A cruise and a ramble

[Andy G]

Magnificent early spring weather got me on to the boat for a few days away. Pictures of Pittwater cruising area from a bit of hiking into the surrounding hills.

 

[Peter B]

Nice Andy. I wouldn't mind chartering and doing the Pittwater down there one day. Do they still run a boat charter from Bobbin Head..?

 

[Nomad Willy]

Thanks Andy. Good pics.

 

[Aquabelle]

Peter: no charters from Bobbin Hd these days (you may be thinking of the long-gone Halvorsen hire fleet?) but Skipper a Clipper still operates, from Church Point or thereabouts I think

 

[Andy G]

Yes the Halvorsen hire fleet has now been sold to private buyers, we have a few on our marina, and they are a credit to the new owners, a lot of TLC goes into those boats to keep them up.

You may be interested to know Peter, being a proud Clipper owner, that the largest Clipper hire fleet used to operate out of the marina at Akuna bay.The marina was called Clippers Anchorage in those days, and as I understand it the clippers were commissioned there and sold under the name Clipper's, after the marina. The hire fleet was run under the name 'Skipper a Clipper', with the name subsequently being sold off and part of the hire operation transferred to Church point in Pittwater.

The largest, and best maintained Clipper operation continued out of Akuna Bay, particularly under the legendary operation of Bob and his partner. Bob was a retired merchant seaman.This was at about the time I had a business at Akuna Bay.

Bob's idea of customer service differed from the traditional view, in that if you mistreated the boats you did so at your peril.I remember one classic confrontation where I walked into his marina office and he had a young bloke up against the wall, threatening all kinds of verbal and physical abuse, much to his friends dismay.

His crime was, being a young first year mechanical apprentice, he had changed the governor setting on the hire boat to get more than the 1750rpm Bob set for each boat, the engine duly overheated.

Bob gave them an amusing and quite frank anatomical description a mammal's reproductive capacity when they asked about their boat bond.

Last I heard of him he moved to New Zealand to toughen up the All Blacks.

There is no longer a hire fleet that runs out of Akuna Bay. The present owners, part of the Macquarie group wanted too much rent for the last owner, so he up and left taking the boats up the river to Berowra Waters.

 

[gwkiwi]

Great read, the way people take care of personnel issues down under isn't appreciated quite the same way here in the states.

 

[BruceK]

Pete, There are others, but Church Point Charter at 122 Crescent Rd Newport, 029994188, boathire@tpg.com.au is a known charter operator, their fleet includes Resort 35s. Friends hired one for a week in March, not perfect (dunny smelly), but quite good. There is a good book for cruising the area, "Cruising Guide to the Hawkesbury River etc" by J&J Powell, published by Deerubbin Press, usually advertised in Afloat. Or just ask Andy, or me, for tips. We visit every March, love the area, especially midweek.

 

[Peter B]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've owned a Resort 35 - had it in charter in fact, so I know how good they are, and I certainly can skipper a Clipper, so it is now just a case of when...and where...I guess...we want to do the Whitsundays as well some time, but unlike Paul, and his loverly big (and faster) OA Aquabelle, I would not want to take all that time to take ours up there, even if the 2iC would hear of it - which she wouldn't.
I think there was a 'Skipper a Clipper' outfit up in the Whitsundays as well, wasn't there..?

 

[BruceK]

Pete, Houseboat Hire :: Yacht Hire :: Cruiser Hire Sydney, Pittwater and Hawkesbury River is their website

 

[FlyWright]

Peter, if you can skipper a Clipper, surely you could skipper an Island Gypsy. Just borrow Andy's for the week and return it with a fridge full of beer and a cabinet full of good wine. I'm sure he'd be OK with that. After all, he IS our one and only Hospitality Officer. What could be more hospitable than that?

 

[Andy G]

Actually we could do that. If you were down our way I'm sure i could arrange to let you have the boat for a night or two, to have a mini cruise, it is a lovely waterway.

The only thing that might not be to your liking is we don't have a Sarca, ours is similar though, a 25kg Rocna(actually I'm sorry I didn't get a Sarca) still the Rocna is a very good anchor.

 

[Andy G]

Well, it;s three weeks later and the weather is now even better, today was 30 degrees. A few more pics of my latest couple of days away.

For those who may be interested Sydney and its surrounds is built on a massive sandstone escarpment, which means there is some lovely weathered sandstone rocks around our waterways. Here's a few photo's.

Edit: that's strange it would not let me download the photo's because "the security tokens were missing", whatever the hell they are. Will try again.

 

[Andy G]

"Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error."

HELP! Janet, youhoo, are you there? I think I may have broken something.......again.

 

[FlyWright]

I've broken that thing, too, Andy. I found by closing the browser and starting over, it started working again.

 

[Andy G]

I've broken that thing, too, Andy. I found by closing the browser and starting over, it started working again.

OK, here goes.

NOPE, and there I was going to get Janet to give you a case of the 89' from the TF private cellar.

 

[BruceK]

Andy, I get that when I try to post > 3- 4 photos. Try less pics, using multiple posts. I`m looking forward to the pics.

 

[FlyWright]

Try signing out, drink a bottle of good beer then sign back in. If it fails, at least you enjoyed a bottle of beer.

Cheers!

 

[Andy G]

Andy, I get that when I try to post > 3- 4 photos. Try less pics, using multiple posts. I`m looking forward to the pics.

OK I'll give that a go.

 

[Andy G]

No 2

 

[Andy G]

No 3

 

[Andy G]

No 4

 

[Peter B]

Oh God, that's beautiful Andy. I gotta get down there. By the way, I just noticed for the first time, your kind offer of the boat. I really appreciate it Andy, but honestly I could not do it. I'd be so afraid of doing something wrong, I would find it hard to relax. I think I'd be more relaxed just hiring one, but thanks again for the offer, all the same.

 

[healhustler]

.... your kind offer of the boat. I really appreciate it Andy, but honestly I could not do it. I'd be so afraid of doing something wrong, I would find it hard to relax.

Andy....I think this was Peter's way of indicating that a "fridge full of beer" was not part of the offer.

 

[Janet H]

Andy....I think this was Peter's way of indicating that a "fridge full of beer" was not part of the offer.

No beer = no help. But.... since it appears that you've got the issue licked I guess I'll have to lay in some beer of my own.

 

[BruceK]

And it works.
Now a guess where the pics were taken.
Smiths Creek? Except for the house, maybe in Berowra Waters ?

 

[FlyWright]

Beautiful pics, Andy. That was worth the wait!

 

[BruceK]

Set 4 are lovely pics capturing the Hawkesbury River/Broken Bay, thanks Andy. Midweek with few boats, so tranquil, quiet, even reminds me of Doubtful Sound in NZ. Some of the narrow fingers of water, with steep cliffs either side, are 18meters/40ft + deep. Indeed a great place for a ramble, the days fly past.

 

[Andy G]

A couple of weeks on.

These were taken on a hot ,windy couple of days. At the end of a bay I came across this amazing boat. Some others I took from following a creek as far as I could, by kayak. The last photo was coming around the headland in a windy cross sea,rescued the duck as she was heading for NZ, that was fun.

The boat now has its own watch duck!

 

[Codger2]

Andy....I think this was Peter's way of indicating that a "fridge full of beer" was not part of the offer.

There are some people on this Forum that assume that the boat's refrigerator should always be at full beer capacity.

 

[FlyWright]

one or two would have been nice!