Re-printed from the Australian magazine "Seacraft" - April 1974

You don't really have to go ocean cruising to get some fun from overnight sailing. Ken Dawbin and Stanley Haviland built up a stock of good stories just cruising the Hawkesbury River in a Flying Dutchman.

There are those who claim it to be sacrilegious to put an outboard engine on a Flying Dutchman. FD’s don't have any place to put one normally. Dedicated windmen get there by nature's forces - most of the time. But when you plan to do a little river work - the "mechanical genoa" comes in handy.

Ken and I had been discussing the idea of a river cruise in our FD for some time so we made an outboard mounting for our FD “Amaroo 11”. The long weekend offered us enough time and, after organising all the little details, we found ourselves with a hired 4 hp Evinrude, launching our heavily loaded boat from a Portland ski school. Most of the Hawkesbury was before us.

We collected our only real scratch of the trip from the ramp as we launched the rig. Once afloat we put aboard a gas light, three gas burners, two Army stretchers, a two-man tent, eight gallons (36.36 l.) of water, six gallons (27.7 l.) of fuel, three sails, boom, spinnaker pole and paddle, two sleeping bags, two overnight bags, one rucksack, two boxes of stores and cooking gear, plus a large ice-box.

There was almost enough room in the FD for us after that lot! On top of the load we laid the mast without any clear idea of how we would step it or sail the ship with all that gear.

Full of high hopes and with a wave from the odd onlooker, we chugged off upriver toward the Colo River, a deep tributary of the Hawkesbury. We didn't get very far - about 100 metres - and we stopped dead. For the next 15 minutes, Ken learnt how to start a blocked outboard while I tried to plane the hull with one paddle. Then we were away once more. Heading up the Colo we were passed by a fleet of big motor cruisers from the Kuringai Motor Yacht Club - all out for a long weekend cruise. The river averaged about two metres deep and for about two hours we headed upstream getting funny looks from some swimmers as we went.

About 500 metres upstream from the Upper Colo river bridge we stopped and made our first night's camp. We didn't want to go much further up as the river is shallow here and tide makes the difference between stopping and going.

Next morning we headed back down the Colo with Wiseman's Ferry at the junction of the Hawkesbury and McDonald Rivers as our destination. To let accumulated water run out as we surfed along our own wake I pulled out the drain plug - and lost it. One's finger makes a good substitute if you don't mind crouching there all day. We stopped, looked and found the plug.

We were pleased at the way Amaroo 11 was moving. Before starting off we'd tried her out with the outboard and were happy. Now with about 700 lb (317 kg) aboard, including crew, we were still doing 6.7 knots.

Just before passing under the Lower Colo Bridge we stepped the mast, had lunch and passed the 20 or so cruisers once more. We planned to try to sail to Wiseman's after leaving the Colo but found after a 2½ hour run we had been only under sail for an actual 10 minutes. Distortion of wind and lack of it caused by the high hills put that scheme back somewhat and we plugged on with the trusty Evinrude at full song. We had brought our rudder, even though it was bulky, hoping for a sail but didn't use it again.

At Wiseman's Ferry we bought bread and milk and motored cross river to Webb's Creek to find peace at anchor. We dodged the myriad skiers, stalled the motor and missed the cable ferry by inches before getting safely into a creek "hole". The mast was lowered once more and we headed up this very deep creek.

Water reeds grew well along the bank in the dark soil and good campsites were far apart. About four miles (6.4 km) upstream we found our night base. Here, surrounded by cow pastures and high hills, we stayed. Next morning we made it upriver another couple of miles until our six inch draft stopped us. Here the boat dominated the creek and we had to reverse downriver to turn around.

About midday we left Webb's Creek and headed down the main river to the McDonald River. We headed upstream once more passing skiers and waterfront houses, poplar farms and cow pastures. About nine miles upriver we ran out of water. With the tide about to ebb we made a quick lunch and went down with the flow until we found a comfortable looking sandspit to make camp. Small trees gave us a tent location and on a hill nearby was a beautiful stone derelict church, looking like something from Tasmania's convict history.

Our schedule demanded we keep going next day and we headed off. Each of the rivers which feed the Hawkesbury has its own personality, but we felt the McDonald to be the most beautiful.

The riverside township of Spencer was our next destination. This was about 20 miles downstream, a trip which took us about three hours. The water skiers were still about us and we passed many hired cruisers. About 3.30 pm we reached Spencer where we bought fuel. Here we were in salt-water mangrove territory and after looking at our planned campsite at Mangrove Creek and rejecting it, we headed downstream once more.

The Hawkesbury was nearly a mile wide here and very grand. About four miles below Spencer we roosted for the night on a rocky cliff-sided shore near Berowra Waters, finding it difficult to moor the boat. We felt the river had lost much of its "fresh-water charm".

Tuesday was our last day and we used it to explore Berowra Waters, a deep inlet off the middle reaches of the main part of the Hawkesbury. We managed to get about three miles up Marra Marra Creek, a small tributary and I'm sure we must be the biggest boat to get that far up.

Pressing on, we stopped for a quick survey of the remains of the one-time River class destroyer, Parramatta, which has since had part of its bow and stern removed for use as a memorial in its name city, and then continued down-river to the road and rail bridges.

At 4 pm we reached the boat ramp at Brooklyn where we expected to be picked up. Our 100 mile trip was over and we were ready for home. We didn't need Amaroo's sails and would have been better off without them in the tricky river. The outboard performed well and economically for most of the run. The FD - with its generous interior room, shallow draft and easily driven hull (?) - was an excellent boat for the trip. Using an FD in this way might not be quite what the yacht club would recommend but with it we discovered parts of the local waterways we'd never seen before - and we didn't spend much money doing it.