Cobra Queen

Yacht Cobra Queen Exraordinary Class Yacht

YACHT COBRA QUEEN 10 guests in 5 air-conditioned extra class deluxe cabins with en suite Bath and WC. Technical Data: Turkish flagged Ketch, Length over Deck 32.00 m, Beam 7.80 m, Draft 2.55 m, Sail 550 m2, Engine 440 HP MAN X 2, Freshwater 15.000 lt, Fuel 5.000 lt. Comfort / Recreation: Spacious sun deck area with Sun mattresses and cushions, Sun awning, Cushioned aft deck with a large table, Deck chairs, spacious saloon with bar and dining table, Music Set, Plasma TV, DVD, Zodiac with 100 HP, Snorkel and Fishing Equipment, Canoe, 1 Windsurfer, Jet Ski. Equipment: Complete navigation equipments, Mobile Phone, Generator 2 x 20 kW, 22.5 + 220 V, Life Raft, Life Jackets, Fire Extinguishers, Fully equipped Galley, Refrigerator, Deep Freezer, Ice Boxes, Ice Maker. Cabins: 1 Master cabin with king size bed, 3 cabins with queen berth, 1 cabin with queen and double berth. Each cabin has massage showers, TV, DVD and music system. All cabins with air conditioning system and en suite shower and 'hometype vacuum flash' toilet. All cabins with portholes, wardrobe, drawer, mirror, smoke detector. Crew: 5 (Captain, Chef, Sailors, Hostess) in separate crew quarters. Language: Turkish, English. Embarkation: Harbors Bodrum, Gocek or Marmaris depending on date of charter. Optional: Food and beverages per person per day including local liquors Euro 70. TERMS AND CONDITIONS • All prices are in EURO [€] per day; • Prices include crew, fuel (up to 4 hours cruising per day, all harbour taxes & dues within the Turkish and Greek Territorial Waters, ; • Prices include the airport transfers; • Prices include the food & soft drinks; • Prices exclude the Private Marinas fees • Prices do not include alcoholic beverages; such are charged in accordance to the list specific to the particular trip; • Water-ski, wind-surf & wake-board are optional; • Prices do not include VAT; • Price of the tour is paid in two installments; 50 % of the payment is made after confirmation, and the other half one month before departure; • The embarkment (at 15:00) and disembarkment (at 10:00) port is Bodrum (and/or Gocek); • Option duration is one week maximum. Plan of cabins:

Cruising stories

This is what I recently wrote for a book launch. It is one of THE best cruising stories I have read and worthy of a read. The book is available from Amazon as an ebook and hard copy.

Scenic Route to Paradise

My introduction to Jay was only recently via a third party, being Gordon Dunbar. It is through the experiences of both my husband and myself that Jay invited me to talk today.
Our cruising having being 40, 000 miles over the last 10 years pales into insignificance with Jay's 200,000 miles, but in those miles comes the shared knowledge, enjoyment, discovery, experiences of local communities, understanding, and the camaraderie of all of us who go cruising. Its the sum total of your personal endeavour to survive, especially in adverse conditions and the pure enjoyment of what life on the ocean brings.

Di and Gorbar with Peter and I at the book launch

The camaraderie of those who sail is what glues cruising folk together in an otherwise transient life. It is what glues you all together as part of SofPYC or other clubs to which you belong. When you sail into a new anchorage, either you go visiting the other yachts or they will come to you. Immediate friendships usually evolve from this contact, some which may last a life time.

The hardest part of going cruising is letting go the dock lines and heading out on your first passage. Although we had a lifetime of sailing experience by the time we departed in April, 2003, a dear friend who was so worried about us being able to undertake this adventure, came as far as Shark Bay with us to at least make sure we did not sink in the first 300 miles.

As Jay wrote....

It’s funny those first few miles of a passage. I was only going as far as Cowes before stopping for the night,though I couldn’t kid myself into believing that it wasn’t the beginning of something much bigger, just as the departure from Fremantle three years before, there’s a curious mixture of excitement at the voyage ahead, apprehension that perhaps one has bitten off more than one’s teeth can handle, joy to be finally at sea after all the preparation and fear that after all that preparation you’ve been a bloody idiot and forgotten something really important. Maybe it’s a normal feeling experienced by all, whether novice or master mariner, certainly I’ve felt it and it can be most disconcerting.

Although Jay had done many miles before he set forth on his adventure on Mavoureen, he left with his mother and an additional crew member. When he departed Fremantle in October 1994, neither he or his mother had planned a circumnavigation. Cruising for many is just like that. It starts with a small step and a wonderment of what is over the horizon....but the horizon is always just a little further over there and it is easy to get caught up with just going a little further...just because....it's a bit like walking those extra steps to see what is around the corner or over the hill!

On departing FSC, getting past Geraldton seems to be the first milestone......surviving too many Geraldton races seems to spring to mind as to the reason for this.

Jay's circumnavigation was done without out a lot of creature comforts that we have, being a bigger boat, electronic charts, an autopilot that is reliable and steers the boat 99% of the time and protection from the elements in the cockpit. Our bedding is always dry and we tend to keep the ocean out of the inside of the boat.

Technology has enabled us to choose better weather windows and have more enjoyable passages, however there is always that wonderment at times as to why you are a actually out there? ( One instance for us was in our crossing of the Gulf of Panama. There are many horror stories of yachts sailing up to Panama from the Pacific coast. We had blown out our mainsail due to our own complacency, had light winds up to Punt Mita and thought how hard can 80 miles be? We soon found out as the sun set, the wind rose to 45 knots, the seas up to 4m and we were crossing them, falling into huge holes, in a shipping lane, awfully underpowered with our small trisail and an engine that kept cutting out. Our AIS screen looked like a dot matrix for most of the night.)

Of course the sun comes out and another day dawns, there is a nice calm anchorage waiting for you and all is forgiven. We did feel a little better when we heard that a power boat that had passed us earlier in the day took the coastal route around the Gulf and got equally hammered and a smaller yacht took 3 weeks to sail up the Gulf having to contend with the strong northerly winds on their northerly course.

Jay's experience in transiting the Panama Canal had its pucker factor moments.

The only point of danger for us in the whole transit of the canal was at the last lock. The tide was low and the ship behind had to get up a fair rate of speed to plow through the mud at the outer door of the lock. At the top of the Miraflores lock he had got stuck and it took over an hour for tugs to come through from Gamboa and shove him from the stern into each of the bottom locks. The one piece of advice all skippers had been given is not to get ahead of the pressure wave of the ship behind, otherwise you could be pushed sideways and be run over by the ship. You are supposed to keep aligned out of the lock and stay in the lock’s muddy water until the ship pushes the water with you floating on it clear of the entry walls of the lock proper, a distance of about 150 metres. With the ship already close behind and he hoping to get a run up to clear the silt, a pressure wave a metre and a half built up at the front of the lock. We went surfing when there was no water passing by and because of that there was no steerage. We were lucky that we had the boat lined up for the exit and lucky too that Mavourneen has a long straight keel. By the time the pressure had dissipated into the wider waters of the Balboa harbour we were perilously close to some of the concrete pylons marking the guide walls into the lock. Harry’s full revs and the big three bladed prop dragged us away from the rough wall and even the pilot took some time for his eyes to change from dinner plate size to mere saucers. I think we all just watched as the barnacle and mussel clad poles shot past.
Jay's sailing was a lot tougher than ours has been.

His ability to find the needle in the haystack with a sextant and navigate coral reef by sight, without detailed charts is real seat of the pants stuff. Every year yachts cross the Pacific (Jay and I agree that the name is such a misnomer) and come to grief because they do not understand the colour of the water around coral reef. When we crossed last year, there was 1 tragedy with all hands lost and 4 yachts that we know of landing on reef, some yachts saved and some not.

Jay alerted one yacht coming out of Auitutaki in the Cook Islands, who ignored Jay's warnings and promptly ended up on the reef.

Coming into the Canaries on a delivery, Jay shows us how it's done....bear in mind that this was just after Jay and his crew almost lost the boat off the North African Coast.....a bit of a nerve wracking experience.....

The wind was again around 40 knots as I steered towards the entrance doing better than 6 knots. I tried to stall the rudder to slow us down to no avail and I didn’t want to get into the harbour without some sort of sail in case I had to abort and sail out again. We powered into the basin and were horrified to find that the harbour was chockerblock full of yachts and that the 40x25 metre space had shrunk to 25 to 15! I went past the fuel dock at 6 knots and prayed that I could get Maitresse around in her own length (a feat that would be impossible for Mavourneen). I kept the headsail aback as we came through the wind which pushed her bow round smartly, then called for it to be dropped. A few heads popped out of yachts’ companionways at the racket of flogging sails. We were still going fast and I reached across the wind for 20 metres before tacking again and reaching back to where we had dropped the sail. Our speed had halved and as I pushed her up into the wind to approach the dock the speed dropped even further. I had a sickening feeling that I had lost too much speed and that the head wind against our spars and rigging was going to stop us before we got there. We drifted up to the leeward end of the dock and Matt made an heroic leap to the wharf taking the bowline with him. He ran forward and secured as far forward as the rope would reach before getting the stern line that Bronwen had thrown. We moved the boat forward to lay securely against the piles. We heard a smattering of applause from our audience on the other boats. The fuel attendant came grumpily out of his office and told us we couldn’t stay there. I said we had no motor to which he replied “Bravo signor!”

Captain Ron comes to mind! (If you have never seen this movie, I suggest you do! A good laugh!)

With our Pacific crossing we knew that the last 500 miles or so, approaching the Australian coast had the potential to be the worst weather. Last year with a front crossing the Tasman every 5 days, we waited and waited in Noumea for a window. We had a wild ride on the back of a front for a few days before the wind died. At least the wind stayed behind us. Other yachts who left before us got hammered and one almost sank, having two choppers staying overhead until they made it behind an island for shelter. Jay took a bit of a beating in his crossing.....

Three days out from the Bay of Islands we encountered a rather stiff northwesterly which stripped us of a third of our miles made good and made us beat into the seas. After two day of winds in the 30-35 knot range, they backed through to SSW and we began scooting to the WNW. Enormous swells of 12-15m topped by seas of 2 or more metres made descent of these slopes precarious. Under triple reefed main and our diminutive storm headsail, we roared down the faces of these leviathans. Occasionally a rogue sea would smack into us from abeam and, as Mavourneen is a low wooded craft, we often had our own paddling pool in the cockpit’s footwell. Shortly after noon on the 28th we were surfing a beauty, when we were hit by a corker on the port beam and down she went. As the starboard side windows looked down into 4000 metres of Tasman briny blue, we both wondered if she would continue on her rotation. A seemingly never-ending hesitation as she thought of tripping on her gunwale, before deciding it wasn’t worth carrying all that lead if it wasn’t going to be used in situations just like this. She rattled upright, shook herself like a wet dog and blasted off in hot pursuit of the offending waves.

Jay also takes a step further of being 'out there' as a single hander; out of the 62,700 miles sailed on Mavoureen, 18,800 miles was single handing. We have sailed some 10,000 miles in company of a single hander. The question arises....are they all a little strange....and the answer.....of course! When the single handers meet up they generally all hang out together .....meeting of like minds!

So when Gordon told me about Jay and the book, my immediate reaction was high on the 'wow' factor.

How honoured I am to have been asked to talk today as Jay has captured the essence of all that it means to go cruising. His vast sailing experience is as understated as he is. Jay has written this book with such elegance and precision. Maybe his mother, suggesting he should have been a writer and not a boat builder was right!

Jay takes the reader from the early beginnings, through the decision to go cruising, the buying of the boat and the preparations and of course the adventure itself. Jay has not only shared his adventure with us but also a fascinating insight into the wonderful places he has visited and the wealth in experiences gained from the people he met along the way.

Whilst the camaraderie of cruisers is second to none, its the unexpected interaction with local people that is so very Inspiring. Scenic Route to Paradise is an adventure rich in experience that goes beyond the obvious of Jay's sailing adventure, which happens to be his passion, being on the ocean; where the less firma, the more terror.

Jay's decision to go cruising was not because he was looking for any accolades or extrinsic rewards but because of the pure joy of being on the ocean and dealing with what ever Mother Nature threw at him.
Mother Nature can be so awesome. The countless sun rises, moon sets and gliding along under a full moon or a star studded sky is something you just don't forget or tyre of. Jay's description is so vivid.

The predawn light brings a touch of colour to the otherwise sepia hue of our nightime vigils. This time of day is particularly enchanting, the waning moon still several hours to set casts her silvery path for us to follow to the west. The strongest and boldest of the stars remain in the sky despite the enlarging and blossoming glow of the soon to arrive sun. About the horizon are a few random and friendly, fluffy clouds. The morning star the brightest of all appears to be straining mightily on the sun’s umbilical to draw over the lip of the horizon to begin the new day; knowing all the while that with the sun’s appearance so the star will die.

Jay continues with a wonderful description of the sun set and moon rise. This daily sequence of life at sea is something to behold and indeed there are times when you are sitting in the cockpit after a rough, wet black night hurtling into oblivion when you praise the coming of first light....or maybe it's better not to see the waves coming at you!

The cruising lifestyle allows one to have time on their hands, which is a good thing as it can take a day to fuel, another to obtain gas and yet another day or two to re-vital. In an isolated anchorage in Sulawesi, we decided to take a young boy upon his offer to get fuel for us. We gave him all our jerry cans, enough money for what the fuel should cost and a small tip, promising another reward on his return. We had a bit of a laugh at the thought that we may never see him again, however the next morning he paddled out to us in his dugout and the fuel. In cruising you have to believe in the inherent goodness in everyone you meet and we have yet to be disappointed.

There is always the unexpected as Jay found out on one fuel run when he was rowing over unexploded ordinance on his way to the fuel dock; which can be a tads alarming, as can finding out that your copper lined tank for sherry storage on tap, may not have been your best decision.

As with any cruising story, the antics of anchoring is always entertaining, but eating goats eye soup does go a little beyond one's imagination, especially when the eyeball is looking at you! I nearly fell over from laughter reading about a knee trembler.....I have not heard that term for a long time and it may need a short explanation for foreign readers!

There are actually two adventures shared here.....the journey itself and the writing of that journey.

 To quote Helen Keller, "Life is a daring adventure or nothing".

There is adventure in all that we do from club racing, exploring what ever our passion to raising children. Life can certainly be a juggling act with the wonderment of how you manage to keep all the balls in the air and of course some times you don't. Imagine if we could write down and record all the adventures of you all here or the people from SoPYC.....what amazing stories would be told. Perhaps Jay's book might inspire others to do just that.

Whether you are setting out to sail to distant shores, dreaming about an adventure or just sitting down to enjoy a great yarn, you will very much enjoy Scenic Route to Paradise.

Everyone has a story to tell and this is Jay's story.

Jay 

Back to Bundaberg

Peter spent a week in Bundaberg to organise work to be done on the boat and to fit our new additions. It is the first time either of us has been on board since the floods and it was a relief to see that we were dry inside and that there was no mould. Vinegar is our saving grace! We are secure in an excellent cradle (different to the one we left her in!) and you can see the chain above, holding each side of the cradle.

We appear to be leak free; that is, until we go sailing again! It seems that Peter has finally, after several attempts, fixed the leak around the mast collar.

Our split coupling is on and we have great hopes for it to hold on to the shaft! Peter was able to cut the worn    key way off and attach the split coupling. He had thought long and hard about this repair and it saved us having to buy a new shaft, which is problematic as we have to drop the rudder to get it out.

So now we have the new gear box, the flexible coupling and the split coupling!

We also have high hopes for the Kiwi Prop, allowing us to motor faster than 4.5 knots! Peter had the nut machined to fit in Bundaberg, but other than that, all assembled easily.

The batteries were fully charged so the solar panels had done their job well. Cushions are off being re-covered so we look forward to getting everything back together.

Whilst looking for transport and accommodation for the week, Peter decided on a Mr Juicy van for $32/day from Brisbane. He stayed in the marina car park for the week, having access to ablutions there. What a fabulous solution! The van came with all the necessary equipment and unlimited miles. He could not stay on board as the boat is still in the storage yard. Peter was allowed access to the boat during the day. There is no power or water in this section of the yard, but you can do work on the inside of the boat.

Meanwhile summer in Perth is sort of over and we are waiting for winter rains. There have been sensational beach days and of course sun sets!

Our plan is to head north up to the Whitsundays then down to Sydney for summer. Hitchhiker is doing Hamilton Island Race Week which Sam (sail master) and Barn (trimmer) are of course involved in. We will be the proud 'olds' watching from the sidelines.

PPJ Recap

Its almost May and Peter has gone off to Bundaberg for a week to check on the boat and organise work that has to be done.

He managed to drag 40kg of spares over and we have more!!! Considering all the stuff we now have on board has been added since 2009 when we bought the boat in Mexico, that is a lot of luggage dragged across the Pacific and now Australia!

We have engine parts, a new prop and an amazing split coupling from the UK. Beautiful, solid stainless steel! The new assy is on its way, so we are now more equipped to do some light air sailing..which means life according to Murphy...we will get a beating!

There are cushions to be re-upholstered and other bits to add. We can't afford the $4000 to get the bottom soda blasted (so OTT!) but we are going to pay people to sand the anitfouling instead. We figure there is 20 years of a build up of paint on the bottom...just more weight to push around!


Below is the link for the PPJ 2012 recap. Some great comments which also allow us ot re-visit so many awesome memories of people and places.Very pertinent comments like..the SE Trades being non-existent and the constant cross swells. We have a comment published......importance of weather of course! Intersting stats. Remember this is only for the crossing from the Americas to the Marquesas...the big long leg! Interesting to see the difference in miles sailed from yacht to yacht given those leaving from the same locations. We did not have any breakages at that point, but them of course we had gear box and engine issues (injectors) later in Tahiti. Not sure why we did not put our engine hours down...to many to count??? We actually sailed over 70% of the way, but given the distance and the limit of fuel on board, that is not surprising.  All in all, we did well!

http://www.pacificpuddlejump.com/articles/12PPJRecap.pdf

Summer Sizzles On

We are now in Autumn but the days are continuing to get up to 35 C, however we are now having cooler nights and a few cooler days.

Cottelsoe Beach had their annual Sculptures By The Sea, which was a lot of fun. Some great ideas. In the background above are a group of sticks with wind vanes on them. They create music through a bamboo tube ..like Indonesian Angklungs. We will have to go listen when we get a huge sea breeze!

What else would one do but enjoy Gelati by the beach??

We now have our Kiwi Prop from NZ..feathering prop as opposed to folding.....we now hope that we can motor at around 6 - 7 knots. Now that would be novel for us! Wonderful service from the Kiwis of course! We are also in the market for an assy, so hopefully less motoring and more sailing in light breezes. People had said to us that we would suffer from not having light air sails in the Pacific...should have listened...maybe then our gear box would have made it to Fiji and saved us a heap....

Bundaberg is recovering from the floods and we hope to be back on board in June, then back here for 10 days in July to mind the grandchildren whilst Emily and Mark take a holiday.

Hitchhiker, with Sam and Barn are doing Hamilton Is Race week, so we will head up to there with Stolen Kiss, then down to Sydney for the summer. We have invites to go to Magnetic Is Race week, so if we can make it we will. (A taste of racing here and we just can't help ourselves!!)

Due to the number of yachts last year that overstayed their visas in French Polynesia, the government has had a severe crack down from this year.....an interesting year if those crossing the Pacific are not up to scratch on their info.

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/FrenchPolynesia/french-polynesia-hefty-fines-if-a-yacht-and-crew-overstay-permitted-time

As for our refund from Customs/Ozone, apparently they are ensuring that yachts importing next year will not be charged...so beware...you do not have to pay the Ozone Tax, even if Customs say you have to. If anyone is in contact with Ganga and Happy Cat, who were made to pay the tax in Coffs, let them know about pursuing a refund. We have not got ours yet, but apparently it is coming!

HOT OFF THE PRESS....Refund has been approved and should be in our bank next week! Thanks to Customs. Department of Sustainability ....hopefully their poor legislation can be changed with a change of government later in the year. (We live in hope!) Such a scam. So....if you are importing a yacht into Australia, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY OZONE TAX! Bundaberg is now clear on this, lets hope other ports are!

We are both gainfully employed and are meeting our wish list for the boat! We miss cruising and especially the wonderful people we have met!

Bundaberg Floods 2013

We gave much thought to where we would leave Stolen Kiss for the cyclone season. Lucky for us, our choice so far has paid off. Thumbs up for Bundaberg Port Marina at the mouth of the Burnett River, which was largely untouched by the floods, both this time and in 2011. The river peaked just over 1/2m from the top of the wall!!

The storage yard was dry and our covers still on. Fortunately for us, the 6 tornadoes touched down 1.5 miles to the south of us.

We have heard from friends up and down the coast and all are ok. Approximately 40 yachts were washed down the Burnett River; some have yet to be found and some washed up on the rocks at the entrance. We heard of a cat that had washed out of the Burnett River and ended up, on its own, on a sandbar on an island off Brisbane. It had gone down the Great Sandy Straits, over Wide Bay Bar, on its own. Amazing! We have found in other tidal races (floods must be similar) that the force of the water tends to keep the boat in the fast flowing water - where it is deepest. When we were in the Kimberley, we experienced one tidal race where we knew the chart was inaccurate and a big rock was in the middle. (Middle Rock!). The fact that the yacht that went through before us was aground on the mud bank was a bit of a hint. Although the saying 'still waters run deep', at 9 knots of boat speed we made a split decision to follow the 'bumpiest' track..we did not see depths under 25m and were doing to 11 knots across the bottom! A pucker factor moment!

One chap left the Mary River whilst in flood and had a wild ride down to Great Sandy Strait where he found shelter. Brown trouser stuff for sure.

Ex tropical cyclone Oswald has left its mark. Much of the north and east of Bundaberg is underwater and many people only saw their wrecked houses yesterday (Feb 2). Our heart goes out to all of those people who lost their house and cherished possessions. Many people are talking of leaving; no doubt that the event will leave a long lasting impact on Bundaberg.

The emergency services and police did their usual amazing rescues, airlifting people from roof tops at the height of the flood. Two women and a 14th month old baby boy were in the back of a ute. Their rescuer found a black sports bag in the back of the heli and they put the little boy in, zipped up the bag and he was then carried up into the heli. Poor little chap came out trembling and crying but he was alive. These people are absolute heroes and work endlessly until the job is done. The were many stories with happy endings, and of course pictures say it all.

This awesome shot came from Mooloolaba as the tropical depression kept heading south.

A High stalled over NZ feeding the low with moist easterlies, feeding it and keeping it going. An amazing system that formed as a low, then a cyclone in the Gulf of Carpentaria, crossing over Cape York, then swinging back over the coast south of Cairns and it just kept coming.It impacted on almost all of the east coast of Australia.

Our new prop, Kiwi Prop, made in NZ has now been made and we have other bits and bobs arriving. We have very little faith in Customs in Bundaberg so would prefer to deal with Customs in Perth. A little more to do here until June, then off to the boat and we will decide either to go to Hammi Island for race week, then head down to Sydney, or to just head south from Bundaberg.

I am still communicating with the authorities in order to get my overpayment back. The current Labor government should be ashamed of itself as it seems it did a deal (or two or three) with the Greens to pass any laws they wanted to in return for their support. That is the only way such poor legislation could have been passed to give the Department of Environment and Sustainability unquestionable powers allowing them to obtain money by deceit. Shame on them!

Meanwhile, we have been busy and enjoying summer in Perth, which is turning out to be a hot one!

Sizzling Summer in Perth

Summer in Perth...our first for a very long time! There is nothing like it. Between xmas and New Year, we have had a week of temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius. Only 1 place to be......at the beach!!

We might not have palm trees, but we have lots of space and amazing white sand and gloriously clear water!

Our time has been flying by with Peter working and dividing our time between the grandchildren and boating with friends. What else does one do when away from Stolen Kiss???

A weekend down south with the 4 grandchildren on our own was just delightful. The two older ones are self sufficient so there are only the two smaller ones to really watch out for. 

Every year our friend Timmy takes his Grand Banks to Rotto for the Kite Surfing race back to Fremantle. 

The trip down the river and over to Rotto is just as enjoyable with Di and Gorbar also at the ready. 

The harbour is nice and quiet before xmas. The white building represents an upside down dinghy and is our Maritime Museum.

We got to spend lunch in Thompson's Bay whilst Timmy went to the briefing. Very quiet here as well!! A different story over the xmas break.

It takes the kite surfers around 26 minutes to do the 9km dash. By the time we finish the start, get anchors up and move off, they are half way there. What a spectacle!! They had a 22 knot sea breeze, so a little wind for them.

The local rag published a great photo of the start boat from the beach!!

Peter's two boys had some of the xmas cooking in hand......most of the men in our family are the chef's! Good role modelling from their dad!!