This weekend sees the 12th Musto 2008 Etchells Australian Winter Championship to be held at Mooloolaba in South East Queensland.

Despite being in the middle of winter the waters off Mooloolaba are still warm, the sun is usually shining and the day time temperature is rarely below 20degC. The event regularly attracts sailors from all over Australia as well as some top international names, despite this the event is open to all Etchells sailors.

Mooloolaba fleet captain Trevor Martin says the winter championship is about giving all Etchells skippers and crews the chance to enjoy top class competition.

“We aren’t all professional sailors. Like a lot of the Etchells sailors, we enjoy racing our boats on the weekends and at the class regattas. Even though we may find ourselves placing down the results, the opportunity of challenging top class sailors racing equally on one-design boats is just brilliant. Sometimes those sailors get knocked off their perch by the weekend warriors. That is a great feeling when it happens.”

The event is set to welcome a fleet of 55 boats campaigned by some of the best one-design sailors in Australia including previous America’s Cup and Olympic class competitors. Last years winner West Australian Skip Lissiman will be back to defend the title and John Bertrand is also returning this year.

More information is available from the event website.

The 20th Sanctuary Cove Boat Show has been widely claimed a success despite earlier speculation that boat sales would suffer in the current economic climate. Visitor numbers to the show were the second highest on record at 50,600.

Boatweb sponsors and importers of Fountaine Pajot Catamarans EC Marine Pty report that they achieved record sales at the show, selling seven sail and power catamarans during the show with a total value of $5,580,000. Sales included the new Salina 48, Orana 44 and Highland 35 Pilot, as well as Lavezzi 40 and Mahe 36’s. Queries and orders immediately following the Show have also been very strong with an additional two catamarans sold, at a value of $1,090,000.

Other exhibitors reported strong sales in the over 40 foot category with many companies also claiming record sales. Walking around the show my own impression was that business on the marina in particular seemed very brisk.

Despite there being many large and impressive boats on display the one that really caught my eye was the Ranger Tug which looks like a proper little ship. Very charming and economically equipped with a 30 hp diesel for those of us who aren’t in too much of a hurry.

Around the Pavilions I discovered the Mobilarm VPIRB which I had not come across before. The VPIRB is a locating beacon that transmits your GPS position via DSC VHF or voice VHF to all vessels in range when automatically activated. This would useful for double handed sailors with a DSC VHF. If one crew member was below and the other went overboard the DSC VHF would be activated and give the position of the MOB directly to the vessel rather than to a rescue co-ordinating centre like a personal EPIRB.

Nearly every manufactured boat comes equipped with a 12 volt electric bilge pump or perhaps two if you have a really big boat.

If you are expecting these electric bilge pumps to to stop your boat from sinking due to anything but a very minor leak then you are going to be disappointed.

Most electric bilge pumps are rated with their pumping capacity in gallons per hour (gph) and the biggest one I can see in my chandlery catalogue is rated at 3700 gph. I would venture that not many boats have one that size fitted.

It is most likely that the pumps rating is with no head, meaning that the discharge is horizontal with the pump not having to push any water uphill. A very unlikely scenario for a bilge pump. The higher the pump has to pump the bilge water to get it to the discharge point the more its pumping capacity diminshes.

Also the rated capacity will be with full 12 volts of battery power available, which is not always the case.  A large capacity pump like the 3700 gph model mentioned draws 20 amps which would require the engine to be running for prolonged operation.

A bilge pump installation necessarily includes a hose to pump the bilge water overboard. The discharge point must well above the water line or have an anti-siphon loop. The pump has to push the water uphill reducing its rated pumping capacity.

The hose itself can also reduce pumping capacity. A lot of bilge pump hose is corrugated to make flexible and hold its shape when bent round corners. Internally the corrugations create resistance to the flow water. Hose with smooth internal walls will create less resistance to the flow, however it must suitably reinforced so that it holds it shape.

Eventually the hose terminates in a skin fitting. The internal diameter of the skin fitting is narrower than that of the hose again restricting the flow of water.

It is estimated that a bilge pumps capacity can be reduced by between 15 and 30% by these factors.

As a comparison a 1 inch diameter hole in your boat three feet below the waterline will let in around 2000 gallons of water in an hour.

In actual fact the purpose of these pumps is to more remove accumulated water from the bilge once you have found and stopped a leak rather than keep up with a major ongoing flood. So from that perspective whatever you have installed is likely to be adequate.

Anyone wanting enough pumping capacity to control serious flooding would be better off installing an engine or generator driven high capacity pump.

The beach just south of Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland seemed to have a magnetic attraction for boats on Thursday night.

First the 65′ Tuna boat “Magnus” ended up stranded on the beach. It is understood the boat was heading north towards Mooloolaba when the incident happened. A report in the Sunshine Coast Daily says that the crew were asleep at the time!

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At 5.30 am on a cold and dark Monday morning I was reconsidering my invitation to sail down to the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show on a new Hanse 370. However the forecast was for 20-25 knots from the south west and a fine day, and it turned out to be a very fine day indeed.

With the sun just breaking over the horizon we left Mooloolaba with one reef in the main and also rolled away a bit of the self tacking headsail as we came onto the wind after rounding Point Cartwright.

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The first time you take your boat out at night it can seem quite daunting but if you do everything right it’s a very enjoyable experience.

I really enjoy sailing on a moonlight sea in good weather conditions. If you are on an overnight passage, though you may be tired, there is something gratifying about watching dawn break from a boat at sea. The sky gradually lightens and the stars start to disappear, clouds turn from grey to pink then orange and finally the sun peaks over horizon.

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Almost everyone has heard of prop walk and quite a few of us will have had boats which exhibit this characteristic.

For those that don’t know, prop walk occurs when initially engaging reverse gear and applying power to stop the vessel or get it moving backwards. The stern of the vessel “walks” to port if you have a right handed propeller until the vessel has some way on and can be steered with the rudder. In the comparatively rare case of a left handed prop the stern will “walk” to starboard.

In actual fact boats pivot round a point about one third of the boats length from the bow. So while the stern is going one way the bow is going the other way.

The effect is limited to single screw vessels where the prop shaft is angled downwards, plus the underwater shape of the hull can increase the effect. Boats with flat bottoms and propshafts that are horizontal, which includes sail drives, don’t suffer from prop walk. That eliminates most power boats and yachts of modern design. However there are still a lot of good, older boats out there with this problem.

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Winter’s approaching and boating activities usually diminish during the colder months especially in the southern states. Many boat owners use the extra time to do repairs and upgrade equipment.

Although not usually at the top of our priorities we know we should check our safety equipment as the use by dates for some items always come around sooner than anticipated.

This year it will also be time to upgrade your EPIRB if you still have one of the old 121.5 Mhz types. From 1st February 2009, alerts from these beacons will no longer be received by the Cosaps-Sarsat satelite system. Aircraft that are fitted with 121.5 Mhz receivers will still pick up the signal if they are in the vicinity and have the receiver turned on.

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Are you considering buying a GPS plotter or a laptop for your onboard navigation?

Here are some of the pros and cons.

GPS Plotter Advantages

• Waterproof - A GPS plotter has been designed to operate in a marine environment and most units are sealed to protect them from damp salty environment with some level of waterproofing.

• Secure mounting options

• The screen is visible in bright light

• Software is more stable - Compared with common standard computer operating software

• Integrates with other marine electronics- Most GPS plotters will interface with compatible autopilot/sonar/radar/weather receivers etc

• Lower power consumption compared to a laptop

• Cheaper- Arguable, but a cheaper plotter is around $600, a second hand laptop is about the same, but which will last longer in a marine environment?

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Many thanks to Captain Triko for this story about the Joshua C and her crew as they head off on voyages anew.

The Joshua C is a fine 80’ schooner that has been 10 years in the making. Since kissing the tide she has been lying on the northern bank of Petrie Creek a shallow muddy tributary of the Maroochy River on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

A few weeks ago on a particularly high tide, the Joshua C successfully separated herself from the mud and cane fields of Petrie Creek and motored two miles downstream and under the David Low Way bridge. A crane had come and pulled her masts from her in order to pass below the span which carries the 4 lanes of traffic linking the northern and southern Sunshine Coast. She was heading to a new berth just to the seaward side of the bridge to make final preparations for crossing the Maroochy River Bar on the next big tide.

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