Windana's 10th Birthday

Happy Birthday Windana!! Can't believe it was ten years ago that she was first launched.

To celebrate, we thought we would slip the lines and take her for a spin up and down the creek. Actually, the real reason for going for a spin is to test out the propellers. A few days ago, we impulsively decided to go for a quick spin. Didn't give much thought to the tide ripping out at the time, so when Tony blithely let go the lines, that's exactly what he did! Normally I would keep some headway, the bow would blow off and Tony would untie the stern and step on. For some reason this time, nothing seemed to happen when I upped the revs. Windana ended up perpendicular to the jetty, facing across the narrow creek, and getting ever closer to the submerged rock that unfortunately lived behind us. In the end Tony let go of the stern line and I madly tried to get Windana back to the jetty. She was being quite naughty and was determined not to return to her confinement without a fight. It turned out that the props were absolutely covered in tiny barnacles. Our shiny new props had a special plastic coating on them which was supposed to act like antifoul and protect them - well it don't work!! It even felt as though the props had fallen off! Eventually, I got back to the jetty, but not before a crowd had gathered to witness our maiden voyage. Great start! Anyway, a good scrub and several coats of antifoul later, we were ready to try again. Huge success! We flew up and down the creek and did donuts at every opportunity - had no idea how much of a difference there is with two motors instead of one!! Now we can't wait (even more) to actually get out there!