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One More Night

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, needing to be ignominiously towed into port. I have repurposed a shower gel bottle to suck out the oil from the gear box and I have enough spare oil to keep topping the saildrives up as required.

I'm definitely very pleased with the weather window we got. A bit more of a southeasterly breeze wouldn't have gone amiss, but it could have been much, much worse. Even the headwinds, as frustrating as they were, at least allowed us to head directly for our destination, which is always a bonus.

So, it's a day of relatively calm progress and a bit of engine maintenance. Our ETA into Moreton Bay is first light Tuesday and then a few hours up the river approaches will see us at the Q berth for noon. The end is in sight, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the final stretch goes smoothly.

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