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Back to Russell

We had a relaxed start to the day. We didn’t have a lot on our plates so there was no rush. We read a little and I tackled another Euler problem, finding a smarter algorithm than the last time. I checked on our part and it was still on hold in the East Midlands so I escalated my concerns to their support service hoping to encourage things along.

After breakfast I took a look at the shaft seal again. It had been dripping a couple of times a second all through the night. I squeezed in a liberal amount of grease in three separate places and stopped the leak. We tried some gentle turns of the shaft in forward and reverse and things looked good.

Leaving the access to the shaft seal open we set sail for Russell. We made 5 knots in 10 knots of wind which was simply impossible on our old set of sails. It’s really quite exciting to have such an improvement. I checked the leak while on the move and the drip had returned. I wondered if squeezing the seal might work the grease around so I tried that. I learned this was not a good thing to do as the drip returned with a vengeance. At least the containment tray/tube was working well and all the water was taken cleanly away to the bilge. We soon anchored in Matauwhi Bay around the corner from Russell not far from where we anchored here previously.

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Back at the shaft seal my only option was to squeeze yet more grease between the shaft and the seal. The leak again stopped. This time we performed some aggressive testing and the drip did not return. The battle between man and leak may go on but I feel that I’m gradually winning the war.

The weather was fine so after a brief lunch we went ashore to walk to Russell and wander around town. We visited the mission/printing museum and took a tour around. It was interesting but it made me feel very sleepy. We walked around town some more. I checked out a couple of stores to see if I could get another irrigation syringe as the one I’m using to drive the grease deep into the shaft seal is getting a little battered and worn. No luck with that but I did bump into the Blue Penguins and had a chat with them.

Back on the boat I rechecked the leak. It was still dormant so I put back all the gear under our bunk. Helen set about making our seasons supply of chillies while I set about some serious testing of our new hammock. This was the first time in weeks I’ve really been able to slow down enough just to spend some time chilling out. I put on some music, cracked open a beer and settled down for a couple of hours of contemplation and occasional snoozing.

After dinner we returned to Russel to meet up with Tracey, Lew, Dave and Helen to watch the rugby in the pub. It was a great evening. Good beer, good conversation and good rugby. Lew and Helen are both in medicine and we had a fascinating conversation regarding what medical instruments would be useful for further attacks on the shaft seal. Helen’s specialty is urology and she of course came up with the idea of a catheter syringe. Makes me wince to think about a tool like that but the idea sounds sound to me. They’ll be back at work on Tuesday and if we’re still looking at staying in the area for a few days then they’ll mail us some.

This morning I’ve checked the weather forecasts for the next week. As it stands it doesn’t look good for a departure this month. A couple of deep lows are forming and dancing around the west of New Zealand but seeming to stall. The second one could bring in some very strong weather a few days from now. The trade winds between here and Fiji have collapsed and show no signs of reforming. None of this is conducive to departure. The systems may decide to join and head off east in which case we’ll need to be ready to head off behind them.

I’ve checked on the progress of our new shaft seal. It’s been to and now left Germany. I received a response from the courier. They expect the part to be here on Tuesday.

We’ve decided to stay put today. It’s time to slow down a little. We may even perform sea trials of our new kayak.

Life is good.

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