The Steamtug Blog

As the garden at home shrivels up before my eyes, with only 2 lots of rain, 10mm each, and the endless Summer culminating in 2 weeks of temperatures above 30 degrees (one morning it was still 27 when I went to work!) I find a “cool” way to stay cool. With 4 boat trips in 1 week!

But none of these where on poor old Adaqua, still sitting motionless without an engine. But the good news is her engineroom make-over is progressing with Tom and I working all weekend to get the last dodgy fuel tank out. It was a stinking hot day, and the humidity down in the engineroom bilge made the air thick enough to cut. We struggled, pulled, pushed and with a rope sling, the old tank was sitting on the engine frames. Next to get it up onto the pilot house floor, then down the stairs into the galley, and up again out the back companionway, or door for you land lubbers.

So, puffing, panting and with sweat dripping from our noses, we looked at the old tank sitting on the back deck. We had to cut the take off leg, that hangs under the tank to get it through the door, but we were proud with what we had achieved so far. Well, now the struggle to lift it off onto the pier and load it into Tom’s ute. But how? We were both buggered! So, we pulled Adaqua around backwards up against the pier. Fortunately there was not a breathe of wind, and Adaqua looked funny moored perpendicular to the pier. But with the back hard up against the pylons, we only had to lift and plonk the tank up and on. The damn thing is made from 5mm plate steel and even empty weighs a ton! Now with the tank on the pier, we just reversed Tom’s ute up to it and chucked it up one more level into the back. Whew.

That was it… I cracked it, ripped off my jeans and dived into the cold water to cool off. Tom stood on deck with a hot can of beer in hand and laughed. “Come on ya girl! Get it” so he placed his can on the deck and jumped in too. But was disappointed that with a heavy port list and no engine in Adaqua, the free board from the water made the deck too high to reach his can! Ha! He yelled over to me that we needed an engine to reduce free board so you can reach your can in the future.

Sailing

But John’s little yacht Meridian is going from strength to strength! Remember we sank her this time last year, and since then John has had the engine out 3 times, re-wired and cleaned up inside. We blamed a dodgey head (land lubbers call them toilets) so at first John said “We will just piss over the side”. But he weakened when his ex-wife came to visit and wanted to go away sailing on an overnight adventure. So she has a new head, and seeing the electric flush model I brought for Adaqua, John has done the same. But the hoses now run up the bulkhead (land lubbers call ’em walls) with syphon breakers so backflow from the sea is impossible.

So I announced last Thursday in the office that I was finishing work early and going sailing. Colin got excited and switched off his computer announcing “Wait! I’m coming too!” So we sailed out and back on a calm Corio Bay with minimal wind for a very relaxing and slow cruise up the Shell pier and back. It took so long that we ran out of beer! Oh well, it was certainly relaxing.

I had such a nice time, that Saturday afternoon when Riley came home from uni for the weekend, I suggested we go for a sail, and he and Anita agreed so off we went again! The day was hot and sunny, and lots of sunscreen was needed against the glare of the water. After sailing to the end of the bay and back, the sun got hotter and Riley suggested we have a swim, just like we do on our boat Adaqua. So we went over to Eastern Beach and picked up a mooring just out from the shore.

I wanted to impress the girls on the beach, so I swam like Tarzan from the yacht over to the next vacant bouy closer to the shore. I put it between my legs and floated in the cool water. But when I turned back around, I thought that’s funny, the yacht looks further away. Then I noticed the mooring rope had come loose and they were off without me! I started swimming back, but she was drifting away too! So I had to put my head down and power on. I was getting tired and looked at another yacht moored nearby and decided, ok plan B I will swim there and wait for them to come back. But I stuck with plan A and kept swimming. Only another 100 metres to go… puff puff, then I finally reached the dinghy puffing like an old steam train! I had made it. When I looked back, I had swum about 500 metres full tilt! I climbed into the dinghy to catch my breathe before I could finally climb back aboard Meridian. Whew!

Then when telling my collegues in the office Monday about my epic swim, Colin announced he was keen to go again, and this time Pete was avialable. And with the weather so nice at the moment, off we went again. So this time the crew had grown to John, Pete (my boss), Colin and me. After running out of beer last time, I made sure it would not happen again, and even brough a 6 pack of James Squire’s golden ale. Mmmm, very tasty! And went well with the summer ales I had made. That’s the one with the New Zealand hop “Nelson Sauvin” it has a nice pale ale style flavour in an easy drinking light summer beer. It turned out well. Pete brought some cheese and bickies, and Colin had the fore-thought to stop off at the fish and chip shop and had little boxes of fish and chips for our dinner, because he complained he got hungry on the last trip. The wind was a little more lively and the same trip took half the time, so we went back to quayside to finish off the beers ashore while watching the sun set. Another great evening’s sailing!

Victoria Star

So the next day, I had a meeting in Melbourne with our instrument vendor who were having a BBQ and few beers to show off some new equipment they were flogging. Great excuse for a meeting! So while there, I rang my old mate Leigh, the owner and Captain of the old Sydney ferry “Victoria Star” (formerly Lady McKell) He was going out that night with a party and invited me along. So I called Mitch who was available, and Tom was working not far away, so twisted his arm to join us too!

I have done heaps of trips on Victoria Star, and even steered her between Geelong and Melbourne many times a few years back, so I know this ship well. When the boys arrived, I proudly took them down to the engineroom to show off the big 8 cylinder diesel engine. I was chatting with the engineer while Mitch and Tom were talking around the other side of the engine. By the time I got there and was ready to explain to Mitch a few things, I started saying “Do you now what this is Mitch” Yep, fuel pump. “Oh, well do you know what this is?” Yep, turbo charger. “Oh, well do you know what this does?” Yep, opens the inlet and exhaust valves. “What? How do you, a computer nerd know all this stuff?” Because Tom already told me! Ha….

We cruised around Melbourne’s hard working docks, then out into Hobson’s Bay and Williamstown. All very pleasant as we sipped Leigh’s free beer. Now Mitchell loves to argue politics and winds me up everytime he comes home. And I remembered Leigh also likes to express firm opinions too. So I whispered to Tom, “Watch this”. I then fired Mitch up about some Labor party policy. Then brought Leigh into the arguement, bowed out to the port side of the wheel house and let them go! It was like putting to cats in a box! And Tom and I laughed as they both tried to press their point home with each of them refusing to back down. Mitch won awards when he was at school for debating, and now couches one of the most exclusive schools in Melbourne for debating and hates to loose. It was fun for a while.

At the end of the night, Mitch took me over to his favourite place, the casino for a bite to eat. We arrived in the posh la-de-dah valet parking where there were Ferari’s parked everywhere. As I looked over the menu passed the $200 steaks, and opting for the $18 hamburger instead, I heard the others talking at the next table about the Grand Prix, which was on this weekend in Melbourne and realised why all the Ferari’s were out tonight. Well, as I tucked into my hamburger, I thought I was still doing ok in life! Seeeeeeeya!