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Children’s Radio
Something needs to be done about the uncontrolled use of the VHF and 27MHz Marine Radios EMERGENCY CHANNELS by thoughtless little children who are obviously not being supervised by their equally irresponsible parents.
The children’s language also leaves a great deal to be desired and even when they are told they are blocking emergency channels they don’t seem to care – they just continue on with their rude little noises and vulgar prattle.
It’s especially of concern at this time of the year, and with holidays coming up, I am sure everybody would appreciate it if their bottoms were spanked (and their children’s, too).
Thanks for a great magazine.
Christine Williams,
Cromer.
Mooring reflectors for visibility at night
With all these collisions on the waterways at night, may be it’s time to look at the visibility of boats on the water both moving and moored.
We all know it’s not easy to distinguish between lights on the shore and lights on boats and any other objects in the water, could the solution be that they have a highly reflective strip around the gunwales and perhaps across the stern?
Most of the reflective tape you see on road signs today are highly visible even in low light conditions, and it comes in various colours, so it can even be colour matched to the hull if required.
Peter Du Ross,
Grose Vale.
Jervis Bay – open for boaties
Further to Greg Troy’s article regarding boating facilities in Jervis Bay (Afloat, Oct 08).
Contrary to opinion expressed in the article, the Marine Parks Authority supports the establishment of environmentally sustainable boating facilities in the marine park on a needs basis including boat ramps, wharves, moorings, vessel hard stands, effluent pump out and refuelling facilities.
When the zoning plan was developed in 2002, sanctuary zones were placed to include, among other things, representative samples of each habitat type and sites that contain important natural and cultural values.
The Huskisson Sanctuary Zone was selected to protect subtidal reef and intertidal rock platform habitat, including the geologically unique Glendonite Beds listed on the Register of the National Estate. The sanctuary zone was not placed in order to thwart the potential for boating facilities.
The Authority provides for ecologically sustainable use and public enjoyment through multiple-use zoning.
It is not the Authority’s role to develop commercial infrastructure such as a marina. The Authority does, however, provide facilities that help boat owners minimise their impact on the environment, such as public moorings (of which there are 16, not three as mistakenly stated in the article).
The Authority has been invited to an upcoming meeting of the Executive Marina Committee and I look forward to participating in this forum.
Matt Carr,
Manager, Jervis Bay Marine Park.
No-go zone at Jervis Bay
Greg Troy, you wonder “why there is so much resistance to some basic boating facilities in Jervis Bay?” (Afloat, Oct 08).
Firstly I base my opinions as a local resident, and commercial operator with over 10,000 hours logged as the master of one of the Bay’s largest passenger vessels, and a serious recreational boating ‘addict’.
Let me shed some light on the subject for you then. For starters though, let’s get some of the facts straight.
There are 16 moorings in the JBMP, not three as stated in your article. The other 13 you forgot to mention are at Bindigine Beach near Honeymoon Bay, not to mention six of the best-placed moorings on the coast in a southerly in Booderee National Park on the southern side of the bay.
There are facilities to tie up, unload, pump out and carry out mechanical repairs. You just have to pick your tide, remember we’re on south coast time now! Admittedly the pump out apparatus does need to have better accessibility to the general public.
As far as an emergency goes, I have never heard of HMAS Creswell turning away anyone with a genuine need for assistance, as has been my personal experience on a number of occasions as a vessel master. So you could say that we have the best emergency facility on the entire east coast in the form of the Royal Australian Navy.
And Stuart Berley, as a commercial operator, I have never seen tourists on a whale-watching vessel being rowed out to join a vessel or 44 gallon drums of fuel being rolled down the street.
Maybe you are confusing this with one of the dive boats using a tender with an outboard motor and 60 litre drums of fuel being wheeled down the street on a trolley when the service station was operating? There’s a big difference.
Sensationalising the issue will get you nowhere. Granted services do need improving, and for that I don’t have the answer, but we don’t need a marina or harbour development to satisfy the need for short term developer profits, or deluded visions of apparent progress at the expense of modifying the natural processes of our greatest natural asset which is Jervis Bay.
If you want a boating mecca with all the bells and whistles you’ll be well catered for at Port Stephens. If you want an example of what Botany Bay would have looked like prior to white settlement come to Jervis Bay, just plan ahead and take your time and you will be richly rewarded.
Greg Reid,
Jervis Bay.
Urana born again
You published a letter of mine about an old boat, Urana, I had purchased in the hope of finding out a little about her history (Afloat, July’07).
Well, despite being none the wiser with information on her, I am happy to say that after 20 months she is now fully restored and back in service, living on the Woronora River in Sydney.
While I like to think I did a fair bit of work on her myself, credit for the top quality finish must go to my friends Craig, Russell and Tod at High Tide Marine at Taren Point. I would also like to thank my good friend John MacKenzie from J-Mac Marine for his engineering and moral support.
I hope these before and after photos are a bit of inspiration for others who are halfway through similar projects.
Neil Farmer,
Woronora.
Pain and the ethical dilemma of fishing
I read with interest the article by David Lockwood, ‘Do Fish Feel Pain?’ (Afloat, Nov’08) and feel he may have stirred up a hornet’s nest. The research I have looked into appears to have conflicting options. The main argument against fishing is simply that it is cruel and the other side of the equation is just how do fish feel pain (if any).
Michael LaChat, a Professor of Christian Ethics, at The Methodist Theological School in Ohio submitted an essay entitled ‘An argument in Defense of Fishing’.
LaChat points out that many of the anti-fishing proponents tend to greatly exaggerate the similarity between animal and human, thereby giving their arguments apparent greater credibility than they deserve. For example, an oft-quoted study of ‘pain’ in fish in 1994 equated escape behaviour with pain perception.
However, as LaChat noted, even brain-dead humans may show reflex escape from pain stimuli. This is the key concept, in that the human body can ‘perceive’ and even react to ‘pain’ stimulation without being aware (or conscious) of it. It is quite possible that this is the norm in fish, so the question is: Is non-conscious ‘pain-perception’ worthy of moral consideration? In other words, if a fish is not conscious of pain, as we are, should we be concerned from a human point of view?
I think not. I don’t even think the terms ‘pain’ or ‘perception’ should be used in such cases, since both imply conscious states that are enabled by a neocortical substrate.
The neocortex is part of the brain in humans, which makes consciousness and experience possible, and there is little if any evidence that the neocortex exists in the brain of fish. LaChat concludes, “therefore, it is unlikely that fish consciously ‘experience’ so called ‘pain’ stimuli at all.”
In light of the above I put the question “Do fish feel pain?’ to Dr Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences at the Macquarie University and his answer is quite adamant.
“Absolutely. Our lab in Edinburgh has shown that all the neural networks are in place. They have exactly the same kind of pain receptors that we do. The question is how do they process the information in the brain. This is the tricky part as we don’t fully understand how our own brain works let alone a fish brain works. But there is every indication they suffer just as we do.”
Another question I put to Dr Culum Brown was about catch and release and do fish remember being caught?
“Fish definitely remember being caught. There are a lot of examples of hook and trawl/net avoidance in fish. For the most part being caught by line is a traumatic event, and one that a fish will not forget. Why do fish get repeatedly caught? Because they need to eat. Wild fish are always hungry and we as anglers go to great lengths to offer them food that we know they like to eat.
“So the fish has no choice really. It must eat and run the risk of being caught. So fisherman should treat fish as any other hunting event. There is bound to be some ethical consideration for each individual to face up to. If you don’t like hunting animals then don’t go fishing. Similarly there is conflict between conservation of fish stocks and animal ethics, essentially capture-release is not ethical from a animal welfare perspective, but it is best practice from a conservation perspective.”
Graham Clarke,
Dora Creek.
‘Ferry’ impressive handling skills
On a recent engineering training day I was fortunate to be present on the bridge of the Sydney Ferry Freshwater to observe safety procedures and vessel operations.
This was a first hand look at the skills required by a Master to negotiate an extremely busy harbour, inhabited by various types of private vessels both power and sail … sadly often skippered by people with little or no knowledge of collision regulations.
It was appalling to see people completely confused and oblivious of who gives way and who stands on. At one point our eagle-eyed Master Rob quickly spotted two heads bobbing around in the water half a mile from shore in transit lanes used by the ferries.
I was shocked to see people in the water so far from shore without any high visibility head wear, a truly dangerous frolic in the water that could end in tragedy.
However, our professional Master promptly put out a call over the radio to all other vessels in the area, alerting them of the swimmers position to which another Manly ferry acknowledged the warning.
I couldn’t help but wonder if any passengers on the Sydney ferries appreciate the high level of skill exercised by the crew during thousands of journeys and berthing manoeuvres made every week with complete safety.
A very commendable effort considering the fact that they are surrounded on the water by incompetent buffoons both on and above the waterline.
My sincere gratitude to a very professional, patient and courteous Rob Gawthorne whose vessel handling skills had me ‘ferry’ impressed.
Stephen Johnston, Blacktown.
Trinity Point
Doomed Proposal. I don’t think so. It is interesting when minorities get together to stop progress they come up with some amazing facts (most unconfirmed) just to look after their own interests (Afloat, Sep & Nov’08). While the helicopter pad may be a bit of overkill the marina certainly is not. What a great boost for the area. I see there is no mention by Mr Mayall of all the walkways and parklands that are also planned. It’s good to see he is gracious enough to let water skiers and jet skiers use his lake as well.
I sail the lake in my yacht, cruise the lake in a “large stink boat” on many occasions and potter around in a tinny.
There is no way that anyone could be bored to tears in 30 minutes on the best bit of water in the state. The proposed marina, while it may cater to some visitors, will mainly be used by people who live on the lake and love it and are certainly not bored with it. What comparison can be drawn between Rafferty’s and Trinity Point marina?
Rafferty’s was a badly run resort tucked away on the other side of the lake. Trinity point will be a collection of resort, shops and marina.
If the sharks and razor fish are such a problem why are people swimming in other parts of the lake. Maybe we need to close the lake to all users just in case they get bitten or cut their foot. I am sure Mr Mayall would like the skiers and jet skiers to meet his vicious sharks.
Alan Gurman,
Dora Creek.
Caveat Lector
I feel I must nominate Gavin Sorrell’s piece on Alternators (Afloat, Nov’08) for the Professor B. Wilder medallion (bronze medal with oak leaf cluster) which is awarded for comprehensive application of mud to the windscreen. I’m sure all those with their masters degree in alternator science will nod their heads in appreciation of the points made in the article, but for neophytes like me who thought they understood a tiny bit about alternators from their high school physics, we will henceforth be afraid to cast even a sideways glance at them.
I think the article should have had, at the very beginning, a warning, such as used to be on old seafarer’s maps – Beware. Beyond this point thar be dragons!
David Colfelt, Berry.
Tangalooma mooring buoys
Why are there about a dozen mooring buoys along the beach of Moreton Island between the Tangalooma wrecks and the resort, that are never or rarely used?
We are regular boating visitors to Tangalooma, and it is annoying, and in certain circumstances downright dangerous, to not be able to anchor in reasonable water depths because of the requirement to keep a suitable distance, day and night, from each and every one of these never or rarely used unlit mooring buoys. This may seem a small complaint, but the authorities should understand the greater consequences of these issues.
John Brinkley,
S.V. Mieke, Brisbane.
Naughtycal terms
I understood Afloat to be a magazine for people of nautical interest. How then can you approve Malcolm Riley to use non-nautical distances in his October article? Kilometres are not a nautical measurement. There is also an advertisement in the same issue. Tis a lovely picture, but it bothered me for a minute or so … NO stanchions or lifelines on a yacht in unconfined waters? The yacht in the photo would have to be at least 35ft.
Is it not an in-house responsibility for Afloat to not display such blatant contravention of Safety Of Life at Sea?
Alan Chapman, M.M. Ret’d,
Warners Bay.
Sharing of moorings
The two letters in the October issue of Afloat regarding casual use of private moorings prompts me to forward my incident. About two years ago and early on a Sunday morning I picked up a slimy unmarked buoy in Double Bay. The privacy myself and my wife were soon enjoying was compromised when three faces appeared at the porthole. I had failed to hear the Waterways quiet four stroke.
The young female officer told me that it was not my mooring, I did not know its condition and if it broke my boat would damage ALL the boats in the bay. I tried to explain that I had inspected the top chain (usually the weakest section), it was dead calm conditions, I was not leaving the boat, my batteries and engines were reliable and I had serviced moorings in the harbour for 20 years.
A parking ticket followed which I opted to take to court. After several letters of brinkmanship the Waterways authority backed down before the hearing.
The point of my persistence was that in my opinion there is probably more good done to the unused mooring by stretching the twisted chain links which develop electrolysis and keeping the mid and ground chains in line with other moorings.
After all it is usually only for an hour or two. Of course the boat should be occupied, not significantly oversized (usually compared to neighbouring boats), and perhaps not in exposed windy conditions.
As registrations increase, marina developments constantly challenged and the ever increasing number of privately moored boats (some of questionable condition) makes for tight or impossible anchoring, the sharing of our scant harbour facilities, land and water based, must be considered.
Michael Jeffrey, Maroubra.
Public use of private moorings
Further to the recent letters in Afloat regarding the use of private moorings, I thought I would share a recent observation. On Saturday evening 18 October 2008, our family were aboard our vessel secured to our club mooring in Coasters Retreat (The Basin) in Pittwater. Late in the afternoon at least 30 catamarans, obviously taking part in an organised event, arrived and picked up every available mooring, many had to raft up.
Acceptable public use of private moorings one would assume, until the occupants go ashore for several hours to attend a function. It appeared every vessel was left unattended.
Planning the function with the knowledge the vessels will be left unattended on private moorings is not a fair go for other boaters.
Steve Matthews,
Pittwater.
HMAS Karangi
Further to Graeme Andrews article on HMAS Karangi (Afloat, May’08).
HMAS Koala was sent to Port Augusta, SA in 1952 to pick up a load of rusty, clay-coated 4ins water pipes, from the Rocket Range. After wallowing fully loaded across the Bight to Albany, we made Fremantle. The pipes were to be used for watering ships working in the Monte Bellos area from the Fortescue River.
The crew expected to make the change-over and head for Sydney but we were loaded with moorings (tons of chain cable, anchors and buoys) and sent back up to the Monte Bellos to lay them to moor HMS Plym a Royal Navy sloop, on which the British atomic test detonation occurred.
On return to Fremantle we then changed crews, loaded further moorings and both ships, went back up to Monte Bellos, this time with the Koala crew on Karangi. After the laying, we were taken alongside a RN aircraft carrier and loaded with chemicals and returned to Fremantle. This time we were on our way East, to first drop the chemicals in Melbourne, so that, as lower deck rumour went, the university could plot the ‘fall-out’ across Australia after the detonation.
So HMAS Karangi was on its way from Melbourne to Sydney and not at the detonation, Karangi’s crew were, but onboard Koala. So this trip, originally for approx six weeks, became closer to six months and my son Garrie was three weeks old, when I returned to Sydney.
Garrie has now followed my footsteps, so to speak, admittedly in much smaller vessels and I might add, more dangerous, on the seas, sailing in the Sydney-Hobart races many time either on Parmelia, Dr Who, Singapore Girl, and both Brindabellas, among others and in most major races in Hawaii, Manila, Lord Howe etc.
Of the four boom defence vessels including Darwin-based Kookaburra, I served on three.
Ron Rogers, (ex-PO, BT1), Duncraig, WA.
Gracias mucho
Thank you very much for … your articles on the Frigate ARA Libertad (Afloat, Sep’08 & Oct’08).
Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Argentina and the Argentine Navy have asked us to convey to you their sincere gratitude and appreciation.
Sincerely yours,
Pedro Villagra Delgado, Ambassador, Embassy of the Argentine Republic,
Canberra
Blow lamp aboard Mirrabella 5
Watching the TV Show Thalassa several weeks back – there was a segment on the interior of the incredible monster sloop Mirabella 5.
All very ornate and to me quite sparse with no nautical artefacts. Then to my delight a brief glimpse in a glass case.
A neat shiny little blow lamp!
What stories could it tell? The multi-multi millionaire owner with a special regard for a simple blow lamp amongst the incredible technical gear aboard.
It sure got me thinking. My little retired beauty has been happily sitting atop my book shelf for years. I’m sure plenty of others do the same with theirs!
John Andrews,
Lake Heights.
Navy’s ammunition Wharf at Eden
Afloat has once again been received and read with pleasure.
Gregory Blaxell’s series on ‘Eden and Twofold Bay’ was especially interesting.
By the way, the Navy Wharf in East Boyd Bay has no role in warship repair and refit operations. It is a facility for the loading and unloading of ammunition. Timber export ships and the very occasional passenger ship are programmed around Navy activities.
Julian Hart,
RAN Port Services Sydney and NSW.
Betty’s Ballooner?
For Mike Eggleston (Afloat, Nov’08) to claim “the mainsail carries a very distinct emblem” appears correct … But in terms of helping to identify the boat “distinctive” it’s not!
Over time, many skiffs have carried various combinations of white, red, yellow and dark blue triangles forming a rectangle. Unfortunately all early glass plates and many photographs are in black and white or sepia, making colours hard to distinguish. White or yellow? Dark blue or red? Red or black? Yellow or light blue? etc.
 The earliest skiff I found was 22ft Vigilant 1894.
Her colours could match the painting. But she carried the international code flag for ‘Z’. Yellow at the top followed by red, dark blue and black. So it’s not her!
Other sepias have white (or is it yellow?) on the bottom quarter or either side quarter. Is that ‘Z’ upside down or sideways?
The closest match I’ve found is not white, red, yellow and dark blue as per the painting but could be white, dark blue, yellow and red (see black and white print).
So possibly she’s Betty 1941-1942 from the Sydney Flying Squadron (owned by N Stanley, skipper Ernie Bell).
But the photo may have been printed back-to-front as there’s no name painted on the tuck it’s impossible to tell!
Alternatively the colour patch may have been reversed on the port side to exactly match the starboard side colours as in the painting.
However I have several queries stemming from the tiny closely cropped photo. The jib is furled/stropped along the bumpkin and the head-sail is sheeted from the tuck so it is a ballooner, mostly set on tight shy reaches as an alternative to a spinnaker.
Having said that. It appears a ringtail has also been set so maybe it’s not too shy. Further the spinnaker pole, albeit larger than life, seems to indicate an inside set of a skying spinnaker (not seen in the published photo).
Also there’s a hint of a ringtail with its incumbent boom sheets. But with all that forward load the ballooner luff remains as straight as a dye! Hmmm …
My contention would be that the painting is a composition with a liberal sprinkling of artistic licence, but none the less demonstrating the enormous sail carrying capacity of our skiffs.
Michael Blakeney, Vice Commodore,
Australian Historical Sailing Skiffs Association.
R.S.V.P.
Old Flying Fifteens
Ian Downing who sailed FF 633 Bookiera, to success at State and National level is keen to know what happened to his old boat. The last record of it is in 1984/5 when it was owned by a Mr G. Steinhunt and sailed at Greenwich Sailing Club on Sydney Harbour.
Also, David Sinclair wonders what became of his Flying Fifteen FF 619 Schuss and may now be know as Moy. This boat was unusual for a Flying Fifteen as it was fitted with a cuddy. It was a glass fibre boat built by David Hinkley, sails by Peter Cole. The hull was light blue, the deck white with grey insets on the cuddy. David commissioned FF619 in or around 1965 and successfully raced it with the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club. These boats may now be mooring-minders or parked in someone’s backyard. The original owners are keen to know their fate.
Anyone with old Flying Fifteens that may be interested in sailing them or taking part in a One Class event sailing against other Flying Fifteens should contact the Association at http://flying15nsw.wordpress.com/
Andrew Rennie, Secretary,
Flying Fifteen International Association of NSW,
Tel: 0403 263 632,
andrew@reniiegolledge.com.au
Naval architect Len Hedges
We are seeking information on the Australian naval architect, Len Hedges.
We own one of his designs, the Dorrigo schooner Santika an Australian registered vessel with the home port of Darwin. She was built in Melbourne in 1982 by Miele Yachts.
We would be delighted to hear from other owners of Len Hedges-designed yachts particularly the Dorrigo and any information on the man and his designs would be greatly appreciated. We’d also like to hear from former owners and crew of Santika and find out more of her history.
Tim & Julia Knight,
tandjknight@bigpond.com
Compass 29 Pindari
I am trying to track down a Compass 29. Her name was Pindari and she was built circa 1978.
She had a teak interior with carved pillars in a Malay style and a Bukh diesel engine. The previous owner was my father Fred Sandilands up until 1980. She was sailed by Fred and myself from Singapore to Darwin in 1979 and then transported to Sydney in 1980 when she was sold.
I would really like to know her whereabouts.
Wes Sandilands,
tel: 0427 304 645, Email: s_hallasp@hotmail.com
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