So for weeks I have been trembling with anticipation. Part of the program for Perth was a sailing trip on the Swan River organized by the Royal Perth Sailing Club.  When the great day came I am told that there had been a change of plan. We would no longer be going out because the wind was too high. I am devastated. I had been wearing the sailing gloves that Ian gave me  24 hours a day for the last week.

Instead there was to be an excursion on the Duyfken.

http://www.duyfken.com/

The literature said that the Duyfken had been to West Australia in 1606 – 164 years before the arrival of Captain James Cook. It also said that the boat was Dutch.  Clearly misprints.

This is she under nearly full sail.

So off we go on a perfect replica of a 17th century sailing boat. It is wonderful! The crew let me help with setting sails and stuff and in a typically ” No worries” way allow me to run around the boat with no restriction. The wind is strong, so we motor down the river towards Fremantle and then turn so the wind is behind us.

First we raise the foresail.

Complex business

I try to engage the skipper, who has spent his life on huge oil tankers, in sailing strategy discussion. Strangely he seems to ignore my advice. We then raise the much bigger foretopsail. This a brand new sail and there is some delay as various sheets and halyards have to be adjusted.

So much fun

I have never enjoyed myself so much. So interesting – I realize that raising sail on these boats was a time consuming business. So what, if you were  miles out at sea with thousands of miles to go? Take all day if you want.

Even with just the two sails set, Duyfken swoops towards Perth at around 4-5 knots.

All good

I used to have a 14.6 sailing dinghy, you know.

Once back on shore, there was a BBQ at the Royal Perth Yacht Club, which due to the wind,was a bit of a blow out. No worries! The trip on Duyfken was unforgettable. Thanks Perth.

You may remember my joy when Cobb swam into view. https://quietripple.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/cobb/

Well, moth and rust doth corrupt and after 2 years of Okinawan heat, salt, exposure and constant use, I need another. They are unbuyable in Japan. I am very excited about going to Perth for there I am sure, the Australians having a BBQ culture, I will be able to track one down. The Perthites are very welcoming and ask if they can help with anything. “Where can I buy a Cobb?” I reply.

This not what they were expecting but in no time I have instructions of how to get to Getaway Outdoors in some lost suburb.

Home of Cobb

I take the train out into Perth’s wide suburbs. I get out at a lonesome station and hike off towards civilization.

Never tire of the road. A lot of Perth is like this, I think.

After a couple of miles I hit a mall. Perth seems a lot like California.

God bless you Australia. Moan ,moan, moan all we ever hear.

Finally I track down Getaway Outdoors and the genial Pete says, ” Cobb? No worries.” If you substitute Cobb for any other word then you have the Perth reply to any question. I like this.

No worries

I trek back to the station and thence back to downtown Perth to start the supposed real activity of my visit.

Cobb with Jacaranda. Waiting for a train.

I think you learn more about places through this sort of stuff than by sightseeing.

New lamps for old

Time of arrival in a new city is important. Normally you cannot check into a hotel until 2:00 so if you arrive at 5:00 am, as I did in Perth, you have to find somewhere to lie down for nine hours. I head for King’s Park and find a nice clean bench in a secluded glade in the Botanical Gardens. This is just near the Anzac War Memorial don’t you know.

None bolder

It is 6:30 when I snuggle up on my bench and fall asleep. At 9:00 I feel something in my ear, a coastal crocodile?  No, a little boy called Sebastian who was sticking his finger in my ear. I get up and look at birds.

Taken from my park bench.
Beautiful city of Perth, magnificent to be seen,
With your grand statues and Inches green,
And your lovely maidens fair and gay,
Which, in conclusion, I will venture to say,
You cannot be surpassed at the present day.

The Billabong Goose

Australian Magpie

The Goolagong Duck

Wattle Bird

Galah

A lovely morning in King’s Park. But it is only 10:30. What can I do until 2:00?  Don’t miss the next thrilling installment of The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond. Very hush, hush.

So today we celebrated our 3rd birthday as a real Graduate University. A lot has been achieved and rightly we celebrate with food and acts.

A good omen. These are big – 20 feet across.

600 people came to have fun. It poured all morning but just as we were about to start the sun got his hat on. Thanks Naoko.

Born to be wild. Many thanks to Atsuko, Hyoko and Taisuke.

Under the Bridge

Tales of Brave Ulysses

Tancha Bay I wish you were sake. Thanks Charlie for the photos.

Tancha Bay I Wish You Were Sake

Now Tancha Bay is a beautiful place,
But the price of the sake is grim;
How nice it would be if the sake was free,
And the Bay was filled up to the brim.

Chorus:
———-
Tancha Bay I wish you were sake,
Tancha Bay och-aye!
Tancha Bay I wish you were sake,
I would drink you dry.

I’d buy a yacht with the money I’ve got,
And I’d anchor it out in the bay,
If I wanted a sip I’d go in for a dip,
I’d be swimmin’ by night and by day.

Okinawans all gather there,
They’ve come from low and high
You can see them grin as they’re wading in,
And shouting out “Kampai!”
But what if the boat should overturn,
And drowned in the Bay was I?
You’d hear me shout, you’d hear me call out,
“What a wonderful way to die !”

But what’s this I see, och comin’ for me,
It’s a vision to make your blood freeze;
It’s the police afloat in a dirty great boat;
And they’re shouting: “Time, gentlemen, please!”

Last night

So Jeremy has been here for the last 2 weeks and it has been great.

Just what I want to do on my holiday

He has been the key influence in the resurrection of Dileas. He moved tons of sand and provided huge doses of muscle.

We go diving. This is my Dugong persona.

He prowls the reef

These are happy Okinawan fish welcoming Jeremy to their part of town.

Anyway his flight leaves at 18:30 on Saturday. We hurtle down in the truckette, as the pig liver car is in repair mode. The truckette on a freeway is like flying a Sopwith Camel, lots of  noise, shaking, groaning and vibration. All good, I drop Jeremy off in good time and camel it back home. As soon as I arrive I get a call from Jeremy saying that the time on his ticket was wrong and the flight left at 13:30. I put on the flying suit and goggles and thunder back to the airport. Sure enough the time on his ticket is 18:30. Someone has messed up big time. We rattle and roll home to drown our sorrows. Next morning it is back down the freeway again. The truckette loves this. Air China are very nice and Jeremy  is booked Naha, Shanghai,Beijing Frankfurter, Geneva. I know he got to Frankfurter but haven’t heard if he has got home.

Jeremy is admirably stoical about this inconvenience. Most people I know er like me, would complain, whine, and go on and on and on and on at some poor airline rep. Good show Jeremy – thanks for all the help. Come back soon.

On Jeremy’s last day we make a final assault on Dileas. Many thanks to Sakurai san who explained my predicament to some of the movers who um move stuff around the university. They volunteer to move the boat.

Yoko comes too with the most amazing cat I have ever seen. The cat is a Maine Coon who sits happily in her basket except when she feels like a little stroll. The cat is very placid and Zen as are all Japanese Maine Coons.

Yoko takes a Main Coon for a walk by the shores of Tancha Bay.

Yoko with cat

Anyway , we manage to turn the boat on its side.

Sideways

We then spend a lot of time, energy and sweat getting Dileas righted to her natural position.

on her bottom again

We then manoeuvre, cajole, winch, tug, push, heave. Dileas has put on a lot of weight due to intercutaneal build-ups of sand, but we manage to get her out of the slough of despond.

Hooray, Dileas is free! Whether she will ever breast the waves again is another matter.

She looks fine from this angle

Resurrection men, woman and Main Coon

An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!

So Ian and Ann come visit.  Much delighted though I be by the visit of my brother and his wife, when I see them – I see only muscle.  I can press gang them into working on the rescue of Dileas.

Family down the mine.

We dig out all the sand from inside and around the wreck. I say we but it is essentially Ann, Ian and Jeremy, as my knee condition gives me the pink slip.

Bien ficellé

We wrap Dileas in a complex rope bridle designed by Ian and the time has come for the big push er no pull. We purchase a winchette and little by little, inch by inch by inch, we pull Dileas from her bed of shame.

What people do when they come to Japan

So we move Dileas about 4 feet forward and feel that the back is broken. Although defeated by darkness, with a stronger winch and a few more horribly bemuscled friends, I feel that Dileas will be freed enfin. Thanks Jeremy, Ann, Ian.

We also have a  party with prized old and new friends.

Dileas, pronounced Djeelas by the way, is in agony. She lies, deeply wounded , wedged in a secret passage. I initially thought that a few of us could probably work her free and so we set about it on my first evening back from Freeeance.

For some reason she would not budge.

Forget it. We could not move her at all. It soon became clear that the poor boat is not only badly beaten but is also filled with about 20 tons of sand.

I reckon that if I can lever up her bows a few inches using a long lever, following the famous adage of Archimedes, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.” then we can start shoveling out sand from underneath.

Sakurai san finds me a perfect metal pole for a lever and more importantly, Jeremy arrives from Geneva. I now have a lever and muscle. My knee condition is a big drawback as I have difficulty crouching and lifting.

Long Toed Stilt. You can actually see their middle long toes. Well I can. The ring indicates that the bird came from China. Maybe on the same flight as Jeremy.

It’s great picking people up from the airport as there is the amazing stinking pond hard by. I always stop and see what is going on.

This old airport gets me down

Anyway, Jeremy and I attack the shipwreck. We lift the bows and start shoveling. We move tons of sand but find no buried treasure.

Pieces of eight.

And you never saw me take snuff, the reason being that in my snuff-box I carry a piece of Parmesan cheese–a cheese made in Italy, very nutritious. Well, that’s for Ben Gunn!”

Clowns to left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle.

I can see clearly now. Moving Dileas is going to be a project for the next few weeks / months. Once out from between Scylla and Charybdis, we have to get her back to the house some 300 meters away. How?

Oh no!

Sitting in the lounge in Charles de Gaulle  on my way home, I get this.

“The peak of the typhoon last night (it went straight over us) coincided with a high tide. There is sand over several low-lying parts of the road this morning.

That being the case, I thought I’d better go and see how your boat fared. The first bit of bad news is, it was no longer there―nada. We had pulled it as far up into the gap as we could and chained it to the rock. Well, the chain was still there…

So, I walked a bit further down the beach and, lo and behold, good news! There was your boat, firmly jammed into that little crevice that leads to the next beach.

The next bad news: it had clearly had a very rough night, and it is going to take a lot of work with a sander and a fiberglass repair kit to make it seaworthy again.”

Hot tears drip onto my keyboard.

Notwithstanding, had it been me who pulled Dileas up into Dead Man’s Gulch, I would undoubtedly have done a much lazier job than my friends and the Typhoon would have blown her off to Bali.

Oh dear,oh Dileas.

Cha b’e là na gaoithe là nan sgolb.