Sailing

In 2001 I lost my father and my brother, and began to wonder about the fragility of life and the dreams I had always had to sail the oceans. Over the years I had read many sailing magazines and books about people who had sold their homes and bought a yacht to sail over the blue horizon. I had always loved the ocean from my early surfing days to later snorkeling and some scuba diving and also fishing.

Considering my own life, I realised that I needed to bring to reality my dream. The thought of lying on my death bed and pondering the dreams that were never attempted, yet alone fulfilled, was something I didnt want to face. I was 51 and had never sailed. So I started my search for a suitable yacht. I considered a trailer/sailer and looked at many all over Victoria, my home state here in Australia. I also looked at some fixed keel models, and drove far and wide in my search. I remember arranging to meet Kay (my wife at the time) in Hastings to look at a small 20' fixed keel model. It was a working day and we were both working roughly in the same area in our positions as Sales Representatives. The boat was about 25 years old, and it was soon obvious that Kay wasn't happy with this selection. The price on this boat was about $15,000. The search continued.

It was becoming apparent that there were a lot more boats to be seen in Sydney, so we planned a trip. On the internet I selected about a dozen boats for us to view, and we arranged to fly there in the morning, hire a car, view the boats and fly home to Melbourne. It was a hectic day. We travelled all over the bays and coves of Sydney before a longer drive to the central coast. We were taken out to boats on moorings that were dark and wet and needing lots of TLC. The drive to the central coast turned out to be a waste of time, but in Sydney, to be more precise The
Spitt at Mosman, we both saw a boat that we immediately fell in love with.

It was a Catalina 250, a US built 25'0 fibreglass boat with a fin keel. It was launched in 1996 so was still pretty clean and current design. While we didn't enjoy our communication with Norm the manager at Catalina Yacht Sales, we had a good rapport with Kel (coincidentally the same as mine) who took us for a test sail. It was a beautiful day and I would suggest now from more experience that the wind was blowing at about 15 or 16 knots. A perfect day to get out on such a pretty part of Sydney, and on a comfortable and attractive boat. She sailed well (not that I would have known) and we enjoyed a wonderful day. She was so well designed compared to the older yachts we had looked at, and had a roomy interior for her size with a separate head (toilet) and sleeping room for up to 4 adults and 2 children. We hadn't been looking for a racing yacht, more a caravan on water.



We returned to Melbourne exhausted, but over the following days were able to negotiate a suitable price of $42,000 from the original price of $45,000. After first contemplating sailing Argo to Melbourne, thankfully we accepted better advice and agreed to truck Argo to Melbourne.




An original photo from the web page advertising Argo prior to my buying her.

I had a conference to attend in Sydney and this coincided with the timing of Argo being slipped and surveyed. She passed with flying colours.

My employer had arranged for my flight back to Melbourne on the Thursday night, but I had already arranged to fly home Friday night on my Ansett Frequent Flyer points. This was also the week of 9/11, so we had the atrocious scenes and shock of seeing the planes flying into the twin towers. On the Friday morning Ansett Airlines here in Australia collapsed, leaving many thousands of people stranded around the country, me being one of them. The hotels were also full, so I was really stuck. Thankfully Kel and the people at Catalina Sales were able to arrange for me to stay aboard one of the larger yachts there. I think it was a 38'0 or 40'0 Catalina, and I must admit I wasn't sorry that I wasn't able to get a hotel. Waking up on board this beautiful boat to the scenes of the beaches and the boats and the water lapping against the hull was great. I stayed a few days until I was able to get a flight and then returned to Melbourne where we waited while Argo was stripped of her rigging and loaded on board a semi trailer for her journey to Melbourne.

Another original photo from the web page advertising Argo prior to my buying her.

Due to work commitments I was away at field days when Argo was transported to Melbourne. I would love to have been there when she was off loaded, but had to wait until the end of the week. During this time she was being re-rigged. I had been so concerned that she would arrive safely, so was relieved to see her sitting peacefully at her dock at Pier 35 in Port Melbourne when I finally got to go home and see her.

The following weeks learning to sale were amazing. I had never sailed except for the time we had our first test sail prior to purchasing her. The first time I sailed her I was with my son Leigh and also Kay. The only way we were able to convince Kay to come was by telling her that Leigh had sailed when he was at school. This was correct, but he had only sailed little boats and that was a long time ago (we didn't tell Kay that).

After motoring out of the Yarra River into Hobsons Bay we finally cut the engine and proceeded to try and work out which sheets (ropes to us) pulled which sail where. Eventually we gave up trying to raise the main sail as we believed that apparently she hadn't been rigged correctly. As we started to motor back to our dock, I think Leigh was at the helm, it came to me how we were supposed to raise the main sail. The end of the main sheet had been set at the rear of the boom, so all I had to do was unhook it from there and attach it to the sail. We faced into the breeze and up went the sail to the top of the mast. Pulling at first and then using the winch designed for the job. The first moments under sail were exciting to say the least. As we built up confidence and courage it was amazing to see this small duo of inexperienced sailors doing hi-fives at the completion of our first tac. By now I think Kay had established that Leigh wasn't so experienced, and what I had learnt from reading books didn't provide the necessary boost of confidence in her.

Argo under sail on Port Philip Bay.

Argo safely in her wet berth at Pier 35 Port Melbourne.

My daughter Danielle (Pegs) at the helm.

As my sailing ability improved, we became more adventurous, sailing across to Portarlington, and then also to Geelong. The worst storms I encountered were on some of these trips. The first one with my wife Kay on board, and the second one with my Danish friends Hans and Henning.

Resting in Geelong.

My friends, Hans and Henning

The results of a pretty fierce storm a few days earlier, my shredded genoa. We sailed back to Melbourne under just the main sail, but made remarkably good time regardless.

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