Page 9 - September 2011

Thursday, 1st September 2011  -  Gladstone Marina to Redcliffe Island (The Narrows)

Hooray, hooray … my bites didn’t itch last night. 

Geoff went up to the tackle shop to buy some sardines for the new squid jig he had bought plus a few bits that he needed as spares at the chandlery.  He then washed the boat and we handed in the key and headed off for The Narrows about 11.15.  We had the tide against us by 2.5 knots so it was slow going but we were in no hurry as we had missed the tide for going through The Narrows.  We anchored off Redcliffe Island, just before The Narrows ready to go through in the morning. 

After some lunch Geoff put some new seals on the port fuel pump but it was still leaking.  This is what happens when you try to save money and buy a second hand one.  He has now temporarily bypassed the pump until we can get a new one. 

Centrelink at Bundy called and said they had made me an appointment at Mackay for the 26th.  Great.

We had crumbed Basa fillets for tea tonight which we had bought yesterday at the reduced price of 88¢ each.  What a bargain.

Friday, 2nd September 2011  -  Redcliffe Island to Pacific Creek

A reasonable night and sunny at the moment.  The forecast is for 30 knot winds and 3 metre seas tomorrow so we will stay at Sea Hill tonight as we don’t have enough time to make Great Keppel Island today as the tides are quite late to get through The Narrows.  We got through The Narrows with .4 metres to spare (probably a bit more as we think our depth sounder errs on the generous side) and still with 90 minutes to go to high tide.  A largish yacht followed us through and we wondered how he made it.  He did back off a couple of times though.  He must have made mud grooves in the bottom.  Once through, up when the sails and we were doing 6.5 to 7.2 knots with 1 knot current against us.  Geoff had to hand steer most of the way as the autohelm was finding the wind quite fickle.  With good winds and calm waters it lends itself to good sailing,.  A pity that the sea doesn’t stay calm in good winds, but them’s the breaks. 

We anchored in Pacific Creek in 6 metres.  Other boats came in after us and went back and forth, back and forth before anchoring only to up-anchor towards low tide when they found themselves too close to the bank.  There are areas here that the holding is not so good.  AND, we must have been on the edge of one as we found we were suddenly closer to the bank than we were so we also up-anchored and really dug the anchor in when we found another spot.  There’s not much room in the channel at low tide and the muddy banks are really steep in places.

  

Saturday, 3rd September 2011  -  Pacific Creek

The wind died overnight and we stayed in the one spot.  I still couldn’t sleep so I was up at 7.15.  A blowy and overcast day. We put the rods in and there were a few tinkles on the bells but nothing was caught. 

As it was a cool day we took the opportunity to defrost the freezer as it was getting quite iced up.  A good job done.  But, as at Pancake Creek, a nothing sort of day.  On went the generator and out came the laptops for the morning.  We also watched another yacht extradite itself from the mangroves after dragging.  We are still not sure if we are dragging as the wind and tide does strange things to the boat sometimes.  No, we are still in the same spot. 

Geoff spent the time taking the port fuel pump to pieces to see if he can buy spares for it.  He then went on the web to research it. 

Whilst he was doing that, I made up some meatballs for tea, did some crosswords, played games and read.  The normal things you do when you are sitting out the weather.  So far, apart from Lady Musgrave, the weather hasn’t been too crash hot!

Sunday, 4th September 2011  -  Great Keppel Island

Once again, the wind died overnight and the strong wind warning has been cancelled so we will probably leave today when the tide has risen a bit. 

Geoff cooked a bacon, cheese and tomato omelette for brekky which was great BUT I had to do the washing up and he always makes a mess. 

After brekky we got ready to leave.  When I was helping to take down the sail cover I slipped/tripped and fell from the seat area down into the cockpit.  Ouch.  I heard my neck go scrunch.  It had been sore for a few days and I actually think I may have fixed it when I fell.  But, I hit my elbow and hurt my arthritic thumb plus it knocked the wind out of me but no real damage, hopefully.  Thank goodness for padding!

We got going at 9am and by 10 am the engines were off and we were having a great sail at just over 6.5 knots with the wind averaging about 16 knots plus.  By 12.30 the wind had picked up to around 22 knots with some gusts of 25 knots so we were scooting along at around 7 knots with a max of 8 knots.  Nice but the seas were a little lumpy.  Still, you can’t have your cake and eat it and we were thankful for the great sail. 

We anchored at Svendsens Beach at 1.30 pm and had some lunch.  We saw that ‘Gotcha Again’ was still here so we put the dinghy in and headed on over and had coffee  with them.  We found they had bought the game of Mexican Train Dominoes.  They had rung their family and had asked them to bring it with them when they visited.  We then arranged that they come over after tea tomorrow night and we will attempt to teach them Carcassonne, but the basic version to start. 

We then went ashore and wandered up the beach and had a look at the beach kitchen that the Svendsen’s had put on for campers.  There are also a couple of permanent tents set up with all mod cons.  The Svendsen’s, Carl and Lindie, also supply breakfast which the campers cook themselves.  An interesting concept but Lindie said that they were not getting any promotion through the Rockhampton Tourism body, even thought they were members, as they are against the new development on GKI where the developer wants to put houses and roads in on the public land.  Apparently, for some reason,  the developer doesn’t want to re-develop the old resort  area which is zoned commercial.  This would make it more like Magnetic Island.  Time will tell who will win out.  The money or the people.

From here we walked over to the next beach to stretch our legs.  Unfortunately, I had the wrong shoes on and my Crocs wouldn’t stay on.  We trolled on the way back but to no avail.

Monday, 5th September 2011  -  GKI, Svendsens Beach

A bit of rain overnight but it is sunny now although a bit windy.  I’m not feeling 100% today.  I have felt a bit dizzy since I fell over and cracked my neck and I am wondering if it has affected my inner ear a bit which controls your balance.  It’s not my blood pressure as it is my normal low of normal but it is not nice.

First thing was to make a bread and whilst it was rising Geoff prepared the davits ready for painting.  As he was doing this his line took off and something took it right under the boat so he had to get in the dinghy to reel it in.  After all that it was only a large Stingray.  After this fun and games he put the 2pack undercoat on the davits and I did some cleaning so the place is not too much of a pigsty when Noni and Craig come over this evening.  I made some Cornflake Crackles that were more like cookies as I couldn’t find my silicone cases so they spread out a bit on the glad bake.  Still, they tasted just the same. 

By 3pm it was blowing hard with occasional rain.  We kept the radio on in case Noni and Craig said it was too nasty to visit but we still had an early tea, just in case.  But they did come and said it was much calmer where they had anchored.  So…. we drank wine, nibbled and then we showed them how to play the basic game of Carcassonne which they were just starting to grasp at the finish as it is not an easy game to learn.  But it is well worth learning!  They left about 9pm but were soon rowing back to us to get some outboard fuel.  Silly B’s, fancy not checking before you left!  They won’t do that again. 

Tuesday, 6th September 2011  -  GKI

Geoff sanded back the undercoat on the davits ready to put the top coats on after his coffee.  It is trying to be sunny today and the wind has dropped a tad.  Meanwhile, I must have spent a good 30 minutes scrabbling under my bed with my mattress on top of me looking for my silicone bake ware.  Not there!  So where was it?  Where I normally keep it, that’s where but I must have had a mans look as it didn’t jump out at me.  By this time I was quite dizzy again so I took half a stugeron tablet which is good for inner ear problems as well as seasickness.

About midday we received a very interesting phone call from a Joseph Dukes who owns a retirement village in Rockhampton.  This was the village that was run by Mary and Rob up till about 6 months ago and we had run the village next door.  He offered us the job of relief managers with the option of becoming permanent.  We know it is a lot of extremely hard work but the money he offered was ‘oh so good’.  About 5.5 times more each than we were getting with SCV and Garden Villages.  What to do?  Can we work that hard these days or will it kill us?  We will talk to Mary and Rob later.  I have emailed them for their phone number. 

Time to go ashore to stretch our legs, but stop on route to talk to Frank on ‘Moonshadow’.  We always seem to catch up with him here.  For those of you who don’t know, ‘Moonshaddow’ is also a Cloud 9 and we have met Frank many times in various anchorages up the coast. 

Onto Svendsens Beach and make our way up to see if Lindie was around.  No, she was in Rocky so we chatted to Carl.  We thought their little B&B Tent concept was very interesting and was worth an article so we will have to catch up sometime.  It may be tomorrow or it may be on the way back down.  Walking back to the dinghy we noticed that our dinghy wasn’t where we had left it but was floating off, but lazily.  We thought the tide had turned but, apparently, not quite.  Geoff stripped off his shorts and top but, oh dear, he hadn’t get any undies on.  Into the briny and retrieve the dinghy.  Luckily we had taken a small towel ashore with us so he was able to dry off and get dressed. 

Back to the boat and Mary and Rob rang and gave us a lot of information on the owner and the job.  After analysing what they told us we decided to knock it back as we thought the work load would ruin our health.  Sad, as the money was sooooo good, but we are not young any more.  If we were younger by twenty years we would probably have jumped at it. 

Wednesday, 7th September 2011  -  GKI

Geoff rang Joseph Dukes to let him know we wouldn’t be taking the job.  ‘Gotcha Again’ went past and we arranged to play Carcassonne again tonight.  Frank came over to look at our repair job on the front deck as he needs to repair his as well.  He stayed till 11.30.  After Frank left, we up anchored and made our way into the next bay for a few hours.  We had a look at the coral through the bathescope and it was in fairly good condition.  Apparently, the coral around the other side closest to the Fitzroy River is all dead from the freshwater of the floods in December/January.  We then went ashore and explored and Geoff climbed the rocky cape and said you could see right back to The Narrows and to Yeppoon.  He took photos, of course.  I found a bit of shade and built a sandcastle while I waited for him.  When Geoff came back ‘Gotcha Again’ arrived so we popped by for a coffee before leaving them to it as they wanted to try out their hooker underwater breathing machine again.  We headed back to Svendsens Beach and anchored a bit further in but not by much as we didn’t have the depth.  We found out later that there is a sandbank in the middle of the anchorage and it gets a little deeper inshore as there is a bit of a gutter. 

About 6.30 pm Noni and Craig came over and we had another game of Carcassonne but this time including the farmers and a few extras.  I won but it was hardly a proper game as we were still giving them a fair bit of help as they tried to get their heads around it.  Drinks, nibbles and good company and they left around 9.30 pm.

Thursday, 8th September 2011  -  GKI, Leekes Creek (the Lagoon)

 I didn’t sleep much last night as something was banging and I couldn’t find out what it was. Whatever it was, I was up at 6am as there is a high tide of 3.3 metres today and we are making our way into the lagoon as there are some strong NW winds forecast.  I think a tide of 3.3 would be as low as you would want for us to go in.  Frank says you can go in at 2.8 metres but he has a better draught then us as he is lighter.  We are just past the neap tides so the tides will be getting higher each day giving us a few days before we have to worry about getting out on the tide again.  After we were happy with our spot I winched Geoff up the mast so he could put the belt back on the radar.  He had a good look this time and found the bearing was loose and worn.  I was sent down below to find Allen keys, pliers etc to send up to him.  He moved the bearing around so the less worn side was being used plus he put in a bit of packing in place to keep it in place.  It is now working fine so let’s see if it lasts.  When we were high and dry, Geoff dug in the main anchor and put in a stern anchor and we will winch ourselves forward a bit more when the tide comes in again.  Then we will be quite flat at low tide. 

Time for some exercise so we slathered ourselves with insect repellent and climbed down the

 swim steps onto the sand and wandered out into the bay.  We saw that ‘Rainbow Dreaming’ (another Cloud 9) was anchored in the bay.  We then went for a 45 minute walk.  When we got back Geoff walked even further as he wandered right up the side creek bed that was currently dry.  He said there was a large anchor and chain up there.  He said the chain was very rusty but the anchor would be okay if you needed one in a hurry but too heavy for our boat.  When he returned we relaxed with a cuppa.  I suddenly heard a hello, which made me jump, and it was Frank who had walked in from over the other beach.  He was also coming in this morning but said it was nice and cosy in bed and his back was not hurting, for a change, so that is where he stayed.  He said he will come in this afternoon around 5pm.  Apparently the trimaran ‘Monsoon’ is also coming in. 

After this we decided to make some bread.  We decided to attempt some bagels as we had seen them cooked on TV the previous day and they looked really interesting.  You make them as normal and cut them into 8 pieces and let them rise.  Then you roll them into sausages and make them up in rings (donut shapes).  Then you boil them for a minute each side, drain them, let them dry a tad,  Put the toppings on them bake then as normal.  Very fiddly and they looked lovely when they came out of the oven but they were not as light as I expected but were really crispy on the outside.  Yes, we would do them again.  We gave one to Frank once he was in and settled.  Monsoon has arrived as well.  Later, Geoff went off to see if there were any prawns around but there weren’t any.

Friday, 9th September 2011  -  GKI, the lagoon

It is just past noon and the weather is as benign as it can be.  Where are these 25/30 knot NW winds?  Coming, I suppose. 

We have both been busy this morning with Geoff cleaning the last bit of marina grime from off under the hulls.  He has also done some preliminary work for a new fitting in the head area.  George, from Monsoon, wandered over introduced himself (he also knows Lesley and Allan on Gypseastwo) and had a cuppa and a couple of slices of apple slice which were still a bit warm.  Frank wandered by and gave Geoff a quick hand with the through hull fitting for the sink and I gave him a couple of slices of the Apple Slice to take with him.  I am also a bit concerned the freezer is not getting cold enough so I took out the bags of meat and put them back in individual packs to allow the air to flow round them a bit more. It is possible it is starting to need re-gassing which we will have done when we are next back in Bundy.  I also cooked up two bags of prawns that didn’t seem to be completely frozen but I was still not happy with them so they are now bait.  Geoff now has the genny on and is sanding something, ah, the rubbing strip ready for painting.  The NW winds never did arrive but a strong SW wind came through mid afternoon.  We had tied off to the mangroves one side and had a stern anchor out the other side in readiness for whichever wind came first.  Then, by 9pm, it was dead calm again.

Saturday, 10th September 2011  -  GKI, The Lagoon

The wind started up around 4am, I guess, and has been blowing quite hard in here since and is probably much stronger outside.  We saw that a lot of boats had moved from Svendsens to Leekes Beach to have a better anchorage in a SW wind.  A 30 ft  trailer sailer came in on high tide and anchored right in the entrance.  We were on our way to the beach outside and stopped to chat and We told him it got very shallow where he had anchored but he had a retractable keel so would be okay.  Mind you, if anyone else wants to get in or out they would have trouble with him just off the entrance.  We then motored out of the lagoon and saw that ‘Gotcha Again’ and ‘ Rainbow Dreaming’ were also anchored in the bay.  All the boats seem snug enough although the guys on the trailer sailer said it was blowing 30 knots out there.  The most we are getting in the lagoon is 15 knots and often much less so we are ‘as snug as a bug in a rug’.  We ventured out a bit but I didn’t like it as we was too rough, too cold, too wet as I was getting drenched.  (Geoff uses me as a wind and rain protector).  Back to 2Abreast for some porridge.  George and Razz wandered by at low tide so George had another cuppa and cake and Razz had about four biscuits.  Frank also wandered by and asked how long the trailer sailer was staying as he was blocking the entrance but we had no idea.  Geoff and Frank then decided they would measure 2Abreast’s width as Frank said ours looked wider than his.  Nope, both are the same although our water line is higher as we are heavier with all of our ‘liveaboard’ junk on board.  Geoff then sanded off the starboard side of the boat , taped it up and put the undercoat on although he did say it was a bit windy to do so.  I worked on my laptop for a while and did a few bits and pieces.  After he had applied the undercoat Geoff worked on one of the front lockers which had a little hole in the inner shell from where the spare anchor has rubbed  it a bit.

Sunday, 11th September  -  GKI, The Lagoon

It is the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 today and we see, according to the TV, that everyone is on tender hooks over there.

After bacon and eggs, Geoff went up the front to work on the front locker again.  He got it done but has now run out of glue.  Then he saw some fish around the back of the boat and put the rods in and caught a small Bream which he was going to use for bait.  I pleaded its case as I said we had heaps of bait in the freezer, with all of those ‘iffy’ prawns.  So he lived to see another day.  Then we caught a Puffer fish and then a Stingray and both of those lived, of course.  Geoff then sanded back the undercoat and put on two coats of the top coat.  It is supposed to be 25 knot winds today but I think they may have already passed as there’s hardly a breeze in here. We will leave here tomorrow morning and anchor outside ready to take off on Monday after I have done my online Centrelink stuff.  Time for me to be a bit constructive so I decided to make up some caramel popcorn.  Later we went over the beach and down the sand dune coming out opposite Monsoon.  As I was scrambling down the dune something caught my eye and it was a huge  water rat swimming in the shallow channel.  At the same time Razz, Monsoon’s black lab, saw us and decided to come over to greet us.  Her also saw Mr Water Rat and a chase ensued with my yelling out ‘Razz, leave it”, and to my shock, he did!  We then wandered over to have a chat with George and Frank before going back to the boat.  On dusk, two quite small trailer sailers came in and said it was very lumpy out there for them as the wind had shifted to the north.  We are, as usual, worried about the freezer as it seems to be staying on and consuming a lot of power.  We fiddled with the thermostat knob and timed the cut in and outs and, eventually, got it so it would cycle.  Hooray. 

Monday, 12th September 2011  -  GKI, Leekes Beach

I woke up a couple of times and checked the freezer, sometimes it was on and other times not and the temperature was good so I breathed a sigh of relief. We got up at 7.30 and had a coffee then Geoff got the rope and stern anchor in and we slowly made our way out of the lagoon.  Luckily the trailer sailer was gone out of the entrance.  We anchored at Leekes Beach and Geoff got his plumbline out and measured our depth from the waterline as we thought our depth sounder was out.  Yes it was so we then adjusted it to read correctly.  Geoff then did some fishing and got a really big bite that he played for a while until it broke the line.  Then nothing!  I cooked a date loaf and, once it was cooked and cooling, we went ashore for a walk.  Frank soon caught us up (he’s older than us but much fitter, it puts me to shame) and he was walking to the resort.  We walked part of the way with him, about half way, but it was much too far for my feet.  We climbed to the top of a hill and looked at the resort from the top, checked out the rocks for oysters (yuk) and then walked back to the dinghy.  By this time it was getting overcast.  Had some lunch and a bit of date loaf and relaxed whilst watching a one legged seagull try to land on our dinghy.  The only other place I have seen a lot of one legged seagulls is in Santa Monica, USA where the seals often take off a seagulls leg.  Beautiful sunset.

Tuesday, 13th September 2011  -  GKI to Pearl Bay

Up at 0545 and do my Centrelink reporting then ‘anchors aweigh’ and leave at 0610, so a good early start.  The wind was nearly right up our bum, of course, so we had both sails gull winged.  We were not really sure where we were heading for, apart from north, as it all depended on our speed.  It was either Freshwater Bay, Port Clinton or Pearl Bay.  Within the hour we were sailing well and averaging 5.5 to 6 knots and often doing over 7 knots.  If we keep these speeds up our destination will be Pearl Bay.  By 1030 we had an average speed of 6.8 knots which is very good for us as we are not a fast boat.  The winds are blowing between 19 to 22 knots.  The seas area moderate+ with many white tops and breaking waves.  Geoff had to hand steer a lot of the time as the occasional large wave gave the autohelm a hard time.  The seas north of Port Clinton were quite large and we did a fair amount of surfing on our part.  Then just before coming into Pearl Bay we had some nasty, nasty high waves and it was not nice at all.  So, in with the spinnaker pole (which was holding the headsail out), in with the headsail, on with the engines and surf, surf, surf in the following sea.  It wasn’t for long and we were soon anchored at 2.30 pm, then up anchored and moved in more to get out of the side swell as I had made a boo boo (yes, I do make them occasionally) and had told Geoff it was coming up to high tide instead of low so we had more water beneath us to play with.  After a bite to eat Geoff decided to have a nap as he was a bit tired after all the hand steering.  I snoozed a bit too.  We then put the rods in… ever hopeful.  ?Something was down there but we kept losing our bait but we never saw what it was. 

After dinner we put the genny on to boost the power as we hadn’t had the engines on much today.  Geoff dangled the light over the water to try and attract any fish or squid. I couldn’t help myself and smothered myself in insect repellent and soon joined him but we were only catching small stripeys. 

Scrabble and I won again  …  he’s getting sulky!!!!!!

Wednesday, 14th September 2011  -  Pearl Bay

A good night and a fair amount of rain.  I did catch some of the rain but missed out on most of it as I couldn’t be bothered getting up.  It is overcast today with the occasional shower, some sun and not too cold.

After brekky Geoff went off in the dinghy to try his luck at fishing and I put the rod in off the back of the boat.  Whoosh and off it went from one side of the boat to the other.  I had to carefully manoeuvre the rod across the back davits then slowly reel him in.  It was a shark about .7 metres long.  I got him up to the back of the boat then had no idea what to do with him as I wasn’t going to touch him.  I tried to get Geoff’s attention but to no avail.  So I left him on the line just in the water where, of course, he regained his strength and took off again and this time breaking the line. Geoff came back a few minutes later, also empty handed and with a broken line.  Before going out fishing again Geoff made up a bread which I then stuffed up.  As it was not a warm day I had put the oven on and placed the bread on top to rise.  I should have turned the oven off and used the residual heat but I didn’t so when he went to knock it back it had started to cook in places and was quite lumpy.  We cooked it anyway and it was a bit lumpy in parts but the parts that were not lumpy were very nice indeed. 

After lunch we went ashore for a walk and met up with Kerry and Brett from Yeppoon who were  on a sloop anchored near us.  Further up the beach we met a young couple off a sloop called ‘Boris’ (we like that name) who were on their way up to the Whitsundays for three months.  Then another couple (men) came along and were off the sloop ‘Cleopatra’.  These guys were on their way back from the Gloucester Passage, below Bowen, and had been up there for the
August Shag Island Cruising Club Re-union.  I believe Lindsay and Di from FiddlerV1 were there at the time and had a great time.  It costs $40 a year to join and has a little recent history attached to it.  Apparently, if you were a member of some of the better yacht clubs in Oz you got reciprocal rights in the UK and Europe.  Now, as everybody knows, the UK yacht clubs are a bit snooty and didn’t like the fact that the ‘great unwashed’ could come over and use their exclusive clubs.  So … they made a rule that only vice commodores and up could have reciprocal rights thus the Shag Island Cruising Club was formed.  Everyone who joins comes in at the rank of Vice Commodore and everyone is member No 10 and you can be vice commodore of any little part of the Oz coast, such as Pinetrees Point or anywhere.  This worked for a couple of months and was only a bit of fun but the club has since flourished.  The first year there were 17 members that met at the Gloucester Passage (where the Shag Island is located), the next year it was over 170 and this year there were over 350 and they all managed to fit on the small sand spit off the island!  We may join as it sounds fun. 

Going to the beach and back to 2Abreast we had a troll but didn’t catch anything so I think we are going to starve soon!  So, tonight we are having the rest of the shark fillets in the freezer from Pancake Creek.  So it was beer battered fish, chips, tomatoes and peas and very nice it was too!

Thursday, 15th September 2011  -  Pinetrees Point, north of Island Head Creek

Well, we’re off again.  We thought we might try Pinetrees Point which is just north of Island Head Creek as Terry and Brett said it was very beautiful there and the weather is benign.  Alas, there is no wind so we are motoring.  At least the batteries are getting a charge.  We anchored at 11 am in the first day anchorage for some lunch and a fish.  What a pretty little spot in good weather.  Geoff went off fishing and came back with a large Stripey and a Parrot fish.  He said he got a lot of bites but kept losing them as they dived below and into crevasses and coral.  He has convinced himself that they were Coral Trout!  We left there just after 2 pm and 30 minutes later we were anchored in the next bay which was noted as the Pinetrees Point overnight anchorage.  And what a little gem this bay is and it doesn’t get many visitors with Island Head Creek being just around the corner.  At low tide there is this huge wide stretch of sand which the Noel Patrick book says you could land an airliner on, and you could.  Just on the east side of the bay there is a large cave which you can get to at low tide so this is the first spot we explored.  Lots of sand flies here so we didn’t linger.  Just over the sandbank that exposes at low tide was a wide, mangrove lined creek.  We guessed it was possible, at a spring tide, to get 2Abreast into the creek and take the sand.  Not that it would be a good thing as this bay is part of the Shoalwater Bay Defence Force training area and often gets closed during exercises.  You are not allowed above the high water mark here due to unexploded ordnance, if there really is any.  Anyway, we wandered up this creek at low tide so we were below the water line.  Part way up the creek was this massive rock that had, obviously, come down from the cliff above.  It must have been quite a while ago as there was an abundance of oysters growing at its base.  We walked further up the creek for a way and then walked back and along the beach to investigate another creek at the western end.  We didn't penetrate this creek far and then wandered back to the dinghy.  It was fun launching the dinghy in the surf and Geoff says “Quick” but “quick’ is not a word that relates to me so I soon, as normal, got swamped by a wave and ended up in the bottom of the dinghy.  As I was expecting this to happen to me I wasn’t too daunted by it.  Geoff pushed us off into deeper water and started the outboard and cough, splutter, chug chug.  Oh dear! It wasn’t a lack of fuel so Geoff thought it might be a bit of dirt in the carburettor.  Start it again and coax it to slowly take us back to 2Abreast.  Once onboard Geoff drained it and its going ok but we will check it before going too far next time.  Fish Curry for tea.