Yacht Delivery Blog

The wind decided to take a break overnight, and we're now down to around 5 knots of breeze from the east with the main and headsail being stowed around midnight. So, we're gently motoring along on one engine, just cruising towards the finish line. Today's agenda includes an oil change on the gearboxes. I want to get that done in preparation for the final push tomorrow when we'll be heading up the Brisbane River. It's always good to have everything fresh and ready for those final maneuvers. I also took another look at the port saildrive this morning, after we'd been motoring all night. And it's not as bad as I feared! There doesn't seem to be a ton of water in there. The oil is definitely milky, which isn't ideal, but it still appears to be providing lubrication. And since I'm only motoring at around 1500 RPM, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic that we'll make it in without any horrible noises emanating from the engine room or, even worse,...

Well, I had thought the chances of headwinds were diminishing, but it appears they actually minished (a nautical term, I'm sure). The breeze has kicked up quite a bit and is in the high 20s at the moment. The good news is that we can lay Brisbane at about 50 degrees off the wind, so at least we can still make progress and don't have to tack. I had been hoping to have a little bit more east in the breeze but it is what it is. The main has two reefs in (and the second reef is very deep!), and we've got several turns in the headsail. Every now and then, a huge wave explodes over the boat, just to keep us on our toes. Unfortunately, the inevitable has happened. I had my suspicions the day before yesterday, but it was definitely confirmed yesterday: the port saildrive now has sea water in the oil as well. It's absolutely no surprise, really, but I had been hoping it would hold out a little longer. So, we'll have to be managing the engines very carefully, as it looks lik...

Another day, another solid chunk of miles covered. There's not a whole lot to report, which, as I've mentioned before, is generally a good thing. The highlight of the day, really, is that the weather forecasts are just getting better and better. The chances of encountering headwinds are diminishing, and even if we do get a bit of a headwind, it's not going to last long. All three models are now predicting that the wind will swing around to the southeast this evening for the final push into Brisbane. That's definitely good news. The only event of any real significance was the return of one of the feathery idiots. I'm pretty sure it's the same one as before; it seemed a bit too comfortable, a bit too confident. It was perched on the lifelines, naturally facing outwards, which meant the business end was pointing inwards. To avoid any more scrubbing than absolutely necessary this morning, I decided to give him a poke in the… well, let's just say the rear end, wi...

The last 24 hours have been pretty tame on the sailing front, but we're making good miles, which is the important thing. We're relying on the best engine we have left, and we've picked up about a knot of favorable current, giving us a nice push in the right direction. That current boost is adding something like 25 nautical miles to our daily run, which is always welcome. I'm fresh out of the engine room, and… well, everything's looking "good." But "good" is a relative term these days. The baseline has definitely shifted. The new "good" means that everything is liberally coated in oil, and there's a fair bit of oily water sloshing around. Honestly, under normal circumstances, I'd be tearing my hair out. But considering the fact that it's only this bad now means it's actually good? I'm weirdly satisfied. We're still heading east of Brisbane, and it's looking increasingly likely that we'll be facing some hea...

We've turned southwest towards Brisbane, which is definitely a good feeling - its all down hill from here. There are still a few more reefs we need to navigate past in the next 24 hours, but after that, it should be a pretty straight shot. Yesterday's maintenance projects went off without a hitch. We successfully transferred fuel from the starboard side to the port after doing some surgery on the wires, and we tightened up the lower shrouds just enough to take the slack out. I also think I've finally figured out where the oil is leaking from on the port sail drive. Not that it matters all that much at this point since they're being replaced in Brisbane, but it's been bugging me, so it's going in the blog. I'm guessing there's a seal on the input shaft inside the bell housing casing, and the oil is leaking out through there when it gets warm and less viscous after running. The pressure in the gearbox is higher when it's operating, which would also for...

We're making good progress, which is always a relief. We just passed a tiny little reef that was not even visible when we were a mile off. It makes you wonder about all the shipwrecks that must litter the area. It makes me feel sorry for the sailors of a hundred years ago who must have thought 'ah, another night at s......" before crashing straight into it. We've got another 50 nautical miles to go before we navigate through another set of reefs at the top of New Caledonia, and then we'll finally turn southwest towards Brisbane. The forecast has been playing ball, which is a nice change. The wind is even starting to swing around to the east, right on cue for our turn south. The plan is to head slightly east of Brisbane. The prediction is for southwesterly winds in a few days, so having that "east in the bank" should let us bear away and head pretty much straight for our destination. Actually, that's not entirely true. My real destination is Brisbane A...

Well, we finally managed to shake off Port Vila and set sail again. It couldn't have come soon enough for me, to be honest. We had a few niggling issues onboard that we were hoping to rectify, but unfortunately, the resources just weren't available locally to fix them properly. So, we ended up doing what sailors often do: making do and pressing on. "Go as we are," as they say. A significant portion of our time there was spent glued to the weather forecasts. According to the weather models The Coral Sea has been a real mixed bag lately, with the models in a constant state of disagreement. One day, the ECMWF would be predicting easterly winds for the week, the next it would be showing a cyclone brewing near Vanuatu and heading straight for Brisbane. Then the GFS would throw in a spanner with westerlies and a couple of lows for good measure. And then the following day, everything would change again. It was a real exercise in patience (or rather, a lack of). Even the clea...