Shakedown run Newcastle to PT. Stephens.
We’re as busy as Dwarves here at Charter 4 Conservation and the past fortnight has been especially so. Like anything bought cheaply Tudor Rose needs some attention and maintenance, So Captain Pat Angel and I arranged to meet in Stockton, Newcastle to begin preparing her for a quick lift to the hard.
In the time since we were last on board Tudor Rose had developed a small leak so, after a week of work on board which included some false starts as we tried to organise somewhere to do an emergency haul out, as well as doing whatever else we could in the meantime. We finally found a yard up the coast who could give us a night in their lift sling to inspect the hull and install well overdue annodes to the boat. Saturday morning 16th Sept saw us having out last breakfast of Coffee and Bacon and Egg roll from Stockton Tackle and Bait https://www.facebook.com/stocktontackleandbait/?ref=br_rs with a particularly big thank you to Paul the owner, who was most generous and hospitable and always ready with a story of local knowledge.
Then Capt. Pat and i began our first trip to sea in the Tudor Rose. As one would expect from a yacht that has sat at a mooring for nearly two years there were some problems but nothing we weren’t able to fix while underway, and considering the amount of accumulated sea life we knew to be attached to the hull she sailed surprisingly well.
We entered Port Stephens some 40km up the coast just after dark and found safe anchorage in Murphies Bay, just around the corner from our Destination Noakes Boatyard at Nelson Bay. Sunday was spent recouperating and tidying the Vessel. A trip to the local hospital for The Captain to have a nasty cut on his foot looked at which thankfully seems to be mending well and then on monday afternoon we moved to the slipway to be hoisted from the water for the night.
The fellows at Noakes were fantastic and very patient with my limited reversing abilities in a sluggish 9 tonne yacht, but once in the hoist we were on the hard in no time.
Then the work began, Pat immediately began to clean the hull where the suspected leak was and i recovered the car from Newcastle. Upon my return i took over that job while he prepared the bilges to be flooded so we could find the leak and plug it. After dinner we began to flood the bilge and it wasn’t long before the leak revealed itself. Work continued late into the night by which time we had all the new annodes on board bolted on and the hull was clean except for where she sat in the slings, the Propeller was shinning clean brass again and most importantly the leak had been fixed . Morning saw us able to acquire and fit the remaining annodes, move the slings and clean under them. Then at 8:30 in the morning we were back in the water. We took Rose on a quick lap of the harbor to check the leak was fixed and how she responded to helm now that her hull was clean. Then we headed for the Fishemans co-op pens and moored to get ready to drive home.
We are now preparing to return to Tudor Rose in a couple of weeks for a more thorough service which we hope will include a full hull clean back and Paint as well as other critical items such as new sheet ropes mast slides some minor repairs to the main sail and some further welding work. All this is another step closer for us, towards deploying to the Great Barrier Reef so we can begin campaigning. Remember none of this comes free so please, like our page and share our posts, Donate if you can on our crowd funding page or better yet become a member.
charter4conservation.org
https://www.gofundme.com/pacific-expedition-against-plastic
