Friday, July 24, 2009

Fijian Bambo Raft -Bilibili


There hasn't been a lot of business lately, so we pulled Searov out to get maintenance work done on her.
As there isn't a place to haul her out in Savusavu, the process is so different to places that have haul out facilities.

First, we have to push our trailer out into the deep water, than drive Searov slowly onto the the trailer, once on & in line, we secure Searov onto the trailer, then get a digger to pull her up the beach to a suitable place.

Searov was secured onto the trailer at high tide, but the digger was nowhere to be seen, the tide turned & started to go out, causing Searov to start banging onto the trailer.
Something had to be done quickly, as this could cause damage to the boat, & the digger still nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, someone with a twin cab with 4x4 passed & pulled the trailer a little up the beach to preventing any damage to Searov .
A hour later, the digger turns up for a 10min job, but charges the rate for a days work, this is Savusavu so you just have to pay, & hope you don't have to do this again for a year at least.

Now the work begins for Terry, just hope the weather stays fine, as he wants to paint the hull, then start work on the outdrives.

Here is a picture of a wedding we went to, it's the groom & party arriving by bilibili (raft made out of bamboo).

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Kids Sailing Club in Savusavu




27th June.
What a week it has been, winds have been too strong to go out & of course we had 3 charters booked.

We finally managed to take one of the guests out, but the seas were still very rough outside the entrance.

After trolling around the usual spots, we manage to catch 3 Mahimahi & 1 yellow fin tuna, but the conditions weren't that good, so headed home as Derek had a plane to catch that afternoon. He had canceled his morning flight, in case we were able to take him out, so we didn't want him to miss his flight, as he was leaving the country later that afternoon.

At the Copra Shed Marina, there was a welcome for the yachts that were in Port from New Zealand on a cruising regatta, some of the yachties, joined the Kids Sailing Club in a little fun sail.