Author: Ning Xue

23/06/2020

J got up at 11pm last night to take over my shift. I went to sleep at 12pm. I set the alarm to 2am, but I didn’t wake up until 4am. It turned out that J quietly turned off my alarm clock… I quickly got up and take over his shift. So that he could go to sleep.

The route was simple and it had always been on autopilot. I sat behind the dodger(windshield) wrapped in a blanket and were eating chocolate, I only have to see from time to time whether there is a fishing boat or something in front.

When conditions are good, night cruising is actually very pleasant, and brings more thoughts and inspirations. Zhang Dai in the Ming Dynasty wrote “Night Sailing Boat”, where a group of scholars talking about everything in the world on a night boat, and came up with an mini encyclopedia. Beryl Markham conceived her “West with the night” during her night flight west.

The gentle west wind blowing from the mainland continued to fill up the sails, so the sailboat moved northward steadily. On the left was the ancient Australian continent, on the right was the open Pacific Ocean, ahead was the lighthouse and our unknown journey, and behind was the distant city lights and the trivial and busy world, overhead was the eternal and unchanging stars and Milky Way, I really hope that moment was eternal. However, it didn’t take long for the Venus to rise from the east, and lifted a layer of ‘fish belly white’ (a Chinese term for the colour of the early morning sky), telling me that an eternal cycle is repeated, and all the lives are just going in and out of it.

6:34am I saw in the first sunrise of our journey, also announced the success of my first night sailing.

9:45am sailing into Double Island Point and anchoring at Rainbow Beach. We sailed 105 nautical miles in total.

Then I had a very relaxing day, mainly eating sleeping and painting. Early breakfast was toast with avocado and cream cheese, late breakfast was toast with bacon and omelette, and dinner was Hokkien noodles with chicken, pine nuts, pumpkin and beans.

22/06/2020

At ten o’clock in the morning, the main sail was raised, the mooring was loosened, and the voyage was officially launched. Jamie whispered a quote from a sailor writer, the idea was that the moment the anchor was loosened, I felt free and thrilled…

Out of the Brisbane River, it can be said that the sailing was smooth and the waves were smooth. When going out of the bay, we had to choose whether to go a reliable route a little further or a shorter way that the charts in the GPS navigation software showed. After comparing the charts in the two different systems, Jamie finally took the risk and choose the shorter approach. Sailing steadily down the wind, not long after we said “it’s very pleasant” almost at the same time, the sonar system started to make alarm music, and then the boat stopped. We had to start the engine and slowly motor out of the sand. In fact, we have seen light-colored waters and strange waves, but the software still shows a water depth of 5-10m. It seems that the software cannot be blindly believed (the data in that area may not have been updated for a long time), and it depends on experience and intuition. It didn’t take long before we were relieved, but then we got stuck again, we hadn’t had time to start the engine yet, the wind pushed us through the sandbar. I said that these two hiccups should give me something to write in my journal tonight. After that we steadily entered the ocean in the deeper water.

The weather condition was very good. We decided to sail at night. In fact, night sailing is more comfortable. There are not so many ships and the beacon lights can be seen more clearly.

I made beef noodles and cabbage for dinner. They were made with the sweetened beef from the Korean-style beef don that was left over last night. It tastes good with a little spicy sauce. It’s very warming after eating it. J said it was a hearty meal. After whole day sailing, it’s nice to have a bowl of hot noodles.

Tonight we take turns keeping watch, Jamie is sleeping now, so he could replace me later and I can rug up and sleep:)

PS Jamie later found the original text he wanted to quote at the beginning: an exceptionally experienced English writer-sailor, Maurice Griffiths, who laid out his feelings upon heading out in a small cruising boat in these words:I found my pulse beating with suppressed excitement as I threw the mooring buoy overboard. It seemed as if that simple action had severed my connection with the life on shore; that I had thereby cut adrift the ties of convention, the unrealities and illusions of cities and crowds; that I was free now, free to go where I chose, to do and to live and to conquer as I liked, to play the game wherein a man’s qualities count for more than his appearance…

20 Jan 2020

Woke up early in the morning with misty rain and no wind, we tried to sail down the river but only moved 200m and was always pushed aside by the current. Can only anchor and wait. The shipyard appointment was at 10:30. Try to find a tow boat, the shipyard does not provide this service; call the coast guard, asking for $360; call a guy who could come and give us a tow on his way, asking for $400, I heard J bargain with him for $100 on the phone, I thought why not get a board and write down the price and ask for help, just do it! Looking around the cabin, I found a decorative picture of debating monks in Tibet, about A2 in size. The blank back was an ideal canvas. I wrote ‘$100 for a TOW’ with black acrylic paint and a large brush. As I wrote, I thought that the Buddha might bring us good luck.

A catamaran named Peggy-Anne sailed towards us from behind, and J stood on the side of our boat shyly, raised his sign, and shook it. An elder man and his wife, and a dog came out of the boat. The man asked where to go, J said Boat Works. The man nodded, turned the bow without hesitating and took the rope we threw to his stern, towing us smoothly to the destination, half an hour earlier than the appointment time. It was later we learned that one of the two engines on his boat was failed, and it was not easy to tow a boat with just one engine on the side. I put the $100 note and a thank-you note written by J in a ziplock bag, and put it in a Pringles container, then place it in a plastic bag with an orange, tied it with rope and let J throw it over, the old lady waved her hand saying no need for money, she said that she hope someone will help them if they have trouble in the future. J threw the bag over anyway. (Afterword, a few days later, the man drove to the shipyard to return the money to us, and we knew his name is Noam. I have to do a painting for them.)

Entering the Boat works is like entering the assembly line. It is methodical. The staff are very friendly and make people feel at ease. The boat was first hoisted by two large straps, and we saw the bottom of the boat, various aquatic organisms formed a big sponge-like thing on the keel. No wonder we sailed at turtle speed. The workers used high-pressure water guns to wash the bottom of the ship, and then the mottled paint was exposed. Like abstract paintings, it was actually very artistic.

The boat was taken to the reserved position, m fixed on stands, and the hard work was officially started. We spent whole afternoon scraping and sanding the peeling old paint. At the end of the day, J was like a black boy, his lips were extra red and his eyes were bright. At last, I could take a hot shower and had dinner with Robbie who came and visited at night.