Mar 24, 2020 | COVID-19, Life on SV Nichola, When life hands you lemons
I belong to a few Writing Groups on the internet. One of my writing friends, Audrey Alice Ruhland, from the Women Who Sail Who Write WWSWW has suggested we should write letters similar to the parody written by Nick Farriella: “This Side of Paradise: A Letter...
Feb 6, 2020 | Cruising, Life on SV Nichola, Sailing, Tasmania
The weather along the west coast of Tasmania can be unsettled, wild and often blowing a gale. It is unwise sailing there unless you have a good weather window, with enough time to to get to the few places where a yacht can safely shelter from a storm. Mattsuker...
Mar 23, 2019 | Life on SV Nichola, Maritime History
Low Head Pilot Station is at the mouth of the Tamar River in Northern Tasmania. It was the first station to operate but is in fact the third oldest group of pilot buildings in Australia after the private operations of Sydney and Hobart in 1805. The pilot service still...
Nov 30, 2017 | Life on SV Nichola
We stopped over for a night on Lord Howe Island when we sailed from Australia to New Zealand in November 2017. Lord Howe Island is a World Heritage listed site and magnificent. We would have liked to stay longer but decided to take advantage of the weather window and...
Oct 27, 2016 | Life on SV Nichola
We arrived at our Jervis Bay anchorage just as the sun was setting. We looked for the free moorings as listed in Adam Lucas’ guide to NSW but they turned out to be too shallow for us. We anchored further out from them and had a good holding. Between Bermagui...
Aug 20, 2016 | Life on SV Nichola
Waves picked up the huge blocks on one side of the break-wall and tossed them over onto the marina, causing much damage We arrived in Coffs Harbour Marina just a few days before the storm that caused all the damage. I had committed to work for three months in Coffs...