Geographe Bay

[Steve]

Just returned from 10 days in Geographe bay
Weather wasn't too good for sailing because of the lack of wind but the break from work was great.
First day with the 563 we replaced all the standing rigging at the mariner, I lifted the mast up and down for most of the day and had a few errors in measurement that cost time. But we got the mast spot on and I am most happy with my new tension gauge. Finally got the 563 ready to go and whilst backing the 563 down the ramp to launch, my wife Karen, who had been working like a trooper with me all day, slipped on the slippery concrete ramp and smacked her head real hard on the timber divider between the ramps. I leapt out of my Ute to assist her with that " one punch death" thought in my mind. A bit of a rest and nursing a huge bump on the head she soldiered on, many thanks to the other folks at the ramp that witnessed the incident and rushed to her assistance. With Karen now feeling a little better we launched the 563 and I sailed the boat the 16km across the bay to the anchorage, whilst Karen took the Ute and trailer back to the shalay where we where staying. Doesn't get much better than anchoring your boat at your front door.

We got out in the boat quite a bit and got our MOB procedures worked out along with other boat stuff like spinnaker rigging, jib poling and mainsail reefing but most of the time there wasn't enough wind for exciting sailing.
Steve

Tacking to the jetty, data taken from gps and uploaded to google earth

[Yara50]

Steve
Your photos look great, but I am concerned about Karen. Hope she has had a medical check-up since. I am an engineer and not a medico, but we have just been through hell and back with my father-in law, who fell on the street and cracked his skull.

[Steve]

Karen is fine Ian, she actually ended up with a real sore neck out of it too.
To top it all off the first day we decided to head out of a sail, we were just about to leave the mooring and she was stung by a bee, so we waited till the afternoon to go out in case she had a reaction to the sting.
Steve

[Ozzie]

Glad your wife is ok Steve. This reminds me of an incident we had at the local ramp many years ago where my wife, L.J. Slipped and hit her head on the ramp. She was shaken but when I asked had she blacked out she said she did not know . I figured if she did not know, she did . Hit the panic button and headed to the Belmont Hospital. Docs there said never muck about if you think you may ave lost consciousness , indeed any head blow needs to be checked if you are concerned. We had to get her to John Hunter as Belmont had no after hours X-ray going so it became an all nighter but fortunately she was ok . In the 70 s my girlfriends sister simply fell of a chair backwards and died an hour later of an brain hemorrhage .

Mentioning all this for readers only to remind you that sailing is a potentially dangerous pastime . Falls , and boom hits can kill you just like drowning. There are no degrees of death.

Nice pics Steve, post more. When we took the kids to WA in the 90s I told them Busselton was an old english word for "We lost the plans showing where to stop the jetty"

[JAK]

Steve,
I recently bought 'Mishka' (sail no 107) and have been sailing in the Swan river. Nice to know there is another 563 in WA. I have not been to Geographe bay yet but plan to in the future. Interested to know how you are controlling your spinnaker. These are powerful sails and have a lot of tension on the sheets.

[Steve]

Hi JAK,
My spinnaker fly's nicely on our investigator. We are quite conservative with it as to what wind to fly it in but if every thing is going nicely , yep lets whack the chute up.
We run the sheet/guys through blocks at the stern then up to cleats near the sheet winches. I could run them around the winches but I have found it unnecessary. I have flown it with the pole at the forestay on a broad reach and the boat sails nicely. When running the tiller goes a little light and the boat feels a little rollie but all is good.
Mostly sail in Cockburn Sound, I haven't been on the Swan yet. Geographe bay is a favorite as you can sail around the bay and pull up on shore any where for a swim and lunch.
Steve