Socialising when Sailing

One of the interesting phenomenon of sailing is watching the configuration of people on yachts and other boats.

Mostly each boat is crewed by a couple, however quite a few single men live on yachts.  We chat to quite a few in the different marinas.  Some have been sailing by themselves for years.

When we were anchored off Shaw Island, we noticed that a man came out on the deck and mopped it down and then disappeared.  I always wonder what they do to while away the hours.  I asked our friends Anthea and Derek from England, what they do.  Same as us, read, sleep and make a big deal of meals.  Spending time deciding what to have, time preparing it and then you don't have to rush eating your meal.  Ian fixes this and that or fishes and I play on the net and knit!

We anchored off Airlie Beach this week.  We arrived back here last Sunday 10 July with Chris and Pat.  Ian loaded them and their luggage in the RIB, buzzed around to the Marina and let them off near where their car was parked.  It had been a lovely weekend.  Weather beautiful.

On Monday we rang around to try to find someone to fix a problem we had with the heat exchanger on the motor.  Most people in Airlie Beach were not helpful and said we would have to go to Mackay.

Luckily, we have been keeping in contact with Kerry and Eileen who we met in Rosslyn Bay (Yeppoon) Marina.  They are locals and suggested people we could call.  They also have the same engine as us - except that they have two of them.  So we finally found a very experienced radiator repairer in Proserpine.

So on Monday night, Ian pulled the Heat Exchanger off the motor.  We cleaned it, wrapped it in an old towel, then in plastic and then into a soft suitcase.  It was very heavy.  Tuesday morning saw us up at 6 am, then loading this heavy parcel into the RIB.  The bus left from Airlie and not the Marina, so Ian took me and the gear around to the beach near Airlie, dropped me off and then buzzed back to the Marina where it was a lot safer to leave the RIB (we have chains and locks on the engine and petrol tank - and take the petrol hose and key with us everywhere).

Ian then walked the 15 minutes into town and we found the bus stop.  Its handy having a Senior Card so the bus costs me almost nothing.  It took about 40 mins to get to Proserpine, where the radiator specialist came and picked us up from the bus stop. 

Peter, the specialist rebuilt our heat exchanger in three hours, which was great.  He asked us what we were going to do in ProsVegas within the three hours!!  But we had fun, coffee in the three coffee shops - morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.  Walked the whole town and did some grocery shopping.  The town park was lovely, so we spent some time there reading and relaxing.

Got back to our home (windChalmer) about 5 pm and Ian put the heat exchanger back in on Wednesday.  We had thought about sailing out to Hook Island, however it has been very windy and cold, so we decided just to stay here.

A smaller yacht next to us, dragged it anchor on Wednesday morning, we rushed up on deck and luckily they had noticed, so they waved and shifted their boat.   But they didn't move very far and the next morning they had dragged again.  They had come over and apologised the first morning.

So Ian went over and asked them to come over for a cuppa.  They come from Melbourne - Irish originally.  So we had fun with them and then met them at the Community Markets this morning for coffee.    They have been sailing all their lives and I think have been coming up here for about 15 years. 

The sailing community is very interesting.  You have the really posh boats and moneyed people and then just all the normal ones like us. 

When we took the bus to the Whitsunday Shopping center we asked about shopping on line.  Our new Irish friends did their shopping on line and had it delivered to the marina.  So I hopped on the net and worked out what we needed and it is all supposed to arrive at the Marina on Monday between 1 and 2 pm.  How good is that?

8 and 9 July:  we are back in the Airlie Beach - Able Point Marina to have the furler fitted.  So we will get a good long shower and do the washing and lots of walking!