FULL ON FRIDAY!!!

G'day All,
As the title suggests,
this week is kind of freespooling!!!
The closer 2 Friday I got, the busier I got!
My entire focus for the week, haz been to service the 2 motors B4 the Cairns trip.
Afta a few early hiccups I finally had everything ready by lunch thyme Wednesday.
Itz early Friday Nite and I'm wondering
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!"
I know a Cyclone appeared, workplace health and safety officers arrived and the outboards required lotz of finese'!
And to top it all off, the starboard fuel tank has decided 2 spring a leak as well.
So all in all I'm kind of glad itz Friday.
The cyclone seemz 2B heading away from the coast, we bought lotz of signs and made lotz of new rules, The outboards R serviced and I'll deal with the fuel leak 2morrow morning.
To top all this- first thing this morn, a 22 tonne yacht managed to destroy a 60 tonne cradle in the yard!
Obviously the Gods were having a very  bad day and decided to take it out on us mere mortalz.

 
 Mark, from the boat yard next door has stepped up with lotz of help in the Tevnikal Dept with regardz 2 the outboard servicing.
 Itz taken a few Man hours to get the Yamaha's serviced  and just a few headaches.
We even had to call on the expertize of Gary,the "Outboard Guru".
With the help of these 2 Legends the Yamaha Outboards are now ready to tackle the trip northwards with improved reliability.  
If the weather godz r feeling better we might just take the Yot out for a trial run 2 morrow.
The Big Tides are making their presence felt also with this superb piece of Kayak parking catching everyone's attention and raising a few comments.
The new Workplace rules see my life of boarding and leaving the Yot change, as I now have to have covered footwear at all thymes!
This is not so easy as most of the time there is about 3 feet of water over the "entry plank",and wearing wet shoes is not practical as it leads to all sorts of nasty type foot fungi'.
However I'm sure I'll come up with a viable solution soon.
I'm thunking "amputation" (wkoa)

The damaged cradle was supposed to lift a 30 ft yacht tomorrow, but despite everyone's best efforts it will take the entire weekend to fix  This was the last thing anyone needed as Richard is due 2 leave for Tasmania this weekend.
Friday's lunch this week was a belated pasta cre8ion of sundried tomato, capsicum and fetta tortellini and a traditional carbonara sauce.
I waz 2 make my crusty parmasean and garlic bread but with the mornings events we kind of got sidetraked. "just a little"
Itz now Saturday Morning (very early)
Decision made, fuel tank repaired!
 Itz thyme to take the Yot for a final shakedown and test the motors.
Mark and his family arrived around 10 am and we headed out towards West Point on the north end of Magnetic Island.
Good weather greeted us and we anchored on the "reddie" Nannygai spot.
However the good weather didn't last long and after a lunch of home-made chicken nuggetts + bbq'd sausages  along with fresh fish fingers (it kept the kids happy), We headed back towards Townsville into increasing windz.
A large squall saw the destruction of one of the wind generators on the roof. The mounting bracket or blades let go right in the middle of the squall creating an almighty noise that scared the crap out of everyone on board.
The generator itself is OK but the blades are destroyed and will need 2B replaced.
Apart from that. the trip was a success, the outboards didn't miss a beat.
 We arrived back in Townsville around 4.30 and I said farewell to Mark and Co before I set about restoring the Yot to a house.
There are still a few tasks requiring attention but I thunk thatz always going 2B the case, I know the Autopilot would be a major help for the trip North and the "escape hatch" in the main cabin floor needs re-sealing. But I'm just about ready to say the Yot is prepared!
This lovely Flathead was a victim of the crab traps along with lotz of Big female crabz, no bucks though!
 Tomorrow I'll reset the traps in the hope of having some crabs ready 4 when Mum and Dad arrive on Thursday.
Until later this week
A truly worn out,
Captain felix



.

THE GIZZ IS BAK!!

ITZ THYME 4 AN UPDATE!!
The Gizz has one the race, Brother Mark is "MUCH" richer (but only after betting on the opposition), the V8 world is now turned  upside down and I've managed 2 distill 11 liters of Fellixer (so far) while all this is happening.
G'day All,
               ITZ 4 PM on Sunday we survived last nites lightening storm and associ8ed deluge and the V8 season is open for 2013!
This required much last minute planning!, as I needed to organise Flags, Climate control, Sustenance, future Bourbon supplies and a clear work schedule for the entire weekend.
I got most of it right but Brother Mark still has it betterer. He rang just 2  remind me that he was trackside "again" and had purchased some Jim Beam gear for the Yot!
Last year this merchandise was out of reasonable price range but with the sponsership pogo of the past Off season, Jim Beam is no longer a major team.
 So I've now got a new flag for race Weekends.
 After Gizz won Mark is also lotz richer with a long shot bett on the opposition team, pay day!
The weather has also played a major factor with the realization (wkoa) that I'd need to spend the weekend inside the confines of the cabin during the tropical heat of the day, as such the old air-conditioner came out of storage just 2 make life bearable.
I had to also source a new drinking vessel, as my last one was broken during our recent Magnetic Island Lightning trip with the Cananadian / German Invasion Team.
No luck at the catering supplier in town but I had success at a homebrew shop.
I was visiting a different supplier for my distilling supplies as a pre cursor to this weekends' distilling. They had these large beer glasses on the shelf for $4 so I grabbed a couple for the upcoming race season.
The weather has made itz presence felt with daythyme stillness and some spectacular nightthyme lightning shows.
Including a very close strike late last nite. CRACK!!!
The WET is having one last big push B4 giving way to the fantastic year round weather that is tropical North Queensland.
This constant rainfall / storm cycle has me rethunking the sleeping for the Cairns trip with LOTZ of rain comes water (strangely) and No matter how warm it is, sleeping in the rain is simply not a practical  option.
I was sleeping on the front deck last night watching some of the most amazing lightning I'd seen since My trip to Paraburdoo in W.A's North West.
AMAZING!!
I was thunking how much Miss Mermaid would love these natural weather events when the phone rang, (spooky)
Only it wasn't Amanda but Patch (Patricia) from my trip to Rattlesnake Island just B4 Christmas.

See Blog entry BLIND AMBITION- 9/12/2012.
 It was gr8 to catch up with her travels and plans. Lydern, my Whitsunday sailing partner is Hiking in Tasmania while Patch finds herself working at a winery in South Australia B4 heading to Perth in a few weeks.
She may not be the only one with a virtual UPROAR at the news that I had delayed my trip west.
Who know's I may yet catch up with Patricia in Perth, depending on the progress with the building of Mum and Dad's new House.Which has reach concrete stage with the footings now complete for the main slab.
The weekend fishing trips in Perth have had mixed results with the Saturday boats all faring very well until the Bastards from Fisheries WA  stopped all the boats leaving Two Rocks and from the sounds of it made a right "prick" of themselves finding minor infringements with every vessel they checked "Way to improve Future fish WA Guy's!", I guess they forget the rules in WA change faster than even I can keep up with, and I kind of enjoy my fishing.
I even managed to contact Ian from West Coast angling for a fishing report both they and I hadn't realised my comments and foto's sent to their web page weren't getting through.
Brother Andrew is still catching (and releasing!) more fish than the rest of us put together.
My future trip focus is wondering why go back to metropolitan Perth when I could reach Groote Island for around the same financial outlay and very probably catch much more fish and have a far betterer experience.Not as many Friends or Freinds though!
Tomorrow will see final preps on the outboard servicing and even some rear deck repaint work  to cover the damaged sections from the Whitsunday repairs.
A general clean up and reorganise  for onboard visitors is on the cards with preparation (wkoa) for the big trip to Cairns in just 10 days thyme.
I've done some plumbing work and rear fishing area work as last minute changes before Mum and Dad arrive in less than a 4tnite. The kitchen and daybed will be removed 2 morrow in prep for the outboards' 100hr service. The guy's from next door are being a gr8 help with the aim of heading to the reef on Friday firmly on my mind.
Until then congrat's Hanni and Mick!  ,some good fish caught, big hugs to the female contingent, a Formal invite to Mum, Dad, Andrew,Jenny and Chris to join me on my journey aboard Galleycat.
Captain Felix