Islander - The Beginning, lake alexandrina, treacherous

Islander	A day on Lake Alexandrina And a date with the Murray Mouth
	Islander is a wooden 32' boat made by Hannon Brothers marine in 1978, she has spent most of her life in the sea, going between Kangaroo Island and North Haven. We are interested in any history that can be sourced about her and her 63 sisters. If your thinking of a romantic adventure with a wooden boat, this story is for you........ Following are some images or her restoration. and a couple of tales you may find entertaining.
Built in 1978 Launched 1979 at Glenelg Builders: Hannon Brothers Marine Gouger Street, Adelaide Sister Ships (Aprox 60)
Islander in her original state coming around through Backstairs passage. The return Journey Wooden Boats Readers Stories Home Page	On the 6th of June 1997, we purchased an old 1964, 32 foot wooden cruiser from North Haven. As we want to renovate the boat for the river, We had the boat surveyed for safety, to be sure that the old girl would make the trip around to Murray Bridge by sea. So to cut a long story short, after talking with the duty weather forecaster I set off from North Haven on Saturday morning at 7.00am on our journey. We had all the safety gear, maps and munchies stocked up. It was a superb boating day with winds under 5 knots, calm seas and blue skies. I picked up an extra crew member at O'Sullivan's beach marina on the way through. The trip was pretty much uneventful all the way along the coast. Once we turned the bend at Cape Jervis we were confronted with a moderate sea along Backstairs passage, running at about 1 -2 metres. This is where my first mate decided that now would be a good time to bring back up lunch and slip quietly into a sea sickness coma with a bucket on his head. Feeling a little sorry for my first mate Gary, I gently put a rug over him but continued on along a fairly remote part of the peninsula behind Deep Creek Conservation Park. It was about 15 minutes later when the first alarm sounded! One of the 235 HP motors began overheating, it would only run for about 20 seconds before the alarm sounded again. A little angry at the inconvenience, I turned off the sick motor and continued on, as there was still another 235hp motor remaining. That was of course until about Waitpinga Beach when the remaining motor decided that it would go out in sympathy, and joined the first motor. The only difference was that this one wouldn't restart at all! By this time it was about 3.30pm, the sea had risen a little to about a metre, darkness was about 90 minutes away, my mobile phone wouldn't work, and my friend had started adding new shades of green to the pantone colour chart. We had passed no charter or fishing vessels on the way around and I knew that it was not the sort of afternoon people would fish just for the fun of it. I sent out a distress call on each of the marine radio frequencies repeatedly for about 15 minutes and decided that we were probably the only goons trying this trip, on this particular day.
Islander rests the next morning at Encounter Bay after motor trouble. The boys from Yorkies Marine replace one of the 235 Evinrudes in the water under protest. A school of Dolphins lead us all the way to the Murray Mouth.	As luck would have it, an unknown fisherman answered my call on channel 96. Fairly relieved, he assured me that he would pass on our call and make arrangements for our rescue...and rescued we were, within about 30 minutes 3 boats had come to our rescue. Of course, being 32 foot and weighing in at 6 tons with the moderate sea bordering on rough at times, it was understandable that not all of the boats wanted the transom ripped from their boats during the tow. Encounter Bay was about 5 miles away and it was Max Barret, from Sea Rescue who courageously took us on tow into the Bay. We had planned the trip to coincide with North Westerly breezes and high tides to get us through the Murray Mouth at Sunday lunch time. Bearing in mind that we could not get the boat out of the water, and there was a 35 knot Southerly Storm due in Monday, we had to keep going. After much creative thinking, we eventually got in touch (conned) Paul Yorke-Brown from Yorkies Marine in Murray Bridge to come down the next morning at day break and hand lift the 1/4 ton motor off the Stern of the boat, and replace it with a little 55 Johnson outboard motor. Ian, the local Harbour Master watched in amazement as each of us blew the odd vein in our foreheads trying to get the motor off! But, get it off we did! So, after consultation with Ian, Jim Baker from Goolwa and the weather bureau we set off again, only this time at about 7 knots instead of 35 knots. We had to be at the Murray Mouth by 1.00pm to take advantage of the tide. Our trip across was really pleasant with about 15 - 20 Dolphins leading us nearly the whole way. Once at the mouth the pleasant 1/2 metre swell grew to about 21/2 metres with extremely vertical faces. We had been warned about the mouth and her shallow sandbars, so I rang Jim Baker again, a local Goolwa resident and manager of Alufarm, who apparently navigates the Mouth somewhat often, he told me to take it easy and spend an hour or so becoming familiar with the wave patterns. I had been planning to fire up the lame 235hp motor just long enough to get us through the surf and in through the mouth before overheating. The only problem was, we couldn't actually see the mouth. We were being held out about half a mile off shore, with the waves so high that all we could see were about 500 metres of waves and a distant cliff where the mouth is supposed to be. Bearing in mind the channel is only about 3 metres of the whole break we were completely at a loss at to where the channel was! In the mean time, Paul Yorke-Brown (the mechanic) and his trusty assistant Les had been concerned for our safety and had decided to follow us around. Paul climbed to the top of a nearby cliff to guide us through the mouth. Gary my first mate was being demoted rapidly as he was threatening mutiny. A few years in Sea Rescue myself made me aware of the potential dangers and I must admit the thought of rolling over in a fully enclosed cabin, in seas this size with the entire Coorong now firmly withdrawing from the mouth underneath us didn't appeal to me all that much either.
	The wave sets were very consistent 4 big, 7 small. After minutes of trying to crank over the lame 235hp motor, she finally kicked over at the end of a wave set. The time had arrived...we made our approach at about 25 knots, absolutely blind, with mobile phones as our eyes. We sat on the back of about a 2 metre wave with a bigger one close behind. We could see nothing in front and nothing behind. All we had was Paul calmly talking direction into the phone. "Port, Port, Straighten up, Port....." It was the longest 1/2 mile I ever piloted. Finally the wave in front of us broke with a thunderous crash and we got our eyes back. We had quite an audience of fisherman, sightseers, boats and even the Aroona as we finally entered the mouth. From there the trip had to be easy, straight to the shop for a pie and a leisurely cruise around to Clayton. The lame 235hp motor had cooked just after entering the Coorong so she was laid to rest peacefully, but happy on having her with us on the way in. It was calm all the way around to lake Alexandrina and she looked peaceful as we took a compass bearing at Point Sturt. The sun went into shadow quickly and the wind gradually began to rise. We decided to moor off Point McLeay for the night, as the forecast was not all that great for the next day and I was a little nervous the storm was coming in early.
Lake Alexandrina turned a bit ugly overnight, but calmed a bit by morning. A local fisherman kindly tows us in, twice in one weekend.	Sure enough as the night went on, the winds began to rise, the ripple from the night before became a very ugly 1 metre chop. The night took forever to pass. The moment the sun presented itself the next morning we were off. The poor little 55 hp now the sole survivor of the ordeal, fighting on vigilantly against the wallowing slop. It wasn't long before my first mate (I wasn't his first mate by this time) slipped back into his comatosed state again with a new shade of green being lightened only by his bucket. We were going to do it...come hell or high water! That was of course until the compass blew out, followed shortly by the tacho. In a bit of a panic I glanced at the voltage meter just in time to see a 20 volt reading as it also joined the first two gauges, the motor had stopped voltage regulating! Or should I say, didn't have one, we later found out! The fuel gauges, all the lights and then the motor. In the space of 5 seconds the SS Minnow was marooned again. I could not get the anchor to hold because of the rough water and the mud. Gary by now was on the floor with the thermos, cutlery and everything else that wasn't bolted down. The boat was beam on to the waves due to the anchor drift and I was not having a good day! Bring on the Calvary, again...... After speaking with Jim Baker again, I spoke with Ron Ayers, a local fisherman from Narrung who braved the cold and the unpleasant conditions to tow us yet again. And so we arrived to calmer water in the mouth of Lake Albert, the Yorkies Marine crew were there to greet us again. The day was abandoned! So to all of the people who helped us through in one way or another with our "fateful trip" thank you, the hospitality and kindness you extended to us was fantastic. Oh and by the way......we picked her up 3 days later. Anyone for the return trip?
	Islander finally makes it onto dry ground for her restoration. If you liked the first story, your going to love the second part! Part II (it did what?) The return voyage! See & Order photographs from the Wooden Boat Festivals