Sailing around the World. ( presently in Vanuatu.)

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sat 10 Jul 2010 22:12
SATURDAY   10th   JULY  2010
 
04.45hrs  Still dark with the stars dancing in the sky,
Skipper started the engine to let it warm up.
 
05 20 hrs  We hauled the anchor and motor sailed out of Pt. Dillon ( named after some Irish guy )
                You may remember, we came across Dillons in Equidor, also of Irish extraction,
 
The weather was beautifull, but little or no wind so we just kept motoring NW towards Port Villa, on " Efate "  77 miles away
 
During the morning we used our steel putty to repair the bottom of the rib, blooming hell,looking at the split in the hull, we really hit the reef hard
with this thing, It shattered the gelcoat and fractured the glass fibre matting, for a length of 1.5 feet..........
 
Ocean Jasper and Crazy Horse left Port Dillon about i.5 hrs after us, they were only dot on the horizon,
The sea was very flat and made for a nice steady trip.however the wind was light and on the nose all the way . almost due west.
 
16.15 hrs we arrived in Port Villa, which is located on the west side of " Efate"
The bay is very big , but the entrance to the place we are going is very narrow with a sand bar across it for good measure.
however we still had 2m under us as we crossed the bar, then we had to go under high tension cables, which were 25m above water level,
We measured our mast on the way up from Erromango , and it measures 24.7m including the ariels, wow this is close, but we got under
by staying very close to the shore,
A few minutes later ,we hooked up to a moorings and settled down,,
 
We were supposed to be backed onto the quay wall, but it was full, hence being on a mooring,  Aileen was no happy with this.
 
We went ashore and booked a restaurant for 19,30,
This was excellent and we had a good night,
 
thats it for now.
 
Signed :-  Stephen  Hyde   ( Skipper )