New State Rescue Board procedures 

  I am concerned about a recent directive from the State Rescue Board (SRB) regarding the monitoring of vessels transiting the New South Wales coast. 
  Until recently an Offshore Tracking Sheet (OTS) containing all details of the vessel was relayed from one Marine Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (SARCC) to the next one along the coast and the vessel was asked to call each SARCC when abeam. 
  If the vessel did not call in by a certain time, protocols were in place and, if necessary, a search was conducted along the 30, or so, miles between the two SARCCs. 
  As of 12 May 2008, this no longer applies. Now when a vessel leaves a port an OTS is sent to the final destination of the vessel, and they are responsible for initiating a search if the vessel does not turn up at its stated ETA. 
  For a vessel, say, going from Sydney to Brisbane and taking six days, and this vessel hits something, knocks its keel off and turns turtle a short distance from Sydney (this has happened in recent years), then a search will not be instigated for about six days when vessel doesn’t turn up at Brisbane, also there is five or six hundred miles of coastline to search instead of about 30. 
  Not to mention that every MRU between Sydney and Brisbane would be mobilised using up huge amounts of fuel and man hours. 
  Masters of transiting vessels should be given the option of full reporting, ie passed on from one SARCC to the next or the option of only sending details to the final destination. If I am not given these options then I will be giving the next SARCC as my ‘final destination’ and ‘changing’ my mind each time I pass. 
  I believe that the SRB are leaving themselves up to serious litigation if the above scenario were to take place. 

Martin Hovey, 
  Port Macquarie. 

Jervis Bay – the yachties’ Jurassic Park 

  The Jervis Bay area is certainly becoming famous as the place NOT to visit if you are an east coast boater looking for a destination with great facilities (Stuart Burley’s letter ‘Jervis Bay boating facilities stalemate’ – Afloat, Apr’08). 
  The Bay is a ‘jewel’ and has much to offer visitors in terms of water recreation, scenery, flora and fauna; however, it continues to fail to attract sailors (in any number) from other parts of Oz. 
  Little progress has been made in providing facilities for vessels since the Greg Troy’s article (Afloat, April 06). Local boat owners who need to slip their boats still have to sail/motor to Wollongong, Sydney or Batemans Bay to carry out repairs. 
  It is absurd that Jervis Bay has no slip/haul out facility capable of addressing the needs of local and visiting vessels. Ideal locations would possibly be Callala or Huskisson. 
  However, Shoalhaven Council seem to have their heads in the sand when it comes to providing/progressing such a facility. When asked, Council’s reply is invariably “we are looking into it” or “we are setting up another committee to look at it” – BUT nothing happens and we have heard the same response for the past eight years that I’m aware of. Jervis Bay could be a yachting Mecca and benefit everyone (particularly the business sector), however, it will take vision and commitment by the elected few. 

Ron Barnes, 
  by email. 

Fatal ferry crash report 

  Further to the Editor’s Column last month, what a farce and a travesty of justice! 
  I am referring of course to the State Government’s disgraceful handling of the tragic accident that occurred just 12 months ago when a Sydney ferry slammed into a pleasure craft under the Harbour Bridge resulting in the loss of four lives. 
  For the Government to try and shift some of the blame to the skipper of the cruiser for not displaying his navigation lights and steering the vessel from inside the cabin rather than from the fly-bridge is, I believe, a farce and a travesty of justice. According to reports the cruiser was well lit, because its occupants were in the cabin having coffee and it was on the correct side of the harbour, travelling slowly in an eastward direction. 
  The Office of Transport Safety Investigations found the ferry was travelling too fast and on the wrong side of the harbour, as it had made an early turn out of Sydney Cove, on its return to the Balmain Depot when it slammed into the starboard side of the cruiser. The only vessel on a collision course that ill-fated night was the ferry! 
  Just imagine for a moment that this was a road accident, where a truck (ferry), collided with a car (cruiser), killing four people and it was established the truck was speeding and on the wrong side of the road. Do you think it would have taken over a year before anyone was charged? 
  This accident happened only because someone appears to have been negligent and accordingly, I do not believe there is a need for any changes to be made to the existing rules and/or regulations. 

John Langley, 
  Abbotsford. 

Carbon footprints 

  Having been a yachty for most of my life and sailing long distance. It is evident to me that the carbon footprint I leave is minimal, even running my engine I would use barely one litre per hour. 
  By comparison, a planing motor vessel of the same size would use approximately 50 litres per hour. 
  My boat is 10.5m long. I have just come across a privately owned motor yacht that is 30m long. It uses a phenomenal amount of fuel, some 700 litres per hour. 
  There are plenty of this type and style of vessel, maybe not as big, but still using huge quantities of fuel, for no other reason than pleasure. Not that people should not be allowed to have pleasurable moments in life, but at what cost environmentally? 
  What gives people the right to cause so much pollution for no good reason? Money I would suggest. 
  It is not as though there are no other choices in types of motor vessels. Displacement hull vessels use a fraction of the amount of fuel, and some, particularly catamaran-type motor boats, are just as fast, and create little wash. This is an added bonus for our waterways and the pleasure of other users, it is no fun having your lunch thrown around your cabin by people using these boats with no consideration for others. 
  Could there not be some form of limitation on the size of a boat’s carbon footprint for purely pleasurable use? This could have a major effect on the type of boats people buy, and therefore would markedly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. 

Michael Endacott, 
  by email. 

Boat swamped at Harbour Bridge 

  Please find attached photos of yet another boat incident, where a small craft was swamped and sunk by excessive boat wash under the Harbour Bridge. 
  This occurred on 24 February 2008 when the Harbour was congested with boats viewing the two Cunard cruise ships (Queen Victoria and QEII). 
  It is time that NSW Maritime reduced the speed limit to a sensible six knots, because the current limit of 15 knots creates the maximum wash from power boats. 

Helen Lipton, 
  by email. 

CQR 

  John Keelty of the CYCA (Afloat, May’08) perpetuates the furphy (sorry mixed metaphor, should be talk at the butt in the scuttle) that CQR means ‘Coastal Quick Release’, relative to a plough-shaped anchor. Or does it mean ‘Crew Quick Recovery’? 
  Not so. I invented these silly names when compiling Marine Triva quiz for Afloat many years ago. 
  Your heading to the article puts CQR in its correct setting – it’s a phononym for ‘secure’ as intended by its inventor. The design appeared in the 1930s originally for sea planes. 
  A point of interest is the de-mountable anchor. Great for stowage but does it comply with the Special Regulations for racing yachts? Unfortunately not when it is carried knocked down, as it is not ready for immediate use. These types of anchors will get some consideration in the 2009 YA Special Regulations. 
  Gee your mag is getting bigger and better. 

Cap’n Eddie Vortex, 
  Swansea. 

There’s a lot more to anchoring than what UC 

  One of the main problems with anchors these days is that manufacturers have changed the original designs to fit them easily into the anchor lockers of modern boats. 
  What was the original Simpson Lawrence CQR is now made by manufacturers and simply called a ‘plough’. Its shank has been shortened to fit inside an anchor locker too small to take the original design – but the geometry and holding power have been altered so that, as an anchor, its only half as good as the original design. 
  Equally as bad is the large reduction in length of the stock of the original lightweight sand anchor designed specifically by Professor Danforth for flying boats. With its shortened stock nicely fitting into small anchor lockers or deck cleats the so called ‘Danforth’ anchors on the market today simply rollout of the sand at less than half the load of the original Danforth. 
  Most boats carry an anchor because they have to – it’s in the regulations! Water ski boats and runabouts skiffs and racing yachts, never use their anchors, other than as a lunch pick. 
  It’s only the genuine cruising sailors who really experience the need for a reliable anchor and they will just have to put up with the storage problem and make sure they have an original design. There’s a lot more to anchoring than just the anchor itself! 

Philip Dulhunty, 
  Dulmison Marine, 
  North Ryde. 

SuperCATaintfragilisticmonosareatrocious 

  Coming from deep-water die-hard mono-hull country – the northeastern USA – I’ve been enjoying the lively multihull scene here in east Australia. I was a bit disappointed to read Greg Cockle’s gratuitous and anecdotal attack in the March issue of Afloat. 
  First of all, there’s no reason to use the phrase “cats versus monos”. We’re not racing against each other, and we’re not in any other kind of competition either. Sure, we’re different, but we’re all sailors. 
  I don’t know where Greg got his stories, but they sure aren’t representative, or even credible. For one thing, modern cats don’t heave to. They also don’t break apart, and I’ve never met anyone who was terrified by that possibility. They do slam sometimes, especially when loaded for cruising, but slowing them down generally takes care of the problem. And no, they’re not as fast as some of their promoters try to claim, but they are a bit faster than most mono-hulls of comparable length. 
  I’m not sure how he arrives at his statistics either, but my experience doesn’t support his assertions. Mine is one of those lightweight French cats; I crossed the Pacific last year with my wife and three children. In fact, we met the Cockles and Volare in the Tuamotus when we shared an anchorage. When we sailed from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, there were a handful of other cats, and all of us had pleasant crossings. Ours took 18 fairly relaxed days, and this was pretty typical for the other cats as well. We had some minor gear breakages, but nothing we couldn’t fix, and none that were multi-hull specific. 
  As for the motion, we never missed a meal, and nothing ever slid off our tabletop either. On the other hand, the daily radio scheds were full of complaints about the downwind rolling, the squalls, and the big seas … all from monos. 
  Many of our single-hulled friends have admitted to us that their wives would much rather be on a cat! 
  We haven’t needed to beat to windward very often during the first half of our circumnavigation, but we can when we need to, and I suspect we do it with considerably more speed and comfort than the Catalina 42. Anytime I find myself beating into 25 knots, I figure my passage planning and weather forecasting is at fault. Granted, not all cats go well to windward, but then, neither do many cruising mono-hulls. The truth is that most boats go to windward better than their crews do. 
  Yes, there are many boats for sale here in Australia, of all types. Geographically, it’s a long way to the next good market, and many people figure the South Pacific has already been the trip of a lifetime. Where I’m sitting in Manly Harbour, I’m surrounded by boats from all over the world with ‘For Sale’ signs on them, most of them mono-hulls. As for us, we’re going on to Indonesia and points west. 
  There are blue-water boats, and there are coastal cruisers, with one, two, or three hulls. To make the assertion that cats are inherently unsuitable for ocean sailing is patently absurd. 
  To use two relevant examples, I expect that most experienced sailors would consider my European offshore certified French Outremer 45 far more seaworthy than Greg Cockle’s budget-priced American Catalina 42. I might consider switching back to a mono-hull if I were sailing to the high latitudes, but then, my wife wouldn’t come with me – too cold and rough! 

John Spier, 
  S/V Aldora. 

Cats and tris crossed oceans long before white men sailed monos 

  I was surprised to read the comments made by Mr A. Hutton (Afloat, Apr’08) regarding the alleged instability of multi-hulls. Given the qualifications, knowledge and experience of Mr Hutton (who is a Master Mariner) I would have expected him to think this issue through a little more thoroughly. 
  If what he claims were true, then all multi-hulls would capsize whenever they flew a hull – clearly this is far from the truth. Some examples of multi-hulls flying a-hull (without any risk of capsizing) can be found on www.youtube.com; and search for “catamaran”. Two video clips of interest are; “33ft Catamaran Flying a Hull” and “Stars and Stripes Sailing Fast”, I am sure there are other movie clips to be found as well. If you then search for “Trimaran” on www.youtube.com and select “Trimaran Brossard tracte 2 wakeboarding” you will see a video clip of a very large trimaran sailing on one hull in full control for an extended distance. 
  Mr Hutton states, “Multi-hulls are very stable because of their large beam but once one of the hulls comes out of the water there is a sudden and extreme loss of stability”. 
  Since the term multi-hull (as stated by Mr Hutton) must include trimarans it begs the question; When a modern trimaran is at rest (for example when moored) one hull is frequently designed to be out of the water at all times, does this mean that it is subject to “a sudden and extreme loss of stability”? Does this same logic also apply when the vessel is sailing in a gentle breeze? 
  Catamarans do have a smaller range of positive stability (when compared to monohulls) but it requires a great deal more energy (i.e. wind force) to heel a catamaran than a monohull. Therein lies one of the safety features of a well designed catamaran. Typically a catamaran will not fly a hull until they are at approximately 15° to 20° of heel. When the windward hull is at the point of flying, the catamaran has reached the maximum righting moment, however the vessel still has positive stability up to approximately 85°-90° of heel (see Fig. 1). 
  Trimarans also have a limited stability range (when compared to monohulls), however, the maximum Moment of Statical Stability (and the angle at which it occurs) is typically slightly larger than that of a catamaran, hence it requires even more energy to heel a trimaran than a catamaran (Fig. 1). 
  Another point that is little understood by many is that the seamanship skills required to safely sail a multi-hull in a seaway are somewhat different than those typical for a monohull, (see Multihull Seamanship by Gavin LeSueur, who provides a comprehensive insight into this subject). The competent skipper must have a good technical knowledge of the forces at work and know how to read the subtle signs that indicate the vessel is overpowered or under excess load. 
  Catamarans and trimarans were crossing oceans and successfully completing extended voyages long before white men were sailing monohulls any significant distance, so their suitability to this purpose speaks for itself. 
  Unfortunately there still exists a considerable body of illfounded prejudice towards modern multi-hulls, (frequently based on a lack of up-to-date knowledge). I am sure Mr Hutton is not a part of this uninformed group. 

Christopher Murman, BSc., Ass. Dip. Eng, (NA). 
  Naval Architect 
  by email. 

Is that a rocket in your pocket? 

  Have you ever had pimples on your bottom … of your boat that is? You know those shell-enclosed organisms called barnacles, that look like a small volcano, and can inflict a nasty gash on your knuckles or hands when cleaning the bottom of your boat. 
  Barnacles look superficially similar to molluscs such as oysters, sea snails, abalone, mussels and limpets in that they are encased in a hard shell but in fact they are crustaceans and are related to prawns and crabs, and they copulate to reproduce which requires mounting. 
  Now this is difficult, as you are stuck like the proverbial you-know-what to a blanket by your face to a rock or the bottom of your boat. No bachelors’ party, no night out with the boys to check out the girls … but mother nature has come to the rescue by giving the boys an eight-day clock 30 times their body length as the answer. 
  Now that’s something to be proud about. It’s also the longest penis to body size ratio in the animal kingdom. If scaled up to the size of man, it would be a whopping 50 metres long! 
  And that would definitely signal your intent when you sidle up to the opposite sex. 
  Another problem for the barnacle is that while searching around for a partner to copulate, a fish might take a fancy to this worm-like creature waving around in the water and make a meal of it. 
  Actually, this is not of great concern to the barnacle, as he just grows another one and while all this is going on the barnacle just keeps on eating. 
  Fascinating creatures to be sure. 

Graham Clarke, 
  Dora Creek. 

Strickland House Open Day 

  The Woollahra History and Heritage Society would like to thank Afloat for the publicity you gave to the Society’s Open Day at Strickland House during this year’s National Trust Heritage Festival. 
  Despite some heavy rain in the afternoon we had a good attendance with people coming from at least 110 suburbs of Sydney. They enjoyed the opportunity to see inside this prime public asset and to view its magnificent harbourside setting, both of which were purchased by the New South Wales Government in 1914 under the Foreshores Resumption Scheme for public parkland. 
  It is this widespread interest in the Strickland House property that is its best defence against inappropriate and exclusive development or alienation that would deprive the general public of their use and enjoyment of the property. Thank you once again for your help. 

Peter Poland, President. 
  Woollahra History & Heritage Society, Double Bay 

Putting to Sea 

  Good work by your Weather contributor, Malcolm Riley. I am a 1960s trader to Strahan. I know the West Coasters very well. 
  However, I feel his Significant Wave Heights gleaned from his graph (Afloat, Apr’08) have the potential to encourage inexperienced budding mariners to venture beyond their expertise, with the possible danger to their vessel, themselves and crew; and unnecessary marine rescue et al. 
  The article states the ‘maximum possible wave’ from the table to be twice the ‘significant’ wave height. If one is going to advise others of conditions, then the worst predictable conditions ought be stated. Not some half-baked she’ll-be right-if-it-gets-no-worse attitude. 
  I have recently retired as Master from a vessel which had to put to sea five or six times daily, knowing the maximum swell period and height. If conditions were outside my guidelines, we’d find other work. 
  If one is caught at sea in adverse conditions, sea anchors may help, or a Port of Refuge may be sought. 
  At a recent re-validation of my Master 1 Certificate, I was astounded that a student could not complete an exercise because his calculator would not work in the darkness of a radar simulator. I completed the exercise by pencil on the side of the chart. 
  Do not underestimate the worst conditions. Allow for twice what has been predicted, and you have a fair chance of survival. 

Alan Chapman, 
  (Capt. Ret’d, Foreign Going Master, Unlimited), 
  Warners Bay. 

Ethanol, fibreglass and biodiesel 

  The Boat Owners Association has recently received some disturbing reports from America on the adverse effects of ethanol and biodiesel on fibreglass fuel tanks, fuel lines, filters and marine engines. 
  The latest news is that a Los Angles firm has filed a class action against US oil companies on behalf of Californian boaters for damage caused. 
  BOA is researching this problem and a full report will be published in the BOA newsletter to members with follow up details as they become available. 
  Boaters, both power and sail who wish to keep up with this concern and other boating information are invited to join BOA by going to <www.boaters.org.au>. 

David Lyall, 
  Vice President, BOA of NSW. 

Oh I wish I’d looked after me teef 

  What a good belly laugh I have just had ... found a 2005 issue of Afloat only to read in the Letters section about someone’s teeth going overboard on a friend’s boat due to the odd glass of bubbly. 
  Just wanted to say, that was me and my teeth. 
  I was stricken with worry when I realised they had gone into the depths and my daughter’s wedding was just around the corner. We were all amazed and grateful to Ryan the diver ... when his arm appeared Excalibur-like holding my TEEF. 
  He not only found my teef but a few other interesting items but I won’t go there. Just to let you know my daughter’s wedding was wonderful and I was able to SMILE! 

Elise Smith, 
  Kanwal. 

Changes to offshore vessel tracking procedures 

  At the behest of the NSW Marine Area Command (NSW Water Police) as of May 12 a new procedure for tracking the movements of vessels along the coast was implemented. 
  At present when a vessel logs on for a journey offshore (e.g. Sydney to Coffs Harbour) the vessel is asked to report at well-recognised positions along the coast or every 2-4 hours depending on the vessel type and speed. An Offshore Tracking Sheet (OTS) is sent by fax to the next Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) organisation along the vessel’s path. 
  This VMR, after making contact with the vessel, will then monitor its progress and in turn send the OTS to the next logical VMR. In this way a vessel’s progress is monitored all the way from home port to destination. 
  Most coastal cruisers opt for either a position monitoring regime, a time based regime or a combination of both. No vessel is out of touch for more than 2-4 hours. In the case of no contact being received the appropriate VMR will initiate action to locate the vessel. 
  With the new directive, vessels leaving ports along the NSW Coast (e.g. Sydney) will only have their OTS sent to the destination point (e.g. Coffs Harbour). 
  The directive states: “If the vessel operator elects to make a call at an intermediate point this should be noted on the OTS prior to it being faxed to the destination port.” 
  The important point here is that OTSs will not be passed to intermediate VMRs and if through accident, equipment failure or life threatening disaster, (rather than choice) a vessel fails to make a call at an intermediate point no one will be alerted until the vessel is considered overdue at the destination port. 
  For Sydney to Coffs harbour this could be as much as 72 hours and the vessel could be in difficulty anywhere along 250 nautical miles of coast and up to 60 miles offshore. Neither Coastal Patrol nor Coast Guard have been able to get any cogent or substantiated argument from Water Police or the Minister on why this procedure is to be implemented. Reasons given were that inaccuracies in the detail on tracking sheets causes them (the Water Police) to have to do more work and the yachting fraternity says that boaties don’t want to have to report regularly. 
  Both Coastal Patrol and Coast Guard are (uncharacteristically) united in their opposition to this directive but will follow instruction and will initiate the procedures. 
  Is there a hidden agenda? Is this a just a Michael Costa cost cutting exercise? 
  What are your feelings about this? Make them known NOW! 

Warrick Wall, 
  Volunteer RO, Coastal Patrol, 
  Club Member, Coastal Cruising Club of Australia. 

Fine-tuning needed for new VMR reporting 

  I see that a new trial standard operating procedure (SOP) has been published and implemented as from 12 May 2008. This procedure is to be used by all Voluntary Marine Rescue organisations (VMR) as the basis for tracking vessels traversing the NSW coast. 
  The new SOP addresses the problem of skippers when they have been required to report their position every hour or two, and when failing to do so are being woken by a concerned VMR base from often much-needed sleep when coming off watch. 
  This new SOP has been poorly thought out in its detail. 
  For example, although it requests the vessel’s skipper or crew member to contact a VMR some halfway along its route, and should the skipper agree, there is no provision for the details to be forwarded to the relevant VMR. This would mean all the details previously given at the start of the voyage being repeated, as the VMR would have no prior knowledge of a vessel being in the area; when all details are already available on an offshore tracking sheet (OTS). 
  As one who travels much of the NSW coast, to repeat all of the required information again would be a huge pain in the ‘a’. 
  A further example, from Sydney, one of the most popular destinations is Port Stephens, an 8-12 hour voyage for most cruising yachts. Most vessels call a VMR either at Lake Macquarie or Newcastle who has no knowledge of the voyage as the OTS has been forwarded only to the final destination. 
  A vessel one hour out of Sydney with a broken mast or lost keel could be lost for some seven to 11 hours before an alert is raised to search … where? 
  I believe some details of the new SOP will need considerable fine tuning to satisfy the demands of all. 

Steve O’Brien, 
  Frenchs Forest. 

Unread sea scroll 

  This is a plea to all cruising skippers to have the name of their vessel prominently and legibly displayed on their vessel. 
  Living on the shore of Twofold Bay at Eden, which is the first or the last anchorage to Bass Strait, I can see a glorious clipper bow on a 55-foot ketch with her name displayed on a varnished scrolled board. However, the letters etched in gold are impossible to read even with the aid of telescope or binoculars. 
  RVCP Eden is on air from 6.30am to 10pm when night watch takes over from Home Base. We are happy to welcome all comers with a shower, a cuppa, weather updates, and a friendly chat. 

Tugboat Annie of the Twofold. 

Sir Roderick Miller – larger than life 

  A friend recently gave me a copy of Afloat (Dec’07), as he knew that I had been (Sir) Roderick Miller’s private secretary in Sydney for six years in the 1950s. 
  I was very interested to read the article Do you remember R. W. Millers? 
  I certainly remember that very interesting time of my working life when such a lot of dynamic things were happening. I was there when Mr. Robert Miller died and his son began to expand and enlarge the company’s activities. His achievements were many and the tributes never-ending. I remember the morning when the Birchgrove Park went down and the on-going repercussions. I travelled with Sir Roderick and his wife on the Iberia and flew to Melbourne with them a number of times. 
  He was an excellent boss, considerate and courteous, never demanding and always appreciative. 
  I was living in Melbourne when he was knighted and I wrote to him. He replied from The Savoy Hotel in London, where he and his wife were staying before the investiture. I know anyone who knew him will always remember him. A really larger than life character, as I have heard him described. 

Peg Light, 
  Ulladulla. 

Watching the ships go by 

  One for ship spotters. Check out <www.shipais.com/>. This is an incredible site and is well worth the attention of readers. Zoom in and put your cursor over a ship for its info. Refresh your screen and its movement is updated. 
  Does Australia have anything planned like this? 

Roger Wickins, 
  by email. 

Hale & Ride 

  I remember Dr Petrozzi’s boat Protest (Afloat Apr’08). I joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1945 at the age of 17, after training at Flinders in Victoria, I was drafted to a Corvette HMAS Bathurst which was swinging on No7 buoy the Quay side of Pinch Gut. The only way to and from the ship was by Stannards water taxi service, one of which was Protest. 
  You had to wait until one of these boats came past and hail it. I think it cost two shillings for the trip to the Quay. 

Ron Budd, 
  Cabarita. 

Catholic Mass at Brooklyn 

  The Ku-ring-gai Chase Catholic Parish has begun a 4pm Vigil Mass at 21 Karoola Street, Brooklyn near McKell Park. 
  This may be of benefit to those who use the marina at Brooklyn or may be cruising the Hawkesbury River on a Saturday. 

(Rev) Robert Borg, 
  Parish Priest. 

Our working harbour up river 

  Thought you would like to see some amazing pictures of the still working harbour. This huge sea barge was being pulled and pushed up the Parramatta River and precisely navigated by three tugs through and under the Ryde/ Concord Bridges. 

Denis Savill, 
  yacht Rimfire. 

Venerable Burgin 

  I wish to let the Sailing world know that Alby Burgin is still sailing! 
  Alby, who is now 93, comes and sails two or three mornings a week with Sailability, passing some of his skills onto our volunteers and taking onto the water people of all types of disabilities that would not normally come into contact with water sports. In March 2008 Alby donated a 303 class Access Dinghy to Sailabiliy Belmont 16s. Alby competed in the Australian and International Access Class Regatta at Easter in Canberra and the Port Stephens Cup in April, both in this new boat. While in Canberra, Alby met up with a Japanese sailor who he’d competed against in one of the Brisbane to Osaka races. 
  After coming in off the water recently, Alby was sitting looking out over the lake, a cup of tea in one hand, stroking the head of Ricky the guide dog with the other. 
  “Ahh, life could not be any better,” he said. 

Maurie Gammidge, 
  Sailability Belmont 16s. 

R.S.V.P. 

Sirius 

  March Afloat reports the winner of the Adams 10m Australian Championships to be Sirius skippered by Ben Nossiter who is undoubtedly a descendant of the late Harold Nossiter, who in the mid-1930s was the first Australian yachtsman to circumnavigate the world. 
  His yacht was the schooner Sirius, crewed by members of his family. I last heard of Sirius about ten or more years ago at which time she was being rescued from the mudflats at Cairns, hopefully to be restored. Do any of your readers know what has become of her? If still afloat I feel her rightful place to be at the Australian National Maritime Museum. 

Ian Venn-Brown, 
  ivenn-br@bigpond.net.au 
  tel: (02) 9948 4344 

Norwin 

  Does anyone know the whereabouts of Norwin? We owned her from 1957 to about 1962 when we sold her to Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. 
  She was timber carvel construction 24 feet long, small half cabin with wheelhouse. Powered by a twin cylinder Lister Freedom. We believe the club purchased her for a starters and judges role in harbour races. She was a well-found boat, built by the late Alf Setree of Huskisson. 
  I remember Mr Lowy skippered her back to Sydney from Wollongong. 

Harry Neilson, 
  nhneilson@yahoo.com.au 
  tel: (02) 4229 4408.