In Between Times - July 2010 to May 2013

Sunrise over Main Beach - a new day dawns - a new adventure awaits!!!

Kristian on board at SYC

Now that I have caught up on Fete's travels from Napa back to home base in Australia, I have decided to write about everything that has happened from our arrival home to the present time. My reasoning is, I am planning a new adventure and would like to keep everything in context as to timing of these adventures.

Firstly, I realised that there was a considerable amount of work to do to enable us to go onto the next stage, so I sat down with some friends and locals from SYC to work out a plan.

Hope Island Marina, Hope Island Gold Coast

Armed with the plan of attack as to what's needed to be done to repair Fete for the next adventure, and as it was 10 months since she arrived home, I decided to move onto her full time. The moved occurred on Anzac Day, April 2011 and I have been living on her ever since.
Now it was time to start all the repairs and as you will see over the next few installments of this Blog, I will outline some of the work we have carried out during our time at SYC and now at Hope Island Marina.

View of Hope Island Marina from Boadwalk Tavern

Hope Island Marina is a great place to live and moor your boat as it has everything you will ever need, from Medical & Dental facilities, restaurants,  bars, supermarkets, coffee shops and is across the river from Boat Works and the Gold Coast City Marine Precinct which has everything you will ever need. If you are ever looking for a mooring permanently or casually, this is the only place to go. I have told all of my friends that if I knew that the marina was here when we bought Fete home, I would have come straight here.
Check it out at: www.hopeislandmarina.com.au

Sydney to Gold Coast Race fleet at SYC

I am getting ahead of myself a little so I better back up and finish off my time at the SYC .
Not long after moving on board, the annual Sydney to Gold Coast Ocean Yacht Race occurred and as you can see the yachts all lined up after completing the race and I can attest to the fact that the crews thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the Club for a couple of days. As well as this the then House manager, Dale Chapman, had his prized "5 o'clock somewhere in the world" clock stolen. I think a few too many rums were had by all!!!

Clipper Round the World Yacht Race

Not long  after the above-mentioned race, we were privileged to have the Clipper Round the World Ocean Race pull into the SYC as the Gold Coast was a sponsor to one of the boats - (See pic below). 
The enormous amount of income generated from this event for the SYC can only be put down to the past Commodore, Rob Mundle, for his tenacity in lobbying to get the local Council and State Government bodies together to sponsor the boat. Rob is a well known Journalist and recognized author and a good mate.

These majestic 68' craft were retired after
after the 2011-2012 Race

 Most of you who follow these types of regattas will be aware that the crews of these boats are half professional and half paying crew who either do one or multiple legs of the journey.
The Gold Coast sponsored boat eventually won the event by a long margin of individual section wins and later upon the return to the Australia, Rob introduced me to the successful skipper.
Again, grateful thanks should go out to Rob Mundle for all his efforts.

Clipper 68 Specifications

Hull type	Monohull
Rig	Masthead Cutter
Builder	Shanghai Double Happiness Yacht Co. Ltd
Displacement	31.2 tonnes (31,200 kg)
Designer	Dubois Naval Architects
Length	68 ft (21 m)
Mast height	89 ft 7 in (27.31 m)
IRC Handicap	1.246 (2010)

Future races will feature the Clipper 70, designed by Tony Castro Naval Architects. A fleet of twelve Clipper 70s are currently being built by Nauticstar Marine in Qingdao, China for use in the 2013-14 race, but unfortunately the race will bypass the Gold Coast in 2013-2014. 

It was great to have met the crews from all over the world and I am told that they thoroughly enjoyed their time in Australia.

Tony and the other muso's on the foredeck
of  Outward Bound II, on B Arm SYC

Inaugural Boof Arm Street Party!!!

One boozy nite in the Club, Ian & Bromwyn Knight, owners of Outward Bound II, advised us that their son was a promising musician and as most of the local boaties were having a rather liquid nite, we devised the Boof Arm Street party.

It was decided to call the B Arm party the above name as we all believed that as we lived in a cul-de-sac,  we should have a street party like our friends that live in suburbia.

Craig (What) Waugh and me at
the Boof Arm street party with the
band playing in the rear

Beside me here at the party is my mate Craig, whom we all call "What" - Why you ask? Well he has a habit of not wearing his hearing aids and as such he often asks "What" or "What are you saying" when we talk to him - so we now call him by that nickname and he answers to it all the time. 

"What" if you read this don't get stroppy because a nickname is a term of endearment by those who enjoy your friendship - even me!!!

The first Boof Arm Street party went off and we vowed to have more events like this as it bought the live-aboard community closer but it also bought some of the SYC members to the marina to meet new friends and to share their love of boating together. 

To the boys in the band, I hope you pester Ian (Grumpy) & Bromwyn to have more Street parties as this is the only real thing that united most members who tend to only socialise in the Club on specific nites and race days.

Boat Works Coomera, Gold Coast

January 2012

Time flies and with Christmas out of the way, it was time to get back into getting Fete into shape for the upcoming voyage.

First thing was to haul her out of the water and after looking around at all of the yards I chose Boat Works for their Professional attitude and their pricing.

Fete getting hauled out at Boat Works

Shane and the crew at Boat Works were exceptional and the facilities were second to none. This brilliant facility will be our home for the next week as we antifoul, put a new Boot on and have stuffing box rejuvenated, get Stern Gland tightened and re-affix a new Sayers Wind vane guide. 

The guys at Davco, George and John Geros, were great and manufactured a new guide in a couple of days, so if you need some stainless steel work or winches for your boat, they are the guys to see.

Fete on the hard stand at Boat Works

It was the end of January and it was stinking hot to say the least. I had employed Bradford Marine to do the work on Fete and I felt for the guys doing the work in this terrible heat, but they didn't seem to mind.

They completed the job on time and at the quoted cost, so I will definitely be using their services again. 

Thanks goes to Marty and the guys. 

Fete going back in the water after the week on the hard.

As you can see from this shot, Fete was looking good and rearing to go!

To Shane and the crew at Boat Works and to Marty and his crew at Bradford Marine, my thanks and you will see me again just before we take off.

That's all for this blog but I will continue with "The In Between Times Part 2" in the near future.

Cheers for now - till next time!!!