Showing posts with label Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Island. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 April 2017
Historic Paddle Photo Island Home of the Penobscots Postcard
Here's an image of a circa 1905 postcard featuring a Penobscot guide confidently standing in his canoe...
Source: Ebay Link
paddle closeup
Friday, 14 April 2017
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Design 1 Junior One Design Class of Long Island Manhasset Bay One Design
In a small bay on the north shore of Long Island there is a quaint yacht club named the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club. And from this club sail 13 one design racing yachts, the first design commission of Sparkman & Stephens. Designed in 1928, she was Olin Stephens' first professional work, at age 20.
There's a great article from the 1996 September/October issue of Wooden Boat magazine and they recite a quote from Olin Stephens from 1928 as follows: "In any design, the most important factors of speed seem to be long sailing lines and large sail area, with moderate displacement and small wetted surface. Then comes beauty, by which is meant clean, fair, pleasing lines. Though per se beauty is not a factor of speed, the easiest boats to look at seem the easiest to drive". This is a fine example of these concepts.
Here are the plans.
Here is how it came to be: In 1928 the Junior Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound solicited designs for a new class of boats for sail training young sailors. The broker Drake Sparkman asked young Olin if he wanted to try his hand at a design, knowing Olin from Larchmont Yacht Club and knowing he was a budding designer. Olin accepted the invitation and the firm was born, October 28, 1929.
Here's an article from Yachting Magazine. Double click for readable view.
Principal Dimensions
LOA 21'-6"
LWL 15'-0"
Beam 5'-10"
Draft 3'6"
LOA 21'-6"
LWL 15'-0"
Beam 5'-10"
Draft 3'6"
Sunday, 9 April 2017
Beach Bumming on Brampton Island
14-15 November 2016
After an extended period of friendly northerly winds a change to south easters was finally approaching necessitating a move from our home for the last two nights on the southern side of Goldsmith Island. We left reasonably early to take advantage of the last of the following breezes and had a very relaxed ten mile sail across to one of our favourite anchorages near the currently closed resort on Brampton Island. We have sheltered from strong southerly systems here a number of times and have always felt very secure. We also enjoy the island’s glorious beaches and national park walks.
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| We sailed across from Goldsmith Island to Brampton Island ahead of a south easterly change. |
A pod of dolphins welcomed us as we dropped anchor near the remnants of the old resort jetty. Within minutes we were also visited by a large turtle that seemed curious enough to come quite close to the boat. We have often seen dugong here as well.
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| Goldsmith Island to Brampton Island – 9.7 Nautical Miles – 2 Hours 27 Minutes Average Speed 4.0 Knots – Max Speed 6.4 Knots. |
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| The Brampton Island anchorage has always worked well for us when the south easterlies blow. |
After lunch we took the dinghy around the Pelican Island, the small islet laying off the old resort, and went into the beach for John, our guest crew member, to have a look at what we described as an ‘Eerie ghost town in Paradise’ when we first anchored here and saw the state of what was once a vibrant tropical resort. The resort itself is off limits from the high water mark with many signs everywhere prohibiting entry.
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| Karen and John wadding ashore after we anchored the dinghy well out from the beach at Brampton's resort. |
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| Carlisle Passage virtually dries at low tide. |
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| You can walk from Brampton to Carlisle Island when the water recedes. |
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| John checking out the pool and main resort building. |
A few caretakers rotate time on the island to keep an eye on things and are happy to have respectful cruisers visit as long as they observe the limits. One of these guys, Steve, often brings his catamaran over from Mackay and beaches it by the pool. He has even set up some beach lounges and umbrellas for cruisers to use and will happily chat for hours. When we arrived there was no sign of anyone but we still limited ourselves to wandering the beaches and extensive sand banks that appear as the tide drops. Carlisle Passage between Brampton and Carlisle Islands is very much miss named as it is far from anything like a passage for anything but extremely shallow draught boats on anything other than a very high tide. It virtually dries on the low.
With a much publicised full ‘Supermoon’ scheduled to appear soon after sunset, we underestimated just how extremely low this day’s tide would be. Despite anchoring our dinghy far out from the beach it was left very high and dry. Even with wheels fitted we really didn’t feel like hauling it a quarter of a mile over the sand so our stay on the beach was extended quite a while until the water returned.
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| Our dinghy ended up well and truly beached due to the 0.0m low tide |
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| Karen amused herself wandering the sand banks and writing in the sand while we waited for the tide to come in. |
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| Carlisle Island reflected in a tidal pool |
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| That's a little too far to drag the dinghy. |
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| It was late in the afternoon by the time we were able to head back to the boat. |
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| Our Dreamtime at Brampton Island awaiting our return for sundowners. |
Sundowners that evening was amongst the most spectacular we have ever experienced on Our Dreamtime as the setting sun appeared determined to put on a show to out shine the much vaunted supermoon. In our opinion it was no contest with old Sol winning by a knockout in the first round. We celebrated another great day in paradise with a fantastic rib roast cooked on the BBQ and some very fine wine. John was REALLY enjoying the cruising life by now,
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| The sun's spectacular light show lasted hours in it's various forms and easily beat the so called 'Super Moon' for appeal |
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| The super moon's eventual appearance over Carlisle Island was anti-climatic after our brilliant sunset. |
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| Great food, fine wine and fantastic company are all ingredients for a brilliant night afloat. |
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| Karen cools off on at the resort beach in the very high tide. |
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| Yes, Brampton Island provides a pretty good image of a tropical paradise. |
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| Not much beach left with the king tide reaching its peak. |
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| We had a strenuous day on the beach while John did the national park walk to the island's summit. |
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| The king tide provided a much needed change of water for the old resort beach pool. |
John eventually appeared around the point well ready for a cooling swim after his climb to the top of the island. The views of the Cumberland Islands from the lookouts are truly remarkable and well worth the effort. The national park walks are reasonably well maintained and provide great outlooks over all sides of the island as you wind your way to the peak.
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| One of John's photos from Brampton Island's summit. |
This was our fourth stop at Brampton on Our Dreamtime and we enjoyed it just as much as all the previous visits. We had planned to stay an extra day but we had a crew change scheduled for Friday in Mackay with John leaving us and our eight year old grandson, Kristian, flying in from Canberra for the trip the rest of the way down the coast with us to Brisbane. The forecast showed Wednesday would be a less crappy day than Thursday for the beat southward so we would be upping anchor in the early hours and heading for the Mackay Marina for a couple of days.
Below is the evolution of a sunset. Goodnight from Brampton Island.
Below is the evolution of a sunset. Goodnight from Brampton Island.
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Saturday, 1 April 2017
Bad weather bad bureaucracy How to waste a week at Orpheus Island
12-19 August 2016
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| Dawn yet to break over the marina in Townsville as we prepare to get underway. |
With our Customs Clearance from Border Control safely tucked away in the Nav Station, we were up early and moved Our Dreamtime out of her berth and across to Breakwater Marina’s fuel dock where we topped our fuel tanks and jerry cans to the brim. We then threw off the lines slipped from the dock and packed away our fenders for what we planned to be quite a long while. Our passage to the Louisiade Islands of Papua New Guinea was now officially underway.
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| Group selfie to mark the start of our passage to PNG. |
Unfortunately the weather forecast was far from favourable for venturing outside the reef so our first step was a forty-six mile downwind sail to Pioneer Bay at Orpheus Island. We would shelter there from some strong winds and big seas before making our way out through the reefs via the Palm Passage for our Coral Sea crossing.
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| Passing Townsville's Cape Pallaranda. |
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| Palm Island. |
We had a fairly uneventful but pleasant day in fairly mild conditions and arrived in Pioneer Bay at Orpheus Island well before sunset. There are four moorings installed there but all were occupied so we found ourselves anchoring in reasonably deep water but the holding was excellent so it wasn’t a concern.
Townsville to Orpheus Island – 46.3 Nautical Miles – 8 Hours 54 Minutes Average Speed 5.2 Knots – Max Speed 7.1 Knots
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| Our first night's anchorage at Orpheus Island |
The wind began to build the next day as predicted but we were well sheltered by the high hills of the island. It was a brilliant sunny day so we took the opportunity to do some exploring over the nearby coral reefs in the dinghy after lunch. The coral looked very healthy and we spotted a number of very large, giant clams. The whole area is a conservation Green Zone with no fishing of any sort permitted so of course the marine life was abundant. At one stage we had two massive manta-rays with wing spans of around two and a half to three metres circling the dinghy. They were mesmerising.
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| Lynda and Karen enjoying our exploration of Pioneer Bay |
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| We were able to drift over the reef at low tide with great views of the coral and giant clams |
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| Two huge manta-rays circled our dinghy. |
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| Humpback whales were regular visitors just outside the bay. |
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| Roast duck cooked on the BBQ capped off a pretty good day. |
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| As did the sunset over Lucinda and Hinchinbrook Island. |
What we saw through the clear waters convinced us that we really did need to get in amongst things and made plans to do some snorkelling the following day. When we did our Customs Clearance the officers asked us to email them if our departure was delayed more than 48 hours and then email them again when we actually headed offshore. With the wind howling at 30 knots in the anchorage on Saturday we did the right thing and emailed as requested. The wind may have been pumping but thankfully the sun shone again and we had a couple of amazing hours swimming over the reef at low tide. We have never seen such a concentration of giant clams anywhere in our travels. The fish were prolific and the corals amazing.
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| Karen enjoying the underwater wonderland. |
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| One of many colourful giant clams we snorkelled over. |
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| The coral was fantastic. |
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| Another giant clams |
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| The smaller ones have more intense colours. |
We would have preferred to be a couple of days on our way to the Louisiades but our couple of days at delay at Orpheus Island had been very nice. However the reply we received from Border Control was not what we expected. To quote “…because you won’t be departing within the 48 hours your clearance will be withdrawn and you will need to present again for clearance. This can be done at Breakwater Marina or alternatively you can contact Cairns office and clear out from there.” They have to be kidding right?
The wind kept blowing, the rain came and stayed and the seas outside the reef were reported at four metres plus. Not surprisingly we stayed right where we were, safe at anchor.We kept communicating with Border Control to try to sort something out, but guess what, we were still required to report back to Townsville. We don’t blame the officers. It appears because our email was on record showing we didn’t depart within 48 hours their hands were tied. It’s just an unsafe policy to impose on sail boats. Good seamanship is to shelter in dangerous conditions not put to sea because of a time on a piece of paper. We had been watching the weather very closely working different departure planning and weather routing models. It appeared a Friday departure to the Louisiades was on the cards but the wind was going to keep blowing until then preventing us getting back to Townsville. Moral of the story - if leaving Australia on your boat, once you obtain your clearance certificate from Border Control, shut up, say nothing and do not contact them. Then just sail away when it’s safe.
Knowing we now had to return to Townsville for a new Customs clearance we had no qualms going ashore on Wednesday and catching up with friends who were also sheltering in Pioneer Bay, Gary and Anne off Chances and Brian and Petra from Bella to enjoy a great walk up to the ridge line to enjoy the views.
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| Abandoned shepherds hut on Orpheus Island |
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| View back over Little Pioneers bay |
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| L-R: Petra, Lynda, Brian,Anthony, Karen, Anne and Gary on the ridge top at Orpheus Island. |
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| Brian and Rob checking the conditions on the seaward side of Orpheus Island. |
By Thursday the winds had eased to the mid – high teens so we motored bow on to them from Orpheus Island bouncing our way to anchor at Fantome Island to shorten the next day’s trip a little but weren’t looking forward to the big bash.
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| At anchor in the shelter of Fantome Island |
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| Pina Coladas at sunset improve the worst of days. |
We upped anchor at 6.00 o'clock for our run under motor back to Townsville and were greeted by rain, a fair sized swell and 20+ knots smack bang on the bow from the time we rounded the point of Fantome Island. That was our lot for the next seven and a half hours to Breakwater Marina where two Border Control Officers met us at the fuel dock, looked at our passports and handed over a new clearance certificate. The whole process took them 90 seconds.
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| 22.4 knots of wind on the nose, waves and rain. Not fun. |
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| Bouncing along. |
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| We joked about Border Control sending FA-18s to make sure we came back probably being a bit of overkill. |
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| It was almost dark by the time we reached Magnetic Island |
We naturally took the opportunity to top up our fuel and water tanks plus Karen managed a dash to the supermarket for more fresh fruit and veg. Then we were off again. This time on our way to Horseshoe Bay at Magnetic Island where we anchored for the night just before after clocking up 54.4 miles
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| Fantome Island via Townsville to Magnetic Island - 54.4 Nautical Miles - 11 Hours 46 Minutes. |
Now the time has finally come. We will set sail for PNG via magnetic passage early in the morning. It may be some time before our next blog update as it will have to wait until we find some internet service somewhere. We MAY be able to organise some Facebook updates via our Iridium Go Satellite Coms but that's yet to be tried. In the meantime we hope you follow our progress via the Predictwind Tracker linker on the right hand side of our blog's home page. It updates every hour. Cheers!
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We love to receive comments on our blog from readers. If you do leave a comment and you also have a blog, please leave a link as well. We'd like to click over for a visit and leave you a comment too.To stay right up to date with what we’re up to and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at DreamtimeSail
If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.
We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.
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