Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: December 01, 2016 05:20AM

Cool, thanks for postin a pic of the dingy for Donalds yacht

Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: December 01, 2016 08:46AM

Some dinghy too :-)
That guy might have the money to buy a bigger boat but the stories I have
about the North Head can never be taken away by him or anyone else

The reason I posted these pics is that as a kid, I was involved in restoration of some of these vessels.

Me and a couple of mates had the fortune to get to know some of the skippers because of our voluntary work
and when traveling over to the city and back each weekend, they would let us steer the ferries from Manly to Sydney and back.
Something that no other kid or adult will ever get the chance to do these days, because of the security element etc.

Taking the wheel in your hands with sometimes up to 800 people on board and steering the ferry through
a 20ft ground swell across the entrance to Sydney harbour gives you a rush that no drug can ever compare with.
Because you would be excited and scared shitless at the same time.
Going up the face of the wave then going over the back of it, burying the bow into the next wave,
had the power to throw you out of the wheelhouse if you weren't hanging on tight enough, no joke.
We got to do this nearly each weekend for about three years but it wasn't always rough seas.

I've done some pretty cool things in my time so far but that is still up there as one of my favorites.

So enjoy the pics and the stories and for once JGoi, leave the politics out of it mate? :-) Thanks

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: December 01, 2016 11:51AM

Growin up totally landlocked 250 miles off the coast, ships seem as foreign as the lunar landscape, yet machines of all sorts fascinate me, especially how they differ from one another in regards to their individual purposes requirements. Secondary to my love of machines is how older ones seem to be so much more imbued with the designers and builders own senses of craftsmanship in how they were built

pulse Report This Comment
Date: December 01, 2016 12:36PM

That's pretty much the same with everything these days. Architecture for example, building and construction. Check out a classic old art deco and compare to an apartment block of the 70s, 80s, 90s..

People used to care about quality. These days it's all about time to market and maximizing profit.

That said, that is a true element of everything else these days too.

*sigh*

fossil_digger Report This Comment
Date: December 01, 2016 03:05PM

20 foot swells in the harbor?
surely you exaggerate.

woberto Report This Comment
Date: December 02, 2016 01:06AM

At the entrance to Sydney Harbour I have ridden those ferries as the tackled 15ft swell between the heads.

Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: December 02, 2016 03:42AM

Fossil, I'll try and dig up some old photos of the big swells that come into Sydney Harbour
between North Head and South Head. The ferries they use these days are nowhere near as seaworthy
as the old ones and the harbor authorities shut the Manly to Sydney service off if the swell goes above ten feet
due to all the safety regulations that are now in place.

But no exaggeration my friend, the swells can get even bigger than that sometimes, mainly
when the Christmas king tides happen in late December and also in our winter, around July / August.

Because the harbour entrance is approx 1.2 kms wide plus fairly shallow and when the ocean ground swell is at the right angle,
the waves will jack up in size as they come through the heads but the harbor itself then goes
deep very quickly, so the waves rarely break like a wave on the coast, though there have been some exceptions
on the bigger swells.

It used be to a popular family attraction on the school holidays, to go on a ferry trip when the swell was big.
And hearing everybody screaming and cheering as the ferry passed by the heads, it was awesome!
You also used to be able to sit outside on the bow (if you dared) and get saturated by the waves. Sadly those days are no more.

There are plenty of classic pics but because they were all taken many years ago I think
most of them wouldn't have been converted to digital. I'll have a look.

fossil_digger Report This Comment
Date: December 02, 2016 03:54AM

yea, i figured you meant outside the harbor entrance. :}

woberto Report This Comment
Date: December 03, 2016 02:26AM

No FD that's inside the harbour. But when the swell is really big, it's not practical to go side on in a mono hull so then they power out the heads (fun fun fun) do a 180 and power back in.

fossil_digger Report This Comment
Date: December 03, 2016 03:21AM

sounds like Sea Doo paradise