Today's cunning plan

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Tue 11 Dec 2012 00:51
Following comments from a few people I've decided to head for Brisbane rather than Bundaberg. There is a better choice of haul-out facilities there.

My throttle cable appears to be OK so the occasional loss of power remains a mystery. The fuel filter is OK and if the injectors were blocked then the engine wouldn't 'get better' after a rest! Hopefully this isn't a fuel pump problem. Perhaps with more fuel in the tank the problem might cure itself, but the mystery is the engine always runs just sometimes you can't get any revs out of the damn thing!

The anchor windlass is being mantled (hopefully but not a show stopper) today. The cunning plan is check out tomorrow morning, Weds 12th in Noumea (UTC +11 hours), refuel with duty-free fuel tomorrow afternoon snd move to an island anchorage with free wifi and on Thu 13th depart for Brisbane. Australia has been advised of my change of plans! Let's hope I don't  arrive at a weekend, because that's double the fees. Mind you, if you fly into Australia at the weekend you don't pay any extra so why should a yacht? Answers on a postcard.

The trip is 800nm port to port and I'm really not too certain of my passage speed. The grib files I just looked at indicate a beam wind of 20kts (yeah right!). In those conditions I should be able to average my 5.5 kts which gives a passage time of six and a bit days. Arrival on the 19th then? Well let's just say that it should be before Christmas anyway!

Hopefully I'll be starting off with Calypso but we've decided not to try and stay in contact. I nearly gave them heart failure last time so it's not fair. I'll probably take a day or so longer than them but as we're aiming for the same place if I don't show up at least they can (again) raise the alarm. Nor having an SSB really is a pain but it's down on the 'wish list'.

I'll have a quiet Christmas and New Year anchored in the Brisbane river in the heart of the city then think about the future when the future is a bit more imminent!

Not sure about wifi connections in Oz yet. I'll probably get a dongle and a phone SIM card but that may not happen until after Christmas. As always, I'll try and contact various people direct to let them know of my safe arrival but again....DON'T PANIC if you don't hear anything for a while. If the plan changes I'll either post on here or email those who really need to know.

  • In the meantime, happy Christmas to all my readers.

--
http://www.peterbernfeld.com
My books now available on Amazon
http://amzn.com/B008NTG6JY
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008NTG6JY

http://amzn.com/B009QA33QIhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QA33QI

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QA33QI