It is all getting closer. The list of jobs is getting shorter and we
are down to the last few items.
Today's excitement started off with the arrival of a big ship next to
where we were moored. We shuffled down the wharf and watched with
trepidation as the monster advanced upon us. But the tugs did their
job and she slid in far from our vulnerable bow sprit.
Here we are being frightened by a great big ship.
After we went out on our sailing trials yesterday afternoon, we had
made a list of new things that we discovered. The aft loo is still
not working properly despite Ian spending two hours yesterday evening
and Morgan spending all day trying to fix it. There were a number of
problems including the seals and a nick out of the corner of a valve.
But the last problem was the most difficult. There is a hair line
crack in the plastic casing of the pump which means that the system is
losing suction and so not working. Bill from Covey was tasked with
finding a replacement as soon as possible. We'll see what he has
found tomorrow.
Rodney spent his day fixing the gear lever which fell off - not such
an easy problem to solve either but eventually solved on a temporary
basis with the help of a Coke tin. Roger and Rodney cut it up to make
two shims. We will have to replace the shafts for the gear lever and
the throttle when we get to Europe.
This afternoon, the compass adjuster came. It was fascinating to see
how he worked. We went out to a buoy and checked on the headings of
our compass compared with accurate sightings. The compass was way out
- 25 degrees on a heading of due south. He whittled down the
deviation to 2 degrees.
Here is the compass adjuster doing his job.
This evening, the man from Cummins came to change the cycles on the
generator from 60 cycles to 50 cycles.
We have fired up the satellite phone with the help of Ed from
mailasail and so we should be all ready to send out messages to you
all from on board.
Now we are in the pub, curry is on the stove all ready for us to eat
when we get back to the boat.
Ian has been in touch with the weather people and tomorrow may be our
big day for leaving - we will let you know in the morning.
Rosemary and Ian
