Thanks Hasbeen- If you recommend it I'll have to have a look at Francis Chichester's "Along the Clipper Way". Books are like gold for those that can see.

Hasbeen,

Just to stay OT for a bit longer; my paternal grandfather was a helmsman of some note, mainly for his great strength; my uncle told me of a trip from Port Macquarrie to Sydney on a coastal steamer when it was so rough that all hands, (except the engineer and the stoker), and the passengers were on the bridge.
His father took the wheel at the captains request and he had two seamen to help.

He'd learned his trade before the mast and went to sea when he was twelve, in 1870.

I'm with you in admiration for the men of sail, I've owned two small yachts and sailed as a seaman on the "Our Svanen" when she was a sail training vessel.
I was never aloft in a blow but ordinary conditions at sea are thrilling (if that' the word!!) enough.

Belly,

"Preferential voting for the House of Representatives is designed to secure the election of one candidate with a majority of votes. If no candidate receives more than 50 per cent of first preference votes, the next preferences of the voters for the least successful candidates are distributed until one candidate emerges with a majority of votes.

Proportional representation voting, as used in the Senate, is designed to secure the election of several candidates in each state (twelve in the case of a double dissolution, six in the case of a regular half-Senate election) each of whom has obtained a number of votes equal to or exceeding a required quota (or proportion of votes) necessary for election. The quota is obtained by dividing the total number of formal votes by one more than the number of candidates to be elected, and adding one to the result. Thus, if the total of formal votes in a state at an election for six senators is 700 000, the quota is 100 001. That is, a candidate will need to win at least 100 001 votes to be elected.

Candidates receiving votes in excess of the quota, which is a proportion rather than a majority of the total vote, have their surplus votes distributed according to their electors’ ranking of preferences. If all the positions have not then been filled by candidates obtaining quotas by this means, then the next preferences of the voters for the least successful candidates are distributed, until all vacancies are filled by candidates obtaining quotas. The end result is a constituency with several candidates elected, each representing a proportion or quota of the total vote."
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/briefs/brief01

That's our system and it beats First Past the Post hands down and is the reason that the ALP got rid of FPTP; one of "Doc" Evatt's great successes.

is mise you go over ground we both already know
Think, if, as it is in NSW state elections, you only need vote one, is it not clear the first past the post winner would have more votes than any one
Then the chook pen, standing at pre poll,working at the election day booths
This question is asked [you can if you wish number all squares in the lower house]
What Happened to my preference in the upper house
I have never truly been able to answer
Why must I and you, in federal elections, number all squares?
In the upper house why must I let my party [if I just put one above the line] tell me who I preference
Will you be content if a LABOR/GREENS/INDEPENDENT group control the Senate but not the lower house/

Belly,

"Will you be content if a LABOR/GREENS/INDEPENDENT group control the Senate but not the lower house/"

Yes, because that way there is a check on what the Government can do.

Do you think that the "Doc", with all of his experience of public and judicial life was not doing his best for Australia?

Never [even if it is painful post NSW election] going to think other than elected government has a right to govern without being blackmailed by the chook pen