Hello from Brisbane, Australia

[SeaMar]

Hi all,
while I don't think I'll be posting much, because I haven't my own boat, I'm interested in reading everything here in anticipation for when I have my own liveaboard yacht. I sailed sabots and Flying 11's when I was young, before working aboard cargo ships. For 16 years I've been landbound, raising my children, but always miss the sea.

So I'm resolved to get back out there, adventuring. I'm particularly interested in learning/reading about wooden boats, sailing single handed, and South Pacific sea voyages.

Looking forward to learning!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Hartley18]

Welcome aboard, Lisa! May all your dreams come true.

There are a couple of other SailNetters in the Brisbane area. Hope you got through the floods okay??

[SeaMar]

Hiya Hartley18,
thanks for the welcome- glad to know there are some Aussies here

Fine with the floods- high and dry in the hills 6km from the CBD. Others not so lucky- 2 cousins lost both their homes and contents. And almost cried watching those yachts sinking in the river.

Sounds like you guys are having your own flood problems in Victoria now- what a summer! Hope it's not so bad there.

I see your boat is an older sloop- not wooden by chance?
Lisa

[jrd22]

Hi and welcome to SN. Glad to hear you came through the floods OK, what a disaster. Several from Oz here, lot's of good info.

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by SeaMar

Sounds like you guys are having your own flood problems in Victoria now- what a summer! Hope it's not so bad there.

I see your boat is an older sloop- not wooden by chance?
Lisa

It's a little wet up near the border and there's enough water going down the Yarra to turn the top end of the bay a murky brown - but the dams aren't full. Strange..

Is she wooden?? Yep. Very wooden! Queensland beech planking, oregon mast, blackwood and jarrah interior.

[SeaMar]

She sounds lovely! I am beginning from the very beginning regarding wooden boats. There was a great radio doco on Radio National last year about a woman sailing her wooden yacht to a boat builder in Maryborough, Qld, for some work- and it was lovely to hear the way they spoke about their connection with their wooden boats- the boats' movement, sound, as being something completely different from non-wooden materials.

I'm thinking of joining the local wooden boat association that meet monthly, working on repairing wooden craft from vintage canoes to dinghy's or member's projects. Start what might be a long appreneticeship- but hopefully I can learn a great deal about construction, maintenance, etc this way.

Hope your recent sailing trips have been enjoyable ones!

[DonScribner]

Lisa,

Welcome to Sailnet from the other colonies! As far as a boat goes, don't wait, just do it! My youngest was 16 when we started sailing. We should have done it 15 years ago. Be bought the boat and had never sailed before and have been haveing the time of our lives. Our boat is "only" 25 feet and trailerable, so it helps on cost. We do plenty of nearby costal cruising, no farther that 50 miles so far.

So . . . get out there!

Don
Maine, USA