3rd Times The Charm

Chomping At The bit

Getting the PC52 Out of Fiji

Yesterday, we officially left Fiji again—for the third time!

Honestly, I was even more optimistic this time than I was the last two, and believe me, I was pretty optimistic then. The previous attempts hit what we started calling the "autopilot horizon," which was just 8 nautical miles to sea—the exact point where the system decided to check out.

The first time we reached the limit, I was thinking, “Wow, the wind and waves are changing direction rapidly!” until I glanced at the compass and realized we were wildly off course. After scrambling down into the engine room, tinkering, doing a hard reset, and getting zero response, we made the call to turn back for repairs.

We were incredibly fortunate to have two experts immediately available on hand. They quickly identified problem, and we ordered spares from Australia—which, of course, got immediately hung up in customs! The parts were fitted, other issues were discovered and rectified, and we left again, only to hit the autopilot horizon again.

We returned to Fiji, which, like the previous time, meant navigating a shallow, reefy bay dotted with islands. Driving around Fiji at night on a boat is definitely one of my least favorite things. To make matters worse, Customs was fairly fed up with our boomerang journey; they spent a few hours searching the boat and (for reasons still unclear to me) shouting at me.

Unfortunately our crew also ran out of time after waiting nearly 3 weeks and during all of this kerfuffle we had to get a replacement which is always tricky at short notice but we were very lucky once again.

New parts were ordered, fitted, and off we went once more. We crossed that dreaded 8 nm line, cleared the Autopilot Horizon, and have been happily trundling along ever since. The weather conditions are only about 10 knots away from perfect and it looks like we will keep this up all the way to Port Vila, Vanuatu, where we’ll stop for fuel.

Arrival in Sydney: Delivery Complete!

This morning, the Excess 14 slid gracefully into her new berth at Middle Harbour Marina, marking the successful completion of her delivery from the Gold Coast. The final approach into Sydney Harbour is always a great sight, a fitting end to a coastal voyage. This passage was a comprehensive real-world test of the boat's capabilities. She proved to be a joy in light airs, demonstrated strength and stability in heavy weather, and showed impressive maneuverability during a tricky docking. It’s clear that the Excess 14 is a versatile and robust catamaran, perfectly suited for everything the Australian coast can throw at it. The final tasks onboard are ones of quiet satisfaction: coiling the lines perfectly, writing up the final log entry, and giving the boat a last clean and polish. For Yacht Delivery Solutions, it's a pleasure and a privilege to deliver a vessel of this quality. Handing her over to the brokers at Flagstaff Marine clean, secure, and ready for her new owners is t...

Done and Dusted in Brisbane!

We are done! The boat's tied up safe and sound in the marina, the crew has packed their bags and headed off, and I'm here doing the final clean-up before I leave at 6 am tomorrow morning. I have to admit, I was pretty anxious for the last 24 hours. I was on the edge of my seat, hoping those saildrives would hold out for the final stretch. I even changed the oil in both of them around 3 am, because we were going to make landfall around 5 am and its quite a way up the river, and the tide was going to be dropping as we went up, meaning they'd have a bit more work to do. And the final approach was definitely… engaging. There was a fair bit of tide coming out of the river, which dropped our boat speed down to around 4 knots. We also had the added obstacle of river traffic to contend with, and the channel margins were tight – about half a meter on either side. It was one of those situations where you're constantly running through scenarios in your head. I was thinking things ...

Last 24hrs

This is our last full day and night at sea. Tomorrow, we'll be tied up in the marina in Tahiti , and I'll be turning off the engines for the last time. The main and headsail will be dropped and stowed away, and I won't be touching the sheets or halyards again. It feels peculiar to think that Namarie and I have kept each other safe throughout this incredible journey, and in a few days, I'll be on a plane heading home. On this yacht delivery Namarie and I started in the Bay of Biscay and headed south into the Atlantic, getting to know each other along the way. We made a brief stop in the Canary Islands, our last contact with Europe before heading further south and leaving footprints in the red dust of Cape Verde. We left West Africa behind and headed further west across the Atlantic, dodging hurricanes and grabbing fuel and provisions in the southern end of the Caribbean. From there, we pushed onwards through the Caribbean Sea to Panama and the canal. Pretty soon after, ...

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