Fiji Diji
X86
Rich Carey
Mon 20 Aug 2018 21:54
Froggy Polly was a huge stationary - 3 months in all. But it was very special.
Spent the last days on wifi doing emails, and the replies show promise.
1. Successfully registered a huge form with Fiji for my arrival notification
2. Introduced myself to the marina I want to stay at
3. Started a thread with a workshop at that marina for work required (starting cleaning in earnest); applied for an Aussy visa online
4. Got a receipt back from Australian Border force ref my advanced arrival notification there in early October
5. Started arranging x86 berth/lift out for cleaning and survey, in Rozelle Bay, Sydney harbor.
Wheew!
At 06:55 yesterday, dropped K&C off at the MaiTai yacht club, for their taxi, and said goodbye for a few months. Where we meet up next is unknown. If there are problems with selling x86 in Sydney, then for Christmas they may come back to the boat - that's unlikely however, as I'll price to sell and will be doing heaps of work on her. Next possibility would be UK, but that would mean a rental, which doesn't make sense, because. The plan is to rent in Cyprus in the new year, while investigating a property purchase, and legal/tax status, so why wouldn't we set up there as soon as x86 is sold? So Cyprus looks odds-on, but dead of winter is a bit quiet and cold (especially at night), so we'd need to choose the location carefully, and maybe plan some regional jaunts. Maybe one of the Ski resorts in Turkey if there are still vacancies when we have a plan - and if there is any snow around.
Now I'm off again, winding solitary across the open ocean. My Dad reports that the tracker is working well. I'd pointed out a while back that the SPOT 3 tracker was down, due to a lack of satellite footprint in the mostly empty Pacific. So I'd set up an alternate system which is a service by my weather subscription site. A reminder of the link:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/x86
Last night, first night, was a bit sleepless - getting back into the pattern. It's been windless since the off, so motored on the Starboard engine all day, and Port all night. Today started slow but the wind magicked up to 17 knots, so I got all sail up quick smart and was 'engine off' at 7.5knots. However it was just squally squalls, so I was back on engine, when the wind went down to 2 knots! I'm on the donk right now although a squall is pushing through and the winds are back to 15 knots. Squalls are such a pain in the buttinski. Update - back to wind speed of three fifths of bugger all!
The weather over this next two weeks is up and down up and down. Lows of zero wind a couple of times, highs of 25 knots a couple of times - all seems manageable as it stands. Loads of time, so I'll slowly and economically motor the lows, and drop the main to slowly gib sail the highs.
Watched 5 episodes of 'The Terror' yesterday - Chance has been strongly recommend it, and quiet rightly so. I wouldn't normally watch a sea drama, while at sea (!) but they are landlocked in ice, so no worries :-)
All's well on x86, squalling slowly towards Fiji Diji.
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