Lodestar Los Angeles

Most people we had spoken to regarded Los Angeles in a similar fashion to the guide books…the only reason you would go there would be to use it as a stepping stone to other destinations.

As with most advice…. check it out for yourself!!

Our two short stays there on the way to and from Mexico were fantastic! Indeed we saw a few stars, or would be stars!

Being averse to standing in queues, we decided to forgo the obvious tourist destinations, although whilst under the influence of jet lag, we did go on a city tour to some of the hot spots. An enjoyable alternative as there were no crowds and an entertaining evening unfolded.

Our stop at Universal City was amusing .......................................

and a walk down THE shopping strip in THE world just had to be had. At this point, Bruce Willis and family drove past us in their Mercedes! Our tour guide heard me encouraging Peter to stand in the middle of THE road to take a pic and immediately advised us that if caught, we would be arrested. It was almost like waving the red flag………

An invaluable tip from a Dunbar who resides in USA was to use Hotwire to book the hotels. This was a great piece of advice as we managed to score a semi-luxurious hotel on the beach at Redondo for 1/3 of the price, with ocean views to boot! Over the road from a marina were many restaurants and a pearl of a find was the wonderful café, Poppy’s on the Pier, that served all day breakfast and lunch! It became our favourite hang out.

As we were a little sore from sitting on the airplane, we thought we might as well go the full distance and hire a bicycle for a day to ride up to Marina Del Ray, some 14 miles round trip. The end result…..very soreasses!

There is a cycle path that goes right along the beach for most of Los Angeles….apparently the longest cycle track in the world, although it was far beyond our capability to see how true this was.

There was much entertainment along the track and many interesting houses that people must like to be seen in. The bicycles had large upright handlebars and were made for us cruisers who like to go at a leisurely pace and take in the stunning views. We shared our track with those who were walking, rollerblading, skateboarding and the occasional serious cyclist in full lycra.

Redondo Beach seemed to be the fitness center of LA or maybe it is just that the vista enthuses people to be part of the landscape. The infamous ‘Golds Gym’ was next to our hotel and we had free membership. We will have to take some appropriate clothing next time!

High on Peter’s ‘must do’ list was a visit to Marina Del Ray, so he was quite excited! On our arrival at our destination we went to see a broker, as you do, who then drove us around to look at a Baltic 49. (Free tour of the marina!) Amazing yacht, but as it drew 8’8”, it was out of the question.

Of course the marina has a West Marine Store which was like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coup. We feel that we will become well acquainted by the time we finish fitting out the new Stolen Kiss, but that is another story!

Being close to Pacific Highway we caught the public busses down to Long Beach and up to Santa Monica. I had to almost restrain Peter from jumping out the bus as we went passed the car yards as the price of luxury cars is very cheap! We ventured through some not so salubrious suburbs which we were happy it was not night.

So many clichéd songs came to mind. Hotel California is just south of Santa Monica Pier and will be savored for the next visit. Unfortunately, I did not have any Beach Boys songs on the ipod. The pier was entertaining with buskers and interesting people doing different things. Long Beach, as per usual for a port area, was a little tacky but worth a look to stroll around the marinas.

The most single aspect of life in LA that amazed us was the people who were so friendly and kind, with manners you would only dream of most of us in Australia having. Every where and everyone we came across. Certainly, the idea of customer service in America would have to be a shinning example to Australia.

In a unique way that can only be American, a lady stopped us as we were crossing the road, leant out of her car and asked if we would like to buy her house! She assured us it was a great house, on the beach and she was offering  a really cheap price.  Perhaps a bargain was to be had there, but not by us!

 Some restaurants we found were just not for us...

In a little shopping centre near our hotel was a gourmet, organic supermarket with an enormous range of ready to eat food. There was also a microwave and a small eating area for those who were eating on the run, which took customer service to a higher level. In every restaurant we ate at, there was no problem at ordering one meal between us. We just were not up to eating the huge portions they dished up. One favourite was American pancakes, which reminded us of what Bill used to make for us at Chagos.

Los Angeles was also very colourful, with many murals and quirky houses. The Whale Walls were all along the coast, decorating otherwise huge bland cement walls. An amazing feat!

So now it is back to work in Perth until my contract expires at the end of November. Peter scored a frequent flyer seat back to LA in November via Tokyo and I will follow a week later. We plan to meet the Blue Bananas in LA (in the snow!) for the festive season. A little collection of some snow gear will have to be had!

Decisions, Decisions

Since our arrival back to Perth, Peter has spent considerable time trawling the internet looking for our new (to us) Stolen Kiss.

We seem to find it difficult to get passed Olin Stephens’ philosophy in boat design being ‘the easiest boats to look at seem the easiest boats to drive’. When you are rowing (or rather motoring!) out to the boat, she has to have that ‘wow’ factor.

It would have been fun to be around Manhattan in the early days of yacht design as many famous designers like German Frers, Angelo Lavronos and Scott Kaufmann were all part of the S&S offices. There are so many beautiful yachts for sale by these designers.

We have found a great book that can be read on-line with google books. 'Used Boat Notebook' by John Kretschmer is an amazing review of many yacht designs. He also has a good website. Kretschmer basically has spent a lifetime of delivering yachts and has written great reviews. The S&S Hylas on pp 215 is of particular interest to us.

Although we are close to securing a purchase, we are still undecided. Location is a matter of time as we can sail anywhere we want to – down wind of course!! The yachts on our short list have most of our ‘wish list’, although none of course are perfect. It is all a trade off.

As for colour (lets get the most important thing right!) I still wish for a blue yacht, but more than likely it will be white. Sigh!

Peter is in the winning straight for a centre cockpit yacht. The movement of these yachts in the ocean is different to that of one with an aft cockpit and after never having been seasick racing/cruising on an aft cockpit yacht, I have some reservations. Reason being is that in the three centre cockpit yachts I have raced on in the past (albeit in 40 – 60 knots of breeze), I have been seasick for the first 36 hours. Not a good look doing a radio sched with a bucket between your legs, especially when the off watch are trying to sleep nearby!!!!!!!!!

Of course a main concern for us is a teak deck - or lack there of. Whilst they look great when new, they deteriorate fast in hot climates and are hot on the feet! So, for us to have a yacht with a teak deck it would mean that it would to eventually have come off.....and of course Peter does not want to get "house maid's" knees again (the end result of re-doing the deck and putting in a new floor in the old Stolen Kiss!!).

Our idea is that Peter will fly off to view the yachts and we will take ownership by mid October and be sailing again by mid December. Can we wait that long????????

As soon as all is finalised we will have pics of our new Stolen Kiss here!

In the mean time we are gathering more fun tickets and surviving Perth’s coldest winter for a few years. Choice! Doing laps is great in an outdoor heated pool as the water temperature is 28 C and the air temperature 14 C! At the moment we are house sitting at Cottesloe, with the beach literally on our doorstep and we go to sleep listening to the sound of the surf. Nice!

Safe Sailing!

Turning the Page

Two weeks before our departure to Queensland we sold Stolen Kiss!! With 5 days between getting off the hard at Spot On, signing the contract, settlement and packing up our personal items, we were quite busy!

Strange as things happen, we had had her on the market for over a year to see what might come of it. (It was too good to think that we may have sold her when we were almost at parity with the USD!) No interest what so ever. Within one hour of receiving a cheque for the deposit from the new owners in Darwin, a chap from Fremantle called and desperatly wanted to buy her. On the same day as signing the contract, I had a call from Perth offering me work!

The name..of course we keep!

As one door closes, another opens. We are looking primarily to purchase the new Stolen Kiss in the States. Good time to buy over there. We are weighing up the ideas of East Coast V West Coast. East Coast allows us to do the ICW, Panama, Cuba (my choice) and San Blas Islands (Peter's choice). West Coast, primarily Seattle allows us to go to Vancouver and cruise up to Alsaska. As yes, the next boat will have heating.

As far as designers go, Peter is following those what he knows (which is quite extensive). Of course S&S are at the top of our list, as are Frers. We have found a centreboard yacht the same configuration as the old Stolen Kiss, but not an S&S. That is tempting!

Peter has also found a possible purchase in Ipswich (his old home!) which gives us the option of not being in a hurry to move out of the UK or the Med!

However, if our boat purchase is anything like our property purchases, it will be totally impulsive and unexpected!

We have not been without a boat for 20 years. Being boatless is far worse than being homeless! However, a new adventure awaits!

History of Stolen Kiss

The first Stolen Kiss was built by the American Yacht Association under the license of Irwin in Clearwater, Florida in 1972. Only 7 hulls were built from this Sparkman and Stephens design, two as ketch and five as sloop. Her design features, coupled with being a centerboard makes her very sea kindly. She draws 1.2m with the board up and 3m with it down.

The hull is constructed of high impact fiberglass reinforced polyester resin. The structure consists largely of woven roving. The thickness of the hull varies according to structural demands, ranging from approximately one inch in the keel section to 3/8ths at the sheer.

There has been no talk from her previous owners or any evidence of osmosis.

The deckhouse, deck and cockpit are molded in one piece of fiberglass reinforced polyester resin with molded-in colours. End grain balsa wood is used as a core material to save weight and increase rigidity.

We are only the 5th owners. She was built to order by an American couple who planned to travel around the world. Plans changed and they sold her to a Brazillian couple who took her on their dream sail through the tropics and around the globe. She was then sold to another Brazillian couple who sailed her around the Carribean. We purchased her in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia from a French man who found her in New York and sailed her across the Pacific 3 times. Since our ownership we have sailed her up the west coast of Australia, around SE Asia, across the Indian Ocean and back.

She was launched as ‘Brasileirinho’, canary yellow in colour; her namesake. From there she went to a bright green colour, then the stunning awlgrip Royal Blue and named Wallaby.

With lots of rum, we christened her ‘Stolen Kiss’. As a boy, Peter’s father had a small dinghy called Stolen Kiss. We can only assume, as an English gentleman he thought it very risqué to steal a kiss from a woman, undoubtedly, Peter’s mother. Stolen Kiss sails with grace and dignity. The photo of the original Stolen Kiss, a small dinghy, is on our bulkhead.






In the Hermitage Gallery in St Petersburg, there is a painting of ‘The Stolen Kiss’ by Jean-Honore Fragonard.

The second Stolen Kiss was purchased in San Carlos, Mexico in October, 2009. She is a Hylas 47, built at the Queen Long Shipyard in Taiwan in 1989, designed by Sparkman and Stephens (of course!!).  The typical trade mark of these vessels is their incredible attention to detail and impeccable joinery. The S&S design makes for a fast, sea kindly, stunningly beautiful yacht. Colour??? Of course had to be blue!

She had one owner and was never under charter. Her only sailing had been from Florida to San Carlos via the Carribean. From the Baja, Mexico, we will cruise her down to Central/South America (not straying from the tropics!) and then across the puddle to Australia.

Track from April 2003 to May 2008

April to August 2003: Fremantle to Darwin

Mostly Day Sailing with a few overnight passages.

August 2003 to January 2004: Darwin to Phuket via Indonesia and Malaysia/Malaccan Straits.

Mostly day sailing with the exception of two longer passages. Darwin to Kupang: 4.5 days and Kumai(Kalimantan) to top of Riau Straight (near Singapore) 4.5 days.

January 2004 to Dec 2005: Cruising Phuket/Langkawi

All day sailing. Survived the Tsunami, Dec 2004.

January 2006 to September 2006: Cruising the Indian Ocean. Phuket, Andaman, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Chagos, Seychelles, Maldives, Phuket.

Longest Passages: Seychelles to Male, Maldives: 10.5 days and Male to Phuket via Great Channel 11 days.

September 2006 to October 2006: Phuket

November and December 2006: Langkawi

January 2007: Langkawi to Sebana Cove (Near Singapore)

All day sailing

February 2007 to March 2007: Singapore to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Mixed passages. Singapore to Sarawak: 3 days. Mostly day sailing to Brunei and Sabah, except for two overnight passages.

March 2007 to January 2008: Sabah

Day sailing along the north coast of Sabah and exploring some rivers.

February 2008: Kota Kinabalu to Singapore. Some great sailing but alas some very slow motoring. Light winds, 1 short lived squall, not many ships and no more than 1/2m sea.

March 2008 to Early May 2008: Singapore to Darwin via Indonesia. Some great sailing but also a lot of motoring. Great weather, calm seas. The last week in May the SE winds filled in to 20 - 30 knots from Darwin through Indonesia. We made it by 9 days! Some short passages interspersed with day sailing. Maximum wind gust 20 knots apparent, maximum swell 1m.

May 2008 - October 2008: From Darwin, cruised the Kimberley/King George River for 2 weeks. The rest of the time we have been in Tipperary Waters Marina, primarily undertaking a refit.

Crocodile Country

Everyone you meet in the northern regions of Australia; cruisers, fishermen and landlubbers all seem to have their own crocodile story to tell. The daily rag has one almost every day.

The talk at the moment is of introducing a culling program. Nothing new, after all, when I lived in Wyndham (aka the Cambridge Gulf is the arse end of the world and Wyndham is 60 miles up it….the description given to me by a public servant no less!) in the early 1980’s there was talk about the town and with government officials that the same needed doing. The wheels of government..they take time!

Sadly there have been a few tragedies with crocs taking children in Darwin and northern Queensland, hence the current discussion. Being young, ignorant and new chums to Wyndham, it took an indigenous person to point out to a group of us that there was a rather large salty in the billabong where we were swimming! Better to be born lucky than rich!!!!!!!!

It does appear though, that the crocs, being territorial, are on the move during the wet looking for new places to live. On a very high tide in Darwin, (March equinox) one small chap decided to go exploring and happily found a quiet home in the Botanical Gardens no less. A nice sandy ‘beach’ and lawn to sunbathe on!! Imagine the surprise of the person who was strolling around the gardens and found the croc doing the same!!!!!! He had managed to walk across a busy road, probably undertaking the journey at night, just after high tide.

Some crocs even manage to find a new home thanks to good people! In Queensland (some government department, apparently not fisheries!) a project was started called ‘Crocs in Space’ which basically translated into tagging a croc with a satellite tracking device, planting him somewhere and see where he ends up. It is believed that most crocs have an accurate ‘homing device’ and find their way back to their territory. Perhaps this was the theory being tested?? Under this program in late 2008, a rather large crocodile was caught in Bamaga (Cape York) and released some 50 miles north of Townsville. This in itself was alarming enough to the people of Townsville who do not usually have crocs so close. It gets worse!!! The croc, not happy with his new location, trundled off to none other than Magnetic Island, found himself a beautiful white sandy beach to call home. I guess whoever was responsible for this, thought it seemed a good idea at the time??? The dive charter companies, along with resort businesses in the area, did not agree and are taking legal action to compensate for loss of income! The croc??…maybe heading for a handbag????????

When we were heading into Crocodile Creek in the Kimberley, we chatted to a Fremantle yacht with three men on board making a quick exit as they had been chased by a rather large croc in their dinghy. They were rowing at the time, so hardly making a noise! We stayed for a few days and saw nothing, although we were sure we were being watched!

A catamaran last season had anchored in Seaplane Bay (between the King George and Berkley Rivers) much to the disgust of a rather large croc. To voice his displeasure, the croc continued to bang his tail against the hull of the cat, and when that failed, he sat across the back of the boat with his tail teaching over the back of one pontoon and his head on the other. The cat was 45’ in length and more than 4m wide! Any attempt by the owners to scare him away was to no avail (they even ran the engines for a while) so they went below and left him to it. Although the crocodile was no-where to be seen in the morning, they did notice him following them out the bay!

One saltie chap, over 3m in length, was found last week to be enjoying the nice tourist town of Coral Bay and surrounds on the WA coast. Quite a way south!!! Not in the brochure as an optional extra, wildlife officers were a little miffed as what to do about the univited guest. We can oly assume that catching the rather large fellow was not in their job description, so in the interests of the local people and tourists, it was shot.

Of course there is also Bill’s croc story of his dinghy being death rolled by a crocodile, just after he had stepped out of it whilst anchored in Honeymoon Bay. The small croc had been hanging around another yacht that had fish hanging form the back of the boat.

The one that ‘takes the cake’ happened the other day. Two young guys decided to take their helicopter and collect some crocodile eggs. They landed near their ‘tinnie’ and off they went up the creek. They had a gun with them, as most station people do. Nothing unusual in that.

One of the young gentleman lent over the side and put his arm underwater to reach down and collect the eggs from the nest. As he was doing this..surprise..mummy was nearby (females always stand guard of their nest in case this very thing happens!) and grabbed his arm. The crocodile tried to pull him in the water. He shouted for his mate to shoot the crocodile. In panic, his mate(#2) indeed took a shot but missed and shot his (mate #1) arm off instead. They managed to get to Darwin Hospital and both survived! This did not reach the papers..one of the cruisers works in ED at Darwin Hospital!

We look forward to being somewhere where you can swim off the boat, puddle around in an inflatable and not have to worry about crocodiles!

Fabulous Fremantle

We were somewhat relieved to fly off to Perth late November for most of the wet season, leaving Stolen Kiss tethered in Tipperary Waters Marina, insured for the first time since we departed from Australia. The latest bit of expense gave us peace of mind. In hindsight (if only!!!!!!!) we need not have worried as the monsoon trough appeared to have sat further south than Darwin this year resulting in a very quiet wet season in Darwin city.

Initially we planned to head back to Darwin in January, which then became March with the pending arrival of yet another grandchild, who luckily was born 5 days before my return to Darwin. The first granddaughter who has three strapping brothers to contend with! Apart from spending time with family we were busy catching up with maintenance on our rental properties and buying yet more parts for Stolen Kiss. What happened to the idea of traveling light?

On returning home this year we took somewhat of a different perspective of Fremantle and our pristine sandy beaches that stretch as far as you can see. Maybe it was a quiet reflection on the other stunning beaches we had been to over the past 5 years. We made the most of the quiet mornings before the ‘Fremantle Doctor’ kicked in at 30 plus knots and swam in the stunning, shimmering crystal clear water of our local beaches.

It was a little strange being in our house again. (Our tenant had gone to Europe so we offered to house sit rent free – for her!) We have a small storage shed packed with our precious bits and pieces, some of which mysteriously appeared inside the house, taking up familiar places. As fast as they appeared, I put them back!! I didn’t want Peter getting any ideas of coming back just yet!!

Lyn and Steve from Carillon (who was parked opposite Stolen Kiss in Darwin) came down to Perth for a short time and stayed with us. We managed an afternoon sail on Hitchhiker on an unusually hot day (comparatively speaking as we had a very cool summer), which was just as well as nearly every other day was our normal 25 knot plus sea breeze. Also on offer was a drive through the Swan Valley wine region and a spin on a fast launch (Lyn and I forgot to ‘hang on’ when Peter open the throttles in the harbour and nearly fell off the back platform!!). It was a little like a ‘Miami Vice’ boat! Rather a long story as to what we were really doing on it!

As Rottnest Island is a real ‘must see’ in Perth, it could not be missed off Lyn and Steve’s itinerary. A quick ferry ride over for the day and Timmy there to pick us up and take us around to Stark Bay on Lady Jane was just perfect. As always, Timmy, a most gracious host at the best of times, afforded us a nice lunch washed with some fabulous wine! (He is a bit of a wine buff.) At least the two of us ‘locals’ managed a swim!

So much fun was had entertaining three young children (having lived through this once with Peter’s children!) that time whizzed by. What better excuse to legitimately (?) behave like a child again!! I had to keep reminding myself that my body was not twenty anymore and jogging along the beach (soft sand) with the children at surf lifesaving with an injured ankle (not one to show pain) was a tads over doing it! Where was Peter you ask????.....looking after his very pregnant daughter and youngest grandson in the restaurant enjoying the view over breakfast!!!! After much discussion, we managed to convince an 8 and 6 year old boy that being pounded in the surf and sitting out a shark alarm was actually fun. The question of ‘do sharks eat people?’ was asked and our reply along the lines that they sometimes get a little confused did put things into perspective! We were able to teach Thomas (a very astute 8 year old) to watch the wave pattern and time your run in and out of the surf. Whilst he managed to follow our instructions, it was indeed a case of ‘practice what you preach’ as I misjudged two waves the whole time and ended up being dumped, rolling up the beach in a very ungainly fashion, and even more pleased that it went unnoticed! Of course, grandpa who is really an old surfer dude, NEVER misses a wave! It was indeed a windy, rough summer!

We also had the pleasure in being able to share Di and Gorbar’s launching of their NEW boat! Our first NEW boat launching!! A bit of fun was had sailing and trips up and down the river as it went to and from the ocean to its new home at South of Perth Yacht Club. The electric winches were a treat in getting the mast back up (a few bridges necessitate mast lowering)…and also for getting the final trim of the headsail in 30 knots of breeze (when Gorbar wasn’t looking!). Due to the pending arrival of Lucy, Peter and I never made it together down to the Busselton Regatta to sail with Di and Gorbar, although Peter managed a weekend of racing the first weekend and I the sail home! In typical west coast style, we started off with a 22 knot E/SE breeze which finally died late afternoon being replaced by a 15 knot SW sea breeze. As our heading was north, there were smiles all around! The new Dufour was a little lively in the early morning, but nothing beats sailing along on a reach 200m off the beach all the way from Bunbury to Mandurah, some 45 miles. Gorbar was indeed in good company with Di, Heather and I! Averaging 8 knots for most of the day (even reefed down) enabled us to make Mandurah before sunset in 11 hours – at total of 75 miles. Great stuff!!!

It was soooo good to get back to Stolen Kiss. We were happy to return to a boat that was relatively clean and no mould! One of the kind yachties in the marina opened her up on the nice sunny days, of which we were very appreciative. Steve swam under the boat the other day and said we had an amazing amount of barnacles underneath, yet another yacht from Fremantle had only slime. Hard luck! Maybe it’s because we had sailed a few thousand miles since our last antifouling! Maybe we nee dot re-think hauling out before we head east. There will be no getting in the water until Lizard Island!

Well…the best laid plans…….Peter swam on the boat to check all and sundry and surprise….the shackle holding the board strop had broken again! Cheap Chinese crap that was only available in KK. So now a quick haul out before we depart! It appears that most yachts from Tipperary have gravitated at Spot On for their great haul out experience as well!!! Very expensive, but as this is the only game in town……. If it was just a bottom job we required we would have been happy on the piles. So, in line with the tide we will have our turn at negotiating the lift bay up the creek, hopefully at slack water. Surely it could not be any worse than Wavemaster, Langkawi or Kudat!

As a squall of 40 knots came through the marina in a thunderstorm, we were happy not to have been at anchor. Clearly we have been tucked up here far too long!

Plans are now underway to head east. As daunting as it is, we are forever hopeful of a quiet season of SE winds and the center of the highs being in the Bight!! Stylopora and Time Out are in the enviable position of being there after having done the trip last year. Hopefully it won’t be the ‘pay back’ of all the beautiful sailing we have had in SE Asia.