I Own a Wharram Catamaran!

 Well, I am now a Wharram owner. The transition from ordinary sailor to Wharram sailor was hell. 

I paid more than so would have if I'd have bought the same boat last year

, so that annoyed me somewhat. Then I got cranky at the previous two owners; the first because he let the boat go to disrepair, and the second who did no work to improve her. I assumed he was a sailor, but I figured he was a speculator. 

But, as things settled I began to feel overwhelming peace with the world. I now saw that it was my duty to refit the cat and get her to cruising trim again. I was majorly pleased, though, just to finally own a Wharram. After all these years of wanting, dreaming and so on, it has finally happened. I feel sense a feeling of utter contentment. 

Yes, the tiller connection is weak, the timberwork needs sanding and preserving before painting, there are no electrics, but the bare bones are there. I can begin immediately, and whem I finish, I have a beautiful sea boat to cruise on. And I have this overwhelming feeling that this is it, that this will be my last boat because I want for nothing more in my life.

Wharram - Tiki 21 ?

 Well, I like to believe that my life has both structure and purpose. That everyday I make decisions according to My Grand Plan or to fit my particular worldview.  But now that I'm nearly 60 years of age, I know that living s life according to s plan is Bullshit, it's almost totally random, though I do credit Jung's idea of synchronicity.

Well, my life features a series of fortunate and unfortunate events. If you work hard you can lessen the incidence of oppositional stuff happening, but one can never be certain. 

So, enough context, let's get into the here and now a bit more. Over many years I have had an abiding admiration for James Wharram designed catamarans. Even when sailing or building various other boats, I would go out of my way to admire the sweeping lines of a small Hinemoa on a nearby lake. I fantasized about leaving a note on a cliplock bag offering to buy that boat. While cruising the east coast on a monohull that I fitted out over a period of two years, I dreamed of cruising a Wharram. 

It has not been an idle fascination  though, I have purchased several Wharram plans and built and sailed a Melanesia outrigger canoe. I am certain there is genius in these boats. Decades ago I listened intently as James Wharram spoke at the Manly Sailing Club, a quiet, this lanky fellow spoke languidly and vaguely about his boats. At Tasmamia's  wooden boat festival on 2000 (?), a white Tangaroa (?) glistened at the dock, it's elderly owner was looking for crew to return to the island's north coast. For whatever reason, that opportunity was passed up. Many years and a marriage passed before the opportunity to sail on a Wharram represented. A Tiki 21, with bad paint and worn sails, she looked very underwhelming. But under sail she soared like a bird. 

Unfortunately, a clash of personality or matters financial, prevented me from buying that boat. Missing out on her  hurt a lot. Over the subsequent year, pangs of regret stabbed my ribs with acute pain, as I wondered of I would  ever attain  my dream of owning a Wharram cataramaran. In  fact,  I mused over am internal blockage that was holding back. Perhaps I thpught myself unworthy?

But just this evening all he'll broke lose as so learned that same Tiki 21 was for sail again. I locked in an appontment to see her  set for early tomorrow.   

Small Fun Boat

 When a novice boater posted some request for assistance on deciding whether to buy a Mirror sailing dinghy, I weighed in. Not to advise h one way or t'other, just to share a shard of experience. 

All I posted was, that when I  walked by my fleet in the yard, I got two distinct reactions in my chest; "work" or "joy". The trailer sailer, was a bitch to store, tow and launch, and in fact not real practical on the water. She definitely made it to the "work" category of feeling. One look at her and you  replayed the troublesome moments you'd had with her and the lost of jobs that she needed done. Most of my boats since my early Windsurfer days, were like that. But one boat I owned was vastly different. My Mirror, "tilman". 

Right from the time I checked her out on the seller's north west of Sydney suburban bungalow, she had grace and charm. The handmade trailer had interstate plates, romance there. The Seller's wife made excuses for her husband's absence, but went on to describe this as a boat that taught all the children how to sail. Get that, the boat taught people how to sail. 

When bilge water poured from the aft buoyancy tank, I feined distress, but as I tasted it, I knew it was dien  to poor storage, not a rotten hull. The seller quickly spat out a sale offer of $200, which I rapidly accepted. Among other things, the vibrant red sails and varnished spars had me hooked. 

And so, I hook her onto my Land Rover, only one light working. I plan to go to the local traffic authority to secure a permit but find it buried deep inside a vast shopping mall, pass. The decision to drive home via the back roads was the first cheeky, read nonconformist thing we  did together, and pretty soon we had a police car on our tail. But The Mirror Dinghy Phenomenon, ably portrayed by Sandy MacKinnon, came into play. The police officer slowed right down and gave me a chance to hide, which I did! I bought some globes and a coffee and went down a backstreet to unwind, work on the lights and take stock

After a half hour reset, I decided we would make it as we were, but decided not to test out the TMDP again,  and took the back roads home. Driving the Old Pacific Highway was quiet, joyous driving, with glimpses of water views of the Hawkesbury River estuary. Then as I emerged onto the Expressway before the next off ramp, a powerful storm arrived with rain so heavy I couldn't see number plates let alone read them. At home a few hours later, I felt lucky, like I'd cheated The System and impatient to get sailing. I did that, and  got the trailer legal, and the lucky, beautiful and adventurous experiences just keep building. Now, each time I  see her,  I not only feel joy, but am reminded of the luck and adventure she brings to my life. 

Future Boat II

 I'm  just  musing  out loud here, bare with me. 

Here's the process I've gone through, trying to dig down on a tri worth battling for. 

Types 24 ft tri, and you get these you beaut Farrier and Corsair composite tris built in  part from carbon fibre. Sexy, spacious and fast, but oh so expensive and a real headache to run. One builder actually holed the deck when he lost control of the mast while lowering it. Whoa, No thanks

 Then "plywood tri" will get you a load of rave reviews,about the Crowther Bucchaneer. They're really old now though,and hard to find. I have seem some not so old  Farriers in ply, so it's doable. 

Then I recall the hydrib cat tris.Basically you male a plywood hull and swing a Hobie  rig and hulls off it and go sailing., I have a H14 at home and hanging them from a Hunter 19 unballasted trailer sailer, sounds like something to think over. The kind of buildong I could get excited about  

John Howard's Bullying Culture

 Disturbing news today, that Australian children are more likely that children from all other industrialised nations, to have been bullied

This for me thinking about the mean-spirited culture that has developed on recent years. Then I got to looking at our politicians as bullying role models. The children on the abovementioned survey were 15 years of age. 

Our Prime minister on 2005 was no other than John Winston Howard who was singularly responsible for the most heavy handed when it came to committing the nation to war on the Middle East, and  the most callous treatment of refugees. He once lied to the nation on order to support his stance on "turning back the (refugee) boats" by claiming that refugees had thrown their children onto the sea in order to initiate a rescue.The truth was quite the reverse, refugee parents were ensuring ch poo often were rescued ahead of themselves, and no, no children were thrown onto the sea. Howard deliberately lied on the eve of an election to gain favour for heartless politics.   

It's not just me that thinks this, under the banner "Don't be nostalgic for John Howard: he was a big-spending, big-government PM", Financial  Times' David Leyonhjelm dig up plenty of evidence against Howard's brand of politics. The guy was mealy mouthed bully. 

So, here we are, 15 years on, pur kids are tearingvpne another apart. Thanks Howard you prick. 

Nutri Grain Healthy? NOT

 I  just saw for Nutri Grain breakfast cereal, a cyclist bursting with  energy does a nackflip off a giant spoon, while a Yummy Woman with heavily dyed, shaved hairstyle munches down on a bowl full of the crap. 

What does Google say? 

"Nutri-Grain (Regular and Honey Nut) – Nutri-Grain has always been marketed as one of the healthiest cereals on the market (Iron Men eat it, after all). But with 32 grams of sugar and 480 mg of sodium, it is anything but".

More flashy crap from the land of nod.  

Tracking Sven Yrvind

 Now 70nm SW of Vila do

 Porto (Azores?) heading west in moderate easterly winds. Suspect he be planning on approaching the island on a beam reach. 

Parenting

 Well, to say I put a lot of effort towards my two children is accurate, perhaps an understatement. 

Before I was left with  their  fulltime care (something they chose and I wanted), I did the lions share of parenting including homeschooling and their various hobbies and sporting interests. And yesterday was a day it seemed more worthwhile than usual. 

What with Covid 19 Andy son's indecision about a career path, he finds himself working alongside me gardening. On the back of months of developing his own  garden site on our property, he put on his nest day's work on the job ever. With  minimal direction, he saw work that needed doing and got it done. He even did it with  good humour to boot.  Well done Joe. 

Then when we got home my daughter showed me a video presentation of a client's horse that she had trained up and was about  to advertise to sell. The video was cracking good. Within an hour of posting  the ad she received three firm offers at 2.5 times the price that the client wanted. Her own business is growing fast, she is driven and good at what she has always wamted to do. 

Now I can go sailing with great joy on my heart.