The Good Ship "Elsie Brown"

For six years, from 2005-9, I sailed much of the UAE coast in my gaff rigged trailer-sailer, "Elsie Brown". Since 2009, she has been berthed at the Yaringa Boat Harbour on Westerport Bay, sixty kilometres south-east of Melbourne, Australia.

Named after my maternal grandmother, she is a stripped-planked Evening Swan designed by Paul Fisher built in Melbourne by Chris van der Cratts. Elsie has a shallow bilge/shoal keel ideal for the shallow waters of the Arabian Gulf and Westerport Bay. She is easily beached and sits upright on the sand until the tide returns. She has twin berths (convertable to a double), a porta-potty and a small galley.

Ashore on a small sand island five kilometres west of Abu Dhabi (2007). The traditional owners, who have a date-palm plantation on the island, kindly let me camp on the beach for a few nights while I explored the neighbouring islands.

Sailing of the coast of Kalba just north of the Omani border on the Indian Ocean side of the UAE (2006). Shorty after this photo was taken the winds gusted over thirty knots and I lost the chain bobstay holding down the bobsprit at the bow. My companion boat lost her forstay but we returned safely home.

Elsie at her new home at the Yaringa Boat Harbour on Westerport Bay, in Victoria, Austalia (August, 2009). My friend, Chris Cheers, and I had just finished re-rigging her with new standing and running rigging when Chris took this photograph.

Sailing Oman's Musandam Peninsula (2007)

The Musandam, at the North-eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, overlooks the Straits of Hormuz. It is bordered to the west by the Arabian Gulf and to the East and South East by the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. Known as the "Norway" of Arabia, the Musandam Peninsula is separated from the rest of Oman by various of the United Arab Emirates - Ras al Khaimah and Fujairah.

Musandam begins where the mountains rise from the plains of Ras al Khaimah where "Elsie" was berthed. The Musandam Peninsula is difficult to reach other than by sea and is a haven for sealife and birds. Indeed, as I sailed into Khor Habilayn I was escorted by a pod of a dozen dolphins. The cliffs rise a thousand feet from the water's edge and plunge fifty metres underwater just metres from shore. This makes safe anchorages rare and the winds eratic and unpredictable. The shores are populated by friendly Omanis who still live the simple traditional fishing life of their ancestors.