Monday, April 16, 2012

The Sting In The Tail

Sunday was the last day of our Easter cruise.  It started off with more of the beautiful weather that we had been enjoying for day after day.  We had plenty of time to get back to Hobart, so we spent the morning ashore.




We tried to track down a rumor of convict ruins in our anchorage.  But that involved walking along a forest track at toddler speed - we never have gotten Eric used to riding in a backpack carrier, so our ability to cover ground as a family is highly compromised.  The convict ruins were safe from us.

We got underway just after a front came through.  Looks like we used up all the good weather, I said to Alisa.


I didn't know the half of it.  We ended up spending hours beating against a fresh southerly wind to get out of Frederick Henry Bay.   This is one of those classic sailing photos that fails to capture the situation - we were heeling over so far that we took salt water through the water tank vents.  This morning I flushed the tanks after realizing that our drinking water was salty.



We passed the time by singing together in the cockpit.  Eric has a very cute way of waving both index fingers in front of his face when he hears music.  After we had sung every song we know two or three times, Alisa resorted to keeping the kids occupied with treats.

Bickies! said Eric.  We were very glad that he didn't show any signs of seasickness.


It wasn't any kind of out-of-control sailing.  But beating into strong winds is more than you really want to take on with such little kids on board.

I was very glad when we finally made it around the Ironpot and headed up the Derwent for Hobart.


I wonder if there's salt water in the fuel tanks, too?

4 comments:

  1. ooooo. I can tell I am not a sailor cuz just looking at those pics makes me viscerally remember past seasickness ... ugh. Conor won't do a stroller or carrier either, it's been a LONG time since we made good time on a hike. I am starting to think that this is supposed to teach me something. something Buddhist .... hmmm, what could that be??? ;)

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    1. my inner Buddha is totally buff - just ask Alisa.

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  2. Ahhh so that was you guys beating past West past Sloping Island and I surfed East to Lime Bay. I was impressed to see another yacht that actually sails to windward, you looked good. I know of some pretty obscure convict structures in that area, I'll drop by and point you in the right direction!

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  3. hey Grant - good to hear from you... I prefer being in your position in that situation, i.e., being the one who is looking at the downwind boat with a little pity! And yes, we'd love to get local knowledge about convict ruins - that's a totally cool area.

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