04 June 2011

Close quarters manoeuvring

Saturday 4 June 11,

We have had rain, rain and more rain for weeks, months, in fact almost a year. At last a magic early winter day with sunshine and light winds. Peter Barnes and I launched Little Dragon and joined the fishermen (didn't see any women) and kayakers who were out in force on the Brunswick River.

We didn't put the mast up and just  went up and down the river under power. I shouldn't complain about my outboard. It started first pull and didn't miss a beat all day. Why did the outboard start first time when Peter is aboard but need a dozen or more pulls when I need it in a HURRY and there isn't an engineer to be seen? This is purely a rhetorical question.

The object of the exercise was for me to get the hang of what is officially termed close quarters manoeuvring but is primarily focused on getting into and out of a marina berth in all wind and tide conditions without causing mayhem. We spent the whole morning with me practising while Peter explained the finer points. We both got a bit frustrated when I didn't always catch on quickly. It was easy to come alongside a buoy (pretend berth) going forwards stemming the tide so he then made me do it going astern with a fast running tide which is far harder.

 After a lunch break I went back out on the river without Peter and repeated all the manoeuvres. I suspect he was watching from the bank. I was quite proud of my improvement in one day.

Thanks Peter for giving up a whole Saturday to this exercise. I learnt heaps.