dexterity, Bob has some craftsmanship to look forward to.

Peter, me, and Dexterity

On a completely unrelated note: I met my first echidna. (ek-id-na) It's like a giant hedgehog.

Welcome!

Hi Mike and Wilma!

Tasmania and the BAB

I have been in Tasmania since mid February, helping a friend with his boat. Excentrique is a 51-foot Beneteau sailboat who broke her mooring during high winds two years ago and sailed herself from Kettering to Bruny Island where she decided to take a rest on the rocks. Though she was immediately missed, she was left to her vacation for a week. By the time her transport home was organized, she had over indulged in her new-found freedom and in her island tanning rotation, she wore holes into both sides of her hull and needed a lift home.

Excentrique sat on a hard stand for a year before the previous owner and insurance company came to a resolution; after which she was auctioned off and bought in part by my friend John. John has been been working on the restoration for over a year and asked if I'd be in the area and able to help speed up the progress. I immediately began calling her BAB (Big-Ass Boat.) After two months of full-time toil, BAB is close to going back in the water.

Aft interior. Floor removed, dust from fiberglass sanding.

I've been fiberglassing, painting, cleaning, epoxy/resin/gluing, bolting, rigging, and plumbing. All but the electrical work. Wires and buzzy electrical things is the big black hole in my building/restoration knowledge.

New engine and bench installed.

Holes patched and new paint.

Throughout the weeks I have had opportunities to wander Tasmania. My favorite trip was a run to Cape Pillar. Alex came down from Sydney to help on the boat for a couple weeks and we decided to condense a two-day hike into a one-day run. From the campsite at Fortescue Bay to Cape Pillar and back is 30 kilometers/18 miles. We made it out in 2.5 hours and back in just over three hours. Off the end of the cape is the famous Tasman island. Alex has sailed past and between the cape and island many times. This is the first time either of us has seen it from land. My goal now is to see it from the water.

Tasman island with Cape Pillar on the left.

Tasman island from Cape Pillar.

I am heading back to the mainland at the end of April and hope to do more sailing in the coming months.

Urban Exploration

Sunday in Sydney is $2.50 public transportation day. This includes bus, train, and ferry. So each Sunday I wander out into the world and ride to far and distant corners of the city that are generally an expensive transit. This past Sunday I decided to go waterfall hunting. I took a bus, ferry, then walked a few kilometers to get to Spring Cove, a small beach near Manly.

Collins Falls were dry; still a very good beach find. I'll bring my swimming gear next time.

Some of the local architecture along the ferry ride back.

Boats and Blue-Tongues

Over the past several weeks I have been sailing on the harbo(u)r and working with Alex to get Berrimilla III seaworthy. She's currently set up for short day trips in fair weather. Our goal is to attach the wind vane (wind-guided auto pilot) as soon as possible and make the inside more comfortable for longer voyages. Alex and I stayed on BIII overnight on New Years to watch the fireworks over Sydney Harbor and found several vacancies in cabin comfort. Alex's partner, Hilary, made lee cloths for the bunks, which we tested for the first time. The bunks are usually filled with tool boxes, cooking equipment, and random extra boat parts when they're not being used by people. On a gusty sail a couple weeks back, one of the tool boxes fell to the floor, popped open, and spilt washers and nuts into the depths of the bilge. Thus, lee cloths became a priority.

We bunk the same as in Berrimilla II, Alex lives to port (left side) and I take up residence to starboard. Storage and cooking areas are still being sorted. Alex removed the toilet long ago and now has a portable self-contained toilet. The compartment previously housing the loo is being converted into shelves for storage by yours truly. The cooking area is my next project. (Or Alex's depending who gets there first.) At the moment, there is a functional stove and a teapot. The difficulty we found was the absence of a food preparation surface and utensil storage. I have been using the engine box for food preparation and all the utensils, cups, and bowls are tossed in a jumble under the sink. It's an on-going project.

Yesterday Unchi the cat brought home a present. He captured and brought home a live blue-tongue lizard. A full-grown lizard lives in the back yard and is about half the size of the cat. Yesterday's prize was a live baby which the cat released into a pile of boat equipment in the middle of the living room. It was about six inches long. Alex chased off the cat while I caught the lizard and released it outside. It seemed unharmed, but was scared and gnawed on my finger. The only defense of a blue-tongue lizard is just that; his blue tongue. By displaying it, he pretends he is poisonous and cannot be eaten. Sadly, the cat does not speak Australian fauna, so harmless lizards are occasionally brought home.

Blue-Tongue Lizard after release

Adult Blue-Tongue who lives by the pool. It's a little over a foot long.