- this is Victoria in Australia

Just because I made a jocular comment comparing the subscription when I joined to the present level I get asked to write an account of my present sailing activities, about which I admit to a guilty feeling, as I have set out to do this once before but did not get very far, so.......

By the way we joined the DCA in '64 after hearing a talk by the then President, John Deacon. The annual sub was 5/-; five shillings to you. We then were building a Rambler in the sitting room with a window too small to get it out, so it had to be built in two halves and glued up outside, and we had 12 years good sailing in it, selling it only when we saw the light and came to Australia.

At first we sailed a Sabot, then a Puffin Pacer, if not to cruise, then at least to get on the water, and soon found a signal difference; it was warm! Instead of anorak, jersey and wooly hat to keep warm, zinc cream and light clothing are needed to prevent sunburn instead. Melbourne, where we are is at 38° S, similar to Lisbon perhaps.

Even so, this was no substitute for cruising so we got ourselves a Botteril 'Explorer', a centreboard glass bath with a lid, 16'6" O.A. which is 6" less than our Rambler, but not a dinghy but not a real yacht. I still feel myself a dinghy cruiser at heart, and at that size most people think of it as a dinghy -- an old argument.

This has given us more than 12 years of good sailing in Victoria and South Australia, in Port Phillip Bay, the big tideless shallow enclosed bay of Melbourne which very quickly gets a very steep sea, and in the East Victorian Lakes which are fresh. Here we had to flee the boat when a sudden thunderstorm struck during recovery and where we survived our first line squall. We sailed the Murray mouth lakes; brackish, shallow with lots of pelicans and big enough to have the occasional lighthouse. Pelicans are most unlikely birds, probably designed by a committee with a bad compromise between functions and wing loading, but very good at fishing. They get in a ring and stab inwards with their bloody great beaks. One night I heard the sounds of big wings like the angel of death, shone my torch and caught this low flying pelican, so startled that it splashed with a big 'Arrrk'! Here we did lines of sounding and water samples as part of a school project: we found one small lake with water as salt and dense as the Dead Sea.

Just as in the UK the location of launching sites is important, but there are some unusual hazards. At the time we were finishing the line of soundings we saw that a big bush fire appeared to have surrounded our launching site and car and trailer, and about to swallow them up! Not to mention the warnings at northern launching sites that 'to a Croc, you, your wife, children and pets are food'! Or the time in the middle of the lake when a Redback spider, cousin of a Black Widow, the size of the end of a finger emerged! We were all sitting on the edge of the boat and whacking at it with the paddles! Tortoises once! Last few years we have only sailed from Balnarring on Westernport, just to the east of Melbourne where we have an anchorage; or at least, a big cast iron gearwheel, from where one can sail into various little havens. There is a 12 feet tidal range and one can get stuck on mudflats, but there are also nice little sandy bays to beach in, just like East Wittering's East Head. However, just outside Westernport Bay lies Bass Strait, where the winds blow without interruption all the way from Cape Horn and beyond, and the swell rolls right round the World. This means that outside, even in calm conditions, there are big long swells, often nearly 20 feet high; but smooth and far apart as they have come a long way. Even a little boat is not at all stressed by them, nor even an old sailor like me. This big swell comes into the bay and can break heavily on the Middle Ground. This has overset bigger boats; then there are headlines about freak waves.

Not always calm - after a hot spell with northerly winds from the red hot centre, there comes 'The Change', a front of Antarctic air, accompanied by strong winds and a change in direction. This is the Line Squall or Southerly Buster. Victorian sailors are divided into those that have survived a Southerly Buster and those that have not. I have survived three, and one of them only just. A grey old day, but warm, three feet rolled off the sail anyway and off a beach with the wind along it when I saw a line on the water, hence the name. I sailed off the beach without jib before it hit, but still got knocked flat. The wind was so strong that the spray was blown over the boat before it could hit it, leaving a clear space. Those who have seen it will know what I am talking about. We were knocked right over with mast tip almost touching the sea. All too sudden to close the cabin door, but the heavy keel pulled us up again. As the wind was now onto the beach I had to use the jib again to get out of there. Strong winds all the rest of the day, but not violent.

Not like that all the time, usually good weather, 15 kt (+/- 5 kt). Very nice to trail a hook for Baracouta and just troll along.

This mid April weekend, we are due to take the boat out of the water, very sad. Also am thinking of giving it away as am getting old and stiff - and the difficulty of getting a crew. Anybody for a sail!

Occasionally we go to Tas(mania) to sail with a mate with a 36 foot ketch, a different world altogether! There we are based on the inside of Bruny Island which lies along the SE coast of it to form a sheltered channel and a delightful cruising ground. It puts me in mind of the Scottish Islands. Subject to violent wind changes too. With such a big boat, we do not always cruise in shelter so have found out why Storm Bay, the last lap of the Sydney-Hobart, got its name. We also had a look at some of the big headlands and landmarks thereabouts, SE Cape, Tasman Island, Pedro Branco and into the Maatsuykers. All around are the `footprints' of the explorers, Cook, Bligh, Darwin, D'Eentrecasteau and many landmarks named after them, their ships and relatives.

So, all very different to the UK; 'tho the more it differs, the more it is the same.