HNY allk y’all out there who might read this. Happys for 2015! Berri is in Quarantine Bay – google it for the long and sad history – waiting for dogs off chains northerlies to blow out this evening and we’ll heade north to Pittwater…more later if this works

Back in Sydney. Re aforesaid sports fisherman – a very close call. We were the stand on vessel under the Col Regs (International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea). in simple terms, we had right of way and, although it is not relevant, we were under sail. Further, the other vessel was overtaking and should have kept clear. We were also transmitting on AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. so no excuse for not seeing us. He was a 30ish foot Steber type powerboat with high flying bridge and after deck behind the superstructure, so no view forward. 20 ft fibreglass poles out on either side, trailing lines. There was a visible head up on the flybridge and the boat was doing about 15 knots and closing from astern on our port quarter. I had seen him at long range and was watching carefully and thought he’d altered course just enough to pass astern, but almost too late, realised we were in for a massive collision unless I acted. Was just able to alter our course to parallel his, about 2 ft from his side as he thrashed past. Head on flybridge was asleep or looking aft at fisherman on after deck and did not see us, We snagged the starboard fibreglass pole and it flexed just enough to flick past the forestay and mast and let him pass. Man on afterdeck appeared, shouted at man on flybridge, watched as we fell astern draped in fishing line and hooks. No apology, no apparent concern for any damage we may have received, no change in speed or course. Just motored on and away. All over in about 30 seconds but could have been very nasty. It happens!

is that they multiply, cascade, transmogrify, get scrunched up and reborn ​ and eventually metamorphose into this ​and this ​And that’s just for starters. Mostly clothes, computer gizmos, a few charts and some food containers. Masses of stuff to come out of the boat, get sorted and maybe go back in. Winches to service. Water and fuel tanks to clean. The fuel tank is plain nasty – lots of algal crud – filters will be ugly…bleah! But a journey of a thousand miles….this at least makes it look as if we might go somewhere.

This is not the post I wanted to write today but there ya go. The Plan was to set sail for Alaska and another NW Passage today but – to misquote von Moltke, a plan does not survive the first contact with the elements. I’ve been watching the weather in the North Pacific for a month or so and it ain’t the same as when McQ and I set off in 2008. Looks as if the NE tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year. are blowing with a bit of attitude and the Aleutian low is up there and serious. So, sadly, I pulled the plug. No NW passage this year but lots of other options to pass the time. More on that later. Megan Hahn is on board and we were going to sail to Nome and collect Pat for his and my second NWPThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. More here. and Megan’s first. Instead, we came out to play in the East Coast low that is sitting off Sydney and blowing dogs and blasting rain. Bleak and nasty for non headbangers but the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. knows we’re here. We are parked in Quarantine bay at the entrance to Sydney harbour with Dylan Blowin in the Wind and the real wind not quite howling but at least hoovering through the rig and the wind generator whining away as it makes wiggly amps. Oddly, 2 police vessels seem to be circling around us. The ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks.’s latest gig perhaps. But this is really to see whether all this technology still works. I’ll send it and request a gribWeather files. Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. file for all this nastiness.

I forgot to pack my slippers…essential for leaping happy and joyful out of a nice warm pit at 0250 and keeping the toasty feet from the dankly dismold wet deck thereby catching said dismoldery about the soles. Nothing brings on the gloom like dismoldery of the foots. And I messed up the last post – thanks Sylvie for fixing it – and back at you! Now clutching caffeine fix and listening to the wind – howling with attitude. We sent Mr Dylan back to his groove so we could hear the boat. Poor old barge is not happy. We’re on a public mooring which seems ok for the conditions but the tag line has not been maintained and looked very dodgy when we picked it up so I went for a swim and doubled it up with one of our lines. Berri swinging wildly through about 70 degrees so a bit of stress up there and we go and inspect it every hour or so. Now I must find the digestives and practise my dunk. Medicinal compound, sadly, not sensible in these conditions. Poo – from Alex

When I sailed with Alex a few months back I got seasick. We planned ahead this time and the seasick pills did their job perfectly. If they hadn’t, it may have been a messy trip back. I’ve tried to imagine what anyone seeing us from shore might have been thinking. A few choice words come to mind. The wind was steady in the upper 30’s and there were regular gustsShort increases in wind speed – or people who signed the Gust Book. to 42 knots. The highest I saw was 46 knots. That was after leaving Quarantine bay and immediately getting blasted from the port side by the full force of the wind coming straight in from the sea. At one point while winching the storm jibA very small jib, usually made from bright orange material, used in storm conditions. I had a knee up on the deck beside the cockpit and was dunked into the ocean to mid thigh by a wave knocking us sideways. It was disorienting and took a second or two for me to find “up” again. Alex drove beautifully. He’s obviously done this once or twice before. Plans are in the works for the next stage of our “puttering” in the area. There’s a lot of ocean to explore!

The HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio has died. If you get this, it means that I have successfully reinstalled the satellite phone setup on this laptop. An interesting process… Not the end of the world but a nuisance. If you post to Berrimilla2, please use plain text only, keep the message short – say 10 lines max – and no attachments. Satellite is expensive. But if this gets to the website, the Magic works… More later

The HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio has magically decided to work again. I sat down and pressed buttons until something beeped and some lights blinked while Alex poked through the wires in the electronics board. Poof. Magic. Functioning radio. We made it up to Newcastle yesterday. The day started with big swells, had an afternoon of mediocre wind, then died down to a breeze even KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others couldn’t recognize. Motored into port. Alex and I went running this morning. I got blasted by too much sun, we both got hit by sandy wind off the beach and the ocean spray crashing off the rocks of the causeway. We both have our current running-related problems so were were both crawling along and cursing malfunctioning body parts all the way back to the boat. Off to explore town! -M

Of a sort…looks as if we’re stuck in Newcastle at least until Tuesday. Another East Coast low playing with the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks.’s toys. So we sit here in the rain doing the crosswords in the Sydney Morning Herald or wandering the streets and imagining Newcastle as it was – major industrial city with all the railyards and factories and smelters and shipbuilders…including Arnotts Biscuits…we have McVities, the original digestive and as I write, Megan is perfecting her dunking technique and listening to von Karajan conducting The Planets… So this is just to pass the time and tell y’all Subscribers we ain’t forgotten yers. Big hugs for K from us both.

Is anyone else old enough to remember Popeye the Sailorman and his spinach? A can poured into his mouth, somehow missing his upside down pipe and into his gullet and his biceps bulged like soccer balls. HilaryAlex’s partner and Katherine’s mother made us some spinach curry and sent it with us frozen – We finished it earlier in the week and I’m sure that’s why I can run again – the leg seems to have come good and we’ve run 30k this week. After 3 months off, it’s been hard but it seems to work again. Any Eagles out there, take note. The Plan – pace the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. – is to leave Newcastle early tomorrow and head south. The weather is giving us a little window and we’ll probably duck into Pittwater again and explore some of the lovely anchorages. Megan will be in charge of the sailing – it’s fun having her along, even though it’s sad we couldn’t go back to Nome. She grew up on the edge of the Arctic Circle in a family of practical survivors and she is a very fast learner – just looks, listens, gets it and does it. Cool. Regarding Nome, I don’t like hindsight on difficult decisions but it really does look like a good one. The Aleutian Low and the tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year. are firmly against out predicted track and while things change, this looks to be solidly established. Megan says the Aleutian Low sometimes sits there all year and causes all sorts of mayhem. Check out www.windyty.com I think our AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. tracker may be misbehaving – if anyone has been following, our last known position on the marinetraffic site was out at sea on our way north. The gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating says it’s working properly so later today I will try to diagnose using the software. Appendages crossed. More as it happens alex

Waay back when I could run a bit, there was an event in Sydney called the 3 Ports Race. It was based on the Three Peaks in the UK and it involved runners and sailors. The Basin track up to West Head road from here through the Kuringai National Park is 2.8k. Up hill – up one of the higher hills in the Sydney area. Trivial by overseas standards but I think the slope is about 1 in 3, maybe 1 in 4 for the first k or so. Non trivial for runners. When we did the 3 Peaks – not in Berri – our runners ran the 20 k to West Head and back in phenomenal time and we eventually finished second overall in the event I seem to remember. Today, twenty something Megan, with her not too distant 10,000 or so miles across the US cyclist’s legs powered up the hill and left this dessicated bit of old stringybark a long way back. Coming down, different matter. The local Native people are the Garingal Nation. Google Basin Aboriginal art site… Lovely evening here – purple and silver sky silhouetting the hill to the west, first magnitude stars due any minute and a big moon later.

The time when conventional celestial navigators reach for their sextant, chronometer and tables and shoot the stars and the moon. It’s the time from about 20 minutes to sunrise or after sunset when there is both a horizon, a visible moon and all the first magnitude stars. This morning it was dim grey above the hill in the west changing through silver to deep pinkish orange in the east with the Southern CrossDefining constellation in Southern hemisphere and the almost full moon bright and lovely and others I once could recognise around the hills. Orion and Betelgeuse probably below the horizon to the north behind the big hill. When I stuck my head up this morning, there were about 50 swallows roosting around Berri’s guardrails all sleepy, not anxious to leave. A tiny spider must have worked all night to weave a minutely delicate web with tiny traces of dew glinting in the glow of sunrise. We tried to preserve it when we left but, I think, sadly, we failed. So much intricate work gone. We often see threads of spider silk in the rig – released to fly downwind with tiny spider attached, to wrap where they may and perhaps become the first spokes of new webs. Tonight in Refuge Bay, quiet evening sunlight fading through a gusty NW wind – sun just not set, moon and stars not here yet but soft light, deep greens and sandstone, the waterfall now in shadow. Cool and froody. Megan the Intrepid stood under the waterfall in her swimmers – brr! a.

A minor point: Something that Alex has been kind enough not to complain about or I’m hoping he just hasn’t noticed is my hair. I brush it out every day to keep it from turning into salted dread locks and the byproduct is fine strands of yellow hair EVERYWHERE. I’ve been doing my best to keep it under control; ie. grooming only on deck or keeping it pulled back or under a scarf. Alas, it still manages to find its way into the strangest places. I suppose there are worse things to have to deal with than a few rogue strands on a boat. -M

plus or minus five, depending on what you count, is the number of steps up the Timbergetters’ track from the water in Bantry Bay to Seaforth Oval. We climbed them twice, first in Mallory mode because they were there and second to go for a run in the early morning and to fill some water bottles. Lots of birds, mostly tiny but we don’t have the bird book with us. I think I saw a wren and what might have been a cockatiel. Sulphur crested cockatoos near the water. Dogwalkers and dogs in their battalion on the oval. Now we are round the corner at Sugarloaf, so close to home that I’m sure I heard our own gaggle of Northbridge Kookaburras asserting themselves this morning. And there’s a flock of rare black cockatoos close by. It’s drizzling and glassy calm and the world still seems to be rotating because, somewhere above the murk, the sun has come up. Ole’. Pete and Jeanne are planning to bring their BrolgaBerrimilla is a Brolga 33 designed by Peter JoubertJoubert, Peter: mechnical engineer, specialising in fluid mechanics, now retired. Highly respected sailor and designer of the Brolga and other yachts; many mentions but see 115; Pete’s meeting with him, 122. For specs, see here, Zoe, over to join us later and we may Consult. Tea and dunking biscuits for the time being. Haven’t seen the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. for a few days. Polishing her leathers, no doubt, and putting new spikes in her whip. I’m about to go around in the ducky and de-slime Berri’s waterline, still green from Newcastle floodwaters. See yez

Yesterday we went for a little sail towards New Zealand to see whether KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others still has his magic touch. Only the keen, the desperate, those who race or those in KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others Test mode ever need to go to windward under sail but to windward we toiled in a lumpy cross swell and set him up and off he went. It’s easy to forget how to do it – first get the boat balanced, then give it to Kev, wait to see how he’s going and fine tune the balance and KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others’s vane and he’s away. Still has his mojo downwind as well. He’s been bent and battered over the years and the miles but the touch is still there. We parked for the night in Quarantine Bay – again, but way better than last time – and smelt the fine cooking from the Boilerhouse Restaurant on the beach 50 metres away as we scoffed our steamed veggies and cous-cous. NoiceAlexism for quite a lot of things which taste good or are going especially well and I wouldn’t have swapped. Today,we’re at Sugarloaf again, exploring the mangroves and creeks and looking for places to beach the duck that aren’t covered in oysters to rip it’s little bottom. I’ve run the track here a hundred times but never till today reached it from the water. Tomorrow, back to the five hundred and twenty steps at Bantry Bay. I should have mentioned somewhere that the mast is still standing – the new dyneema lowers SoFarSoGood. Appendages, y’all.

For the – I think – 18th time either in Miko in ’77 & ’79 or in Berri umpteen times since 1994. This time is the first time we have come in from the North. Some of our 3 readers will understand… Longish story but I’m sailing Berri down to Hobart with Megan to put Berri on the slip for a few days to check and maybe fix some osmosis we noticed when she was last on the slip in Sydney. It’s a Queen’s ransom cheaper to do it down there…we came into Eden on Friday evening, feeling our way in as seems to be the routine over the years. The wind is due to shift to the SW tonight and I thought it best to wait till the front goes through and then see what’s behind it. I think we are here at least until Tuesday – Melbourne cup day. I’ve been seriously crook – something I ate before we left Sydney – monster chundering session a day or so out and it then worked its way down and I will spare you any further detail. It has not been pleasant and I’m really only back to some sort of normal today. Quite some bug.I think if I’d been feeling better we should have departed yesterday morning, into a 35 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second. -- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop . northerly which would have put us half way down the Tas coast by now. But here we are. For the sailors – Marine Rescue NSWNew South Wales. State in the East of Australia. New South Wales' capital city is Sydney. works well on VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. on the way down. For their system to work, they do need an ETAEstimated Time of Arrival somewhere so you should be prepared to talk this through with them when you log on. A much better system than the old scattered variants of organisations. And as always, Tasmar Radio were there and ready to talk to us on HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. – 4125 worked best and 6215 was ok. I think they are located south of Hobart and we spoke to them from roughly Jervis Bay. Sadly, Eden isn’t what it used to be – there are only about 5 or 6 working fishing boats when once they were 2 deep along both wharves. Many of the high street shops have gone and for sale or rent notices are everywhere.The showers on the wharf are broken and look as if they have been for a long time. The showers at the Fisho’s are no longer operational, so it’s buckets of cold water in the dunnys for the intrepid Berri crew. There is talk of extending the main breakwater and bringing in cruise ships – I hope it works for the town – I kind of like the place for lots of reasons. Some pics – Berri in her usual spot in Eden, A pelican or two and a swallow – and a swarm of bees that the local beekeeper was capturing near the wharf. More tomorrow, perhaps – $10 pork dinner not long away…

We know where our towel is. Making tea. ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. twitching her riding whip. And just to add flavour, Eden seems to have gargantuan mosquitos. Yee haa.

We left Eden at midday. Bit of a punt on the forecast and a headbang at least down to Gabo but it’s time gained on the nasties due on the Tas coast on Friday. Can see Green Cape at 7.5 miles…more as it happens via sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service. if the technology works.

Berri is a superbly seaworthy boat except – in a dead headwind with short steep waves with a wavelength around or less than her waterline length. We had about 20 knots that seemed to stay right on the nose as we rounded each of the headlands leaving Twofold Bay and we caught the full effect of the waves as we rounded the last one and pointed at Green Cape. Not having fun and no immediate prospect so we went back. To find another huge boat had taken our spot. Eden is not a user friendly spot for small yachts and we had to struggle for a bit in the wind to get alongside another fishing boat. Yachties who’ve been there will understand. So back at the Fishos for consolation wifi and salad. Berri sends congrats to Stephen Jackson – ex webbie – for doing some running in New York. Headbangers and lefties unite!

Back in Eden. Again. 0330 now. Much more later. Whales, KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others, glowing mountain ranges on the blackest of nights. Sleep

There’s always drama at Green Cape. For those who don’t know, it sticks out into the Tasman Sea about 20 miles south of Eden and must be negotiated. Just inside it to the south is Disaster Bay – google it. I’ve been to Green Cape at least 30 times, once by car with HilaryAlex’s partner and Katherine’s mother many years ago and the rest by boat. Mostly dramatic visitations – it’s a bleak and wild peninsula viewed from the guts of a beam sea and worse still in a bluff southerly. And sometimes fun – I remember KatherineAlex’s daughter steering Berri around it on one of our return trips. Yesterday, it appeared from the mist as a woolly silhouette with the old lighthouse ghostly white above and the new tower – steel frame contraption – also silhouetted. The wind had just turned east properly and was hitting 20 knots. Crashing swell against the rocks half a mile to starboard, hoisted the 3 reefed main with the old barge rolling and pitching happily and unwrapped a bit of heady and she was off. KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others driving – bliss – and of him, more later, perhaps. From 3 knots massively uncomfortable to 6 feeling the wind and waves and hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning. And it all disappeared into the mist again. Megan’s first real experience of being out of sight of land.

A special place – the bottom right hand corner of mainland Australia and the point of departure into the crossing. Low sand dunes with trees and woods behind. I have a vivid memory of it in 1998 – just a glimpse in a patch in the storm. Yesterday – nasty rolling beam sea, night falling, Berri and KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others in their happy partnership but the old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say. worried about deteriorating conditions and rising sea. Approaching warehouse status. Options – keep going and risk the crossing or go and shelter behind Gabo Island and wait for the northerly change or turn back. Continuing would be a painful poke in the eye for young Prudence – definitely possible and with a good prognosis but with potentially catastrophic consequences if the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. decided to flex her muscles. Big ships out there too, visible on AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. And probably no sleep for the old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say. for at least 24 hours. Gabo likewise – shelter, but the need to break out an anchor and the problem of what to do if the conditions didn’t improve. So I decided to turn back. Tricky under the circumstances but achieved and back into hoon mode to the north on what was becoming a very black night.

And peering. WarehousesWaves the size of warehouses, boat rolling and pitching and now sliding sideways too. White water, rain and spray. The occasional waterfall into the cockpit. Tiny pinprick – a reflection from the mast head off the pulpitThe railing at the bow of a boat, which sometimes extends past the deck.? Or the lighthouse? Lots of yaw, impossible to maintain constant directional vision. And now impossibly black – thick feely black that’s there, hanging all around the little glowing cocoon that is us. Desperately hard to make out the light at first, then – yes – there it is! Just one flash but reassuring. And we crash northwards and see more flashes and then the great revolving light spokes above us in the murk Flashing 2 every 10 seems to be the go. Are we going to clear it? And, of course, we did but not everyone has been so lucky GPS! Memories of the first FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. with Pete when we got to the rock in the middle of the night under the immense spokes of that huge light.

Eden lights – at last, as we cross the reef-- As a verb – to shorten sail, to use reefing lines or other techniques to make the working part of a sail smaller and so reduce its power as the wind rises. --- As a noun, (1) the part of the sail that has been shortened, folded or rolled. May be referred to as a slab or a slab reef which is a particular way of forming a reef. -- As a noun (2) – a bank of coral, rocks or other obstruction usually close to a shoreline and potentially dangerous to sailors. at the entrance. Work the mainsail down, Roll the snatch of heady. Catastrophise in the mind getting alongside. Surf around the end of the breakwater, Serious rain, lousy vis, but the continuous floodlights along the wharves. Some fiddling as we work out tactics and line placement and fenders and – yay, it worked. Lots of fiddling but it worked. Alongside our fishing boat 0215 approx, Adjusting stuff. Wet crinkly hands and feet. Wet sleeves. Noodles – just add boiling water. Bliss. Sleep around 0330. Up at 7, more adjustment and into town to buy a tarp for a cockpit cover. We’ll be here at least until Friday… I’ll maybe try to philosophise about KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others later. I’m hungry and it’s lunchtime.

And windy too. Will be windier tomorrow, from the north. Then, appendages crossed and wood fondled, about 4 days of moderate southerlies to get us back to Sydney.

Do you ever get that corrosive churn of apprehension in the depths of the gut? Comes to me any time i hear the wind howling – in a rig, around a house, anywhere. It’s when it happens at sea or close to departure that it really gets stuck in. It’s howling with attitude now and raining. I have become familiar with the churn over the years but it never gets easier to manage – it’s just there and it colours everything else that’s going on. I’ve got it now – sitting safe in the Fisho’s but aware that Berri is tied up out there moving around in the surge and now accompanied by a much bigger boat tied up just ahead and, in my opinion, not as it should be. I was down there earlier and their stern was touching Berri’s bow in the surge. No one around, so I moved Berri back as far as I could but still dodgy IMHO. Not impressed. Megan’s asleep in Berri so I’m sure she will warn me if things deteriorate. The wind should gradually abate later today. Tomorrow looks better. The change is due around midday and should last until Monday. About 220 miles to Sydney but against the East Coast Current which could add another 50 or so depending how it’s running. A bit over 2 days if we get lucky. Then we have to find a slip and get the job done.

We motored from Eden to Brush Island south of Ulladulla and then the southerly arrived. 15 knots at first. 3 reefs and half the headsail, lumpy double swell 4 metreish from north east and south peaking and amplifying where they crossed so very uncomfortable. We nosed into Bermagui just after dark to find very big waves breaking across the entrance – last second decision to get out of there before we got swamped. Might have stayed to assess the possibilities in daylight but exceptionally dangerous at night – huge stone breakwater is not bouncy and completely impossible to judge the waves. So onward, ever onward into another especially long black night. Eerie phosphorescence, more whales, dolphins shooting strings of pearly glow under and around the boat and snorting a lot – and a strange glowing patch of ocean – I wondered whether there was a whale somewhere under us. Odd. 12 hours or so later, Point Perpendicular taking forever to round as usual. And the huge swells in the shallow waters. My guess about 6, maybe 7 metres. Memories of the very first time in Miko with Don Burfitt when we were pooped several times. Then it got dark again and the wind rose to about 25+ knots and life became more interesting. 3 reeled main overpowering kevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others and the autopilot and causing wild gyrations in the swell with poor old Berri sliding down waves and rounding up and generally making hay. Threatening to drag the boom through a wave and maybe break something so preventer off. Hand steering was fun but I was a bit too knackered by then to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. Just a bit too much for Megan to steer but she’s getting the idea. Not easy sailing, but interesting and a bit stressful for old geezers short of sleep. I took down the main and it settled for a bit, then had to roll in half of the remaining heady. Berri still rolling wildly. Swell rising all the time but Berri pointing at Sin City and so – eventually, after a very long but spectacular night with the lights from Kiama to Cronulla glowing golden orange under the low overcast (making everything else much blacker) and several very big ships just outside us – it came to pass. We gybedGybe - A sailing term for turning the boat so that the stern passes through the wind. Potentially dangerous if not controlled because the wind can fill an uncontrolled mainsail from the wrong side and crash it across the boat, possibly causing damage to the rig and anyone getting in the way. into South Head at about 0600 and up the harbour to RANSARoyal Australian Navy Sailing Association; a sailing club located in Sydney, Australia.. The harbour is different every time we enter and this time it was windswept, raffish and with that reddish look to the rocks after rain. And empty. And rather wonderful to be back. Two very tired and somewhat battered cookies tided up the old barge and cadged a lift home from Pete. And slept. And slept. And we’ve been unloading and cleaning – poor old barge needs TLC and we’re doing our best. Photos to follow.

To see whether I can remember how to do it… A new friend

A 4 mile race – flat, easy out and back course – trivial in anybody’s programme. Add air temperature of 20degF and about 25kt of wind from one side of the course and it becomes just a bit non-trivial. Slick ice in patches and gritty dust in the wind…the wind chill dragged the temperature down another 20 deg or so and I could feel my feet freezing…dustmask to keep the nose from frostbite, freezing air around the sunnies and face, eyes drying out…and there’s a bit dead into wind on the way back. Oof. I think I was the 3rd male home out of about 10 finishers and Megan was 2nd woman from about 6.

Hahn Central goings on The house, the view to the east, dogs…more later

106 miles south of the arctic circle, end of winter, the sun slides into the western horizon at an angle of about 10 degrees. The sequence shows the sun setting behind Sledge Island and the nano-second either side of the moment when I missed the green flash. I saw it for the first time ever, which, sadly, means I did not get the photo. Megan saw it too so it must have happened

And a couple of kids who snowmachined up there

From sparkling crisp spring sunshine to 500 ft cloudbase, snow and universal grey for three days or so. A little thaw yesterday and then it froze again so the place is a skating rink.Sledge Island invisible in the murk. We pulled the crab pots a few days ago – good decision as it turned out. There is clear water only a few yards from the pressure ridge where they were and the whole slab may break away in the current and wind. The photo is Pat baiting one of the pots. The ice is only about half a metre thick which is most unusual.