LETTERS

Lin and Larry Pardey wrote from aboard Taleisin of Victoria, sailing south across the Bass Strait from Australia towards Tasmania:

We spent a wonderful winter working and playing in Sydney. It's a great place for visiting voyagers - not inexpensive, but compared to Europe or the US very affordable. The Cruising Yacht Club, only six blocks from downtown, welcomes foreign boats with open arms - a mooring is $5 a night after two free nights, or the floating star pontoon near the clubhouse $6 with water laid on. You only have to step outside the club door to catch a bus to the famous opera house. Passenger ferries make the anchorage restless during the day, but nights are very quiet.

Upriver are several small bays where moorings can be had at reasonable cost. There are several free anchorages, though occasionally, if too many liveaboard boats congregate at one spot, the local officials say only 48 hours in each official anchorage.

Twenty miles north of Sydney is the Pittwater - miles of secluded national forest area, served by some lovely towns. We spent two months there, again welcomed by the local yacht club, the Royal Prince Alfred. Mooring is expensive at $15 per day, but you can anchor off and for a small fee get a one month membership. The office staff are great.

Twenty miles south is Cronulla, a safe bay with a shallow entrance and a perfect place to leave a boat at low cost. The train to Sydney is only two blocks from the landing. Some well worthwhile sights: the Janolan Caves and beautiful lodge; the Bondi Beach Festival of the Air; the Jazz Caf's of Sydney when a $5 cover charge lets you listen to some mellow sounds at a choice of twenty venues; the Wooden Boat Festival - only two years on, over 200 owners brought their boats along for three days of fun.

We're now sailing south to taste the lobsters of Tasmania. By sitting out the southerly changes and sailing as soon as the high moved in we've had excellent weather so far. We have another 300 miles to reach Port Arthur, 40 miles south of Hobart.

The following letter was received from non-members Tom & Bonnie Menaker aboard Star, their Island Packet 38, in Whangarei, New Zealand:

We are writing to commend and thank a member of the Ocean Cruising Club, Peter Dyball, builder and owner of Ocean Quest. Fortunately for us, Peter and his wife Alison and their crew were cruising the South Pacific Islands this past year and were sailing only fifteen miles behind us at midnight on 12 October 1991 as we approached the entrance buoy to Nukualofa Harbour in Southern Tonga.

Since publication of our most recent BA charts and Light List, the local harbourmaster had switched two light colours, ridiculously placing the green `entrance' buoy light in the centre of a large reef one mile due west of its prior location. Our boat, Star, was reaching comfortably in calm seas, heading directly for the green light, and the reef, at 4 knots. Still 300 metres from the light we sailed hard onto the reef at near high tide. The radio call we made to the local authorities was heard by Peter and he immediately headed towards us under maximum power and sail.

Nothing could be done to help us that night because of the falling tide and darkness, but Ocean Quest arrived nearby in just two hours and stood by until daybreak. At first light Peter and his able crewmember Crispen approached as close as they could by dinghy and walked the last 50 metres across sharp coral. Peter immediately took charge of our damage control. As the tide slowly rose he calmly instructed us in numerous ways to shift weight and ballast to reduce the pounding that threatened the integrity of the hull. He quickly mobilized an action plan, and helped carry it out, in the brief hours before the next high tide. His plan included anchoring a masthead halyard to the reef and tying full fuel jugs to the swung out boom, to prevent the boat from moving until the tide was high enough to float her upright. He also persuaded us to remove internal obstructions that would prevent access to bilge areas, in case they were holed.

While Peter was organising our damage control, Crispen took the dinghy to the large towboat that was standing by to pull us off at high tide. In order to assure a very gentle and gradual pull Crispen took the controls of the towboat himself, and dragged us back into deep water with minimal damage. Peter's actions on our behalf allowed us to be refloated with so little damage that we were able to sail Star, a GRP Island Packet 38, the remaining 1100 miles to New Zealand before hauling out for repairs.

Peter Dyball followed one of the finest traditions of the sea by coming to the aid of a fellow yachtsman in distress. Even more important, he knew what to do once on the scene. We will always be grateful for his assistance.

Richard Le Quesne wrote from Jersey, following up Jacques Vandierendonck's letter about fuel contamination published in the last issue:

Jacques Vandierendonck asks about the dreaded black gunge which is actually far more common than he realises. I am no specialist, but have dealt with the problem from time to time over the years and learned a little about it. I believe (though I stand to be corrected) that the slime is a member of the algae family that happens to like living at the interface between fuel oil and the water that is always present in storage tanks. I have been told that it is nearly always present in fuel oil purchased in warm temperate and tropical cruising areas. In some circumstances the algal growth can be phenomenal and result in the blockages experienced by Mr Vandierendonck.

Dealing with the problem has two aspects: removal of the existing growth and prevention of future growth.

If infestation is particularly heavy there is no alternative but to remove all the fuel and clean the entire system. In some areas, particularly parts of the Mediterranean, Florida and California, there are contractors with special machinery who will come to the yacht, pump the fuel out of the tanks, through filters, and back into the tanks. If the tanks have access covers there are removed to enable the operators to sluice the deposits of slime off the tank walls and into the suction pipe. This treatment, when combined with chemical treatment (of which more below) can be very effective. Lesser infestations may be cured by a programme of chemical treatment and frequent filter changes.

Prevention is largely a matter of taking the usual precautions to obtain the cleanest possible fuel oil and then ALWAYS treating this with one of the commercial biocides that are widely available. In the United States Biobor is well known and in the western Mediterranean Clin Azur include one in their excellent range of products. These are used at a higher concentration for removal of the algae than for prevention and, needless to say, thorough mixing of the biocide into the fuel oil is important.

I have also heard reports of the `magnetic' filter mention by Jacques Vandierendonck but have not experience of their use. Can any member offer information?

Hugh Cownie wrote in February on a visit home from the Caribbean:

After having had to abandon our trans-Pacific cruise in 1990 because of illhealth, we have satisfied ourselves with cruising the Netherlands Antilles. The small marina in Bonaire is probably a good place to leave a boat during a short trip home, and it is a pleasant night sail to Morrocoy in Venezuela where one should be able to anchor safely in the hurricane season. Curacao is a first class stopover for yachts going on to Panama or central America. One can victual up with pretty well anything (except Colman's mustard!) and at Sarifundy's `marina' one can hire a car for serious shopping. One can also go alongside the Sarifundy jetty to take on clean drinking water, as one may in the Bonaire marina.

Since our return from the Caribbean last week my wife and I have read 1991/2 from cover to cover with great pleasure and interest. It was good to read about our old friends Geoff and Hazel Welch with whom we had lost contact. Mark Scott's Coconut Island was most interesting. He might like to know that a member of the Clunies-Ross family played in the first Scotland Rugby XX (yes XX, not XV) to play England in March 1871. Scotland won. (My source is The History of Scottish Rugby by Sandy Thorburn). Not much to do with ocean cruising!

It was good to hear from Peter and Rozy Barton on their arrival in Australia just before Christmas, also enclosing some contributions for the Cruising Information Service files. Another account to make the homebound envious!

Rose Rambler of Devon left New Zealand in May 1991 and we had two months in Tonga working our way up from Eua in the South to Niuatoputapu in the north. You can clear customs at this island, which is nearer to Samoa than it is to the rest of Tonga and makes a convenient spot for anyone bound for Fiji from either of the Samoas. We had hoped to get to American Samoa, but the wind decided otherwise and we went to Apia in Western Samoa. We heard later that there are some lovely anchorages on the north coast of American Samoa. Apia is nice, with an excellent market and good value local buses which take you all over the island. You can get clearance from Apia to visit any ports in both the islands, Upolu and Savaii, without having to return to Apia, which is convenient.

Our next port was the French island of Wallis, which was a bit like a mini Bora Bora - not as mountainous, but it has a surrounding reef with offlying islands and a nice lagoon. We had hoped to sail up to Kiribati, but only got as far as Funafuti in Tuvalu. This was a most enjoyable visit, as the lagoon anchorage is sheltered from the prevailing trade winds and the dinghy landing must be unique in being only yards from the hotel and 100 yards from the `International' airport terminal. None of the nearby islands have an airfield so all flights are international and the terminal building is a hut beside a grass strip. Both the locals and the ex-pats were delightful people and we made a lot of new friends.

Having decided to give Kiribati a miss we headed south again and went to another French island, Futuna, which is very different to Wallis. The only anchorage is open to the west and space is limited. We took our bikes ashore here and had a most enjoyable ride all the way round the island, portaging the bikes where the last hurricane had washed the road away.

We met Blackjack in Fiji at both Suva and Musket Cove, and while they sailed down to New Zealand we went to Noumea in New Caledonia, where we found a good anchorage near the town and two marinas. There is an excellent cruising guide to New Caledonia, but the English translation sold in Australia is sometimes unavailable in New Caledonia. We then had the usual rather unpleasant crossing of the Tasman Sea to Coff's Harbour in Australia where Mary Barton joined us.

Geoff Welch's Hurricane Season Cruise (FF 1991/2) left him in Tortola, BVI, heading south. He wrote again from Antigua during the winter:

My last letter reflected something of my regret that age and injury had caused me to abandon sail and join the motorboat brigade. We all know how Envy is a most perverse and pernicious invasion of judgement, yet there can be few yachtsmen who have not at some time wished to have a larger boat, more space, more speed, more creature comforts etc. I know I have, but if this sentiment were to find an echo in the minds of other members let me offer some crumbs of consolation.

We are moored at the head of Falmouth Bay, Antigua, and yesterday across its wide entry I spotted a superlarge motor yacht heading in. She looked most elegant as she approached, turning slightly to come alongside, and we agreed she must be about 160 to 170ft long (answer: 164ft 9in). We assumed that she had just slipped over from the Mediterranean for the Charter Brokers' Annual Show - surely no matter how wealthy an owner, he would want to offset some of his costs. I learnt that ten crew and a fuel consumption of 420 gallons per hour made up two significant components, but no, she was purely private. Phew!

Yes, it seemed she had just slipped across from the Med and would probably be going back for the summer, but not under her own power - she went by ferry service, at about £160,000 return. Phew again!

More of the real and tangible facts of life were becoming clear on talking to one of the crew. She's owned by an American clothing manufacturer who usually manages four to six weeks aboard each year, sometimes with guests, and given good enough weather she can transport them at up to 35 knots. All seemed idyllic in that imaginary scenario - sunshine, blue skies, blue ocean, immense white wash and swarms of elegant fashion models draping their glamorous clad or unclad frames around every corner.

But ... `good enough weather' means seas no greater than 3 feet, and you've got to `drop down' to 20 knots to have any directional control at all in 6 foot seas. Doing 20 knots in F 5 is `just unbearable' - you're thrown about unmercifully. How then do you cross any ferry-less ocean? Answer: you've just got to wait in harbour if you have more than about a F 4/5 - `we hate 6 foot waves'. `Crews change frequently'.

So, all who long for or enjoy 'a good sailing breeze' and hope for `a decently fast and comfortable passage', spare a moment of sympathy for those who must have spent perhaps £20 million on buying and fitting out a boat, probably £3 million a year on running it, and can't comfortably go to sea in a F 4!