position S09 27.910 E147 09.070
Ocean Rival Journey Log
Adam Power Diana Power
Mon 8 Jul 2019 11:54
Monday 8th July.
Arrived Port Moresby at 13.00hrs. For once the timing for daytime arrival as planned. The trip was a mixture of light winds for the first 30 or so hrs with intermittent motoring, and then last night freshening to 20+ knots on the stern. The self steering was then struggling to prevent the jybe or rounding up. I was slow to reef and a jybe broke one of the mainsheet sheaves. I have found a replacement in the bag of spare bits and bobs we inherited with the boat but the deck mounted sheave is also looking the worse for wear. I will have to avoid jybes at all cost. I have been using the autohelm for more reliable steering on the run but that needs some engine to keep up the electric supply.
There is a smart new marina here -Royal Papua Yacht Club, not receiving any reply on channel 16 we shouted at a englih flagged yacht near the entrance who gave us the marina channel. We were instructed to pick up a bow mooring buoy and drop back stern to the pontoon, a tricky manouvre for us as reverse never goes straight. The wind for once was helpful and with 2 marina men heaving on the stern lines we managed an orderly mooring. The dismount over the stern is via a narrow springy plank- Diana not keen so moving to a pontoon may be necessary tomorrow. Our neighbour is american Tim from Opua and New Caledonia- he came straight from NC and has been here for 3 weeks or so but plans to leave in the morning. He has aquired a new english girl as crew and is looking to make it to Lombok in a couple of weeks.
We waited for quaranteen clearance and then walked round to the yacht club for a beer and some meaty/fishy supper to make up for the veg based boat cooking that was running short of new ideas. Yam rissoto was not one of my finest dishes.
Tim gave us a guided tour of the palatial yacht club and filled us in on all essential information. He hasn't been out of the marina other than to shop at the nearby grocery stores so
couldn't recommend any town based activities. He knows everyone in the marina however and was keen for us to visit an english yacht with him after supper, but we claimed a need to catch up on lost sleep and headed back for an early night.