Celebrating a milestone
We departed Busselton and had a nice run up the coast to Bunbury, arriving into Koombana Bay in the mid-afternoon. Just a one night stop-over as the winds were favourable for the passage to Mandurah and we wanted to spend a few days catching up with some more friends.
The run to Mandurah was ‘champagne sailing’ with about 12 knots of south west most of the way, giving us a pleasant broad reach and, with the screecher up, we were zipping along around the 8 knot mark. Singularity was running beautifully. She is so calm and stable in these conditions that you can get quite a few things done whilst on the move – which makes a change from many of the other conditions we have experienced.
The only excitement was a brief ‘Waterworld’ moment when on the horizon we spotted a bunch of boats heading directly our way – turned out to be a convoy of about 10 or so big stink boats. They all looked of the same design and brand new – making their way down south for Easter we presume. They were ripping along at 20+ knots – hate to think of the fuel use – but as they were stretched out and passed only about half a mile to the east of us, we copped their shitty wash for about 15 minutes!!!
A great few days at Mandurah tucked up inside the entrance in our usual anchor spot. Highlights include:
- A lazy 35km mountain bike ride with Ric Cockman to check out the Giants of Mandurah. Thanks, Ric, for the guided tour and a decent workout;
- We enjoyed it so much, we did it again with Kirst – this time, we included a stopover at the awesome Boundary Island Brewery – but still 35km!
- Brekky catch up with Eric and Maria Dodd… Doddsy, having been a big part of our lives growing up at the surf club with plenty of fun had and memories banked. A highlight of our catchup was the opportunity to go for a little cruise around Mandurah in their pride and joy, a 1968 Chevy Impala. Shmick!
- Drinks with Ric and Donna of Broome fame at the Peninsula Bar and Restaurant.
We heard that Muzz Hughes was putting money on the bar at the Surf Club for his 60th on the Tuesday night after Aussies Masters, so we decided to head to town a day early. Weather was good for us to head straight up and into Port Coogee and it was another nice sail, up the inside of Comet Bay before shooting the reef at just south of Shoalwater. Conditions were conducive to a run nice and close to the western side of Garden Island and it was good to check it out up close, as we haven’t really spent much time there. Pretty soon, we were making our way through Challenger Passage, between Garden and Carnac Island and punching into an easterly as we headed into Port Coogee.
After putting the boat to bed, we were grateful to be picked up by Ian and Jen and headed back to their place in Duncraig. There was enough time for a quick catch up and a shower before we headed over to Di’s place (Kirst’s mum) in Wembley Downs. We picked up Kirst and then down to the club for some fun socialising with friends we hadn’t seen in a while. Happy birthday, Muzz! When it came time to leave, It was like old times with the three of us doing the long walk home from the surf club to Wembley Downs, through the back streets, and managing to get all the neighborhood dogs barking.
We were really excited to be back in Perth to celebrate Sue’s (Pete’s mum) 80th birthday (the milestone, in case you were wondering). All of the Scott clan were flying in from Melbourne. We hadn’t seen Cam (Pete’s brother) and Fiona and their kids, Riley and Mackenzie, for quite a few years due to Covid, and whilst we caught up with Bron at Christmas, we were also keen to see her.
The weather was just okay for a quick bit of Singularity time for Cam and crew, so we did a quick day trip from Port Coogee over to Woodman Point. The guys seemed to have brought the Melbourne weather with them, as it was a bit overcast with a few showers, but we still managed a swim and some lunch. Both Riley and Mackenzie had some time on the helm and enjoyed themselves with some jumping off the bow, into the water.
Friday night was the big family gathering at Jeff (Pete’s other brother) and Jane’s house and it was really awesome to catch up with everyone. Bit of backyard cricket, yummy food, a classic slideshow of Mum and family from over the years, as well as the usual family chatter.
Great to have everyone (except Jemma, who was in Victoria - we missed you, babe xxx) together and to celebrate the big milestone for Mum. Love you Mum!
Our trip coincided with Aussies at Scarborough and we were on the bikes for a few days, pedalling down from Ian and Jen’s in Duncraig. This was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone all in the same place. One of the highlights was catching up with Kylie Steel, with whom we were great mates in Broome and hadn’t seen for 20 years. Kylie has been living on the coast at Torquay for the last 18 or so years and was at Aussies with one of her daughters, Lani. Really fun to catch up and awesome that Kylie hasn’t changed one bit – hopefully we can catch her and Mark somewhere in the near future.
The second week of our stay was a little hindered when Nicky came down with Covid. Pete bailed and went and stayed with Sue and Ian and Nicky was refined to her own quarters at her mum and dad’s. Thanks, mum, for looking after me. Totally ironic, as the week was meant to be spent with me spending quality time and pampering you! More catch ups for Pete including Cliff and Penny, long lost ‘surrogate grand parents’ from Broome and the obligatory coffee with Eoghan. Rounded off with a fantastic meal at PA and Tanya’s place as part of the Festival of Muzz.
Whilst we were at Port Coogee, we had the guys from Rigging WA come and give us some help with our mast and mainsail. Our topping lift, which is the rope which runs from the mast to the end of the boom – and essentially holds the boom up when the sail is not up, had developed some chafe and needed replacement. We also thought it was pertinent to replace our main halyard at the same time and the guys were able to reset our main halyard to help make the raising of the mainsail a little easier. Always good to have someone external and experienced come and look over the mast and rig. These guys look at a lot of masts and different configurations and so are able to pass that wisdom on to people like us. We could have changed the ropes ourselves, but I wanted that external view. So, after a couple of visits, we have a new topping lift and mainsail installed and have had an eye cast over our rigging – all good!!
The weather was starting to change and the fronts arriving, so we were keen to start heading north!