Welcome to the first Grapevine of the new year. Already 2005 and it seams just like yesterday that we were celebrating the new millennium. Once again there are a couple of new subscribers, including our first non S&S34 (maybe we can convert them). Please keep sending in your items of interest, they are critical to the continuation of the Grapevine.

It has been such a sad time that I just don't know what to write. I really can't add anything more about the Tsunami that has not already been said a thousand time. On Sunday 24th we attended a benefit concert put on by WA Folk Federation musicians, which raised $2000. I think after everybody has already given so much, to continuing donating shows how everyone is feeling.

On a more personal note, we lost our friends and fellow S&S34 Association members, David and Kathleen Walters. I thought it was worthwhile to include the tribute from Dick and Barbara Newnham printed in the S&S34 Association Newsletter.

Today I report the tragic loss at sea of David and Kathleen Walters.

This is most shocking for being so unexpected and the saddest, most heartfelt happening of my life. Judging by the phone calls I have received, many members of our association have been feeling as shocked, hurt and helpless to assist as ourselves. The thoughts of their suffering and the suffering of their families have distressed us for days now, as I wrote the first page of the News Letter on the evening of Monday the 4th they were drowning.

David and Kath have been the backbone of the association for the last eighteen years, Kath has been our treasurer and David our representative at Yachting W A. They made Bird of the Morning available and had been present at every Commodores Race for the Association.

They have been our friends for 25 years, we have been on cruises in company together, raced as crew for them on Bird of the Morning on many opening days at Fremantle Sailing Club. They have been part of our life.

David will always be remembered for his happy and generous disposition, ready wit and willingness to help at all times, a great family man, he was one of natures gentlemen. Kathleen will always be remembered by us for her commitment to her family, care to do everything well, commitment to the Association arid her unfailing determination to complete any task. Two years ago, by sheer determination, Kath literally carried David by car, train and plane from a yacht on the North West coast of Scotland to Edinburgh, on to London and back to a West Australian hospital when he was close to dying.

I know all members of the Association and everyone who new David and Kathleen are feeling the pain of this tragedy and with us extend their heartfelt sympathy to David and Kathleens' four children, sons and daughters in law and eleven Grandsons.

We will always remember them.

Roma II has been away for the last month on her annual pilgrimage to Geographe Bay. We departed Boxing Day and arrived back 21st January 2005. This is her story, with snippets from sister ships seen along the way. Hope it's not to long!

26/12 Roma II left FSC at 0530 with a light S/SE all day. There were a few other sails around but not as many as in previous years. We managed to sail all the way to Mandurah, with one small tack inshore for about 1nm as we approached Pt. Roberts. Many of the other boats didn't point so well and made Dawesville instead. Aries II arrived Mandurah late in the afternoon and had a fairly strong seabreeze (30kts) for last last few hours. They decided to let the kids off sailing the next day and unfortunately we didn't catch up again for the whole cruise. Although I heard that Gretta crewed on Kobi (S&S30) for a day.

27/12 Left 0430 towards Bunbury, puffy SE 12-30kts all day, made Bunbury without tacking. We were close inshore (400-500m) around midday when the first warnings of strange tides was issued on the VHF. We hadn't even heard about the Tsunami until then. Needless to say we moved offshore a little more. Ashore at the Koombana Bay Yacht Club, we caught up with Geoff (Kungari) who was onboard Moonshadow (an S&S30). While having dinner in town we were surprised to look out and see the rain, then the lightening and thunder. Got back on board and stored dinghy on deck just before being hit by 50kt squall. Sulphur had arrived in the anchorage while we wern't looking, but didn't have the time to continue further south. Two yachts on the cruise, a local yacht from a mooring and a 60ft charter boat ended up on the beach. Luckily no damage was reported. The three yachts were off the beach within a couple of hours, thanks to the local Sea Search Rescue, lots of helpers and the strange tides. We watched the tides through the Leschenault flood gates, saw it drop 1.2m (there is a tidal gauge) in about 15 minutes. It had a 25 minute cycle and was a white water rapid through the flood gates. Apparently it was even more alarming on the night of the 26th, with the high water just below the top of the concrete barrier and low water drying the channel.

28/12 Left Bunbury 0530 towards Quindalup in a light NE which went to nothing for 2 hours (iron headsail) with a W/SW going West and gradually increasing to 18/20kts. Great sailing. Bluebell & Mandana were at Quindalup and the 3 34's looked great anchored fairly close together. Both Bluebell (departing 26/12) and Mandana (departing 27/12) had come straight through from Fremantle. Mandana had coped the thunderstorms when passing Bunbury.

30/12 Two 34's, Bluebell and Roma II did the Quindalup Cruising Yacht Club Regatta. Max Shean was presented with a beautiful Brass Telescope for completing 30 Quindalup trips.

31/12 Four 34's at Quindalup for the new year celebrations, Bluebell, Lady Ann II (from Port Greographe Marina), Mandana and Roma II.

05/01 Bluebell (with some helpers) took the kids from the legacy camp for a sail. Returned straight home afterwards.

??/01 Mandana sailed straight through to Fremantle but got some strong winds (35+kts) approaching Challenger Pass and unfortunately contaminated there diesel with salt water. Sensibly, they sailed down to Rockingham rather than approaching the FSC marina in the strong onshore breeze.

10/01-16/01 Roma II went into the Port Geographe Marina for a week. Steve caught the bus home and collected his motorbike and using the boat as a base, toured some of the Southwest.

16/01 Lady Ann II & Roma II participated in the wine and crayfish festival at the marina. The locals use this as a warm up for the Port Greographe Regatta. After a lunch of crays, the wine tasting started, until about 1700 when happy hour commenced at the Tides tavern, followed by drinks on Roma II and late night pizzas on Astro/0 (a UFO34). All I can say is "beware of the locals, they party hard!!!". If this was meant to encourage us to go back down for the regatta, it failed, we can't keep up the pace for a whole week.

17/01 Roma II left Busselton for Bunbury. No wind motored the whole way.

18/01&19/01 Stayed in Bunbury as blowing hard all day. It would be good to average the wind out a bit.

20/01 - Departed Bunbury 0500 towards Mandurah, light SE, nothing by 0830, seabreaze by 0930, gradually increasing to 20/25kts.

21/01 - Departed Mandurah 0600 arrived FSC 1330, same weather as previous day. We did 300nm onboard Roma II and 1100km on the bike. What a great holiday!

This report is from Aries II (Scott, Gretta, Jo, Jess and Jack)

We had an adventurous trip returning from Port Geo due N to Rotto (the night the Walters died). We caught a small wahoo and small tuna in the early avo,

then nature got even. Seas + Swell were very high and very short with gusts to 34kts. We got pooped twice as the seas sharpened. Our gps recorded max

speed as 12.9 (obviously momentarily only but nevertheless exciting). By 2100 we changed plans as we did not want to arrive at the bottom of Rotto in

the middle of the night very tired. Thus we turned E for Mandurah and got a few hours sleep before proceeding the next morning.

Glen Swarbrick and Mike Finn are in the process of building a demo S&S34 using the new construction techniques. Recently the first royalties for 22 years were sent to Sparkman and Stephens in New York.

All S&S34 Assoc. members are invited to attended the following events.

The proposed Program for the Cruise is:

Friday 28th January 1930

Briefing in the Bridge at FSC.

Saturday 29th January

0700 - Depart for Stark Bay via Cape Vlaming (West End of Rottnest)

1730 - Sundowner on the Beach at Stark Bay

Sunday 30th January

0830 - Morning Beach Walk, approximately 1 hour

Late morning - depart for FSC via Bathurst Point

Please register your intention to take part on the notice board at FSC, or contact your Cruise Coordinators Rob and Wendy Campbell, 0438 133 944 or email aoraki@iinet.net.au.

At: Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, upstairs

Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm

Cost: $25 per person (including light refreshments), $20 if you have nominated in the Splash.

Special Guest Speaker: Rob Mundle, TV personality, interviewer, philanthropist, Sydney Hobart veteran and author of the best selling books "Fatal Storm" and "Bond" from Alan Bon's perspective, the real story behind his rise and fall.

All proceeds to the Variety West Coast Splash 2005

PLEASE RSVP to WestCoastSplash@tpg.com.au, numbers are limited so please book early

This is a NEW event, with Peter Stallwood (email stallwd@global.net.au and mobile 0419-830-647) and Wally Douglas (email wdouglas@iinet.net.au and phone 08 9446 3738) as Cruise Coordinators.

The proposed Program is:

Friday 4th - 1915 Pre-departure briefing at FSC. Assemble in Sailors Bar.

Saturday 5th - 0600 Depart FSC for Mandurah

Sunday 6th - 0400 Depart for Koombana Sailing Club, 1730 A sundowner at KBSC.

Monday 7th -1730 Sundowner ashore

Tues 8th - AM Mangrove Forest boardwalk

1200 Business mans lunch at Marlston Chinese.

Wed 9th - 0930 Motor in company in dinghies to Pelican Point at the mouth of the Collie River for a BYO barbeque.

1700 Twilight sail at KBSC

Thur 10th - 1200 Possibly motor in dinghies to Parade Hotel for lunch.

Friday 11th - 0900 "King Cottage" Museum, followed by morning tea and a talk on the history of Koombana Bay and the Leschenault Inlet.

PM Opening of the "Southwest Survey" art competition and exhibition at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery.

Followed by a street party with musical entertainment, street stalls and food inlets.

Sat 12th - 1000 Possibly a late breakfast at the Barbados restaurant.

1730 Sundowner ashore.

Sunday 13th - 0600 Depart for Quindalup

Stop over at Bunker Bay and Cape Naturaliste as the weather dictates, returning to Port Geographe Marina by the end of the week possibly arriving back at Fremantle via Bunbury and Mandurah by Tuesday 22nd or Wednesday 23rd. Others may be departing for Mandurah, or Port Geographe marina to pen their yachts until the commencement of the Port Geographe Regatta Week.

Cruise Captain is our very own president, Dick Newnham.

Briefing at RFBYC on Feb 3rd.

Contact Dick on (08) 9385 8098 or email newnham@iinet.net.au

Cruise Captain: White Magic

Contact: Rob James jamesr@ramsayhealth.com.au or phone 9307 2391

Cruise Captain: Ocelot

Contact: Rob James jamesr@ramsayhealth.com.au or phone 9307 2391

Contact: Rob and Wendy Campbell, 0438 133 944 or email aoraki@iinet.net.au.

Cruise Captain: Sei Sui

Contact: Rob James jamesr@ramsayhealth.com.au or phone 9307 2391

Cruise Captain Ron Kempin.

Briefing at RFBYC on March 3rd.

Contact Ron on 0408 958 323

Email: rfbyc_cinc@yahoo.com.au

The first boats to enter this event are Cool Change from MOFSC, Loose Ends from HYC and Mandala II and Mooney from FSC.

Congratulations to skippers and crew! Contact Mark Loader on splash2005@tpg.com.au or 0418 958 322.

S&S34 Association members, Scott & Gretta Lee, of Aries II, are planning a cruise to the Abrolhos from 25th March to 21st April 2005 . They are seeking interest from other boats.

Plans are now to depart for Geraldton on Fri 25/3 with stopovers at Lancelin, Jurien and Port Denison. Then leave the boat at Geraldton YC until 9/4 when the school term hols begin, then sail over to Ab Is, with a return date in Perth no later than 21/4.

Contact Scott on 9388 0135 or 0418 164 797 or email slee@highway1.com.au.

Maybe we can get several S&S34's on this cruise? (Ed)

Fremantle Volunteer Sea Rescue Group are holding the following courses:

Small Craft Handling TL3, MROCP-Restricted Radio Operators Course, Know your Radio, Ladies Small Craft Handling TL3, Rottnest Night Convoy.

For groups of 8 or more, courses can be tailored to suit your needs and time frame. Should demand be high then more courses will be conducted.

FOR all ENQUIRIES REGARDING COURSES PLEASE CONTACT KERRY FITZGERALD ON 9336 5284 OR MOB 0414 637 495, OR FRANK PISANI ON 0416 171 929

Two S&S's participated in the Jib and Mainsail division of the FSC Oz Day race from Fremantle to Rockingham. The race was started in a light SE breeze, which went South, before the SW seabreeze about midday. Morning Tide performed exceptionally well and would have easily won, except for a minor technical infringement on the finish line. Along with several others, they went through the outside line at TCYC while the actual finish was through the inside line. Roma II decided they were having so much fun they might as well stay out for longer and finished at the rear of the fleet (in true cruising style with a reefed main and headsail furled in a bit). They only went through the inside line because they failed to see the outside line. With so many boats not finishing they still got third on handicap.

Last week 86 boats had paid their nominations. FSC are also planning a feeder cruise (see above).

www.geographebayraceweek.org.au

The FOREWARD by SIR CHARLES COURT, AX, K.C.M.G., O.B.E. from Lone Sailor by Jon Sanders, 1983, St George Books, ISBN 0 86778 020 7

Courage takes many forms.

There are great acts of bravery performed without warning in a moment of crisis. There is no time to contemplate. It is all over in seconds or minutes.

There are great acts of bravery when danger is imminent, yet there is time to reflect, run away or face the danger - and face it the courageous do.

But there is another form of courage which is the greatest test of all. It is the dangerous task for which there is much quiet, deliberate, disciplined preparation. There is a full understanding of the dangers. There are dozens of valid reasons for not proceeding with the project.

The men who landed on the moon are in this category. They did not have to. go, they had months and sometimes years to contemplate and to prepare. The moment of final decision came. They went, they conquered - while the world held its breath for their safe return.

It is in this context that we place Jon Sanders, 'Lone Sailor'. He faced one of the greatest of all tests of courage and character with a full appreciation of the dangers ahead.

It is impossible to adequately describe the hazards of unpredictable gales, mountainous seas, the frightening hazards in rounding Cape Horn, the danger of serious personal illness, personal accident, irreparable craft and gear damage.

One thing reassured his many friends and admirers - we knew he would never underestimate the sea and the elements. He would be the completely disciplined person and sailor.

He has a command of himself which is not given to many.

Older people can gain pleasure and increase their admiration of Jon Sanders by reading of his exploits. But it is young people who have most to gain, by understanding exactly what he did and how he did it. They also have much to gain from appreciating his modesty, something that is characteristic of people who accept the challenge of sustained dangers over long periods of time.

I prize letters from Jon Sanders - letters written at sea by a man facing the elements alone. They have a calmness, casualness, simplicity and completeness of expression that makes one feel very humble as you read them.

Perhaps Jon Sanders has been too modest about his exploits. It .

disguises the drama that unfolded day by day within Perie Banou - a tiny little ship with its lone sailor circumnavigating the world twice and facing more than a hundred hazards, anyone of which would have spelt the end for people of lesser discipline, lesser preparation, lesser skill, lesser respect for the sea and the elements.

It was a memorable day when Jon Sanders sailed into Fremantle Harbour on his return to be greeted by an armada of craft. The spontaneity and like of this we had never previously seen. It was the people's way of saying 'Well done, Jon'.

Likewise, if Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, William Dampier, James Cook, Chichester and their like were here today, they would smile approvingly and say: 'Well done, Jon Sanders - join the Club'.

A sailor meets a pirate in a bar.

The pirate has a peg leg, a hook, and an eye patch.

"How'd you end up with a peg leg?" asks the sailor.

"I was swept overboard in a storm," says the pirate. "A shark bit off me whole leg."

"Wow!" said the sailor. "What about the hook?"

"We were boarding an enemy ship, battling the other seamen with swords. One of them cut me hand clean off."

"Incredible!" remarked the sailor. "And the eye patch?"

"A seagull dropping fell in me eye," replied the pirate.

"You lost your eye to a seagull dropping?" the sailor asked incredulously.

Said the pirate, "It was me first day with the hook."

WA clubs organising cruises which S&S 34 Association members are welcome to participate:

Fremantle Sailing Club http://fsc.com.au/

Hillarys Yacht Club http://www.hillarysyachtclub.com.au/

Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club http://www.rfbyc.asn.au/

A dedicated section of westernaustralia.com has been established to promote WA's role in the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race. Clipper is a ten month race contested by ten identical 68 foot yachts, each sponsored by a destination and crewed by paying yachtsmen and women. Setting sail in September from Liverpool, the Clipper crews will arrive in Fremantle in December. Western Australia's role in the event be promoted at the London Boat Show.

The new website can be viewed at http://clipper.westernaustralia.com.

These pix from Aries II (Scott, Gretta, Jo, Jess and Jack)

Let me know if you have anything to advertise in the next issue (Ed).

Periwinkle is for sale. An 1981 S&S34 which is set up for cruising, with heaps of gear. $79,000.

Contact Bill on 0429 207 502 or email svperiwinkle@hotmail.com for details.

Don't forget to tell your friends about how good 34's are and what an absolute bargain they are (Ed).

Rodan Gas Stove with 2 burners, grill and oven. $250

Contact Leo Morrissey (Warama) 0417 958 895

You are invited to join/rejoin the S&S 34 ASSOCIATION.

You don't have to be a paid up member but it sure helps! Both the Association and yourselves are advantaged by the continuous flow of information and being a member assures that you will continue to receive relevant information and stories of interest. Go for it!

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION is only $25.00

Post a cheque or money order payable to S&S 34 ASSOCIATION OF W A

to A.R. NEWNHAM

51 Oban Rd

CITY BEACH WA 6015

OR by direct bank transfer to Bank West account; S & S 34 Association of W A, BSB 306 050 Account 418 7992.

Please make your deposit notation reference code your SURname.

If you or your boat details have changed (or you are a new member) please forward the following information to the above address (or return email)

Owners names, Address, Yacht name, Yacht Club, Sail Number, Boat Name, Racing or Cruising?, Phone Numbers (Home, Work, Mobile, Fax) and email address

S&S34 Grapevine is an opt-in, privately maintained e-newsletter in association with the S&S34 Association of WA.

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