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http://www.mysailing.com.auInspired by his immigrant voyage from his native
Ireland as a ten year-old, Dermot Smyth spent six years
cruising northern Australian and Indonesian waters in the 1980s
in his junk-rigged Manitou 32. After 25 sailing-free year years he
returned to cruising the Queensland coast on a Farrier Trailer Tri.
DERMOT SMYTH
along the Queensland coast, often trailering the boat south on
the Bruce Highway against the prevailing wind, then sailing
north, driven by following south-east trades and later returning
to recover the car and trailer at the end of the cruise.
However, the more I enjoyed my return the sea, the more it
occurred to me that if I had a slightly bigger multihull, I could
stay on the water longer, cruise further and in more comfort.
Placebo is a wonderful little boat that can accommodate four
adults, or be sailed easily solo, but living and sailing on her for
more than a few days can feel like camping on the sea.
In August 2016, anchored on the southern side of the Dunk
Island sand spit sheltered from an unseasonal northerly wind,
I spotted the crisp outline of a white-sailed, white-hulled
catamaran arriving from the south. As the cat came closer
I could see she was about ten to twelve metres long, sailing
beautifully to windward and in pristine condition.
As she came nearer still I could make out a rectangular sign on
the pushpit emblazoned with the words 'for sale'. Could this herald
the next phase of my return to the sea? Was this my next boat?
While I contemplated that unlikely prospect,
I was reminded of the final lines of the Eric Bogle song that I
had quoted all those years ago:
So when storm clouds come sailing across your blue ocean
Hold fast to your dreaming for all that you're worth
For as long as there's dreamers, there will always be sailors
Bringing back their bright treasures from the corners of earth.©ERIC BOGLE 1984.POSTSCRIPT
Dermot did not buy the crisp white catamaran that appeared so
invitingly at Dunk Island. But the notion of a boat upgrade took
hold and prospered, resulting in his recent purchase of Larrikin,
a 1992 ten metre Simpson catamaran. ≈