Alongside RSAYS, Outer Harbor
Wind: S, F4 - moderate breeze
Sea: calm Swell: nil
Weather: overcast, cool

Our local diesel expert, Ian Brown, has had a look at the BRM and we have come up with a way ahead. Ian has determined that the cylinders do not need to be re-bored but should be able to be made serviceable with a hone. Consequently I have purchased a honing tool and have been studying some You Tube videos to get a better idea of how to complete this critical bit of engine maintenance. The other item that needs repair is the valves and valve seats in the cylinder head. So new valves have been ordered and the head has been delivered to a head specialist to recondition once the valves have been received. Back on board, down below, I have be preserving the engine bay, which as of today has been largely taken back to clean metal where needed and is close to being ready for painting - tomorrow I hope.

It has not been all work, however. The Squadron had a regatta across the Gulf in Port Vincent over the Easter weekend which I participated in, though not in Sylph of course. For the race over on Friday I joined Rob in Inukshuk. Conditions were very light to start of with and freshened to a very pleasant eight to twelve knots later in the day. We crossed the finish line around 1700 ahead of all the other boats that had not retired and thought that overall we had done quite well, however were disappointed to find that of the four boats that had finished we had come fourth. It would seem that Rob consistently sails too well and his performance based handicap, which works a bit like a golf handicap, makes it hard for him to beat his own best times.

Unfortunately, strong winds were forecast for Saturday through Monday which meant that the remaining races out of Port Vincent were cancelled. Consequently Rob decided to return to Adelaide on Saturday and I chose to sail back with Magic Beach as the crew were keen for me to join them to increase the depth of experience on board. It was indeed a bit of a windy trip back with gusts reaching up to thirty knots at times, but Magic Beach is a well found boat and with two reefs in the main and the headsail furled down to about fifty percent, the crew managed the conditions well.

Another social event of note, last Wednesday my brother Mark and nephew Archer flew in from Melbourne for a short visit. So of course the family made the most of the opportunity and we enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon and evening at John and Cathy's property in the Adelaide hills. Given that I will be remaining here in Adelaide for the next few months, while there I decided to retrieve a model ship that I started building over thirty years ago, and which John and Cathy have very kindly taken excellent care of all this time. The model is of a twelve gun brig of war, based on Harold A. Underhill's plans and, being scratch built at a scale of ¼ inch to the foot, the model is of some size and involves considerable detail. Consequently, I have not been able to keep the model on board Sylph while sailing about the world, but now that I have access to a decent workshop at the Yacht Squadron I am hoping that I will be able to make a little progress on this challenging and time consuming, but ultimately very satisfying, project.

All is well.

Sylph's Bilge