Arrived safely at Rottnest Island, 10nm off Perth WA, at 0915hrs WST, 0115hrs GMT/UT. Spending a couple of days R&R here before berthing in Fremantle.

Last day much enlivened by a massive stainless steel shackle which holds our genoa up disintegrating without warning in windy boisterous conditions, causing the full sail to collapse onto deck and into a lively sea. Much frenetic activity ensued before sail was safely recovered and stowed. Luckily this happened in broad daylight in good weather, nearly at the end of our trip. Stainless steel is prone to ‘work hardening’ fractures – it becomes brittle under repeated load, and fails without any prior indication. Time to change all our shackles I think.

Fixing the problem is simple but requires going up the mast which the crew would not have looked forward to at sea, at all at all.

 

For the information of those wishing to converse with VS by phone/Skype, many of whom seem to get confused by world time zones, the time here is 8hrs ahead of the UK at present (or 7hrs ahead of Spain, Arthur). This will change to +7hrs when the UK moves to BST later this month, there being no summertime in WA.