getting the ship:s papers

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, gripped and wobbled aboard. Clearly its an acquired technique! 
I felt confidence to make several trips with the headsails, no not the porta potty, as the light began to soften. The wind had eased but the Pittwater Scend, a random event, stirred through the mooring field creating both fun and fear for the odd ski paddler. 
So now, I am officially independent from encumbrance to the previous owners and Jack Sprat is totally my responsibility. One bonus is that I also own the Clareville mooring. I had thought my time there was metred, but no, I can stay until my local approval comes through. One final act I would love to perform for myself with a photo sent to Barry, is to sail under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Let's see! 

Stopped at the Ba Hai Temple on the way. Apparently there are only a handful in the world including one in Panama of all places. 

 

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