Solo Ventures

Thursday brought seemingly bad news. Council wanted to rescind the contract on the cottage due to a complaint against "fibrous asbestos".  There was no doubt, the neighbour that missed out at auction was set to spoil.  My enraged  Conveyancing man hatched a plan to offer a reduced price to salvage the deal, with me paying for remedial work to be carried out.  Late Friday evening I received word that Council intend to proceed on these grounds.  I will argue, after the lowest sale price is set, that the property contains only a modest quantity of "non-fibrous asbestos" as do thousands of houses across the state. I get a reduction in the sale price and have to renovate the property. Bingo!

I haven't been onboard this week, due solely to the fact that she lays some 300k from where I live.  I do have good news though, and that is that this week I took formal ownership of JS and am about to secure the Clareville Beach mooring. The very same Clareville Beach from where Ann Gash departed and returned from her solo circumnavigation. I have new lateral chainplates to install too, so apart from shipping safety gear (flares, vhf & ?), I just need to overhaul the anchoring gear and  ready for sea. SydHarb is just 16nm, head to head, so a solid halfday's sail could see us swanning around under the coathanger. Apart from getting under sail and testing her out, the under the bridge sail is the only immediate goal I have for JS. Taking a dump out the front of government house and Vaucluse mansions are two other perverse pleasures I may take part in, though l will need to mind the Fun Police.              *     * ...

After motoring to the beautiful Clareville Beach, I found the waters calm and silky dark. Slow skidding cumulus that reeked of showers, hung without menace.  The lovely Barry Marshall (previous owner) arrived with a bag of ship's papers which provided a potted history, receipts, manuals and registrations. Generously, he also passed on a porta potti, boat hook, auto bilge pump, two headsails and a spinnaker. The headsails felt heavy and crisp, were labelled North Sails and are possibly unused.  I also became the caretaker of the yellow surf ski. I'd seen Barry, who paddled across Bass Strait calmly paddle this as a tender and as he told me the lock code, extolled it's virtues and how easy it was "to stand on to get onboard ". Of course I couldn't wait to try out the new tender in order to check on on Jack Sprat  so off we went with se new chain plate fittings and little else. As we arrived at the gunnel Barry's words came to mind as I shuffled and jerked, g...

I had hoped to get a new surf mat but they're not in vogie anymore. I settled for some new flippers, or fons, that I have just christened on all surf at One M ile Beach. The waves were hard to crack, but the fins helped &_being on the water was a blast. This tam beach is popular with tourists & learning surfers,_so it has a relaxed, dorky & cosmopolitan vibe  But I kind of enjoy the chill, fin feeling Jere when compared to chic uptight cloyong/claustrophobic  of my old local break.  Yesterday i had a bad tumble. At the risk of sounding like an old crony, ... O wasowing up a steep bank beside my"driveway" when my old boots lost their tempus grip on the planet. For a few milliseconds o did the cartoon thing of running fast and going nowhere, then the weight of the mower, its wheels were skidding too, came back at me. and I lost it. I recall rolling saodeways & backwards onto a very rocky surface & shitting myself over. breaking  bones. I copped a fe...

A lot of boat work in the week leading up; the boat is secure on its trailer,  the trailer lights are working & the light bar quick to remove,  the furler is improved & finally the rowing blocks & cleats are secure & sealed.  S c ome the weekend we are really keen to get wet.   As usual,  the decision of where to sail was made on the hop, & with the heart. I have been very keen to ensure that once the Lurgurina is up to scratch,  & we trust one another,  that we would return to Moon Lakes.  Her builder George who died in 2019 aged 97, had lived right by the river at Tea Growers & had been an active member, indeed office bearer,  of the Moon Boat Club. I wanted to honor him & his lifestyle buy returning Lurgy here under sail .   The boating facilities at Kooks Larding had changed since I was here last. Free range access to the shore had been corralled into one ramp.  It's natural I suppose to...

 The Distance Walking podcast provided,  Chris Howard onspontaneous goal setting & setting off,  in order to build confidence eg 3 weeks from conception to setting off for an 11 000 mile round Britain coastal walk.  Here's his list of smaller projects:- Then "Chase Mountain" mentioned Piriformis causing sciatica.  Did some Googling & found some remedies.  What damage can gentle repetitive stretching do? List includes; neck rolls, hammy stretching ( on my back legs pulled up, standing leg on chair & crouching,  hip twists while on back,  back extensions from tummy position.