also I'll dropbox random stuff I've been using

www.dropbox.com/sh/l342qc9sxnhugyu/AABxxsfBvml22cGQSpZslbsOa?dl=0

southace said...
Sorry sir james I may of missed your earlier post are you heading West? Are you traveling Solo?

I did Stanley, Devonport , Launceston , Foster inlet , Wineglass bay and Hobart. Solo and within 7 days.

Stanley was a beautiful town! Foster inlet had the biggest calamari I have ever seen! Wineglass did nothing for me arrived at 11pm and was gone by first light!

Heya, it's Joel, not James :P

Yeah heading west solo. To devonport next, then Stanley, burnie as a backup if the weather ****s itself. Anyone stayed at burnie?! Then onto to king (grassy) and home to port phillip after that. No rushing and will be waiting for good weather windows.

Caught big squid at Lady Barron pier.

Your living the dream! Well done....
i can only give you advise on Stanley ....great little ship harbour with great pubs and people. this place is special. You will get better protection if you can raft to a big trawler that's not working. Spend some time here lovely pub full of lovely waitress!

Yeah I love her dearly even more than my Colombian girlfriend that causes me so much grief but I still love them BOTH!. The only Grief I got crossing bass strait was the auto pilot s**t it self! Lucky to replace it with the mark 2 in Eden!

Must have a good auto pilot! You must ,your has held up well so Far!

Mine was reconditioned by me and the plastic gears got chewed in 5 meter seas I had some replacements and replaced them in the middle of bass strait !
S#*t them selfs again going from Hobart too Eden so I replaced it with the upgraded mk 2 which failed the belt 2 years later up in FNQ strangely I only brought one belt which lasted me till I sold the boat!

Should have really Brought a spare!

so you have tiller or wheel Pilot?

Clansman is a cockpit tiller. I've got an old navico tiller pilot with inbuilt compass. A little noisy, but the noise becomes comforting as you know it's still working.

I had my yanmar serviced today in launceston by an awesome South African diesel mechanic, genuine nice and down to earth character. Offered to show me everything he was doing and plenty of tips along the way. I'd happily recommend him.

I'll catch the 0630 tide out of lonnie in the morning, which should get me to devonport before sundown.

Cruised north up the river to York cove at George Town, nice spot, better than beauty point imo. Having a pub meal and a beer, then off for a fish at the marina. I hear the squid may be on.
At the marina there is a yacht flying the French flag with their storm jib still on deck and main sail well tied up, looks like they may have had an interesting night.

aus005 said...
if you are in devonport jman iam on the slip and at the myc getting stuff done i will keep an eye out for you and can run you around for groceries diesel etc
but not much to do in dev enjoy the tamar while you are there

Cool mate, I'll catch you for sure. I'm about 2nm north west of egg island at the moment. Slow going at 3.5knts, but it's a cracker of a day.

aus005 said..
missed you you snuck in just after i went home and left this morning oh well happy trails

Not much wind today jman how far did you get ?

60kts here at Stanley last night. Sh!tty sleep even in the harbour.

To shepards bay, hunter island I plan to go tomorrow.

Currently back in Melbourne home safe.

The 20-25knts from Stanley to Three Hummocks felt the upper side with a heavily reefed clansman I battled most of the day with head winds, tides and rough seas. Leaking forward hatch from deck waves let a large amount of water through the boat, wetting all my clothes and destroying a heap of food, luckily my electronics were spared. Relieved to arrive at East telegraph bay I threw my anchor on a sandy bottom. Plenty of room at East telegraph to lets lots of scope out at this anchorage. The breeze continued to blow strong from the west until the evening. Bucket and a sponge I relieved my boat of the water that doesn't make it to the bilge sections.

A healthy morning breeze of 20knts had me zipping out of East telegraph with a due north bearing. I wanted to go to king, but given the perfect North Westerly head wind and the clear window for a crossing I decided to make tracks for Port Phillip. Leaving at 0600 I arrived at Port Phillip at 0930 the following day. The wind swung over night to a North Easterly and slightly eased, closer to Port Phillip the wind went dead north and sloppy (headwind on a heads approach is undelightful, wet'n'wild).
Took Coles channel and parked Seamonkey on a loading berth at St Leonards and slept overnight at a friends, really sh!t pier to park at St Leonards. There were a few empty swing moorings, but I wouldn't trust them.

Following day with light winds I burnt some fuel and crossed Port Phillip back to Williamstown.

A shower, roast dinner and cold beer felt pretty darn good!

Success!

Photos to come

madmission said..
Great trip Joel i enjoyed keeping up with your progress , st leonards is a shocker imho there is very little shelter any where on the bellarine peninsula
looking forward to your next trip

Completely agree! it would be great for boating tourism if they built a marina and laid public swings that side of the bay or at least improved Portarlington and St Leonards piers to make them more boating friendly. Boaters are willing to pay their $20 a night for such things.

SirJman said..

madmission said..
Great trip Joel i enjoyed keeping up with your progress , st leonards is a shocker imho there is very little shelter any where on the bellarine peninsula
looking forward to your next trip

Completely agree! it would be great for boating tourism if they built a marina and laid public swings that side of the bay or at least improved Portarlington and St Leonards piers to make them more boating friendly. Boaters are willing to pay their $20 a night for such things.

I may be wrong but to me Victoria is not a great state as far as state governments go looking after boaties. It appears to me to be to "green"
Its not user friendly to any thing to do with boats IE mooring for one and the list continues.
We need out own member in politics Id vote for you Sir J Man every time and think of the "fringe benefits"