Well, I finally got out of Riverside Drive Marina (on my birthday) to go and do sea trials to test all of my repairs and new bits. I was soon to discover that my repaired AIS was sending out a May Day call every 58 seconds. And I could do nothing to stop it, save switch the whole unit off. Everyone was very amused, except me.

I anchored in Urquhart's Bay just a few miles from open water and headed out again early next morning. No sooner was I around the point but I was hailed by a small yacht drifting out on the tide with a broken engine. I towed them to where I had been anchored and set off once more. Into a complete flat calm.  And no sign of wind. At least this allowed me to calibrate the fluxgate compass in the electric self steering - to do this you need flat water and enough space to make wide two circles in no less than six minutes. I watched the sky.  Still no wind so I headed to Marsden Cove Marina to try and get the AIS repaired. The unit was manufactured in the UK so with 13 hour time difference advice is slow in coming.

My new wind generator works well albeit with some vibration at lower wind speeds. The first of my friends arrive in Fiji and I am pleased to be able speak to them clearly on my updated SSB radio - at 1,200 nautical miles this is good news. And boats are leaving from here each day so I am a bit jealous not to be heading to warm water and constant sunshine.