We are Back
GPS log reads 3,038NM (approximately 5,600Km).
We had a pleasant time in Coffs Harbour. Visited friends Peter & Ruth on their property in Kalang Valley and they kindly lent us their car for a few days.
Will is on semester break and joined us Sunday by train from Sydney. He then sailed back to Sydney with us.
Back on the boat, we sucked the fuel out of the diesel tank and filtered it before recirculating it several times. This took a whole day and we removed an amount of sand and other muck that should not be in a fuel tank. We also discovered that a screw had worked loose in the engine control and that was the real cause of no engine power when we had our fright on the first day. The engine control would select forward and reverse but would only leave the engine idling and not increase revs when the lever was pressed. It looks as if it came out just as we reversed away from the wharf into the strong wind.
We left Coffs on David's 60th birthday (Monday 24th). This was a day earlier than planned due to changes in the weather. We had an excellent trip down to Seal Rocks in light winds of 5-10kts. We had the Spinnaker up most of Monday and only took it down when the wind dropped at night fall. Tuesday morning, we had a Southerly change that we had expected. As it was right into us, we went well out to sea until a Sou'Easterly came in at noon. This enabled us to just lay our course to Broken Bay. We got in a bit after 2300 having averaged 6kts due to helpful current all of the way. We also kept all sails up the whole time which is a first on that passage. Normally we have to reef with strong winds but the conditions this time were ideal the whole way and very benign. We had many dolphins along the way.
All the best,
Dave & Penny
