Storm Buoys

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday May 23, 2008

Kirsten Wilkins

Kirsten Wilkins learns the ropes of boating during a weekend of wild weather and high seas.

Signing up for three days at sea seemed like a good idea but right now I'm not so sure. It's pouring and the forecast is for swells of five metres or higher - gulp - for our sail to Pittwater tomorrow.

The course starts on Friday afternoon at Sydney by Sail's base in Darling Harbour. I hadn't done the intermediate Competent Crew course - usually a prerequisite for this one - but I figured my sailing experience since doing an introductory course a few years ago would get me through.

Our home for the next two nights is Sha Meduza, an 11.5-metre Hunter yacht. She is all luxury - and spacious, which is a relief as there'll be six of us, including the instructor. My partner and I take the smaller forward cabin.

Our first team exercise is to discuss the menu we've been given. It suits us all except one guy with a sensitive stomach, so we leave chilli off the shopping list - probably a good idea considering there's only one head (toilet). Two of us are given $200 to go shopping while the others put the safety equipment on board and top up the water and fuel.

Our instructor, Hugh, turns up in his waterproof sailing gear and the crew, now slightly bedraggled, are envious. He checks all the safety equipment, looks over the boat and gives us strict instructions not to put anything down the head that we haven't eaten (apart from minimal toilet paper).

We motor out of Darling Harbour in the dark and do some blind navigation exercises. The navigator, who's not allowed out of the cabin, has to figure out where we are on the chart (a map for navigation) and ask the crew on deck, via a crew member standing in the cabin entrance, to take compass bearings from markers in the water - which are lit at night - to verify the position. No one wants to fail our first exercise, so there's tension in the air. There are obstacles we could hit. Like Goat Island dead ahead.

I hear a muffled question from the cabin, then the relayer saying: "Is there an occulting green on the starboard bow?" We mentally translate (a flashing green light to the right) and look in the general direction. "No, can't see it." "No" is relayed to the navigator, and a few muffled expletives drift up from below. After a few dodgy compass bearings, unhelpful suggestions ("We're going to hit the island") and raised voices, the navigator gives the helmsman, who is steering the ship, a new bearing. We miss Goat Island by a few metres and head off towards the heads.

Off Watsons Bay, we sight a Manly ferry just before it disappears in a trough and re-emerges at the top of the wave, turning quickly to avoid the swell. Then I realise that's where we're headed, only our boat is much smaller. It's a rough ride and there's a fair bit of hanging on for dear life on my part, but when we reach the other side, it's blissfully calm. We set the anchor off Quarantine Beach and two volunteers cook up a storm to go with a bottle of wine donated by a very popular crew member.

The next morning we're introduced to our safety harnesses. I wrestle for a while with what I think is the crotch strap but, before anyone notices, realise it's a shoulder strap. On deck, we clip ourselves onto safety lines and sail out of the heads. One guy knows how to work the VHF, so he calls up the local coastal patrol to let them know where we're going. The radio operator asks him to spell Sha Meduza and we're impressed when he does the Top Gun thing and reels off the name using the phonetic alphabet.

We're out in the rough stuff and the boat is "heeling" about 35 degrees. Waves of varying heights sweep under the keel.

As we poke our noses outside the heads, it gets much rougher. Still, if I wanted chardonnay sailing - that's sailing that won't spill your wine - I'd be docked in Darling Harbour. The motion is uneven and I'm feeling rather green. Some of the more hardcore sailors are keen to go on but I'm relieved when the instructor decides to turn back. He says we could bash on all the way to Pittwater but chances are we won't enjoy it.

Back in the harbour we do "man overboard" drills (with a lifejacket), practise manoeuvering into the Rose Bay wharf and head up the Parramatta River to check our chart-reading ability. After dinner on an unattended mooring, we do more night piloting back down the river and under the Harbour Bridge before picking up a public mooring in Athol Bay. The weather forecast has improved, so we'll go "outside" again tomorrow. By 10.30pm, we're sound asleep.

Waking to the sound of monkeys and exotic animals is surreal and it takes me a while to figure out we're moored in front of Taronga Zoo. Today's our last day and we have limited time, so it's an early start. I finally give up on my soggy jacket and grab one of the dry ones below. Bliss.

There isn't time to make it to Pittwater and back, but we sail up the coast, taking turns steering. The conditions are much better and it's a buzz watching the ever-changing coastline on one side and just the ocean, with the odd boat, to our right. By lunchtime the sun is shining and we make it as far as Collaroy before turning around for the smoother down-wind sail home.

Back at the dock, we pack our gear, tidy up and step off. The guy in the office looks relieved that the boat is in one piece and that we didn't block up the head (as the last course did). I line up to get my sailing logbook signed and, though I can't tick off as many things as I'd originally hoped, I'm not disappointed. The conditions offshore were a challenge and I know it's time to do that intermediate course and invest in some new wet-weathers.

As I walk down the jetty back to civilisation, the world's still rocking. I'm in need of a shower but then I realise I'm in Darling Harbour. I deserve that chardonnay.

you try it

Sydney by Sail runs learn-to-sail courses from a two-day introductory-level course ($425) to the three-day and two-night Coastal Skipper course ($695). Phone 9280 1110 or see www.sydneybysail.com.au. Other Sydney schools also run courses for different skills. See Yachting Australia's site, www.yachting.org.au, or phone 8424 7400.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home