Leopard Seal in Port Stephens!

I recieved an alert from a friend at the  Port Stephens Fisheries Institute that there was a Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) at Peppers Anchorage Marina early this week. I went down with the camera to investigate. This particular marine predator is a youngster, the adults I saw in Antarctica were at least twice this size! Some interesting records of Leopard Seal sightings in Australia: ABC Pool: Leopard Seal Observations

I was lucky enough to capture some images of this extremely rare visitor to our shores:

An array of serious looking teeth!

Adds a new dimension to boating!

The Leopard's spots

Looks like the Seal has recently been wounded by a larger predator

Kayaking on the Clarence River

I spent a couple of days sea kayaking on the mighty Clarence River near my home town of Grafton last month. My sister Lynette took the following photos on the River near Copmanhurst. Hard to believe that earlier this year the river flooded to over 70 feet at this spot!

The new Elliot Yacaaba boat is just great!

Lynette's partner Brent in his Mirage, enjoying the beautiful weather and vues on the river.

THE RISE AND FALL OF SHINDIG

It's just over a year since Shidig was lost in a massive dust storm. Here's a photo essay to comemmorate the refurbishing and eventual demise of my little Beneteau First 235:

Delivery from Queensland by road to Noakes Boatyard Nelson Bay:

Initial Refit at Noakes (May 97):

Relaunch:

Lazy days cruising Port Stephens:

Cruising offshore - Tomaree Headland in background

Les 'Spanky' Spanheimer at the helm

The brothers enjoying a Belgian Ale in North Arm Cove

Major Refit Sep 1997, I replaced all deck hardware, fittings, running rigging, electronics, added an auto tiller, as well as some structural improvements to the rudder...:

The new cockpit, Tacktick Instruments, Garmin GPS...

New custom rudder mounts and new window

New signwriting

Fitting the furler with Mike Lee of MDL Manufacturing Yachtmasts and Rigging

The new boat, she was looking good for a 20+ year old yacht!

Racing under spinnaker

Snug on her mooring in Salamander Bay with new boom tent

The Oct 2009 Dust Storm:

Caught under the bow of the 'Black Pearl' - it dragged its mooring onto Shindig and the rest is history!



Surveying the damage next morning

Matt Bonser from Noakes Boatyard helping me recover Shindig.
I motored her down to Noakes at Nelson Bay, testament to how well built the yacht was.

Close up of the port side damage. Trashed I think is the word!

An ignominious end - on a trolley in the boatyard awaiting disposal by the insurance company.

Antarctica Expedition

The expedition to Antarctica onboard the Team Mowbray 60 foot schooner 'Commitment' is over - unfortunately! It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, words just aren't adequate to describe the awesome beauty of the place. Seeing it from the deck of a yacht and anchoring in the small bays and coves along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula is definitely the way to experince it! I felt by the end of the trip we'd really earned the privilege. We were also lucky enough to set foot on Cape Horn on our return trip!

I'm currently sorting through over 1000 images and will get cracking on posting some stories ASAP. Here's a sample of some of the shots:

Motoring toward the majestic mountains of Brabant Island:


Spanky on deck in our anchorage at Omega Island in the Melchiors:


Gentoo Penguins on a berg in Gerlache Strait:


Humpback Whales swim around us in Gerlache Strait:


Our spectacular anchorage in Paradise Harbour:


Apologies for the delay in posting stories from the trip of a lifetime, I'll get stuck in and post more over the next few weeks...

4 out of 4 in PSYC Sprints

I had one of the most enjoyable sails I've ever had last weekend. Matt asked me to crew on his Elliot 7 for the PSYC Sprints; we managed 4 out of 4 line honours wins! There was some close manoeuvering during the starts and the first upwind leg. It was a tactical series with plenty of outgoing tide ripping through the channel between Soldier's Point and the island. We had some good tussles with the Etchells at times. Once again Matt proved his skill as a skipper and sailed exceptionally well. Our crew work was pretty smooth all day, with no major mess ups on the spinnaker. Nervous is looking good after some upgrades and the new Mitchell sails are working well.

The sprints are a great racing format and it would be good to see more of them at PSYC! They certainly test the sail handling skills, tactics and starting procedure.


Matt and his brother are off to the Farr 30 Nationals this weekend with the Holbert brothers, good luck guys!!!

Sailing with a Black Snake!

A couple of weeks ago we all headed out to Rumbo, the Holbert brothers Mumm 30, to set up and rig the boat for the Saturday afternoon race with Port Stephens Yacht Club. We had a bit of a surprise waiting for us onboard. A Black Snake had decided to curl up inside one of the sheet bags! Michael Lee had been pulling ropes out of the bag just before i went to stick my hand in there and noticed something moving...

We locked up all the hatches with the kids safely down below decks and out of the way before discussing what next?!?! Clarke Holbert gamely used a big stick to tip the snake out of the bag and it slithered off down the cockpit and dived into the water and swam off. I was surprised it wasn't pissed off at us. Needless to say we'll be checking those sheet bags every time we sail. What the hell would we have done if the thing had appeared out of the bag while we were sailing? How did it get in there in the first place? Rumbo is on a mooring! When Gibbo checked in with the race starter he called 6 POB and a black snake, so we were covered just in case!

To Venture Further...

Anyone who was at my retirement party 3 years ago would have heard me boldly declare that I was, one day, going to sail around Cape Horn. I have always had visions, dreams, call them what you will of sailing around the World. So, when an opportunity comes knocking you just have to grab it and hang on, that's always been my philosophy. While I was at the Sydney Boat Show earlier this year I met Tony Mowbray and was so impressed with his sailing expedition company I left my name on a contact list. Tony runs the trips out of Ushuaia, the World's southernmost city on the tip of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego - the Land of Fire. Two weeks ago I had a call from Tony's company offering me a half price ride to the Antarctic Peninsula via Cape Horn. So of course I contacted my US Navy mate Spanky and the rest is soon to be history. We sail out of Ushuaia on 13 Jan 2009 for a 24 day trip which will be one of those rare events some unfortunate people never have the good fortune, opportunity, desire or motivation to ever experience in their comfortable lives. I am in no doubt that this may be the toughest, most challenging thing I have ever done, but that's the sort of stuff that makes us get out of bed in the morning and sets us apart from the other animals...

We'll be sailing across Drake Passage, probably the most notorious stretch of water on the planet. Things that make you go HMMMMMM! Just looking at the geography you know that the winds, waves and currents are something special! You can get a live weather feed showing wind and wave heights on Passageweather.com, just click on the maps until you get to the southern tip of South America. The link is on the right - and yes, the wave heights are in METRES not feet!



Tony Mowbray's website is worth a look, he's sailed around the World single-handed and now spends his winters doing the promotional speach circuit and his Austral summers running trips around Cape Horn, down to the Antarctic Peninsula and to Islas Malvinas, the Falkland Islands. Follow the link at right to his website -

Expeditions are conducted in his 60 foot schooner "COMMITMENT" here shown at anchor somewhere on the Antarctic Peninsula:

This is a bit of a personal challenge for me in more ways than one. Having wrestled with CFS for the past 8 years it has been the dream of once again being in the outdoors and being adventurous that has kept me going through the tough times. Time to give it a go and see how the dice roll out. The beauty of Tony's trips is that you can be as involved in running the boat as you like, so it suites my situation prefectly. He's quite happy to let you helm the boat or help out with navigation, whatever takes your interest. I can't wait to get some time up on the helm under the tutelage of a master mariner who's really been there and done it.