It’s a Breeze!!

 

Back on terra firma and home to Coffs, well that was a great couple of weeks spent tooling around on the water and I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity, the Osiris is a great boat and I learnt a great deal. I now know that if you have enough cash you don’t really need to know how to sail. well in coastal waters anyway. Modern navigational aids and the equipment on modern boats means that to all intents and purpose they do just about most things automatically, thus allowing you to sit back with a beer or vino relax and enjoy the ride. If there is a less glamorous aspect to the whole affair it could be likened to being in a water caravan. The sailing between stops may not necessarily  be particularly  exciting, although we did see a reasonably large shark feeding on the surface only 20 metres away which was quite a buzz, it could be considered much the same as dragging a caravan between stops. It seems to me that it is a very good way to force yourself to completely relax and unwind which is sometimes difficult on land. Once you’re out there you can’t get the fidgets and say sod this I’m off to the shops!!!! As with all things in life there are pros and cons and I shan’t dwell on the cons, I would say however that my respect for people who can climb aboard a smaller yacht, say in the 30 foot range, on their own and just head off into the wild blue yonder are either very brave or very stupid!!! floating around in very cramped conditions for months at a time I’m afraid to say would probably send me completely gaga.

I see no Ships!!

One of the more interesting aspects of the whole deal is actually the people who you meet around the marina, especially those referred to by the yachting fraternity as live aboards,  this particular group of people are often taking many years to swan around the globe, it would appear that the reason it takes so long is that they spend bloody ages sitting on their floating abodes in various marinas around the globe doing apparently sod all!!! Not bad work if you can get it!! They can of course regale you with a wonderful array of tales of various events that have occurred on their travels, for instance the ablutions at such and such marina are to be avoided at all costs! or it’s a bastard to moor at so and so on an incoming tide???? Fascinating stuff and really quite riveting???? So would I like to do it again and maybe something a little more challenging? you bet, I think though for me it would have to be a little more edgy with a tad more risk involved to keep you on your toes and a bit excited, otherwise I think I might as well head down to the bowling club and watch a roll ups! or spend a day or two watching the paint dry. The biggest boon of all is of course the fact that I have a good mate who has all the problems of ownership of such a lovely thing and enjoys that side of it and I have the opportunity to enjoy the pleasure minus the financial pain, how bloody good is that??? Goodonya Gren!!

 

Doing it tough with a large plate of locally caught fresh prawns and a nice green salad and the obligatory bottle or two of decent plonk and with that  folks it’s time to shiver me timbers, Splice the Main Brace and Rodger the cabin boy. So until the next time and may you always have a fair bit of  wind!!!