Catch up Part 3: 'Just Jo' to 'Rogue Wave'

'Rogue Wave' survey inspection Malaysia 2009

In 2007 I headed South to NSW on posting. Steph, our youngest daughter sailed from Townsville to Airlie Beach with me and did a great job in not ideal conditions. We had a few breakages and some wild weather. The rest of the voyage was solo and I loved every minute......ok some not so much when five LOWs compounded and formed a Tropical Low about 100nm east of my position. Christmas was spent holed up in Port Clinton for 5 days until it blew itself out. There is nothing at Port Clinton.....it is isolated. Despite this I loved the challenge and the solo bug had bitten.

I started looking for a bigger cruiser racer (with headroom!) and after a couple of years of searching I found 'Rogue Wave' in 2009. I headed off to Penang Malaysia and bought 'Rogue Wave' a 1983 David Thomas Sigma 36 with 3/4 fractional rig form the UK owners. In 2010 I returned to Malaysia and spent a month refitting her on Rebak Island near Langkawi before sailing solo back to Australia. I arrived in Port Stephens nearly four months later and again, loved every minute.

Catch up Part 2: From outback to ocean

I joined the RAAF in 1991 so sailing was on my 14ft Javelin Skiff and some Swarbrick yachts. In '93, we posted from Williamtown NSW to Tindal in the NT......about a 12 day drive and 350kms from the Arafura Sea with 7m tides! I sold the skiff to a teacher, and shipped her by barge to the remote island off Arnhem Land where he was stationed. My sailing was temporarily on-hold so was replaced by Barra fishing in a series of 'Tinnies' ranging from a 12ft 18hp punt to 'Double Plugger', my 4.6m 90hp Stessl Barra Boss ....ah that was a great boat...and quick.

'Just Jo' a  1976 Custom 30

In 2004 we posted to Townsville Far North QLD where I worked in Defence Recruiting. 

Whilst waiting for permanent digs we were holed up in the Quest apartments, strategically placed across from the TCYC. As usual I wandered the docks dreaming and this was when 'Just Jo' (Custom 30) first caught my eye. 

I left a note for her owner offering to crew. John took me sailing several times and I finally made an offer to buy.......complete with berth. Deals were done, boats and cash exchanged and I was now a keelboat owner and John (80) had a 90hp fishing boat he figured would sell easier than a yacht so he could by a motorbike and cruise the east coast! A lot of hours went into getting 'Jo' seaworthy for the long passage south that I knew would happen in 3-4 years time. Not only does she have beautiful lines, he is strongly built and a joy to sail. 

Catch up Part 1: I'm back.....sorry for the lack of posts....its been busy!

Its now Jan 2016 and a lot of water has flowed under the hull since the 2014 Solo Tasman Race, but I will get to that shortly.

'Jaycee II' a 24ft Sharkcat with 2 x 235hp circa 1983

A quick trip down memory lane........an old mate called John Kumm was my sailing mentor. This guy was Australian Water Ski champion and all round great guy. Hungry for more than cruising on Johns Fisher 32 'Seabird', I started to race. An old mate recently dropped this picture of 'Fat Albert' (circa 1985) a slightly modded J24 I used to crew on with five other volunteer Air Sea Rescue Skippers

It was a great fun working our way from the back of the fleet to the front over time, breaking stuff and scaring ourselves.....lets think about that for a minute.....scaring rescue boat skippers, it had to be bad! Competed in the Inaugural Jupiters Classic with 'Fatso' and we did ok for one of the smallest in the fleet.

'Fat Albert' circa 1985

After eight or so years in ASR it was time to depart for a three year stint in the QLD Ambulance Service putting both my mechanical and rescue skills to good use. In 1991 it was off to the Royal Australian Air Force for a change in lifestyle and the start of many adventures.

NCYC Inner Spring Regatta results

 The Newcastle weather was excellent despite the lack of breeze and made for a great weekend of sailing.  It was always going to be a hard task for RW in this offshore regatta without a regular crew and against very fast and fully crewed fleet of IRC rated yachts.

 

IRC was split into two divisions due to the spread between the ratings......a Volvo 70 (1.591) to a Sigma 36 (0.931)......yep that's what I call a big delta in ratings! Div 2 comprised a Beneteau First 40.7 and First 36.7, Archambault A40, a Sydney 36 and my Sigma 36.

 

RW once again laid claim to being the oldest yacht in the regatta and the slowest over all courses. My crew on Saturday was my regular crew Ruth, and three standby crew whom had not sailed on RW previously. So it was a big ask of Andrew, Neil and Ross who had a crash course in spinnaker handling! Thanks crew for sharing the workload and doing a fantastic job.

 

Sundays crew was down to only three of us and to compound the problem, both Col and David were new to the boat.

 

Whilst there were five yachts in IRC Div 2, RW also raced with PHS Div 2 with nine yachts competing. Courses were laid Windward/Leeward and run extremely well by the CEO and his band of volunteers - thanks guys n girls from NCYC.

 

So how did we go? Well check the results out here NCYC Inner Spring Regatta Results. Below is a summary of the IRC races.

 

Race 1 (3rd) we had a cracker start and had a little breeze up to 12 knots and the old Rogue pulled out an astonishing IRC 3rd place and PHS 4th.  I asked Richard the CEO if there had been a typo as we pipped the A40 and First 36.7 and the Sydney 36 only beat us by a mere 2 secs to claim 2nd place!

 

Race 2 (5th) was a failure for us when the breeze dropped and our race was over before we eve left the start line.

 

Race 3 (5th) another cracker of a start and increasing breeze made for better racing that required the fleet to relocate south of the exclusion zone required for such a busy commercial coal port. We held steady in performance to be about 3 mins off podium pace.

 

Race 4 (DNF) on Sunday was sailed in a light shifting breeze. We set up for a mid line start only to be slam dunked by the Volvo 70 to windward that stopped us dead in our tracks. By the time we had any speed the fleet had bolted. After rounding the windward mark and in a show of good sportsmanship we elected to radio in a DNF and motor back to the start so the 18 Mile passage race could start on time.

 

Race 5 (5th) course shifted significantly with the breeze slowly building to about 10-14 knots during the race and backing to S/SE. We had a floating start in clear air (what there was of it!) and actually rounded the mark before a Cookson 12.......okay, they were tangled in the pin end buoy and the foredecky went overboard to untangle the keel. It was a great sail and on a positive note, we actually beat the Volvo 70 on IRC handicap!

 

There was also a little drama on the water with a port/starboard protest, a collision, pin buoy tango and port/starboard rounding dyslexia! All good fun to watch and listen and learn.

 

So did we meet our objective not to finish last.....not quite on a series basis, but the highlights for me were a 3rd on IRC and beating a Volvo 70 on Handicap all with a crew new to the boat and that had not sailed together.

 

Overall a great regatta that offers 10 days free berthing, free Sat evening meal and snacks on Sun at the presentation all for a massive $60 per boat...unheard of value! the sail back to the bay was slow until halfway up Stockton Beach when a nice 12 knot ENE kicked in and I turned off the engine and sailed all the way to my mooring with beer in hand.

 

Thanks to my crew over the weekend and the NCYC for their generous hospitality and first class regatta - the old Rogues will return.

 

Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club Inner Spring Regatta 31 Aug-01 Sep 13

Rogue Wave and a new crew will tackle Div 2 in IRC of the NCYC Inner Spring Regatta. Ruth is back on task and will be joined by a few guys from our local Port Stephens Yacht Club. I had hoped to keep the Sail Port Stephens crew together for this event but as we all work, the planets did not align. Hopefully I can coerce them back for some more offshore races next year.

The Inner Spring Regatta is our only IRC event and I use it as a stepping stone to gauge our performance against boats of similar or better rating. We were only off the pace by a few minutes last year however we were self-handicapped in that we broke the spinnaker pole on race one of three windward - leeward races! Not ideal for the lowest handicapped boat in a 20 yacht fleet. Still we did manage a 3rd on PHS in Race 4 so our passage race with reaches allowed us to fly the 1.5oz asymmetrical spinnaker effectively.

Follow the link to the web page and download the Notice to Race and Sailing Instructions and check out our competitors.

NCYC Enviro Pacific Services Inner Spring Regatta

Floating Footpath 1 vs Rogue Wave 0

Rogue Wave is finally back in the water following damage control repairs caused by the runaway floating footpath. Whilst on the hard I managed to smash through a lot of other jobs in the great weather however failed to make a dent on many others! Here are some pics to fill you in on progress.
 

Some of the chunked damage. Lifelines, bow roller assy and stanchion bases were also damaged.

 

The bilge was cleaned and keel bolts replaced and resealed; cabin sole bearer tops renewed, epoxied and ready for installation of the quarter turn SS316 Zud fasteners to secure the sole panels to the boat in the event of capsize. The topsides were polished and bottom antifouled and Prop Speed coating applied to the prop so hopefully no fouling = no hull diving until ready for NZ in Dec. Some new anti-skid tape to keep the crew on deck, anchor hatch lock, new steering compass, and beefed up the upper rudder bearing.

 

 

Noakes Ship and Boatyard Nelson Bay

JOTUN Seaguardian applied Dec 11. Lanolin on the SS folding prop lasts about 6 months. Note the before and after waterline where the antifoul was taken up to a new bootstripe.....a reminder of her past when she was loaded to the hilt and cruised the world for 13 years.

 





The rudder bearing had seized to the shaft due to insufficient shaft clearance.
The bearings 'grow' slightly as they can absorb water.



 Down below the electrics were tweaked, new bilge pump wiring and outlet and finally the new gas system with Gas Detector and solenoid shutoff is ready for its compliance check. I have been looking for plastic containers that can take a knock and not go brittle after 6 months. Gave up and resorted to small tool boxes to stow gear in the lockers. To be CAT 1 compliant everything must be held securely so a single style toolbox fits the bill and they are reasonably robust.

 

Same bearing machined for clearance and fitted, waxed and then installed in a wet epoxy mix. Additional marine ply rings make up the bearing carrier and the bearing secured by two set screws to prevent any rotation.

 

Bow repairs look good. I did not expect a perfect match for 30 year old gelcoat so it will do until I get the urge to paint her during retirement.

 

 

The final task was to put the new laminex on the galley, fit the new trim and then give it a coat of varnish. Only applied the one coat because some bozzo forgot to take his glasses!!

Step 1 remove all the bits. Old laminex was in good condition so a few repairs and a good sand was all that was required

Laminex is very brittle so I had the cabinet maker cut to my templates and around the raised fridge lip. The greaseproof paper rests on top of the contact adhesive, the laminex positioned and then very carefully slide out one piece of paper at a time ....there are no second chances here. Once glued, out with the veneer trimmer and cutout the required holes and trim edges.

 

 

Burmese teak fiddles and Tasmanian Oak trim. New bi-fold cooker cover works a treat and just need to make a heat cover to protect it when raised.

One coat of gloss varnish to make cleaning a tad easier. A second coat will go one when I do the rest of the cabin....one day!

Just about done and ready to fire up the cooker for a christening dinner with Relle.

 

.........and rest!

Just when you think its safe to .............

It has been quite a spell for the old Rogue and her keen crew.......quite a spell. Unfortunately work has taken a strangle hold for a while. Several trips to Adelaide and Canberra, a couple of weeks Stateside then back to Canberra and Adelaide all with a healthy side servings of meetings and visits certainly knocks the wind out of the old sails (excuse the pun).

 

When it looked like I could finally go sailing, the damn 12 ton floating footpath.....the only yacht to windward of my position in Winter westerlies......breaks free of its mooring in 32 knots and smashes into Rogue Waves bow and starboard hull. Approximately $5K damage and we are out of action.

 

Fortunately I was below at the time and I leapt into action like a startled Gazelle and with superhuman middle-aged strength pushed off the footpath after she smacked the bow. We collided several times as she slid down the side of my hull until I was able to insert a roving fender, averting further damage. I then watched as she narrowly missed a couple of yachts before she T-Boned a Spacesailer 24 owned by a fellow club member. I called maritime, VMR and the owner of the other yacht, but I called them off as the floating footpath had sailed her course and had now settled where concrete belongs......on land. Repairs in  couple of weeks.

 

So in the meantime the galley has been the focus. To increase benchtop space in the galley, I knocked up a nice new bi-fold cooker cover from expoxied ply that I top and tailed with new cream laminex offcuts from the local kitchen guy and trimmed with Tassie Oak finished off with a Burmese Teak fiddle rail. The remainder of the galley also gets the facelift so looking forward to the weekend to finish it off.