We returned to our lodgings for 2-3 hours to rest and to pack. In the evening we went to the V&A docks area. Our first stop was the marina just in case there was someone there who we knew. There weren’t but it was nice to be down by the water. It was a bittersweet experience though as it is already beginning to look like another life, one which we sometimes find it hard to believe we’ve experienced for ourselves. We ate out in the docks area.
Upon awaking on our final day we discovered an email from South African friends of ours (Ruth and Rob on Albatross III) who are now domiciled in New Zealand. We first met them, briefly, when we were in the Rosarios in Colombia and then many times across the Pacific (including New Zealand). They have a daughter, Savannah, in Cape Town who they asked us to go and see. The biggest sacrifice cruisers make is separation from their families so we knew how much this request meant. So we dumped some admin on my sister (sorry Sue) to make time to go and give their daughter a surprise visit and proxy hugs from her Mum. We then visited the District 6 museum in town followed by a walk in The Company Gardens.
Soon, our time was up. It was back to the lodgings, pick up our luggage and off to the airport, drop off the hire car, and take the long flights home to the UK.
]]>We had two coats of paint to apply to the sail drives and the four patches where the old shafts and supports had been removed. Helen applied the first coat and I the second.
We decided against putting propspeed onto the new props. It needs 24 hours to cure and given the expense of it I didn’t want it to go wrong. So there will be some prop scraping to do perhaps. There are worse things in life.
There was some toing and froing around the bills making sure the separate bill going to Beneteau and our bill had all the correct items on. In the end this was all worked out and the bills settled.
I took a trip into town to learn where we’d be placed. We were booked on the very end of the finger dock which was perfect. Easy approach and on the river side so we can come and go when we want.
While there I bumped into Ruth and Roy on Albatross III. They had been heading down to Auckland but had ducked up the river to avoid the nasty weather forecast for today (Saturday). It didn’t take too many nanoseconds before drinks were lined up for the evening. I also ran into Bruce from Migration who offered to line handle for us when we arrived later in the day.
Back at the yard we focussed on tidying up. Helen cleaned the interior of the boat while I spent some time sorting all the goodies left over from all the work. I also discovered both ends of one of the hoses in the gas locker were leaking. I used four of my new acquired hose clamps to fix this.
Bertrand and Joel took a well earned extended lunch break. When they returned we took both cars into town and returned in one so we had the means to be mobile later.
Then we all waited while the boats ahead of us were processed in and out of the water. Then, all of a sudden it was all go for us. The boat was lifted and within minutes in the water. Unfortunately I’d left the memory card from my camera in the computer – again – so no pics of launch.
Joel and Bertrand were first aboard and testing the engines. They both fired up first time. An issues was discovered when starting the generator as the house 110V and air conditioning 220V circuits were switched over. This, apparently, was due to some mislabelling of wires at the factory and once diagnosed was soon fixed. As far as we can tell no damage was caused by this but I do want to double check our main charger this morning.
Once all was checked and ok we were off. The new controls which physically control the motors by wires are a lot stiffer than the electric controls which were light as a feather. I was a bit nervous bringing the boat out of the dock with new engines but all was ok. Soon we were motoring up the river, against the current and into a 20 knot head wind. The old electric motors would have had a hard time under these conditions but the new engines handled it with ease.
As we approached the dock I called Bruce from Migration who came over to help. We eased onto the dock and were soon tied off. First cruise was a success.
Once everything was shut down we celebrated with a beer. We thanked Joel and Bertrand for doing a fantastic job. They have been a credit to Lagoon/Beneteau going above and beyond the call of duty so to speak with the work they have performed. Helen and I are both feeling pretty good at the moment.
After the beer I took Joel and Bertrand back to Norsand to collect their car. There we parted ways until Sunday when they’ll return for additional testing.
Helen and I then popped off for some fast food then returned to the boat to shower in the hot water resulting from our short trip up the river. One of the benefits of going to diesel is that the port engine cooling circuit runs through the heat exchanger in our immersion tank so we get hot water for free.
Then we were off to Albatross III for the evening returning around midnight after far too much to drink.
We’re truly back on the water.
The only issue we really have at the moment is the boat is now currently front heavy. With the old electric motors and batteries in the back we were fairly balanced. Now we’re not. I still have eight batteries forward and they should be moved. We may have to reconsider where other things are, like our dive tanks, to even things out.
Today the nasty weather is due in. Already the wind is up and forecast to increase. The dock lines are creaking against the strain. We have a few things to do but both fancy a bit of a lazy day.
]]>Next task was to head for Opua to sell the car back to Phil from Cars for Cruisers. I had an agreement with Rob and Ruth from Albatross III to head up to Opua too and give me a ride back. Just before leaving we bumped into a young lady from the NE US whose on a traveling trip and was looking for passage up to Fiji. We offered to take her up to Opua and back to investigate things there and learn a bit more about making what she was trying to do work.
On arriving in Opua I let Lauren off to explore the area and agreed to meet up at the Fish and Chip shop at noon where I’d promised to buy lunch for everyone for helping out. The deal with Phil went through smoothly and soon I was walking away with a cashable check.
While waiting for Lauren to show up I bumped into Andy from Zephyrus which was a pleasant surprise. We chatted for a while and I asked about people looking for crew. He had a good lead and shared it with Lauren when she found us. About 12:30 Rob and Ruth turned up having seen some friends. Unfortunately the Fish and Chip shop in Opua had closed down so we headed off to Pahia for the banks and shops there. Half way there I realize I’d left my GPS unit somewhere so we headed back finding it with Phil.
Leaving the others to look around I first went to Westpac to cash the check using my passport to prove my identity. She had to call Phil to verify the check was ok to cash and he approved with the caveat I owed him a GPS unit. She found the explanation of his remark quite funny. My next stop was the ANZ bank to deposit most the cash keeping enough to pay for our new kayak.
With all the financials handled I found the others and bought all Fish and Chips on the waterfront which turned out to be overfilling but delicious.
Rob took us north out of Pahia for a different route back to Whangarei. A few miles out of town I realized I didn’t have our folder containing our boat papers and passports. Not again. So back into town we went. I checked first at the Westpac. The teller grinned hugely and went to the safe to retrieve my passport. I found the folder in the ANZ where I’d left it. Where was my head???? I checked to make sure it was still in the right place physically. I think my brain had already set sail.
No more mishaps beset us as we traveled back to Whangarei. Rob helped me collect the kayak which we placed on the boat. Helen had spent the day making a clean boat immaculate for the evening’s party. By now there was not much time left. I performed a few small jobs around the boat before showering and soon after folks began to show.
All in all we had the pleasure of welcoming the crew from Albatross III, Attitude, Blue Penguin, Boree, Callisto, Clara Katherine, Division II, El Regalo, Imagine, Jackster, Leu Cat, Marquesa, Proximity, Sail Away, Scream, Sea Mist, Sidewinder, Stray Kitty, Tahina, True Companions and Tyee along with one or two marina neighbours. That was about forty people at once. It was a great test of our through hulls as we were down about 6-9 inches in the water. We didn’t sink.
This morning we woke fairly early and after doing last minute internetty things we dropped of our key to the shower block and headed out. As we headed down the river the winds were light and behind us. And cold. We motored on batteries alone for about 30 mins before turning on the generator. Near the river mouth we caught sight of True Companions ahead of us and called them on the radio to greet them.
As we rounded the heads we hit a dead patch and used the opportunity to raise the new main. We crossed our fingers hoping for wind as we really wanted to see how our new sails would perform. We didn’t have to wait too long and soon we were in winds that were to vary between 10-20 knots as we headed up the coast. We were gobsmacked by the improved boat performance. Before the boat speed would fade below about 12 knots under main and jib. Now she was achieving above 1/2 wind speed all the way down to 9 knots on the beam. We’ve never seen it so good.
We have found a couple of issues. The reef points on the new main are higher up than before and now the 1st reef only has a turn of spare line at the winch which is not enough to reef on the fly. We also have new modes of vibration on the luff of the main which we need to figure out how to handle. Apart from that everything seems to be in amazing shape. It feels like we have a new boat.
Our original plan had us making our way up the coast in smaller steps. With reduced wind tomorrow and nasty northeasterlies forecast for Friday we’re aiming to cover as much distance as we can today and complete the trip to the Bay of Islands tomorrow where we can find shelter from any type of wind. Our goal for today is the Whangamumu Bay which we visited last November.
We’ve now settled into a pleasant sail up the coast putting on and taking off our warm clothes as the sun goes in and out. We have about a knot of counter current but we’re doing well against it. We even have a line out for fish but nothing caught yet. We’ve shed the land life and are back on the water.
]]>Today it matters because we still have things to do. Mainly shopping. And moving the boat to a new slip. The forecast says ‘Showers becoming more frequent. Strong southwesterly.’ Bugger.
Tomorrow it matters because we’ve invited everyone we know to drinks and nibbles aboard Dignity as it [...]]]>
Today it matters because we still have things to do. Mainly shopping. And moving the boat to a new slip. The forecast says ‘Showers becoming more frequent. Strong southwesterly.’ Bugger.
Tomorrow it matters because we’ve invited everyone we know to drinks and nibbles aboard Dignity as it will (hopefully) be our last evening in Whangarei. The forecast for tomorrow says ‘Cloudy at times. Southwesterlies.’ That’ll do.
Wednesday it matters as we want to be out of here. Don’t want to go down the river and sailing out to sea with it pissing down. The current forecast for Wednesday says ‘Cloudy at times. Southwesterlies.’ That’ll do nicely.
Beyond Wednesday we’d like to be nosing our way up the coast towards the Bay of Islands. The forecasts for Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun are : ‘Fine. Light winds.’ (nice but bugger), ‘Dry. Light winds.’ (nice but bugger), ‘Showers with not much wind.’ (double bugger), ‘Rain with little wind.’ (crap).
The good news is that the only thing that’s as variable as the weather is the forecast so there’s quite a good chance this is exactly how the next few days won’t go.
This near term microscopic view on the local weather fits in (as it should) with the broader patterns we’re keeping an eye on with respect to understanding and picking a weather window to Fiji. The convergence zone (and hence a lot of wetness) is still sitting over Fiji and has yet to move north for the winter. The low/ridge north of NZ that I’ve been watching is continuing to head east opening up a sailing window to Fiji tomorrow. This has been confirmed by good old Bob McDavitt’s weekly weathergram. The local SW followed by calmer winds are what we’d expect from this configuration as a high is following.
This window is not for us. We’ll take the next one. I like to rehearse the decision making process though so I’ll continue to look at the weather as if we were leaving and see how things pan out. Near term it make me feel like putting as many miles in as possible on Wednesday before the calm weather sets in. Smart idea after a party the night before.
Can’t get by without a status report while we’re still in that mode.
Boat and car cleaning took up much of the day. This included inspecting the bow lockers. The starboard bow locker was fine but the port was not. We’ve known we’ve had some water intrusion there for sometime but have not nailed specifically where it was coming from. Now I know why. We had intrusion from two of the stanchions, the bridle anchor point and a screw. So that was all fixed. We left everything out to dry.
I spent a little time collating information on marine radio bands and local cruising nets. I also went to the local internet cafe to download all the latest O/S and virus updates for my laptop. Helen went on an additional provisioning run.
We had intended a ‘dry’ evening. A bold and inspirational move for us. We failed miserably when passing by Albatross III who had the Jacksters aboard. One thing led to another.
]]>The countdown clock is set. Our [...]]]>
The countdown clock is set. Our minds are set on leaving Whangarei on Wednesday and playing it by ear as to where we’ll end up. High tide is at 9am local time so we can leave in the morning and have the benefit of the ebb to go down river. If the weather permits we’ll start heading up the coast.
All is set for Tuesday and selling the car. We’ve agreed with Phil from Cars for Cruisers to sell the car back to him on Tuesday with the chance of a loaner should we later make it to Opua and need to go into town to provision. That saves leaving the car in Opua and having to rush things at the last minute. It also helps Phil out which we don’t mind as he’s been so helpful.
Although Saturday was more relaxed than life (if you can call it that) in the yard we did manage some boat work before the bad weather set in.
After one last check of the shaft seals (all good) I reinstalled the final two house batteries. I then transferred 30 gallons of diesel purchased in the Galapagos to our main tanks. We now have enough diesel to motor to Opua if we had to (don’t want to though) where we’ll fill up with duty free fuel after clearing out.
Then we installed the 1st and 2nd reef lines running them up the boom. When they were last removed we drew through two smaller lines which we’d use to bring the reefing lines. Perhaps due to rushing to avoid bad weather coming in we managed to lose both lines in the boom necessitating using a fish line to put them back in place. This is not so hard as such but somehow the fish line always finds a way to weave in and out of the other lines inside the boom so that once the light line is in place a certain amount of keyhole surgery is required through the end of the boom to untangle them.
Next was a SSB email check. Particularly when anchored/moored in towns this can require patience as local interference and band availability can conspire against each other. Not this time. I obtained a connection to the Wellington winlink station first time and my test email went through. It is interesting to note that the unusual recent two year extended minimum in the solar cycle is now over and flux (I think that’s the right word) has shot up. I understand this bodes well for us as this will improve communications at sea.
With a new balance of power established Helen opened up on the dirt focusing on the inside of the boat allowing the anticipated rain to begin the exterior onslaught. We did a short run in the car to pick up cleaning materials from the chandlers across the river and to drop off a memory stick to the Callistos. On the way back we drove to look at some sea kayaks. We’ve often been envious of others and have been considering one for a while. There was one in the store with a little ding in it resulting in a small discount from a pretty high starting price. It’s a two person lightweight kayak which (we were told) is excellent for one man surfing. I say one ‘man’ in this case as this aspect has appeal to half the Dignity crew. Decision is yet to be made on this.
With the weather turning grim I dropped off Helen at the local supermarket for some near term provisioning while I parked the car and lugged all our old sails from the car to the boat. They have a bit of life left in them so they could act as spares. Alternatively we may just give them to the Pacific islanders which I think is better than throwing them away. A living can be made out of an old sail that we would otherwise throw away. It’s worth hanging onto them just for that reason alone.
In the afternoon I was presented with the problem of naming the metal tube with a 180 bend that sits just before the mast allowing cabling to come from within the boat without water penetration. I asked the Leu Cats and Albatross IIIs with no result bar getting a spare Vodaphone USB modem from Rob on Albatross III. That saves us picking one up in Fiji. Thanks to them for that.
Before really settling down my final accomplishment was to renew our EPIRB registration which is due every two years.
In the evening Steve and Darusha from Scream came for dinner after which we played a few games of Fluxx. Having played and enjoyed the game aboard Scream up in Tonga I’d ordered a few packs. I must have been inebriated when I did so as I ended up with 7 differently themed packs with one extra duplicate pack. We played all 7 packs separately and 2 of the favourites again: Martian and Pirates.
]]>Shortly, though, I received a call from the yard as they were a bit concerned about the wind there and suggested I came over to take a look. At the yard the wind was around 15 knots and gusting up to 20 almost right into the dock. I felt we’d be ok with that but agreed to prepare the stern anchor just in case we ran into difficulties at the entrance. Back at the boat I roused Helen to help prepare the stern anchor, rode and chain.
By then it was time to go. We knocked on Albatross III who’d agreed earlier to help with the lines. I also let the folks know on the neighbouring boats as people usual like to keep an eye on things. Leaving the dock was fine. Motoring down the river was a bit slow due to the head wind and from the drag from all the crud on our hulls (see later pics). We even had a bit of a squall as we approached the yard.
Earlier concerns about approaching the yard proved to be cautionary rather than real. Even though we had a bit of a tail wind coming in the boat handled well. Hull crud doesn’t make a difference during slow maneuvers and so the boat was easy to maneuver in the winds as we approached one side then the other to throw lines ashore. By about 1 we were settled in the dock with six lines ashore holding us steady.
Then it was time to place the cradle beneath the boat. Derek who’s in charge of all this was incredibly careful. He’d been to see the boat in the marina to check out where the bulkheads were and checked and rechecked positioning of the supports. The cradle was driven under the boat and jacked up to touch the boat. Then it was off to lunch for the workers and us providing time for the tide to go out and leave us propped up on the cradle.
After lunch the crew got back to work and dragged us up the ramp and out of the water. Here they scraped and power sprayed all the gunk off the bottom of the boat. It took some time and required a complex three point turn so that the second hull to be washed was positioned near the ramp. During this time we were provided a ladder to get off the boat which we were grateful for. On land we met John from Sea Mist nearby and Tom and Kim from Emily Grace. All are here in the yard with us. I also ran into the owner of Endless who left the marina last week. He had had a hell of a time getting out as he also had crud on his props. I’m glad I cleaned ours (despite how disgusting it was) as we may not have made it against the wind if we had not.
It was past five by the time we were finally placed in position in our assigned place in the yard and the boat chocked up for support.
We ate dinner aboard the boat but I had to lug the washing up to the communal area. When I’d finished that, John, from Sea Mist, gave me a ride into town so I could collect our car.
We have water connected and we have a couple of our wastes connected via hoses to 10 gallon drums but we have to be careful about our usage. We also have to be careful about our electrical usage aboard. The weather is not good so we’re not getting much sunshine for the solar panels. The wind gen is helping but with the fridge running and our using our laptops we’re using more than we can make. We’ve decided to run like this while we can before transferring the contents of our fridge to the communal fridge. Without that running we’ll run a net surplus. If we’re stuck here for a while we’ll alternate back and forth every few days.
This morning the works manager, Peter, has already been around to discuss work to be done to the boat. There’s not a lot that can be done due to the wind and rain. However, they can sand down the hulls under the bridge deck and if they get lucky they may be able to do more. We’re going to go through our work list in a little more detail later today and discuss what Helen and I can accomplish over the weekend when/if the weather improves.
In theory we could do a lot of the work we’re having the yard do. Given that one day I know I’ll go back to work I’d rather pay people to do the grunt work and get us back in the water much sooner than we could ever manage. That may give us a little time in the islands of the north shore before we leave for Fiji.
]]>
Not all went well. After fixing the first wheel I tested it’s motion (having thought I’d done this before drilling all the holes, applying all the goop and screwing it on). I found it wouldn’t extend below without jamming against the bottom of the dinghy. I had to quickly remove everything before the goop set and fill the four holes I’d made. Very messy. I eventually fitted both wheel satisfactorily and they seem to work well. From the picture I took afterwards it looks like the right hand wheel is a little wonky. It shouldn’t make much difference but it’ll probably bother me forever.
In the evening we met up with our friends at the Mongolian Restaurant where they had an all you can eat special on. Quite a few of us had skipped lunch in order to make the most of this (typical for cruisers). It was all very enjoyable. We’ll probably go there again sometime.
This morning is a slow one. A little time off from the boat chores is in order.
]]>- Helen continued cleaning and sorting, now a full campaign. Retired at end of day with a back ache.
- I visited customs/immigration at Marsden Point to obtain knowledge regarding reentry later this year.
- More wine supplies and samples acquired.
- Bolts for dinghy wheels purchased.
- TV antenna purchased so we can watch the news (has wrong plug so this will wait)
- Bought new horseshoe float as old one has collapsed after 3-4 years in the sun.
- Finished of US tax submission and sent off.
- Did a little prep on UK tax submission.
- Visited yard where we’ll haul out to discuss additional work
- Returned hard drive to Sea Mist
- Ran into Inge (Boree) and Kathy (Attitude) in supermarket.
- Inquired into dive regulator servicing.
- Started organizing Mongolian BBQ for Saturday evening for local cruisers we know (14 so far)
- Backed up my laptop and reinstalled operating system so that I can eventually get my compiler working.
- Enjoyed our sample Pinot Noir – today’s supermarket raid now defined.
- Watched and enjoyed Social Network.
This morning it carries on. I’ve removed the helm seat as the upholster is coming round to pick it up for softening and recovering. Managed to make a couple more hours of water before supply weakened. I’ve also had to chase our second package which has yet to leave customs. I’ve already received an apology from them and confirmation it’s now released.
]]>After parking the car in the free but further away car park I returned to the boat to get on with some online stuff I needed to catch up on. Helen was progressing with the dark arts of cleaning and sorting out the boat.
One thing I hadn’t mentioned in our blog from two days ago is that we had received some mail while we were away. Two pieces in fact. One was a speeding ticket from the morning we took the boys to the airport and one was a final reminder as we’d passed the due date. So my next chore was to walk into town and to pay off the fine. I was able to pay by Eftpos using my local NZ debit card so with a quick wave of plastic the fine was paid for.
Back at the marina office I checked for our second expected parcel from the US, the one containing our new camera, some accessories and a few other sundry items. It wasn’t there but I did find more mail. I was worried it might be another speeding ticket but it turned out to be a note from customs. I gave them a call and soon it was all agreed that this was personal items for a foreign boat in transit. They were all very polite as usual which is great compared to some of the officials we’ve had to deal with in the past. I emailed them a copy of our Temporary Import Form and that, theoretically, should ease it out of their system.
By lunch we were ravenous as we’d both skipped breakfast. In the afternoon we discovered our first ‘real’ problem – more of a bloody annoyance. I’d left a printer ink cartridge out on the side and it had obviously leaked all over the DVD case it was sitting on and the gel-coat surface beneath. They were both badly stained. The DVD case we couldn’t care about but the surface was a problem. We borrowed some On/Off from Steve on True Companions which made some difference. We’ll try applying it routinely for the next few days to see what we can accomplish. We are having some exterior gel-coat fixes done so maybe we can scrape this off and have new gel-coat applied inside too. Bugger the bother and cost.
The most memorable point of the day came around 3pm. This was my underwater excursion to check and scrape the props. It took me nearly an hour to find all the gear that we’d last used many months ago. 3pm was a good time as the tide had been coming in for 4 hours. The water was still murky but I felt it may be cleaner than an outbound tide with all the liveaboards and fishing boats upstream of us. Also, being nearer high tide there was less chance of kicking up the bottom silt. Finally, at 3pm the sun was still reasonably high to help with the poor visibility.
With Helen keeping and eye out for problems and to assist I lowered by self into the water with my tank on. It wasn’t as cold as I feared but the visibility was less than a foot. I could not even see the rudders from the back step. I carefully made my way forward not wanting to rub against the barnacle encrusted hull. Once I found the rudder I was able to follow it to the prop. It was a mess. There was aboard a cm of barnacle on each face of each blade and a whole mess at the hub. Because we’d been turning the props a lot of the barnacles had been washout out of their shells but were still encrusted onto the props. It took a lot of effort to scrape them all off. Worse still, the gunk coming off the props reduced the visibility further making the whole job trying, particularly as I was also trying to avoid getting my skin scraped off on the barnacle invested surroundings. In the end I came out of the ordeal with barely a scratch. Glad to be connected to shore water I showered for a long time to rid myself of the river ooze.
The boat behind us, Endless, was due to leave to dock at 4pm. Bryan and Jodon from El Regalo were helping out. I shared our experience with them in case they ran into similar difficulties. Forewarned they too found very little action from their props. At one point, when they’d reached the main river they looked like they were having difficulty maneuvering the boat but they managed it. I’ve shared our experience with many others now so folks can take appropriate action.
Once all cleaned up and the excitement over I headed over to Sea Mist to borrow a disk drive with some files on. I was plied with a couple of beers for my trouble (how can I complain). On leaving I ran into Bert on Boree and had a chat with him. It feels like we’ve fallen right back into our old groove.
Dinner was refried left over Chinese from the night before which always tastes better than it sounds. We finished the evening chatting with Rob and Ruth on Albatross III just the other side of the dock from us. Both our boats are work in progress so it ended up with each of us sitting on our own decks and chatting across the divide.
]]>After writing yesterdays blog I spent some time organizing [...]]]>
After writing yesterdays blog I spent some time organizing all my various to do lists into one so that nothing would get missed. I also fired off some emails to the folks replacing our old, rusty (left in Palmerston) chain to get it here before we left. Helen started cleaning. Once my list was done and breakfast consumed I took the dinghy ashore to discuss options for coming alongside the dock. Outside the marina office I bumped into Ruth from Albatross III who we’d met from time to time across the Pacific. I also ran into Brian from El Regallo who was passing by. For dockage, we were given a couple of options along the cat dock finger which I left till later so that Helen could be involved in the choice. What I did determine was that we had to wait until early afternoon before the tide would be high enough before we come in.
Now that I knew we’d be on the dock that day it was off to meet the folks doing work for us to see how things were progressing, to let them know we were in town and see if they needed anything from us.
First stop was the upholsterers where we’re having a new table cover made and the helm seat made more comfortable. They had recently started work on the old table cover. On looking at the underside they’d noted it hadn’t fitted properly. The best thing to do would be to get the table top to trace an outline. I said I could bring it round in the afternoon once we’d docked.
Next stop was the sail maker who happened to be right round the back. I decided to drive around so I would know for future reference how to get there although I could have just walked out the back door of the upholsterers. Here we discussed where we were with things. While we were on the move I’d contacted them about our main deciding to increase the sail area by going for a flat topped sail. He wanted to visit the boat to take some more measurements but is now glad we’ll be on the dock. He’ll be visiting later in the week.
I next parked the car in the free car park near the marina and walked into town to find somewhere to fix my watch strap. I eventually found a jeweler who could facilitate a call to Casio to see if the repair could be done and how much. I left them my details for their call back to me.
By the time I was back on the boat Helen had almost completely sanitized every surface in our cabin. In mind mind the boat was already fairly clean but Helen, while tolerant of all sorts of grubbiness outside of the home, likes to live in spotless conditions and the bedroom come first. She’d done a good job.
We agreed to have sushi for lunch and pay a surprise visit to Sea Mist who are still here as a result of John injuring his knee just after we left south. We grabbed our sushi and drove round to the park near where Sea Mist is docked to eat it. I managed to flip soy sauce and wasabi all over my legs which left me less than pleased. I didn’t mind the mess but it meant I had less to dip my sushi into. Helen kindly gave me some of hers.
Next stop was Sea Mist. John, Cheryl and Ian were all there and it was good to meet up. We spent a couple of hours there talking about all sorts of things including possibilities of a wedding for someone we all know in May in Fiji. More details on that when it happens.
Time was passing and the boat had to be moved so we pulled ourselves away and headed back. The berth we chose was the one (of the two available) furthest from the finger access. Further to go but less foot traffic going past the boat. We would be right opposite Albatross III. While we were dinghying past we asked Rob and Ruth to stand by to lines as we came in.
As soon as we were aboard we raised the dinghy and checked the boats systems. All seemed well. The tide was still coming in so the prop wash was less apparent than normal when I tested them. Everything seemed to be working well so we set up the lines and fenders. We then cast off from the pilings and headed out into the river.
It was here that it became apparent that our props weren’t grabbing the water as they should. I’d noticed earlier a lot of barnacles on the hulls. Almost certainly, our props are festooned with them after three months up this river. On the upside we were near to high tide and the wind wasn’t too strong. I’d just have to be a lot more careful as we didn’t have the push to get out of any mistakes. Just in case I did ask Helen to make sure the anchor windlass was in operation. It was ok and we didn’t actually need it in the end. Always good to be sure our backup options are working before they’re needed.
Our berth was between the finger and the shoreside bushes. Not knowing what the weather would be like when we had to leave I decided it would be best to reverse in which was more awkward. The conditions were good enough to allow me to do this even with the handicap of the barnacled (presumed) props. It did turn out to be more awkward than I anticipated. The margin between us and the other boats I had to pass and the bush was not a lot and I sorely missed having sufficient torque to twist the boat neatly but we managed it. As ever, folks aboard the boats there came out to help and push if necessary. Not a lot of pushing was necessary and I was able to use the incoming tide and wind to our advantage and we eventually made it in without too much fuss.
Once alongside the dock we adjusted all the lines so we were happy and connect to dock water supply. Over the last couple of months we’ve had the watermaker self cleaning and our on board water supplies were low. Once connected I tried using the shore supply to feed the water maker but it wasn’t providing the flow necessary and the water maker was cutting out with a low pressure alarm as if the input was blocked. Part of the problem is I’d put clean filter in before we left so the internals were passing water easier and faster than before. I also figured that during the day the water pressure would be lower than perhaps in the evening. I abandoned these efforts and let Helen do her first wash.
While she got on with that I started unloading the car. I also picked up a parcel from the marina office which contained some spares for the generator. I want to switch out the heat exchanger as the thread for the sacrificial zinc is mauled and I believe it may have flow issues. I’d ordered a replacement from the US as it was half the price. As it had arrived I called the local Onan guy who we’d had aboard in January and booked him to come on the boat. He’s now due aboard either Friday or early next week.
Having half emptied the car we now realized it was past five and we were knackered. We called it a day there and then and decided to go out to the supermarket, buy in a few more bottles of wine for Fiji (something we’ll be doing every day now) and pick up a chinese takeaway. This was eaten on the back of the boat. Our sample bottle was sampled and enjoyed and we now know what we’re buying today.
After dinner I again tried the water maker. This time we had sufficient pressure to feed it from the dock supply and filled the starboard tank before stopping it so we could shower. The really neat thing is that our water tanks are now filled with water down at around 2-3 parts per million which is very, very clean. Fortunately our foot pump in the galley draws from the tanks while the rest of the boat draws from the dock supply. That means we have abundant water to shower / wash but have easy access to almost pure water to drink. Lovely.
In between all this I know we did one or two other things but I forget. It hardly changes the picture of the day. It was not the relaxing day we’d promised ourselves except for the couple of hours aboard Sea Mist. I didn’t get to drop the table top off to be traced and now, today, I have the job of cleaning the props. Yach.
]]>