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24.01.2022 This might look like a Rorschach test to some (I can see a giraffe, which probably means I have subliminally always wished I had the necklessness of a rugby union hooker). But it's not. More accurately, it is some corona virus self-isolation introspection, a.k.a. too much time on ones hand About an hour before this photo was taken, our house deck was wet from a passing shower. A day before that we had sprayed the bimini with 303 Marine Fabric Guard and clearly some over-...spray had landed on the deck. It appears to have had an affect on the surface tension of water in that area, causing it to bead up. The contact angle between the deck and the water becomes very large. The thin film of wetness everywhere else has already evaporated, leaving only this 'deeper' water, where the 303 was, to take longer to dry off. In relation to dodgers and biminis, it helps explain, in particular, why 303 stops rain water water wicking through the sewing machine needle holes in the stitching lines, even though one can see pin-pricks of daylight through them. The beads of water are too large to pass through. It probably 'waterproofs' the fabric itself by way of the same surface tension effect, stopping water wicking through the minute spaces where the warp and weft threads cross each other. ps: I can now see a dog and following puppies in that pattern, specifically a cross between a Dachshund and a Dalmatian.

24.01.2022 You will know what a pain it is if you've ever been rained on by water seeping through a dodger or bimini during bad weather. You expect your canvass to keep you dry! Hence, most years we try to reapply fabric guard to the dodger and bimini. It helps to keep them waterproof, especially on stitching lines where rain water tends to wick through the needle holes. It also boosts the UV protection of both fabric and the sewing thread. Our go-to product for this job is USA ...produced 303 Fabric Guard in a hand spray bottle. Its not cheap (currently around $40 for a 473 ml bottle) but it works well and replacing knackered boat canvass isn't cheap either. We think the adage that "you get what you pay for" is most likely true in this case. It needs to be applied in warm conditions and in direct sunlight. On a suitable day in January we got the dodger done in situ but didn't have enough 303 left for the bimini - one 473 ml bottle (= 16 US fluid ounces) covers around 5 sq metre. By the time we had acquired some more there was a low likelihood of a hot enough day before winter to set the fabric guard. The work-around became obvious on being hit by a heatwave when stepping into our closed-up home sunroom on a sunny day. We needed to get the bimini to our sailmaker in NW Tasmania for a repair anyway and once we had it back we put our plan into action. Today we set the bimini up on our deck and applied the 303 to it (two bottles worth). After around 10 minutes drying, we moved it into the sunroom to give it the heat needed to set it. It's now on a slow roast, 6 hours at 30C. It should end up "well done" rather than "medium rare" .

16.01.2022 Last time we slipped Ariel, el Capitaine got told by the yard's bosun to slow down as we made our final approach into the cradle. A hard bump would do more damage to us than the cradle but we guess if it was hard enough it could derail the cradle and that wouldn't be good for the bosun's day. So this time the captain tried to be more restrained. A wind-less morning was just right for 'slow'. However, the (different) bosun raised a laugh from those assembled beside the crad...le waiting for Ariel to be in when he jested that he had other things he needed to do that afternoon . At 8:30 am. There must be some in-between speed that will keep everyone happy. Or maybe not. No doubt we will be reporting back in a year to two's time. Bill on the bow helped with lines when we departed from our marina berth for the slipway and assisted with the slipway cradle entry, ready to centre the bow if the captain's aim was out. Thank you Bill.

07.01.2022 Here's something that you would not normally expect to see. But nothing is normal at the moment. Amongst all the work-horse bulk carriers in the anchorage areas off Gladstone in Queensland, waiting to pick up cargoes of coal or LNG, or to unload bauxite, is one of the most iconic and luxurious of cruise ships currently in service, the Queen Elizabeth, "awaiting orders". Normally that AIS field advises the name of the port the ship is headed for. I'd be surprised if a hoity toity cruise ship has ever before been seen slumming it like this with the working class

05.01.2022 We had a couple of short trips down the d'Entrecasteau Channel on Ariel before Christmas. We headed for Dover on the first one, hoping to catch an escapee Atlantic Salmon or three. No such luck, though we saw them jumping in our Rabbit Island anchorage in Port Esperance. Plenty of the 50,000 market-ready fish that escaped from a Huon Aquaculture fire-damaged pen in November were caught by recreational fishers.

04.01.2022 Beautiful winter's day in Hobart. We're heading down the channel for a couple of nights. First time Ariel has been for a run since February. Huge amount of weed came off the hull as we departed the marina, poor girl needs her bottom cleaned. Apart from that, all on board systems seem to be working, except for me and the Captain! No sails up as we only have 3 knots of wind but we've given the engine some wide open throttle to de-soot it. The rescue Chopper has been patrolling Kingston Beach for some time. We haven't heard anything on the radio, so hopefully it's just a training exercise.

04.01.2022 We slipped Ariel at the club's yard on this calm and misty Hobart morning for its routine hull clean: a pressure-wash and fresh antifoul below the waterline and a wax above. The sacrificial anode that protects our propellor and shaft from electrolytic corrosion, and another that protects the keel will be replaced. The propeller will receive a fresh coating of a specialist silicone paint that stops marine growth attaching. Its two years since the previous slipping and we dec...ided the hull looked pretty good except in places where it looked bad. Well, that's the Irish version. On our last trip down the Channel, we had noticed some minor vibration when motoring and the captain had fretted that it might be caused by a worn cutlass bearing. This is a seawater lubricated hard rubber bush at the point the propellor shaft exits the hull. A quick lateral back-and-forth push and pull on the propeller revealed the cutlass bearing was fine. Unbalancing, caused by a patch of small barnacles on the blades, was most likely the source of the vibration. We have left Ariel and the work program in the capable hands of Mark and offsider Lockie, from Bilge Rats Marine, and, weather willing, will be back on the water next Friday

01.01.2022 In November 2020, I (Ian) helped deliver a Jeanneau Sun Odyessey 39i ("Wind Rider") from Sydney's Pittwater to Devonport, NW Tasmania with a stop in Eden on the NSW south coast, waiting for a suitable weather window for Bass Strait. It had been purchased by the NW Tasmanian owners in late December 2019 and stayed in Pittwater for some major maintenance (new standing rigging, slipping, and some new electronics) readying it for a planned winter trip to Queensland. State border ...restrictions in March, due to covid, put paid to that trip and it wasn't until November 2020 that relatively unrestricted movement was allowed between NSW and Tasmania. The owners had, by then, decided to bring her home to Tasmania. impressions of the 39i: a fine boat with some caveats. It has very pretty lines and a large cockpit relative to its size. There is a good use of space inside the hull of this two-cabin version. The space the third cabin would occupy in that model becomes a great storage area in this version. Envy! It generally sailed well but did seem quick to round up in gusts. Cons: Unlike the inboard lowers, the upper shrouds' chain-plates are on the outside of the hull, trapping the genoa and sheet between the lower and upper shrouds. This made it difficult to cleanly whisker-pole the genoa out for the long downwind legs we had on the delivery. This geometry would be more suited to a jib as the primary headsail. It is the first time I have sailed any distance on a boat with an in-mast furling mainsail. It certainly gave us some problems, some due to our in-experience and probably not helped by a very tired and stretched mainsail. That made me appreciate Ariel's full-roach main, with three levels of single line reefing and lazy jacks.