Wire Rope Grips

Part of our spares kit contains cable and wire rope grips to jury rig standing rig cables or replace our steering cable.  To jury rig, the theory is to use the clamps to put eyes in the broken wire rope then use bottle screws, lashings, a short length of chain or D-shackles to connect the two ends of the wire. While we may have all seen wire rope grips in use, there is only one correct way of assembly. This way is to have the clips (u bolts) on the dead end side of the rope. Using the clamps this way ensures strength of 85-90% of the wire rope is maintained. If the clamps are around the other way, clamp block on the dead end (wrong way) strength is reduced to about 75 % of the wire rope.

The wire rope grips are used in groups of three with the first being placed close to the eye the others are evenly spaced 5-8 centimeters from each other clamp. Previously I didn’t have any idea of the correct way of using these wire rope clips and remember having seen them incorrectly illustrated in books.  Now days I pay more attention when looking around others boats and have seen a few ends terminated incorrectly, and sometimes these had been done by people who should have known the correct way.

Facts I found along the way are to make sure you match the wire rope clip to the rope diameter for example, use a 9 mm wire rope clip with a 9 mm wire rope. Never connect two ends of wire rope with wire rope clips and never shock or impact load the rope. That’s right wire rope clips are not made for joining wire rope together but are used for forming an eye, eyes can then be joined as mentioned earlier.

When working with coated cable you need to match wire rope clip size to uncoated cable diameter and strip the coating off the cable where wire rope clips will be attached. Install wire rope clips correctly, wire rope clips are made for use with wire rope only so never use wire rope clips on pipe, rod, chain, fiber rope, etc.  Inspect and maintain wire rope clips regularly and replace any that are worn, distorted, or damaged, and depending on the use inspect wire rope clip nuts regularly and re-torque as needed. 

Health - inoculations, mosquito & midge repellents and after care, health in general

INOCULATIONS

Due to sailing in Malaria zones and visiting the Eastern side of Indonesia the following inoculations where advised by the rally organizers. We had all but one of the advised inoculations because at the time of travelling we didn't need the Cholera injection.

Its not a cheap exercise, especially the Japanese Encephalitis, but did feel worth the investment for our health.

• Tetanus, Diphtheria & Pertussis (all given as one injection)
• Hepatitis A (2 doses, 6 months apart)
• Hepatitis B (3 doses: 1st as appropriate, 2nd 1 month later, 3rd  6 months after the 1st dose)
• Polio
• Cholera (our doctor said these are not necessary at the time of travelling)
• Typhoid
• Rabies (3 doses: 1st as appropriate, 2nd 7 days, 3rd 21-28 days after the 1st dose. A booster in 1 year is recommended) 
• Japanese Encephalitis

We also had our Influenza jabs for good measure.

All the injections where given in the arms and most of them we had at the same time with no ill effects for us. Your doctor will know your personal medical situation and will advise as needed.

We would advise you to have these injections as soon as you can. Don't leave having them close to your departure date as some are given over a lengthy period of time.

*** March 2017 upon reflection, we are not convinced we would of had all the injections. Quite a few of the rally fleet did not do what we did. No body got sick beyond believe that needed to be medivac'd out. Most of the circumnavigators did not get any injections.

MOSQUITO & MIDGES

Both of these little critters eat Deb alive. We have read a lot of data regarding them in Indonesia and it seems to be no worse or better than in Australia. They seem to be more prevalent near mangroves and any vegetation close to the waters edge. The worry of course is the Malaria carrying mosquito. The data on Malaria is worth reading and we read the CDC Malaria website and the Living In Indonesia website. The information is extensive so i will let you read it to inform yourself.

Like most things in life prevention is crucial. The bites are often silent - you actually don't know you are being bitten straight away, its not until a few days later when the welts and the itching starts you realize you have been eaten and then you need some after care.

For prevention we have tried to make Matilda as insect proof as we can. So we have very good hatch screens, companionway screens and screens that we made for our dorade vents. While inside we burn up to 4 mozzie coils (we find the Earth Tiger ones good) and we have 2 x 12 volt burners.

Both of these insects mainly come out at dawn and seem to mass at dusk, so obviously we try to avoid these times of the day. If we must be out at these times, its socks, long pants, long sleeve tops and lots of repellent. We have also read that some people even wear their Stinger Suits. Taking Vitamin B/Thiamine everyday in tablet form is also meant to assist by sweating out an odor that the mozzies don't like.

The repellents we use are: Bushman's which has the DEET product in it. DEET can have some nasty side effects so best to be informed here at Wikipedia. We also carry a spray bottle with dettol and baby oil mixed together. The mix varies from person to person. Some use 50/50 and some use 1 part dettol to 8 parts baby oil. We have even heard some people add a splash of metho, but we don't.

For after care in attempt to sooth the itching, there are many things you can use. The best thing is to try them all and see what works for you. These are some that Deb has tried. White vinegar dabbed on neat, rolling on some MUM deodorant (has to be the mauve one),  Hemorrhoid cream eg. Rectinol, Eurax cream (from the chemist), Ice (if you don't have ice use a couple of face washers in the fridge and rotate them), pressing a very hot spoon directly on to the bite gives instant relief, Stingose, White Flower (bought from an Asian Grocer), Tiger Balm dabbed on, Eumovate Cream (from the chemist), Biteaway, Lavender, Tea Tree Oil,  Ammonia dabbed on, The Locals Cream, 4 Way Cream, Lucas Paw Paw gel, Ya Mate, Coconut oil and a good old scrub in salt water.

HEALTH TIPS IN GENERAL

• While in Asia we know to not drink tap water. This includes no ice in drinks.
• If you obtain a scratch from coral, wash the area thoroughly and apply antibacterial cream immediately and watch the area for infection.
• Be careful when ordering seafood
• Only drink sealed bottled water
• If you are bitten or scratched by a monkey, dog or any other animal wash the area immediately and apply a antibacterial cream and see a doctor as soon as you can - rabies is everywhere here.

Visa

The Social Budaya Visa is gained by completing the paperwork emailed out by the rally organizers. The visa application was made easier by reading their tips and handy hints. The email had 4 attachments: Sponsor letter, Letter of Introduction from the Ministry of Tourism and Social Development, Rally Schedule of destinations & dates and a Form of Visa.

We paid $70 per visa and the visa is valid for 60 days and is activated once they stamp your passport in Tual - Indonesia. As instructed the next visa is arranged with our rally co-coordinator, who is Raymond Lesmana.

Boat Cards

Having your boat card's printed means you a very handy item to hand out. We had ours printed via Vista Print and got 250 to start with for $18 delivered. We did find it confusing on exactly what was too much information and what was not enough - we ended up with this:

We went hot and cold on whether or not to put our mobile number on the card as once we hit Asian waters we weren't going to be using our Australian mobile number any more. So we decided to leave a space where were could write the number on directly once we had the new sim card & number overseas.

The back of card is blank and both sides have a white background.

Boat Stamp

Boat Stamp
The Indonesians love anything official. A boat stamp will not only make life easier with all the paper work about to besiege us, it will also put us in good stead when working with officials. We looked at many sites online and for us we found Laserwrite Promotions at www.laserwritepro.com worked well for us. They where very easy to deal with and we found their pricing to work well with our budget.

Deciding on what to put on the stamp, how big, what shape and art work if any was a fun task. We took our design off a friends stamp and Bruce used paint to alter it to suit us. For the size we referred to previous stamps in our passport for the size which worked well. The round shape we found easier to fit on page on the passport. The only art work we used was a 'rope' to decorate the outside of the circle.

The writing on the stamps is purely a matter of preference. We decided on: Vessel Name, the words 'Australian' and ' Registered Vessel', and Matilda's official number. We considered our MMSI and call sign but decided there can be too much information and at the end of the day the stamp is used for identification and her O/N and her name is exactly the information officials need.

A word of advise: when you draw up your stamp prior to submitting to the stamp maker, view it in the size it will be made in. We didn't and found our o/n  a little small on the completed stamp.

April 2016

April was a busy month on Matilda. We sailed approximately 468 nautical miles (nm) from Pancake Creek through to Magnetic Island. Matilda was hauled out at Edges Boatyard in Airlie for her annual maintenance and anti fouling. We also managed to do a fair bit of running around, even ticked a few thing off the never ending 'to do' list in preparation for the rally. Once the haul out was completed, we refueled at Abel Point Marina, filled up a gas cylinder, got some more provisioning and then we started our migration north bringing us closer to Cairns.

The 1st of April saw us arrive at Great Keppel Island (GKI). We sailed from Pancake Creek for approximately 15 hrs and covered  68 nm . Arriving in the dark is not always favorable but we knew our anchorage, as we have been there many times before and felt confident in doing so. We enjoyed a good walk and swim the next day ashore.

A new day dawning as we left Pancake Creek

The mouth of Pancake Creek - it can't get much calmer in here.

April 3rd saw us do an over night sail from GKI to Scawfell Island - Refuge Bay. We were the only ones in the entire anchorage in Refuge Bay - it felt surreal. We traveled approx 160 nm in 30hrs. We are not fans of doing overnight sails but decided we could cover a lot of ground by doing so. It was interesting sailing along with not one other yacht insight the entire time. Sailing past the Percy Islands made for a few interesting hours. The current wants to pick you up and run you over to the island - like a magnet, so this helped kept us awake for a few hours.

Refuge Bay - Scawfell Island. We had the entire place to ourselves!

April 5th saw us sailing directly from Scawfell to Long Island, Happy Bay - Shute Harbor area. Sailing approx 11 hrs and approx 55nm. As usual the seas can be huge sailing this stretch and they didn't let us down this time. Some of easterly swell we estimated to be around 4 meters high and breaking, all making for an exhilarating sail. We decided to sail on the outside of Shaw Island giving us a different perspective which we enjoyed. It also meant that we could sail past Bruce's favorite island: Pentecost Island.

Pentecost Island

Matilda sailing toward Shute Harbour (Mainland) with the tip of Long Island poking out on the left of the shot

By the  8th we were anchored out the front of Abel Point Marina - APM and felt right at home. We love being in the Whitsundays and have talked about retiring in this area. For the live-a-board sailor this area still is the best place to base yourself. You have access to a public wharf to load and unload groceries and free water is found here. There are anchorages galore to sail to in good deep water to find a good spot for the night out of prevailing winds. Walks, snorkeling, shopping, fuel, gas, repairs its all here - life is good.

Captain refueling Matilda.

Matilda looking very pretty with her polish and anti foul on, ready for her voyage north.

Not many people here at the moment.

The new Yacht Club rooms are ready for members and guests.

While at Airlie we meet a lovely couple who invited us aboard their board for drinks which turned into dinner. They had previously done the same rally we are about do. They stayed on for another 5 years sailing in SE Asian waters and where an absolute wealth of knowledge. The photo below is their boat in an anchorage in Thailand - I cant wait to be there and taking this same image of Matilda.

Seventh Heaven - anchored at Koh Dam Hok - Thailand.

We did our annual haul out at Edges Boatyard from 15/4 to 21/4. To read the blog on our haul out experience go here: http://svmatilda.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/haul-out-in-edges-boatyard-airlie-april.html.

Let the work begin.

Belle the yard cat on duty.

Low tide and the creek coming in that we had to follow - hold your breath!

All done and looking good. Just waiting for the high tide at 2040.

Sunday the 24/4 we sailed up to Gloucester Island anchoring in Squally Bay for the night ready for an early start to Cape Upstart the next morning. Squally lived up to its name with some sensational bullets. The next day off to Cape Upstart sailing for 8 1/2 hrs and covering 48 nm. Arriving at 1430 the anchorage was glorious. However, at night the wind started and it literally didnt stop blowing, it was still blowing when we up'd anchor and took off having little sleep.

Rounding Cape Upstart, the rocks at the front are known as 'The Bun'. 

Interesting houses along the foreshore here. Apparently there are no roads to these houses all by water. Would have made he construction process interesting.

The anchor was dropped in Horseshoe Bay - Magnetic Island by the 26/4 and we stayed here until the end of the month. The trip up from Cape Upstart took us 12 1/2 hrs and we covered 74 nm. It was quite a thrill to have Magnetic in our sights. Its been a destination we have dreamed about being in for many years. Was fabulous to be here.

Once the anchor was down we were keen to go ashore. This is view that we had from the foreshore looking out towards the north eastern point of Horeshoe Bay.

The islands hire cars are so cute.

After the better part of April behind us, many miles of sailing and some long nights - Magnetic Island found us safe and sound in Horsehoe Bay. Every night the sunsets were like this - breathtaking.

Haul out in Edge's Boatyard - Airlie - April 2016

Matilda's last haul out was just before we set off from Brisbane in March 2014 using the Wynnum Manly slipway. Then in November 2015 we applied a thinned down coat of anti foul on a haul out in the Scarborough Marina slipway so come April 2016 she was well overdue for an anti foul. After many phones from Airlie to Cairns we decided to haul out using Edge's Boatyard and are very happy with our decision - http://www.edgesboatyard.com/.

We hauled out at 0600 on Friday 15th April and she was splashed back in at 2230 on Thursday 21st April 2016. As usual we made a list of things to do while we had her out on the hard and these included:

• Sand off old anti foul and reapply 16 liters of Micron Extra - Dover White
• Prop speed
• Grease outlets
• Polish our hull
• Paint the water line mark to freshen it up
• Make new tender seat pieces
• Remove old anchor chain (100 meters) 
• Haul up new PWB anchor chain(110 meters) and secure
• Anode on anchor
• Cut timber to replace diesel soaked timber under starboard aft bunk
• Cut timber for ladder steps to be used getting in and out of the tender
• General inspections

As it turned out one of the slings on her aft end, went under our propeller shaft and it bent it. We felt shattered at the sight. Neil the yard owner was good about it and we all decided to share the cost of either a repair a new prop shaft - as it turned out we needed a new propeller shaft. Also the cutlass bearing was bent and the rubber inside the cutlass bearing was well worn so maybe a blessing in disguise.

Apart from that hiccup all went well and we enjoyed the company of the yard owners, their staff and especially their yard cat - Bella.

Going up and down the ladder always feels precarious but lucky friends are always around to bring a cold beer and lets not let a haul out put an end to our love of cooking.

Tea Cake

Ham & Pinapple Pizza

3 1/2 meters is a long way down from up here.

Karla dropped in with cold beers!

Once the new prop shaft and the cutlass bearing arrived it was all systems go - Bella always around for inspections.

Rope Cutter, all cleaned up.

New prop shaft and the propeller with its prop speed on it.

Stern tube ready for the prop shaft.

Bruce (and Bella) inspecting the flange.

Cutlass bearing inserted and being trimmed in place.

Neil & Bruce inserting the new prop. shaft.

Going up Muddy Creek was an interesting exercise and one we took very seriously. The shallowness demanded a high tide and timing this for the lift was difficult - at one point in time we nearly missed our chance, but didn't.

Haul out pen at low tide.

Muddy Creek coming up to low tide - zero room to maneuver. 

Muddy Creek at low tide - note the creek buoys on the mud!

All done and waiting to be splashed back in.