Hi everyone,
We had a great weekend with the FSC Cruising Section "Round Rotto Cruise". Seven yachts took part, with all but one staying overnight in Stark Bay.
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| Zen Again at Stark Bay (sv Amadeus photo) |
Here's our track...
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| Zen Again track |
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| Zen Again speed (stop in Stark Bay in middle) |
We departed from the VIP jetty where Zen Again had been the "demo" boat for a safety talk on Thursday evening.
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| Zen Again alongside VIP jetty |
We all departed FSC on Saturday morning and had a great reach across to the windmills in a 15 knot SW breeze. From the windmills we were hard on the wind along the south side of Rottnest in a 10-15 knot breeze. There was a 3m swell running and the sea was quite confused until we passed Parker Point. From there to Cape Vlamingh the sea was more regular.
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| Rounding Cape Vlamingh |
From Cape Vlamingh to Stark Bay was a quiet broad reach. Watching the 3m swells "wrapping around" the cape and breaking on the shoals was interesting. The entrance to Stark Bay is quite dramatic when a swell is running but we all got in without problems.
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| Stingrey anchoring |
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| Cruise Leader Panache II on its mooring |
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| Osborne Star |
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| Amadeus |
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| Alegria |
We spent a somewhat uncomfortable afternoon aboard as the swell surged over the reef and had us rolling more than we'd prefer. At 1700 everyone went ashore for sundowners.
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| The fleet from the beach |
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| Cruise Leader Kim presents all-purpose coat hangers to new cruisers |
On Saturday evening I did some more testing of the HF radio Winmor system. We managed to connect to the Winlink station RK0LXA. Where are they? Vladivostok in Russia!
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| Talking to Vladivostok |
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| Winmor Session Transcript |
We slept very well on Saturday night. The swell gradually died down overnight (and the tide fell too).
On Sunday morning we had a great bacon & eggs breakfast and then took it easy until 1000 when we readied the boat for the sail home. We followed Stingrey out of the anchorage and then had a great sail back in close company with them. We had a great wind - 20-25 SSW. Zen Again loved it with one reef and several rolls in the yankee.
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| Zen Again approaching (photo by Stingrey) |
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| Zen Again overtaking (photo by Stingrey) |
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| Stingrey well reefed and tramping along |
Twas a great weekend.
