KatieKat Pre-Cruise

This webpage covers our activities prior to the actual commencement of our cruise, and encompasses our back-home preparations, moving aboard, and tour (by car) of Victoria and New South Wales. Simply click on the small photos to see larger-scale images, then hit your browser BACK button to return to this page. Joe Siudzinski

13 June, 2000 -- Signs and Menus

Thought we'd share some photos of various road signs and menu items we don't quite have back home.

One sees this sign everywhere

In addition to the kangaroo, that's a wombat symbol

Finally realized this wasn't a road sign but a protest against overhead power lines.

Malls here are comprehensive!

I was afraid to walk on the grass in this municipality!

Don't mess with the government! This sign was in the railway museum in the Blue Mountains.

Nicely phrased - I thought the only thing one minded was the baby.

Dare you!

As seen on a menu outside an upscale restaurant in Balmain.

Couldn't quite bring ourselves to try this one.

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9 June, 2000 -- Touring Sydney

No, we still haven't taken off yet and are enjoying some lovely weather in Sydney while preparing the boat and visiting the museums and surrounding areas such as the Blue Mountains with canyons which remind one of the Grand Canyon, only greener. Having our familiar yellow SeaCycle has made a world of difference, allowing us to comfortably explore anchorages and shuttle back and forth between boat and shore. Plan on heading up the coast to Pittwater in the next few days.

Leaving Balmain to another anchorage, still in Sydney Harbor.

3 June, 2000 -- Blue Mountains

Some photos taken during our one-day excursion from Sydney into the Blue Mountains.

Overall view showing the grandeur of the area

Those features are called the Three Sisters

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31 May, 2000 -- Frozen in Victoria

"No worries, mate" they said, as we Californians headed south in our shorts and t-shirts. I even (inadvertently) left my jacket behind on the boat. Little did we know that the heretofore-idyllic weather would turn into the coldest days of May recorded since 1951! The impetus for this was an Antarctic cold front which moved up, hitting the coast with gale-force winds and bringing cold rain, hail, sleet, and snow to southeastern Australia - exactly where we were touristing! The photos below show the effect on the coastline, where we were travelling a beautiful 100-mile stretch called the Great Ocean Road, otherwise known as the Shipwreck Coast. Seeing the huge gale-driven waves, visible way out at sea, one could really relate to this fatal lee shore for mariners. Visits to the shipwreck museums in the towns along this coast further demonstrated the effects of the the difficulties mariners had in this part of the world - Kathy now wants to have the Seawind shipped to Alice Springs (look that up on your map!). We shivered our way along the coast and then inland up through the snow-covered hills to Canberra (the nation's capitol) where we were awed by the War Memorial Museum - truly a sobering experience. Just came back to Sydney and today we received the remaining pieces to our SeaCycle and thus now have our own familiar independent means for getting to/from our anchored KatieKat.

Another view of Port Campbell. Refuge?

Port Campbell, said to be the only port of refuge for a long stretch of this coast

Loch Ard Gorge, named after the infamous 1878 wreck which had only two survivors

Kathy peering out over the Twelve Apostles

The Twelve Apostles, famous landmark of the Shipwreck Coast

More horizontal rain.

Windblown. Alaska doesn't have a monopoly on horizontal rain.

Compare this photo with the one taken from the same place on 26 May (below)

Happiness is a steam traction engine. Kaiserites remember the painting?

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26 May, 2000 -- Melbourne and Vicinity

Statue of Captain Cook by the Cook House in Melbourne

At Kathy's parents' friend Margaret's house

More Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens

Fall colors at the Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens

Surfers' paradise off Ocean Grove

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23 May, 2000 -- Wilson's Promontory

Cold and windy Bass Strait

Kathy thinks this is called a Lorikeet - almost stepped on the little guy!

That's a Wombat - totally ignored us and kept on munching

Enchanted Forest or Spooky Path, take your pick

On the Tide River along the way to Squeaky Beach

Start of the hike to Squeaky Beach

We took a quick hike just before sundown along Tide River to Squeaky Beach on Wilson's Promontory, the southernmost part of the Australian mainland

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22 May, 2000 -- On the way to Melbourne

A canoe excursion into the swampland

Years of practice posing for tourists!

This kangaroo just loved being scratched! (fleas and ticks?)

Pebbly Beach - Kathy and her new buddy

Joe's kinda road (reminds him of home) on the way to Pebbly Beach

Joe loves lighthouses (you would too if you navigated unknown coasts before GPS)

Kiama Lighthouse

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19 May, 2000 -- Sydney Tourists

Keeping the laundry dry in the inflatable loaned to us by Richard Ward

More Opera House

Glistening tiles of the Opera House roof

Sydney Harbor Bridge with Bounty replica

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18 May, 2000 -- Sydney Scenes

That's a gasoline-powered grinding wheel on the back!

Dangerous wildlife(?)

Schoolkids - love those floppity hats!

At least I don't show the product!

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16 May, 2000 -- Back in Sydney from Pittwater

In Sydney's Blackwattle Bay, with one of the Fish Market's signs in the background.

In Pittwater, off to do the laundry which is in the backpack - why is she smiling?

Sailed back from Pittwater last week, an upwind slog which we ended up motorsailing in order to arrive in Sydney before dark. Boat performed great. We're anchored in Blackwattle Bay (home of the famous Fish Market) for the last few days, provisioning the boat and using the inflatable dinghy kindly loaned to us by Richard Ward.

9 May, 2000 -- Some Observations of Australia

• Everyone carries a cellphone (referred to as a "mobile") which seems to be in continuous use everywhere by everyone. It's definitely a tool and not a status symbol. They're surprised that we don't already have one. Hands-free phones are used not only when driving - I still do double-takes when seeing people alone walking down the street talking up a storm and not holding a cellphone to their ear.
• The buses are clean and heavily used by the entire cross-section of the population. Some bus stops have displays which give an active countdown showing which buses are coming and how many minutes before they arrive.
• Haven't heard anyone swear (makes you wonder what they think of US movies).
• Casual dress has not reached the office environment here.
• Everyone is genuinely friendly and helpful.

First use of the barbie

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5-8 May, 2000 -- Boat Show in Pittwater

1000 Looky-Loos crawling through our new home

The photo above shows our boat, in company with another Seawind 1000 and a Seawind 1200 which are both charter boats (there were two other Seawinds elsewhere, giving demo sails). An enterprising soul had set up a floating Starbucks-equivalent (with prices to match) right in front of us.
Writing this on May 9. We're finally putting our stuff back after the boat show. Must say, the crowd was very civilized and respectful of the boat, so it's none the worse for wear. The customized interior (especially with the wood floors instead of carpeting complementing the added furnishings forward of the master stateroom) drew many appreciative comments.
The mainsail was returned today with the added fourth reef(!). Bought some more safety equipment at the boat show: a comfortable inflatable vest and personal EPIRB for Kathy - even though we have a 406 EPIRB, the Australians actively promote the 121MHz system here as well, and this is a small vest-pocket-sized waterproof unit. Also picked up a heavy-duty sea anchor and a drogue with bridles and line which we hope never to use.
Today we're just vegetating, as our boat is landlocked by the others from the boat show; tomorrow, if the weather holds, we'll start some cruising in the Pittwater area before returning to Sydney.

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2 May, 2000 -- Finally On Board!

Happy Galley Slave

We are somewhat rushed, as we agreed to let the Seawind factory display our boat in a boat show in Pittwater this coming weekend. We'll be sailing up the coast about 20 miles on Wednesday. The last two days have been a frenzy outfitting the boat with the initial living-aboard necessities as well as safety gear. Our luggage containers are still on shore, and we've only pulled out some clothes and some basic boat stuff. The full settling-down will have to wait until next week.
On another note, although I am able to readily download my e-mail from my Telis account and can easily upload the website files, I am having trouble sending out e-mails. Just haven't taken the time to work the problem, so am sending out web-based e-mails, and evidently the attachments get scrambled. Hope to establish an account with an Australian ISP next week, and hopefully can hook up to the Internet from my Macintosh using the cellphone. We'll see...
Also, I played around with the format of the table at the top of this page and managed to mess things up. Looks reasonable using Internet Explorer but not using Netscape. Hope to have some time to fix it over the next few days.

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30 April, 2000 -- Sea Trials in Sydney Harbor

Kodak Moment

Another Kodak Moment

We had fantastic weather for the Sea Trials yesterday. Everything worked. We'll be moving aboard today.

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29 April, 2000 -- Boat Interior Modifications

Port forward cabin modification

Port forward cabin mod showing seat lowered

Port forward cabin mod showing desk drawers and cubbyholes

Port forward cabin mod showing wardrobe interior.

Starboard aft cabin modification showing table.

In order to increase the liveability of the boat when cruising as a couple, there were two modifications which I asked to be made to the boat:
1. In the port forward cabin, instead of a long double bunk (which is great for a family cruising with kids) there is now a desk with a fold-down seat for it, shelving, a good-sized wardrobe closet with shelving, and, just aft of the wardrobe doors, there is a seat with storage underneath (which Kathy just designated as the clothes hamper). Seawind has been recently offering this layout as an option.
2. In the starboard aft cabin, I wanted it made useable as either sleeping quarters for occasional guests or as a computer/nav/office cabin. I kept the design very simple and just asked for a straightforward removable table which would double as the base for the bunk.

You can see the results above, the port forward cabin is now really a very luxurious extension to the master stateroom and the starboard aft cabin table provides functionality to an area that would otherwise be used for storage (or a doghouse) when cruising as a couple. We'll see how these work out in the long run.

By the way, all this fun of downloading the images from the digital camera, formatting them, and updating this website I've just done between 2am and 6am (Australia time) since my internal clock hasn't reset and I'm still on California time. Sure beats just lying there awake trying not to disturb Kathy who had no trouble adjusting instantly! By the way, I'd appreciate some feedback regarding the format and formatting of this webpage, as I intend to just let it keep growing (to send me an e-mail click here). I'm doing this html stuff from scratch, and it's a fun learning experience.

Until I get my own internet access, Richard Ward, the owner of Seawind Catamarans, has very kindly allowed me to use his ISP. I've been able to easily access the Internet, download my e-mail from my Telis POP3 account, but haven't figured out how to send out e-mails without altering my identity. I finally resorted to the web-based Yahoo account for sending out messages. The only hardware compatibility issue I had is that the dialtone is different than in the US, which was easily overcome by disabling the dial tone recognition feature during dial-up.

We're still staying in a motel, and I hope to finish my pre-acceptance inspection this morning which will culminate with some sea trials for detailed operational testing. If all continues well, we hope to start moving aboard tomorrow. In the next installment I'll let Kathy wax eloquent about how lovely this area is.

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27 April, 2000 -- First Boat Photos

First view of boat, with Kathy's head just visible. Boat name has a gap in it, so when they change it, will that anger Neptune?

In Wollongong harbor, just before setting off up the coast for the delivery to Sydney.

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25 April, 2000 -- Departure!

Packed up and leaving home and dying grass for Los Angeles International Airport with six blue tote-boxes.

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18 April, 2000 -- Factory Right On Schedule!

Yipee! Received an e-mail from Seawind confirming that the boat has been finished - meeting their schedule date exactly - the date they promised six months ago! They're launching the boat on Thursday, so it will be in the water ready to go when we arrive.

15 April, 2000 -- Pre-Ownership Boat Perceptions

A number of friends asked me to comment regarding the choice of boat, and what I consider its strengths and weaknesses. I thought this would be a good time to write down my perceptions, and then revisit these items after a few months of actual experience.

Since I'm buying the boat, I must like it! I'm a multihull addict, and simply prefer the motion and habitability of a catamaran over a trimaran, and especially over those other (hull-challenged) vessels. I had the opportunity to sail the Seawind 1000 quite a number of times, including a heavy-weather jaunt out to the Farallones (see the Seawind to the Farallones writeup of that experience elsewhere on this website), and a cruise down the coast from Monterey to Santa Barbara - in fact, these extensive sea trials convinced me that the boat indeed can sail quite well and this was a major factor in making the decision to purchase. Remember, this is a cruiser and not a stripped raceboat. The quality of the workmanship on the boats I've seen is very good. To me, one of the boat's primary attractions is its excellent all-round visibility from the bridgedeck saloon. The main cabin enclosure and its extension provide excellent screening from the sun and helm protection from the rain. In the outer cabins, the side windows are also nice and large, providing good lighting inside and a very good view out the sides (but, unfortunately, not forward). The boat has good bridgedeck clearance, has excellent creature accommodations, and seems very spacious, especially for a 10-metre multihull - the length is fine, as I prefer smaller boats, although weight-carrying capacity will of necessity be restricted if I desire to retain some performance. I consider its twin outboards a significant plus over built-in diesels from a weight-saving, maintenance, and lack of drag standpoint.

The perceived negatives to me are the lack of daggerboards or centerboards for really heavy-weather windward work (or the ability to retract them to allow the boat to skid sideways), the significant draft (for a multihull) resulting from the fixed mini-keels, and rudders which don't lift up. On the other hand, the fixed mini-keels should work out great in Britain in supporting the boat when the tide runs out. From a habitability standpoint, the fabric enclosure for the main saloon may prove insufficient in colder climes. There also seems to me to be a lack of "coziness" in the main saloon - an awfully subjective perception which might be easily altered by appropriate embellishments.

A couple of nagging unanswered concerns are an unknown waterline should one of the hulls flood as well as an unknown upsidedown waterline (or will it sink?). Hopefully, we won't empirically determine these.

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13 April, 2000 -- Upscale Luggage and Hole in Wall

Trying to keep track of everything while cramming into tote-boxes

We didn't need this right now!

10 April, 2000 -- Leak (and not even on a boat yet!)

The never-ending task of storing away one's possessions continues... as though I didn't have enough to do, a water pipe in my house just developed a leak, which means I now have to tear out a portion of the front entryway wall! Went up to San Francisco Airport today with a huge plastic tote-box to find out if it qualified as a piece of luggage within the legal dimensions for international travel. Was told "no problem" by two airlines.

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25 March, 2000 -- Preparation

Very little time is being devoted to the actual preparation for this cruise, as we're very busy refurbishing family homes, dealing with family and personal administrative matters, as well as packing away three households' worth of stuff (my parents', Kathy's, and my own).

The boat is nearing completion (I hope!), incorporating custom modifications aimed at increasing living space for long-term cruising for two. Changes include a combination wardrobe closet and desk for Kathy in the forward end of the port hull and an aft starboard cabin conversion which will provide an office/nav-station (while retaining the ability to convert back into a sleeping cabin). Numerous other small changes are being made which I will detail in later writeups.

Kathy's first pose for her modeling portfolio

I'm gradually collecting accessories for the boat as I find bargains, such as a self-contained backup autopilot (Simrad WP-10), a VHF (Standard Intrepid), a digital compass (Ritchie Mag/One), and a 406 EPIRB. In addition, I'm taking dozens of existing sailing items off the Telstar trimaran, including two handheld GPSs, shortwave receiver, parachute anchor, handheld VHFs, spinnakers with socks, survival suits (see above photo), and safety gear.

For a computer system, I plan on taking both my old and new Apple PowerBooks, with backup hard drives, ZIP drives, CD-R drive, modems, cables, etc. The boat is indeed going to have its own LAN (Local Area Network)!

I think we're already over the volume (but not weight) limit for travel...

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