2011 to 2014

This festival was again held at Easter and Jenny and I decided to attend with Penguin as we have in recent years.

The Hume highway is now all freeway to Lake Macquarie except for the last remaining part that runs through Holbrook, and this will shortly be bypassed. Therefore it allows a fairly quick and easy trip to Lake Macquarie even though it is 1,000 km’s . Weather as usual was fine and warm with the only rain being at night, so it did not affect us.

We launched at the Catalina ramp at the old Rathmines airbase, and putted around to Toronto into a stiff southerly. My crew did not appreciate the spray over the bow, so the bimini cover is now in progress after thinking about it for a few years. A good collection of boats was present including large cruisers and yachts as well as putt putts and rowing boats. Mooring was good and allowed easy access to get boats out for runs during the weekend. Penguin had been in the water recently at Goolwa and I had kept her wet since then so she had taken up well and the bilge pump did not have to work too hard.

For the Seagull outboard fans, we discovered a boat (pictured below) which had Seagull fitted with a clutch. In fact our friends also told us about another Seagull owned by a friend that is also fitted with a clutch. I did not know that Seagulls were built with this accessory, but it would certainly make starting a less erratic process.

We had a good weekend with our friends in the area and made the return trip on Monday, after a busy but pleasant time.

David and Jenny Stott