 
Fish Traps
With vessels heading north for winter again I am concerned we do not have a transit lane up the coast.
Last year my wife and I, like many others, sailed up to the Whitsundays leaving early May and returning end of September. We had a very lucky outcome one night with a large fish/crab/lobster trap between Seal Rocks and Forster.
I had dozed off in the cockpit with my wife at the helm, we were motor sailing at the time, she woke me with a start and said their was something wrong with the motor. I rushed below to check what all the thumping was.
It was not the motor, but a trap was caught on the keel. My wife had put the engine in neutral (thank God). She then called me on deck to see five white boys approx 200-300mm in diameter pop out from under our yacht.
There were numerous other close calls during the whole trip, but this was the most worrying. I would like to know why there can’t be waypoints set off the coast that create a corridor in which traps are not allowed to be laid. e.g. maybe a ½ or 1 mile track either side of these waypoints.
With more and more boats going up and down the coast I believe it is only a matter of time before lives could be lost. With our east coast bars the way they are we all know that getting into a safe harbour during daylight hours is not always possible.
Sailing out of the corridor in the day isn’t so bad when you can see. So with most boats having GPS when the need to sail overnight is a must, it would very comforting to know that you weren’t likely to hit or get caught in one of these sometimes hard to see traps.
As many will tell you, some traps are below water depending on the swell or are black, making visibility difficult. NSW Maritime and Primary Industries tell me that it is not in their control. Surely it can’t be that hard to introduce and implement something before someone loses their boat or life.
Michael Paull,
Lake Macquarie.
Old flare limit
I recently went through my treasure trove of flares and counted no less than eleven packets of four flares each and an assortment of rocket flares.
Having found out that Maritime now accept out-of-date flares, I rang Maritime Rozelle just to make sure. Six of the eleven packets of flares were really out of date and so these I dutifully put in a bucket and drove them down to Maritime.
At reception I was told that they can only accept eight flares at a time and I had some twenty four of them. My immediate thoughts were that I could drive down to Maritime twice more with my eight flares in hand each time. Logically though, one would realise that the number of flares delivered would then be exactly the same only I would have to have made three trips to Maritime to fulfil my objective.
Maybe my face at the time said it all … they kindly accepted all my flares but be warned, if you have lots of flares, take your family with you so each member can hand in their eight flares.
Frits Breuseker,
Cabarita.
The Min Min Lights of Pittwater
Like neon embers from an invisible fire, they cling to your anchor rope as you haul the anchor at night, then fade and die without trace. If you pick a deep dark spot and dive in off your boat with hands held out in front, they illuminate your way with a thousand sparkling lights.Some surface still glowing halo-like in your hair as you climb back on board. Are they phosphorous algae, are they plankton? I really don’t know, and be darned if I can find any information about them anywhere.
It seems they are taken for granted most of the time and sadly, few kids these days know anything about them at all. That’s sad because this past summer seems to have produced the heaviest intensities ever, especially around Pittwater.
Have concentrations increased because of rain running across mineral bearing rocks or do they come from out to sea? What is the purpose of their light and why do they only illuminate when an object (that is not a fish) brushes past.
They leave the most amazing fluorescent swirls when propellers and oars pass through them. Does anyone out there in Afloat land know anything about them at all?
David Everdell,
Clareville.
NSW Maritime levies on boating doesn’t add up
I have just read NSW Maritime’s explanations (Afloat Jun’10) for the need to raise $5 million by levies on current boating licences and registrations, in order to help fund necessary infrastructure for Marine Rescue NSW.
If these $7.50 levies from the NSW boating public can raise $5 million dollars – where are the massive total funds from our annual boating fees going?
In addition, where are the fees for all the ‘private’ mooring licences going?
For my modest craft, I have just paid NSW Maritime the $180 annual fee for my vessel registration certificate. In addition I have paid $378 annual fee for my ‘private’ mooring licence.
I have also paid Maritime NSW $103 for renewal of my three year boating licence.
Surely, what must amount to multi-millions of dollars in fees paid by the 497,000 members of the NSW boating public, should be able to adequately fund our Marine Rescue requirements without resorting to this additional ‘tax grab’?
Further, I’d just like to point out that this year my vessel registration fee increased by $6.50 and my ‘private’ mooring licence fee increased by $11 – that’s $17.50 all up.
These inflationary fees (for no apparent improved service) have more than covered your proposed $15 levies on boating licence plus boat registration – so, have I, and the thousands of other boaters in my position, not already paid our share of this tax?
I note also, from their website, that the proposed levies will fully fund its new Commissioner – but only fund 50% of the infrastructure required to update the rescue service – “to ensure that Marine Rescue NSW, in the tradition of its predecessors, maintains a strong connection with the community through local fundraising and sponsorship and soliciting volunteer support.”
What sort of pollie speak is this? Presumably our Marine Rescue members couldn’t possibly maintain a positive community profile … without the perpetual struggle needed to scratch up the other 50% of their essential financial requirements!
NSW Maritime, before instigating this blatant subterfuge, please tell us where your massive annual boating revenue goes? Why can you not provide detailed financial reports for the public?
If much of it pours into our NSW Labor Government’s consolidated revenue please tell Paul McLeay and Steve Whan to desist from this unseemly ‘pin and thimble’ trickery and simply provide us with the NSW Marine Rescue service which we have all paid for in spades – and which our Marine Rescue volunteers deserve!
John Flett,
Wangi.
Marine Rescue surcharge unfair on power boaters
I fully support the need for a surcharge to support Marine Rescue Volunteers, being one myself I know how difficult it is to keep bases fully operational with tired and aged equipment and the high cost of fuel.
However, it’s not a fair proposition to put a surcharge on both the boat registration and boat license holders, due to the fact that many yacht owners don’t have and are not required to have boat licenses.
Thus power boat owners will raise an unfair proportion of the money, yet yachties use the service as much or more than the power boat fraternity. A larger surcharge on the registration only would be a more equitable arrangement.
Another thing that concerns me is that where the Rescue service currently requests any owner of a rescued craft to cover the operational cost of the rescue, which many are more than willing to do, some may now take the view that they have already paid through the surcharge and thus the Marine Rescue service will be worse off.
Roger Evans,
Fishing Point, Lake Macquarie.
Maritime should fund Marine Rescue
The $5 million Marine Rescue NSW wants should be funded by NSW Maritime from existing income.
NSW Maritime is a wealthy organisation and on its website, it boasts assets worth $770 million dollars. A consideration of its obvious revenue indicates it could and should take over the fundings of Marine Rescue without further taxing the boating community.
The revenue generated from mooring licences alone must be enormous, considering it costs about $650 a year to moor a medium sized yacht at the western end of Sydney Harbour. The cost of moorings for larger vessel at Rose Bay, Middle Harbour and The Spit would probably frighten us lesser mortals to death. Commercial moorings, marina berths and licensed boat pens would surely be more expensive and add considerably to the rake off.
It is difficult to ascertain just how many moorings there are in New South Wales, but considering the high cost of them, they must bring in tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Add to that the vessel registration costs of about $100 each, which includes all moored vessels and nearly every trailer boat in New South Wales as well as boat licence fees for almost 500,000 people at about $40 per annum (which standing alone amounts to about $20 million per year).
Now to add further revenue to the mix, we should add what Maritime calls “Infrastructure costs” which refers to every development application made for projects that are even remotely connected to Maritime land (or water). It is curious that at the top of that list of fees on Maritime’s website is a reference to a fee of $400 to first get permission to lodge a Development Application.
A perusal of the list of approvals is also interesting as it discloses they even had the temerity to take a fee for the internal renovations to a barber’s shop.
For a project of up to $5,000 value, the fee is $110 plus the $400 for permission and the fees go up accordingly based on the estimated cost of the project. It is clear that the system is designed to clutch hold of every dollar from every possible opportunity.
The Marine Rescue funding proposal should be accompanied by a certified copy of NSW Maritime’s income and outgoings to justify the costs of Marine Rescue cannot be funded from existing revenue.
Peter Mason,
Lemon Tree Passage.
Master and Commander
Captain Catherine should stand tall and proud of her accomplishments at the helm with her all girl crew! In her letter Girl Power (Afloat, Jun’10) she writes “I am also considering a second season as skipper – but will first need to check to see what my now experienced crew feel about the idea.”
I say, own the position and damn the crew’s opinion. As a part-time captain of my father’s boat, I have learnt to ignore my initial predisposition to ask for a second opinion and check whether everyone is happy, and just captain the boat.
Jane Arakawa,
Frenchs Forest.
Low bridge prevents access to cyclone hole
I had rather hoped the dreaded bridge across the mouth of the Ross River (Afloat Apr’10) had been forgotten. But a lifetime of finding the most cynical predictions become reality where the environment is concerned, I am not in the least bit surprised.
In the late 1960s I skippered the Townsville Harbour Board’s workboats, one of my jobs being to tow the cutter-dredge to and from its worksite at the mouth of the Ross River. The THB was moving the fishing fleet out of Ross Creek around to the river whose mouth was being dredged for that purpose.
Even in those days there was talk about bridging the river to bring – if I recall correctly – copper from Mount Stuart straight into Townsville Harbour then building a harbour outside the river. But the idea seemed to have been dropped owing to a rock substrata that made deepening the river entrance a long, tiresome business. It almost beat us.
The bridge proposal was rejected by environmentalists because its approach road would pass through a huge mangrove forest: and local boat owners strongly rejected the absurdity of being forced out of Ross Creek into a river that would soon be blocked to them.
The whole thing was about ‘creating an economical shortcut to the main harbour’, but at what price and on whose economy was it based?
Alan Lucas,
Point Clare.
 Opera House eyesore
Surely the three ugly and badly sited NSW Maritime advisory signs on the walls of the Opera House relating to the 15 knot transit zone could be better placed?
These, plus the plastic tent which seems to be permanently set up on the forecourt, spoil the overall look of our grand lady.
The zone was established to what some believe was a poorly thought out and typically bureaucratic response following the tragic collision between a ferry and a recreational vessel close to the entrance to Circular Quay not so many months ago.
The signage is ugly, badly positioned and poorly affixed to the sea wall.
This building is of one of the most iconic buildings the world has ever seen. Would the Port Authority of New York Harbour allow a sign or signs to be dyna-bolted to the Statue of Liberty or her surrounding sea wall … I don’t think so.
I’ll leave it up to Afloat readers to make up their own minds about this piece of vandalism and total lack of architectural taste.
Graham Forsaith,
Sydney.
Skiffs a remarkable progression of Miller’s ideas
Graeme ‘Fergy’ Ferguson has done a great job building his new Bob Miller 18-foot skiff from the plans drawn by Miller in 1960 (Afloat Jun’10). These were drawn after he had built Taipan in 1959 with just one lines plan, the rest of that revolutionary skiff was figured out as it happened. Those 1960 plans helped the Australian National Maritime Museum confirm how parts of Taipan were probably assembled, when the famous skiff was restored in 2008 by the museum in association with Sydney Harbour Wooden Boats, who just happened to have Bob Macleod on hand for the project.
While Taipan’s lines were the basis for the Bandit IV-type, Carl Ryves’ robust replica of Venom is quite a different hull shape from the Bandit IV-type, even though both skiffs were designed in the same year.
Having drawn a full set of plans for Taipan as part of the project in 2007, and drawn a set of lines at a decent scale for Carl to build Venom, (copied from an outline of the boat which was published in Seacraft), I am familiar with the differences in the three designs.
It is my understanding too, that Alan Pike’s Taipan II is actually based on another different skiff design by Miller called Black Mamba, which was not built at the time. If that is the case, the differences between all four boats represent a remarkable progression of Miller’s ideas.
If Fergy is able to encourage more Taipan, Bandit, Venom or even Black Mamba types to be built he can stop calling his new skiff a replica and realize he has re-established a class after just a few decades hibernation. I hope he is successful!
Taipan is currently in storage while its display area undergoes alterations, but it is hoped to be back on display toward the end of the year.
David Payne,
Curator, Australian Register of Historic Vessels,
Australian National Maritime Museum.
Use a virtual GPS mark instead of a rock for rounding
Having noticed the correspondence in Afloat recently about the Flinders Islet accident there are clearly some unresolved issues about yacht racing and safe boating practices.
Hugh Ferrar’s assurances (Afloat May’10) about the racing community “trying” to improve on safety don’t seem to ring true given that it takes some kind of dreadful incident to prompt them into doing something about it.
Despite not being an experienced boatie it is still a mystery to me why a member of any yacht club wouldn’t question at some stage the use of some rocks as a rounding mark.
Most weekends I hear the ferries honking away at what appear to be yachts getting in their way. I doubt they are honking their appreciation.
Not long ago it seemed as if anyone could jump aboard a boat at the CYC, spend a few days clinging to the rail and then claim they had Hobart race ‘experience’. That was of course until the 1998 race.
Why couldn’t these yacht clubs use a virtual GPS mark or send out one of their start boats as suggested by Hugh Ferrar?
Jeffrey Morris,
Waverton.
The benefits of boating
I was reading Afloat, looking through the boats for sale ads, and thinking back to the days when we were dreaming about owning a boat ourselves.
We bought our first boat, Hawthorn, three years ago. The decision at the time was to buy an old timber one to restore, and as much as everyone told us we were crazy, to this day we have not regretted it for a second.
I do admit she does take up a lot of our time, she has certainly been a steep learning curve and we don’t have any spare change. But to anyone out there who is reading this and dreaming of doing it ‘one day’ I say don’t put it off.
Our lives have certainly been enriched by buying our old girl, and at 70 she’s starting to look beautiful. Watching our three boys grow up on the water has been an experience you cannot put a price on. Don’t listen to the negative comments you will inevitably get from people, come join us on the water.
Joy Wyton,
Bayview.
Kalgoorlie water
Thanks to Gregory Blaxell for yet another informative and entertaining article about an Australian waterway (Afloat May’10). I remember Perth and Freo from around 1980, when I first arrived there, and seeing some very significant changes by 1986 when I went back for the 12 metre world championship (on Gretel II).
Actually, the goldfields pipeline to Kalgoorlie takes its water supply from Mundaring Weir, just east of Perth, not from the Stirling Range, which is much further south (near Albany). I know this because my grandfather John Parr was the District Engineer at Northam for the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme. Apparently there are plans to make a film about it!
Hugh Ferrar,
Castle Hill.
Don’t blame the river blame the weekend warriors
Poor old Phil Foster (Afloat May’10) either had a rotten weekend on his hired houseboat on the Hawkesbury, or he left his rose coloured glasses at home.
We never cease to enjoy the Hawkesbury, especially the National Park bits. The unique beauty of the place, with its sandstone, flora and fauna, is stunning. We cruise from busy Pittwater to Wisemans Ferry, and everywhere in between, and never grow tired of it.
It’s a lot cleaner than it was when we started going there many years ago. We swim, we fish, we motor and sail, and at the end of the day we sit at the back of our old stinkboat and discuss it all with the sun setting, the contents of our glasses disappearing, and the eagles fishing for their dinner around us.
However, I have to admit being split over this one, as Phil is partly right. On those hot weekends in January, and on Orstraya Day and Easter weekends, the Hawkesbury becomes the playground of almost every yobbo who can get their hands on a boat, and suddenly it ain’t pretty! It’s overcrowded, there aren’t enough public moorings to go around, and garbage disposal facilities are almost non-existent.
But it’s not about the river, it’s about the people, and their lack of consideration for others. There are the high speed, poorly trimmed big stinkboats that create enormous wakes, the dawn waterskiers and jet skis, the garbage dumpers, the utterly incompetent, the party animals who carry on … and on, and my pet hate – the idiots who need to run their gensets all night to keep their flat screen TVs and air conditioners going.
And yes, those of us who go there regularly in our own boats often have irreverent thoughts about the seamanship and intent of the hire boat mariners. As Phil found, some boaties have a low tolerance level for hirers.
Besides, we used to hire boats ourselves before we were able to buy one, and were pretty inexperienced at that stage. However, I must confess to having ‘helped’ one houseboat full of ‘schoolies’ find a more secure public mooring well away from us,
I suggest Phil tries it again off-peak, or better still in winter. At those times, moorings are plentiful, there is peace and serenity, and the yobbos mostly stay at home in their burrows!
Terry Plunkett,
Bathurst.
Travel alert to avoid Broken Bay
A timely warning indeed from Alistair Clarke-Kanawha of NSW’s far eastern province of Dargaville, NZ (Afloat Jun’10). It has been a closely guarded secret of those of us who regularly cruise on Broken Bay and Sydney Harbour, that these waters are indeed dreadful places to be.
In Sydney Harbour, the weather is typically appalling, with summer temperatures usually above 42 degrees and prevailing SE winds rarely below 35 knots, frequently accompanied by squalls, often in excess of 50 knots. Most experienced sailors tend to constantly wear their full offshore weather gear as it is an unusual day when heavy rain does not arrive (mainly before and after anchoring for lunch).
Sydney Harbour is considered to be a dangerous and uncomfortable place to cruise. High speed ferries leap out of what one thinks to be a quiet bay and swimming is impossible due to the schools of dangerous bull sharks.
Readers will recall that only recently one skipper reported in Afloat that he was unable to berth his vessel in the far reaches of Sydney Harbour due to the effects of the Chilean tsunami!
The only advantage that Broken Bay has is that it is 15 miles away from these dangers but then one has to deal with the forbidding sandstone bluffs which threaten to dislodge themselves on top of any unsuspecting passing boater.
There are no decent restaurants to be found, and definitely not a single place where one can get a cold beer. Mind you, why anyone would want a cold beer in Broken Bay is a bit of a wonder as unlike Sydney Harbour, the peculiar geographical topography of this area funnels in cold Antarctic winds 24/7. The ambient summer temperature is usually less than 8 degrees Celsius and nobody has, to my knowledge, survived a winter there.
It is unwise to venture ashore due to the prevalence of giant marauding marsupials which have been known to carry off small sheep in their powerful jaws – definitely a traumatic event for visitors from the land of the long white cloud who might be accompanied by their wives.
It is hoped that Alistair will urgently advise his fellow Kiwi brethren not to leave Auckland Harbour, and for their own safety, keep well away from these unhospitable coastal shores.
Peter Morton,
Sydney.
 Bill Weld and Pagan
Erin Cole Roth’s letter from Albuquerque, New Mexico (Afloat Jun’10) brought back memories.
In 1948 as a 17-year-old, I was on a jetty in Elizabeth Bay (Sydney) with a friend when we saw a small black hulled Gaff cutter sailing in. He sailed up to the jetty and we took his lines. He said his name was Bill Weld and was picking up a female crew. He said he was early and would we like to go for a sail around the bay.
That started a lifetime of sailing. At 77 years old, I am still sailing twice a week in my Hunter 19.
Jack Mobbs,
Rydalmere.
EPA-compliant barnacles
I read with interest some of the letters following Alan Lucas’s article Barnacle Bills (Afloat Mar’10). I think I can add some light on the issue of boat scraping in Sydney Harbour.
I do not think the authorities have too much of a problem with boat owners scraping only barnacles off their boats into the water. However, on inspection of the scrapings, some paint is removed with the barnacles. No doubt your readers appreciate that this paint can contain metals and traces of pesticides.
The merits of minimising the risks of water pollution are clear to me after considering the number of boats, especially at marinas and generally throughout the harbour, and the quantity and nature of the scrapings that are generated each year.
Most boat yards around Sydney appreciate this and have facilities to minimise the paint scrapings entering the harbour from their operations. Those making use of their facilities for antifouling works have comfort in the knowledge that they will not be degrading the harbour and thereby gain the continued support of the wider community.
Marti Pascall,
Mount Warrigal.
Aussie Sailing Forum
I have surfed the web and only seem to be able to reach American forums. I need to join a forum to answer questions on cruising the Australian coast by sail that the books don’t cover.
Ancient Yachtie.
 Sunset and Evening Star
Trevor Riddell – Boatbuilder and Moth creator
Being a retired builder of wooden boats and a keen yachty of 1931 vintage, I find much to interest me in Afloat.
I am saddened to learn of the passing of so many of my old seafaring mates … such as Arthur Byrne whom we sailed against in Norm Brooker’s Seawind. We had quite a few great racing battles against his Salacia.
Recently my old cobber, Trevor Riddell, has also sailed off into that harbour in the sky.
I started my apprenticeship with Trevor’s father, Andy and Trev’s brothers, George and Bob. Trevor was very involved in the AIF and was deeply affected by the war. He found it extremely hard to concentrate. Although starting his apprenticeship two years before the war, he did not complete it till a few years afterwards.
I started my five year course in 1947 and, with the Riddell brothers, built some fine yachts. One notable memory is of the two yachts designed by the late Alan Payne (another good friend) and also the Laurent Giles 10 metre. Even for F.J. Palmer. This boat scored Line Honours in the 1955 Sydney-Hobart Race. My last job with the Riddells was building a Dragon for Norm Booth, the well-known Sydney car dealer.
Vic Robinson lived next door to the Riddell family in Seaforth bay. Upon coming across an article in an American magazine, Vic was very keen to build a Moth Class sailing dinghy. His enthusiasm soon had Trevor and me building one each, too. Before we knew it, we had started a new sailing class on Sydney Harbour!
Our sail numbers were 146, 147 and 148. With fast-growing interest from other clubs the sail numbers climbed to over 2,000 in no time at all.
We constructed a clubhouse in Seaforth bay and had a rapidly growing competitive fleet. Many a talented yachty graduated from these little craft, including another of my deceased mates, Poddy O’Donnell, forehead hand aboard the America’s Cup challenger Gretel.
Dave Linton,
Perth, Tasmania.
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