First Official Day at Shaggers

Friday 24^th August 2017

It is the first official day of the Shaggers Rendezvous with the highlight today being a late lunch on Shag Islet, the home of the club.

First up this morning we need to get Peter and Sharon ashore to join up as official Vice Commodores of the SICYC. Unfortunately this was delayed for an hour, or so, due to attention having to be diverted to a blocked toilet drama. Having sorted that out, we went ashore at around 10.30am, joined both of them up, bought some merchandise, and had a cup of coffee at the Eco Resort before heading back to our boat. 

A view of some of the boats anchored here, but there are many more outside the scope of this shot

This Magnificent Shaggers vehicle will be auctioned on Saturday night

The conditions are pretty good for dinghy travel ashore this morning, but the  forecast is for a strong South Easterly this afternoon.

Back at the boat I decide to top up the water supply and run the desalinator. After a few unusual current overloads on the generator, eventually all is well and  100 liters of water is added to our tank. When flushing the system, the overload reappeared.

With a  need to get to Shag Islet for the Official lunch function, I just left it all in the cockpit and decided to sort it out when we returned. By now the wind is blowing 15-20 knots from the SE, and it is a wet ride to Shag Islet with the 4 of us in the dinghy and plenty of wind waves. Once at the Islet, there is little space to park and it is very rocky on approach. Also the wind and tide are blowing us everywhere as we delicately try to get to shore. The prop hit a rock and it seemed we had done a shear pin in. Fortunately we later discovered that it had knocked the gearbox out of gear, but the shear pin survived, although the shaft seal looks a bit suspect.

The Crowd assembles on Shag Islet

Shaggers enjoying the vista from Shag Islet

Lunch was prawns and a sausage sizzle, with a fun atmosphere on the Islet. The Shaggers radio station, Coconut Radio, is blasting away on FM 89.5 and there is a carnival atmosphere with all Vice Commodores wearing their  SICYC Blue Polo Shirts, and keen kite flyers trying to hang on to their kites in the howling breeze.

Prawns were good

The Windcraft Group plus Peter at Shag Islet

By 4pm the party is breaking up as the tide goes out further and getting the dinghies off the Islet becomes increasingly challenging. Fortunately the dinghy ride home is with the wind and very quick.

Once on board we eventually got the desalinator  working, but the cause of the problem still unclear. I guess I will find out whether it was a problem with the desalinator drawing too much current, or the generator tripping on overload prematurely.

We are dining on board tonight .

Great Sunset