Hi mate...
Mobiles dont get good coverage around many islands-relying on one is
dangerous. Very dangerous.. Buy a hand held vhf to use. and log in with
VMR
before and after each sail. The motor is a great idea. Whitehaven is a
definate stoppover point as is Nara inlet which has some public moorings
to
tie up to.
There are no public toilets in the isolated areas..So you will need loo
paper and make sure you are allowed to "dump on a log" if needed.
Speak with national parks. Many areas dont allow camping. Though I guess
if
youre sleeping on the Tramp its not really camping. Rather, its living on
board ;-)
You will need an anchor if you want to stop and fish. Otherwise, I cant
see
a reason to carry one if you are going to beach the boat at night.
You should wear a life jacket at all times on a cobra- Its a small boat!!.
Not wearing one is foolish in that area of the country as there are lots
of
"bullets" that whiz around headlands and points etc. Having said that, It
may be and idea to tie a couple of empty milk bottles (or foam bouy) to
the
head of your mainsail. Should you go over, the bottles will keep the mast
afloat and prevent the cat from going turtle.
A laminated chart is also a must have! think you can get them here
www.boatbooks.com.au
You could consider putting a reef in the main- or even pick up a smaller
main as backup. Say something off a hobie 14 or NS 14 for instance.- It
would make a good boom tent regardless . If the sou-easters come in they
can
be quite strong. Up to 25knots which is a bit wet and hairy on a cobra.
The
last thing you want to do is cartwheel the cat with all that gear on
board.
You should have a ball however. There are some wonderful places to explore
and fantastic little bays that the big boys cant get into.
The currents there are very strong in places. But because Cobras are quite
fast the currents may not effect you greatly. But watch for "overfalls"
all
the same. The water can be quite confused in them. You will find the
current
stongest in the deepest water and weakest close to shore. So, if you find
yourself battling a current, go and hug the shore.
Oh yeah.. Flares!! Orange smoke for Day and red flame for night.
Keep us posted.
DP
"Shaun Van Poecke" <shaunvanpoecke@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:b4R3j.18766$CN4.5417@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Am putting together a bit of a gear list and job list of things to
do....
>
> Is there any strength/peace of mind to be gained by going over poor
joins
> on the boat with epoxy fillets? Any benefit to painting (besides
> appearance) if I am only using an external veranda type paint?
>
> As another issue, any items people think are 'must haves'? I tend to go
a
> bit overboard (no pun intended) with stuff like this and end up carrying
> every little thing for every possible little contingency.
>
> Will carry a small repair kit (lunchbox sized) with some fast set epoxy
> repair putty that sets underwater, dacron sail patches, whipping twine
and
> needle, bailing wire, a few shackles, spare bungs. Another similar
sized
> box of first aid stuff. Some very basic clothes and food. GPS, mobile,
> camera all in waterproof bags. Air horn strapped to mast, and V flag.
>
> I will have a small new reliable outboard as alternative propulsion, and
a
> paddle (for what little use it is). Is it worth carrying a small
anchor?
> My first instinct is yes, but then it's one more thing to carry too, and
a
> small anchor may not be of that much use. I tend to pre-plan most of my
> routes to allow for tidal currents etc, but say, if there is no wind and
> the outboard fails and caught in a bit of a current then an anchor could
> have some use. I couldnt carry any chain, but about 40m of rope
probably.
> Worth taking?
>
> Any other must-haves, bearing in mind everything must be stored on the
> trampoline, or before the mast on netting?
>
> Thanks,
> Shaun
>
> "Shaun Van Poecke" <shaunvanpoecke@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:BEL3j.18637$CN4.18081@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Hi All,
>> Am planning to drive with my partner from mount isa to airlie
beach/shure
>> harbour on 22nd december for about 10 days. We will be taking our
cobra
>> cat 16 with us and hoping to island hop around for a bit, maybe stay a
>> couple of nights somewhere. Ive fixed this boat up a bit and should be
>> failry sound, Ive fitted an outboard bracket to it and will be taking a
>> small outboard. Will be fitting a roller furler to the jib and thinking
>> to fit slugs to the main? Will be taking a GPS and hoping to use
phones
>> for communications. Very basic stuff also taken; hammock, few clothes,
>> small camp cooker, water. Most of this stuff will stay in waterproof
>> bags. There is no storage space on this cat unlike the cobra cat I had
>> before.
>>
>> Any advice out there from anyone re: sailing a small beach cat in this
>> area? Some random questions include; is this boat undersized for this
>> area? What are the winds typically like at this time of year? Will we
>> find places on any of the islands to camp? permits required? good
cell
>> phone signal everywhere (will we need a radio?) any reasonably priced
>> places to stay? random sailing/safety advice?
>>
>> I have 'cruising the coral coast' and will be bringing it along. This
is
>> more a holiday trip than a sailing trip, we plan to sail an hour a two
a
>> day, or maybe not at all with the rest of the time spent trying to stay
>> out of the sun, listening to a bit of music or reading a book. Neither
>> of us have ever visited this area before so we dont really know what to
>> expect.
>>
>>
>> Following is a bit of a half re****t on my trip down to sydney a couple
of
>> months ago which some of you may remember;
>>
>> Basically, I had a great time! i was down for 9 days but only
>> went sailing for 3. The rest of the time was taken up with riding,
>> catching
>> up with friends, and a wedding. The one bad thing that happened was i
>> went
>> to have a look at the beach cat that i still had down there and someone
>> has
>> stripped it! Some of you may remember last year that someone stole my
>> trailer. This would have taken a fair bit of trouble as the boat was
on
>> the
>> trailer at the time, with the mast up and everything... they have
taken
>> the
>> boat of and left it there but pinched the trailer. Sadly it is most
>> likely
>> another cat sailor too. I went down to have a look at the boat to
decide
>> whether i would try to organise some way of getting it up to mount isa,
>> only
>> to find that someone has stripped most anything of value off the boat.
>> Roller furler and jib both taken. This required lowering the mast, and
>> quite a few tools so it was probably premeditated. They would have had
>> to bring a drill
>> because a lot of the stuff was riveted to the boat. Most of the
hardware
>> which was all new last year is pinched too; cleats, blocks etc all
taken.
>> A
>> real shame to see something like this happen (and an even bigger shame
it
>> happedned to me!)
>>
>>
>> Other than that the trip was all great. We chartered a compass 29 from
>> church point charter which i have chartered before, The boat had a new
>> jib
>> and they had recut the main. The boat itself was in fairly good
>> condition
>> for its age, but had a few small problems that wouldnt have taken much
>> money
>> to make them right. There were no line holders for ropes, rope was
used
>> instead of sail ties etc... just little things like this. One of the
>> winches seemed to be missing one tooth on the ratchet as it wouldnt
>> 'lock'
>> in every position. On top of that there was only one winch handle,
glad
>> we
>> didnt drop it!
>>
>> The first day was straight forward, picked up the boat at about 9am,
and
>> headed out. We had a strong wind warning with 30-35 knots expected
which
>> was a big improvement over the previous year when i went out for 8 days
>> and
>> got about one hour of sailable wind in all that time! It was a steady
15
>> knots on the way out but i was pretty cautions and had reefed down. I
>> shook out the reefs and enjoyed the motion, but by the afternoon it was
>> starting to come on a bit. By the time we came up to round the head
and
>> go across to patonga, I had the jib completely furled (furling only),
and
>> was motorsailing with the main fully reefed. The reefed main didnt
>> really provide any forward motion, but it kept the boat nicely heeled
>> over and stable, gave us more freeboard on the windward side which kept
>> us a bit drier. But i still got totally soaked! There was a bit of a
>> bushfire going on, but we got upwind of it. I've forgotten the name of
>> every little bay/harbour etc so I cant name stuff, but we spent the
first
>> night on a mooring just around the corner in the cove there from
patonga
>> beach. The next 2 days were good sailing, steady winds and had a great
>> time. Returned the boat Friday morning and headed back home.
>>
>
>
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