Day 2 to Lord Howe
Once the sun was up on day two, we got out the tools and extensive spare parts. A welded loop of metal had separated from a steel backing plate, held to the hull by four bolts. We found another stainless steel fitting that could be stretched to fit over two of the bolts. Getting this into place in confined spaces was somewhat arduous, but completed within the hour. We were then able to reconnect Flinders and again set sail. Hooray! We were on the move again. AS the jury-rigged system was weaker than the original, we decided to only use the headsail, unless the wind dropped. This did not look likely. So, we were back up to nearly our maximum speed with the boat again sailing itself. Of course, there was no way to manually steer which we would need when entering the winding path through the lagoon. However, we have a second electronic autopilot which connects to Flinders and this could be used as long as we were careful.
Upon investigating the confined spaces behind Pastime's engine, it became apparent that the steel steering cables which link the wheel to the rudder had jumped off one of the blocks (=pulley). W ill and Dave got it back into place and with Flinders keeping the rudder nice and steady, we were able to tighten the cables. This was something that Dave had accidentally omitted from the huge preparation list. The big seas and frantic oscillations of the electronic autopilot had caused the cables to jump. (The cables had been replaced relatively recently, so it was a relief to find they had not broken- even though we do carry spares). So suddenly, things were back in excellent shape.
The current continued to impede us and, with the 7 lost hours and 12.5 nautical miles of drifting on Sunday night, it soon became apparent that we would not make our targeted arrival time of Wednesday morning. Instead, it now looked like a midnight arrival at the Lord Howe Lagoon.
We had reasonably pleasant sailing conditions during the day and overnight. We'd occasionally get dumped on by a riogue wave or l ashed by cld rain from a sudden squall. The latter were usually of five mins duration and most were up to 35kts with just a couple over 40kts.
Best Regards,
The Crew
