and so it came to pass....

docked at noon at the CYC, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney.

That was home for many, many moons. There is no "other" space!

Berri's mission control station. Just add movement and water...

The final 6.30 report for this gig

Position 0638 15th 3358 15117, trip 109, DMG 107. We're off Long Bay with the barn door looming. GPS distance so far from Fslmouth 15214.

More later, though probably tomorrow - it's likely to get a bit busy from here.

Arghhh...the ribs.

Hi, I was intending to write to you all on the way from Eden to Sydney but a fall to the water from the wharf in Eden put an end to that.
We had moored Berri alongside a large ex-fishing boat the night before, I was on the wharf about to make a call home when it started to rain. Deciding to go back and get a jacket I moved down to a wooden beam just below the top of the wharf then pulled the ex-fisher in. The top of the rail I was about to step onto had been capped with stainless plate and it had recently been rained on but I didn't take that into account. As I stepped on board my foot immediately slipped and I fell back and went down. I hit my back on something on the way either part of the wharf or one of the boat's heavy mooring lines.
You feel so stupid, how did that happen? Anyway I grabbed the mooring line and after a couple of goes managed to drag myself the four or five feet up and back onto the fishing boat. Of course the office, with a lot of documentation was in the wallet, in the back pocket of the shorts, along with the phone.
I felt ok at first glad that I hadn't hit my head on the way down, there was no one there to pull me out, if I had. I now feel like I've been hit in the back with a cricket bat, hit with all the vigour one associates with a 20-20 player trying to loft a ball into the members stand.
That's my excuse, I'll write later, after the xrays, when I feel better. Cheers for now, I feel the need of one of Dr. Cooper's herbal tonics. Pete.

Past The 'Gong

For the meeters and greeters - 1100 this morning at South Head looks pretty much do-able. We'll be on VHF 72 and my mobile is 0418243600 - look for the Fastnet battle flag on the forestay and the hoist of all the other flags up the backstay. The Fastnet flag is almost as big as all the rest put together. The Mark of Sponsorship!

Night vision. The west a lively organism, the east Stygian and a sharp dividing line fore and aft. Dawn's flush a just a statistical probability. The long string of lights that is the coast road north from Wollongong with its little villages, brilliant against the black silhouette of the scarp behind and the slight silver-grey glow of the sky above - the sky ruffled like the underside of a woolly rug - little tufty balls of cloud all tightly curled together and reflecting the white loom of the lights of Sydney ahead. The jewelled chain of the coast road disappearing just ahead as it climbs the scarp to Stanwell Tops and then just the black line of the scarp merging into the point in the distance where sea, scarp and Sydney fuse and the Sydney glow and its reflection from the water fill our horizon. The Southern Cross and its pointers - Crux, Rigilkent, Hadar visible in a hazy gap above the mainsail. Another star, perhaps Antares, in a tiny gap over the scarp. A big cargo ship a mile or so out to sea waiting to go into Port Kembla, its lights cutting the gloom to the east and reflecting in coloured lines towards us on the rolling glassy surface. Phosphorescence - separate green sparkles rushing past in the surf of Berri's bow wave and the coiled luminous trail of her passage through the water astern. And now the cloud opening everywhere and letting the stars through - the lights at Sutherland and Cronulla and Kurnell just appearing at the meeting place of the sea and the sky and the reflections ahead. I'm going to miss all this!

So - anyone have any suggestions about how to make all this waffly nonsense available in a more conventional form? There's a book in draft about the first circumnavigation but I think there's perhaps a wider story. Do you think an edited version of the Complete Works of Berri - all three website blogs with incoming emails included and a few linking fillers, lots of maps and a glossary - would actually work as a book? Gerzillions of photos and lots of video available as well. I hope we can organise a video of the full story but it will take time and a lot of help from our friends. Likewise, perhaps, a book of the photos? Albatross calendars perhaps, a desk diary with daily quotes? The Complete Works would be quite substantial - perhaps 400+ pages with some fairly savage editing. Or just a coffee table book of pictures and little grabs? I'd love some bright ideas from all y'all out there who experienced these gigs from the other side of the looking glass.

Interesting Fact no. 42 from Malcom - Cook might have seen a camel as they had been some in zoos and menageries in Europe since the 13th century. Dromedary, though, implies knowledge of Bactrian as well, or perhaps all available camels were single humpers called Dromedaries, if that makes sense. Else just Mt. Camel? Anyway, thanks Malcom! Food for speculation.

If the wind is kind later, we'll sail around the corner.

Admin

For Robyn and anyone else who might be planning to come out to meet us - we will listen on VHF 72 once we get into range. I think at the moment we will have a couple of hours in hand for 1100 but the Examiner still lurks.

Wollongong in the offing.

At 1815 local March 14th, 60 miles to South Head, VMG 5 knots while the wind holds so looking good for 1100 tomorrow short of northerly gale or catastrophic engine failure. I can see the chimney at Wollongong. Time for medication.

Keep em crossed and we'll keep you posted.

Wet concrete wrapper

The Plan is to be at South Head at 1100 tomorrow, Monday 15th March. Midnight UTC for the Chain gang and Devon croo and whatever it takes in Boulder - but an excuse to keep the bar open perhaps. Nothing is ever definite, especially with us lot, so keep an eye on the blog.

the long and the short of it

A rather shaky groove

Position 0730 14th 3535 15023 trip 98, DMG 92. Monday entry still possible, keep em crossed.

Ferals - one recumbent drom, now over the hump and out of sight, one tiny ex flying fish on deck, one Virgin 737 heading south, lots of birds. Homo erectus and maybe even some sapiens in little boxes, all made of ticky-tacky all along the shore. 2 weary OF out here.

We cracked 15000 miles near Eden and we have 110 to South Head - a lot less than 1% of the journey. Looked a bit pearshaped yesterday when the old electric autopilot finally gave up the ghost in the rain - great job Udo! I'm surprised it lasted this long. But in the secret stash we have another one, a bit of a toy and also modified by Udo - yay Udo! - but it will get us home. Small panic when I set it up and it thought it was going south but then I read the instructions. Duh.

Another small sailing boat to seaward. Seems to be going faster so I wonder if there's a reverse EAC eddy here.

Dank, dark and dromedary

When you are rock snaggling 500 yards off the beach and pointy bits on a very dark slightly drizzly night wreathed in dromedary foetids it pays to be very careful. Eyeballs and GPS and 6th and 7th senses - which were jerked into adrenalin blast by a series of bright flashes - far brighter than Montague Island light out to starboard. Umm? A fireworks display, just for Berri and me, about 10 miles behind us. And there's a christmas tree on the eastern horizon - probably a fisho out of Eden.

The lights along the shore merge into the phosphorescence - lovely - no time for more.

(no subject)

Kettle crisps and Dr Cooper's prescription for laryngitis and just about everything - aaaaaaah!

5 miles south of Bermagui, motor sailing, rock hopping along the coast to stay inside the east Australian current. Too early to predict an ETA but we are making good progress at the mo. Fresh mussels to come. A great swirl of whitebait just off the bow, rounded up by tuna or someone else bigger and hungrier.

From here, we look straight up the starboard nostril of Cook's Dromedary. We will work our way around its hairy nose at Cape Dromedary and then look up its port nostril before getting the whole silhouette - head and hump. We will be looking at it for at least 24 hours. I'm actually surprised that Cook knew what a dromedary was - but perhaps it was one of the scientists who applied the template and gave Cook the name. It's a very good likeness.

Later: We have now passed Bermagui, Montague Island to starboad and the Dromedary's nose to port. I can smell his foetids.

Just pushing the old barge as fast as she will reasonably go, aiming for Monday morning at the next rusty hinge.

We'll see.

1042

Yesterday morning: A thousand plus the answer to everything and the highest barometric pressure reading I can remember ever seeing. I think there is a calibration error somewhere - the forecast was for 1038. Clear day, slight haze, big bushfire along the shore west of Mallacoota. Gabo Lighthouse lost in the haze against the hills behind Cape Howe but only 15 miles away. No mobile signal yet.

Today: Got into Eden around midnight. Eden a bit frantic - no diesel on the wharf any more, no phone signal on the wharf - Telstra 3G yet. By massive coincidence, I bumped into Chris H also on the dock and he organised his mate Peter to bring hie wheels and take me to the service station at the other end of town for 80 litres of diesel, and then Jen and Anne arrived to take us shopping and delivered hot muffins and it all got fixed and we left as soon as we were sorted - departed 1035. HUGE thanks to Chris, Peter, Jen and Ann - as with so much of this gig, we could not have done it without lots of help from lots of wonderful people. Jen, I'll send you back the muffin basket. Had intended to give the Eden Magnet our story but it all got too complicated. Kari's mob too - sorry but we just had to get on with it.

Earliest possible ETA now early Monday if absolutely everything works for us. Else later Monday or - most likely, early Tuesday for entry to suit whoever wants to come and meet us. We should be in mobile range most of the way. If anyone desperately wants to talk to us, 0418243600.

Watch this space! And cross em please.

Carol, plonk always used to be the cheapest red available and screech the equivalent white. The stuff you burnish copper with.
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slowly slowly

A time filler - a mental doodle across the vacuum of my mind

That has a Simon and Garfunkel feel to it.
We are 40 miles from Gabo and 69 from Eden. This bit of this journey always seems to take for ever - perhaps according to my modification of Parkinson's Law: The time for the final stage of a journey expands in the mind to exceed the time for all of the previous stages. Assuming, of course, that you are busting to arrive.
Gabo Island light marks the south eastern corner of mainland Australia yet it has a surprisingly short range - only 16 miles. Green Cape, around the corner, has 17. Tasman Island, at 276 metres above sea level, only 18 although we were seeing it at about 22 a few nights ago. Cape Tourville on Tasmania's east coast, at 21 miles, is one of Australia's most powerful. I suppose the governing factor for range is the need for a continuous chain of lights along a dangerous coastline and the cost of building lighthouses in the 19th century (here I should cite 'The Lighthouse Stephensons' but it is packed deep in the impenetrable fossilisation that is Berri's forepeak).
There are three ships between us and Gabo - it's not the English Channel but busy enough when you haven't seen many ships in nearly 6 months. I am surprised that there is no separation zone here. One of the ships, the Itajai Express, will arrive in Sydney tomorrow at 0930. He's doing 21 knots - I wonder how fast Groupama is going and whether they have made up their time. When we were rolled in 2007, AMSA diverted a Korean woodchip carrier to our position - I don't remember its name but I wonder where it is now. I wrote to thank the Captain afterwards and he replied wishing us well, so I have his contact details somewhere.
The VoA is back to Sydney tolerances.
We should be in mobile phone range in about 10 hours.

702 Interview podcast

The interview with Adam Spencer on ABC Radio a few days ago is here

An elastic ETA

As I write this, we are in almost exactly the spot where we were rolled and generally messed about in January 2007 the last time we sailed back from Hobart. SJ or Izz, if you have the link to that story, could you please attach?

edit: as requested, link to story here!

Later: Position 0630 12th 3815 14928, trip 92, DMG 90. Not looking good for Sydney any time soon - my latest grib file shows the north easterly gradient on the back of the high setting in on Sunday at 15 knots. With the sea breeze amplifying it, it will become savage by midday until very late. The high is moving very slowly, so we might be ducking for cover during the days and travelling at night. Eden, Bermagui, Batemans?, Ulladulla? Jervis Bay? Could be Tuesday at the earliest for Sydney. We will need to restock the medical supply as well as fuel and mussels in Eden.
Seems the Examiner is still out here.

Sunday too far away

A poke in the eye from the Examiner - we are not going to make an 0830 Sunday entrance into Sydney. Poo - and sorry to everyone who might have been making arrangements. Late Sunday is still possible if we get lucky up the coast but we will have to call into Eden for fuel whatever happens. ETA Eden around 2100 tomorrow. The good side of that from our point of view is that we will be able to pick up a sackful of fresh mussels and a box of screech to cook them in...

I think Monday for Sydney is more likely.

Chris H and Kari's mob in Eden and anyone at The Magnet - would be good to say G'day if you are reading this and around. Chris, I have your phone number, but not Kari's with me. We won't be there for long if conditions up the coast are still good.

Nothing in particular

Position 0730 11th 3943 14917, trip 117, DMG (25 hours) 114 so on track for some time on Sunday but probably afternoon or evening. Looks as if the North Easter will have set in again by the time we start up the NSW coast and that will completely clobber any chance even perhaps for Sunday. But I never make predictions and an Examinatorial southerly would be noice. Windless and slow at the mo.

An observation - we are not squeezing Bass Strait for our water supply but instead using the water from Berri's tank. We filled it in Falmouth with a little top up in Lisbon so it is mostly hard English water not soft, unadulterated Tasman Sea. When I rinse the soap off my face after my sporadic shaves using squeezed water, the soap seems to stick - the skin stays just that bit slippery slimy. With the Falmouth mix, (acidic?) it all goes with the first rinse - probably curdled as well. Just thought you'd like to know.

Ferals - two grey faced albatrosses with us until yesterday but haven't seen them this morning. Not enough wind probably. There were Storm Petrels too - I think Black Bellied. The original Boot ferals have stayed on after Hobart - dear little things! And we are carrying a couple of hundred flies and other insects so we must be getting close to something or other. Next, we'll see swimming sheep, deserting NZ for sunnier climes.

Scott, would be good to see you.
Woc - could the painting have been of James Clark Ross and Francis Crozier who were Captains of Erebus and Terror when they visited Hobart after Kerguelen in the early 1840s while Sir John and Lady Jane were in Government House.?
Bill W tks for East Coast Current - we'll try to stay west of it up the coast.
Wall - WMP! We shall be in touch.
Sue - EP scratchy but happy.

north by north east'ish

click to enlarge - anchor is Hobart, Sydney top right.

Breakfast of the long distance headbanger

Take one small frying pan, add a couple of spoonsful of olive oil and heat. Chop 3 cloves of garlic (in our case, brownish and dessicated - after all, they have come all the way from Lisbon)and slice about half a field mushroom. Add three slices of bacon and the garlic to the hot olive oil and bring to sizzle stage, then add the mushroom. Toss them all around a bit. When all looks aurifically loverly, remove from heat and keep hot. Carefully decant one dose of Dr Coopers throat elixir into a heavy tankard and administer as necessary. Put two slices of (almost) fresh bread into the remaining oil in the pan, return to heat and fry on one side (hard to do in the boat, so I just drop them into the pan), build up a sando of all the bits on one of them, cover with the other and allow the imagination to become riotous and the mind to boggle. Think Tabasco? Mmm! Open face and insert, lubricating with aforesaid elixir. Hedonistic, decadent, self indulgent gustatory bliss.

And rather better than a dry cracker with scrofules and crutch flakes.
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