27 - November, 2007 – Settling  in  Darwin

We started with a purchase of a car. Initially we wanted to buy an old car just for a few thousand dollars. After visiting a few dealers and trying different cars we soon realised we wanted something that would actually go. Interestingly, dealers in Darwin on Stuart Road seem to be located from the cheapest to the dearest when entering the town. We stopped somewhere in the middle and bought a five year old Ford Focus with about 60K on the meter. The car drives well so far.

The next purchase was the air-conditioning. We installed it on the deck hatch. It works fine and we can sleep at night. Every yacht in the marina has a unit.

The weather pattern is quite simple: blue sky in the morning, no wind and about 25 degrees, by noon the temperature goes to about 35 and clouds appear in the sky. In the afternoon a storm with lightings, thunders, rain and wind arrives. Evening are a bit cooler but humidity is very high. So far we have not had drinks in the cockpit.

On the first weekend we went to visit the Litchfield National Park. It is about 80 km from Darwin. The first attraction is a field of Termite Mounds. The mounds were built by magnetic termites. The mounds are thin and about 2-3 metres high. All are oriented east-west. From a distance the field looks like a cemetery with big tombs.

We then went to rocky pools where we had a refreshing swim in a creek. The water was just the right temperature – not too cold to enter but cool enough to bring some relief from the heat. After we had enough of soaking we went to Florence Falls. Again we could swim under the waterfall and enjoy the fresh water. A man showed us a bleeding wound on his arm and said he was just bitten by a fish. We felt save in the water and nothing happened to us. Are there piranhas in Australia?

We returned to the car park via track that lead us along the creek and then through a forest. It looked like a garden – beautiful.

We came back to the marina driving in heavy rain. We liked the park and we think we will go there again.

The following weekend we went again for a swim in rock pools. This time we chose the pools closer to Darwin. Despite warning signs about crocodiles many people swam in the pools. There were rangers present at the park and they seemed to be satisfied the crocs were somewhere else.

Swimming in a creek is really nice. The water colour is dark like a diamond. Forest around creates beautiful views. And, of course, the water provides great relief from the heat. The only bother are insects. We spray ourselves with an insect repellent each time we come out of the water. We went to the pools early, before lunch as we were told they get crowded later on. When we were leaving we saw a few cars full of people coming there. We again liked the place and we think about having a barbeque there. The place was not too hot, possibly because of large trees that provide lots of shade.

We bought a large tarp and covered the yacht. It is however not very good cover thus we ordered proper canvas. It should be ready to fit early in December.
 

08 – December – 2007  Visiting  Kakadu  Park

The park is about 120 kilometres from Darwin. Driving was easy as there was nearly no traffic and the speed limit of 130km/h. The gate to the park is about 90kms from Jabiru, where the hotels are. We did not stop at the gate although we saw others taking photos there.

Just before Jabiru there is a Park Information Centre. We hoped to find someone to talk about activities in the park but the desk was unattended. A few lost tourists – mostly foreigners – wandered through the offices and a little exhibition. We learnt a bit about the park from the exhibition then browsed the souvenir shop but we bought nothing.

From the Information Centre we drove to Jabiru which is just a small town with one petrol station, little shopping centre and no liquor shop. We checked in to a hotel that was built is a shape of a crocodile. As we have NT driving licences we were treated as locals thus receiving special room rates – much lower than the ones advertised on the Internet.

The room was nice and cool, actually we thought it was too cold. We waited in the room for the hottest part of the day to pass. Later in the afternoon we drove to a place where we wanted to see the aboriginal paintings and then have a walk. The paintings are impressive. We walked along the paths that winded through the rocks. From time to time we stopped to view the paintings. It has to be fascinating to analyse them, try to establish their age and think about the people who spent time and effort to make them.

There is also a lookout that can be reached by climbing the rocks. It is not difficult climb and the views are very good. On one side there are wetlands and on the other rocks.

From the gallery we drove to a place where the walk through the rocks begins. We had no desire however to walk. It was not only hot but also the flies were extremely irritating. After a short conversation with a couple of men who used a boat ramp and were not afraid to enter the river, we went back to the hotel.

There we spent some time at the pool then followed it by dinner.

Next day we checked out from the hotel and drove about 80kms to another resort. We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Again we visited another place with aboriginal paintings. It is a nice area and we would have enjoyed the walk if it was not hot and the flies. We decided we would return to the park when it becomes cooler. We will also equip ourselves with nets to protect the faces from the flies.

December/January – 2007/08

Tina found a job in a medical centre very quickly. After initial stress she settled in the job comfortably. I applied for three jobs and I had two interviews. Shortly after that I was offered both jobs. In January I will also start going to the work. I am not sure if I should be happy or not about that.

We started to enquire about works needed to be done on the boat. We want to have more electrical power. For that we plan to replace lead batteries with AGM ones with more capacity, nearly doubling what we have now. We will also add solar panels to increase charging from 80 Watts to 320. This should ensure that on most days we will have no need to run the engine to recharge the batteries.

We asked for quotations but so far we have not got any. Someone warned us that things happen in Darwin but a lot slower.

The boat has new covers, now. We are not too happy with their quality but they seem to do the job. We had to remove them however before leaving for Sydney. It is a cyclone season after all and we do not want to loose the covers a month after they were made.

For Christmas and New Year we went to Sydney. We spent most of the time with the family and meeting friends. I was taken aback with questions about this website. I did not realise it was read that much.

Our return to Darwin was a bit of adventure. Planes from Sydney arrive in Darwin shortly after midnight. Since we removed the air-conditioning from the yacht before we left we decided to stay in a hotel for the first two nights. After about nine hours of the trip we appreciated quick way to the bed.

Next day we went to the yacht and installed the air-conditioning and covers. That evening Darwin was put on cyclone watch. A low over Kimberley’s was developing into a category 2 cyclone. Weather bureau started updating the forecasts every four hours. TV programs were interrupted to provide the latest news on the cyclone development. Next morning the situation worsened. The low had become a cyclone and it headed towards Darwin. We went to the yacht and removed the covers, and air-conditioning. We also put more mooring lines. By the evening the cyclone was close to cross the shore about 100 kms south of Darwin. We extended our stay in the hotel by one night. We also decided to rent a unit instead of staying on the boat. The main reason is that we cannot have the air-conditioning installed when a cyclone comes. It is not attached to the boat thus the strong wind could push it and cause some damage. On the other hand it is not possible to live on the boat without the air-conditioning, especially that we both go to work.

We rented a two bedroom unit not far from the city. I should have a bus to the city while Tina will use the car. Since the unit was available immediately we moved there directly from the hotel.

In the meantime the cyclone arrived at night. We slept through without any problems. The only event was the loss of electricity for about an hour. We noticed that as the air-conditioning stopped working.

Next day we went to see the boat. There was no damage to any of the boats in the marina. Most of the people stayed on their boats. They said it was “only” category 2 cyclone with winds about 60 knots. On the way to the marina we saw fallen trees and the streets were full of debris. In the city only one café shop was open. Later in the afternoon shopping centres opened and we could buy food for our new unit.

January, 2008 – starting preparations for the next season

Although we are back to the weekly work routine, we have started preparations for the next sailing season. The big item is the HF radio. We talked to other sailors and read in magazines about it, trying to find out if we really needed it. In the end we decided we did. Order was sent and we are waiting for the delivery. Buying radio is not easy as the information, what is needed, is rather confusing. The main problem is that listed items constitute a part of the system and on their own would not provide communications. Thus for the radio we had to choose a tuner, then for email service a modem. With both devices we had to order separately cabling. We are still not sure we ordered everything that is needed but we hope the installer will fill in the gaps. The radio should be delivered by the end of month.

The other purchase is a smaller headsail. The original one from Bavaria Yachts is huge – 130% - and heavy. It easily overpowers the yacht in winds over 15 knots. We decided to buy a smaller – 100% - sail. We ordered it from a sail maker in Adelaide. He was helpful with advices in the past and I felt we should eventually buy something from him. In comparison to other sail makers we seem to pay a reasonable amount and if his work is like his advice then we will be happy with the sail. To order we had to take seven different measurements. It was nice to be on the yacht again. The heat is however unbearable.

We are still working for quotation to install three more solar panels. The welder contacted us regarding a bracket for the sonar but so far he has not done anything in regard to the panels. Someone told us we had to be patient in Darwin.

01- February – 2008  What  happens?

Well, not much recently. We both go to work during the week and hide from the sun on the weekends. We have not received any information about our orders – HF radio and the headsail. Neil sent to us a fuel funnel. Thanks! The funnel not only removes dirt from the diesel but also water. 
For some time I have been looking for a solution to the earthing of HF radio. My goal has been to avoid drilling another hole in the hull and install a copper plate. I called a few people and asked them why the keel connection was not sufficient. All said we had to have the plate. One mentioned corrosion caused by the DC current – serious enough.
Then I read the manual for the HF radio and… they recommend keel connection. They do not mention corrosion. I went back to the problem and after many searches I found out how to earth the radio to the keel. I found an article on the sailmail website written by an electronics engineer. The solution is rather simple. The tuner connects to the keel and engine using copper tape like cable. This could however cause the corrosion. Solution – capacitors on the tape cable! Simple. The capacitors will stop the flow of any DC current but they will let the electromagnetic waves to pass through. This is what we are doing to do. What a relief!
We are still making enquiries about the insurance for the yacht. Our present insurance covers us only in Australian waters. So far we have one quote from Perth based company and it is not bad. A New Zealand company collected information from us but they never replied. There is still one more we sent the papers to. Hopefully we will have some competition. 
There some new photos in the spaces album. Not too many from NT as we kept forgetting the camera when travelling. Hopefully we will do better in the future.

 
20 – February – 2008  Wet  season

The weather changed recently. Rains have come and the water is pouring from the sky every day nearly all the time. At night the rains are very heavy. Someone said we hade over 34 centimetres of rain in one day! The town seems to cope rather well. Only a few roads were closed and not for a long time. It looks that this weather will stay here for a while.
No worries! On Saturday we fly to Niseko. We will be two weeks on the snow. Except for the shock of the change in temperatures we are looking forward to this holiday.
Our new radio has been delivered. We also agreed with the electrician on the scope of his works. It looks we may have new batteries after our return from Japan. With a bit of luck we may also have the antenna for the radio although radio will not be installed by then.
We received documents for the international registration of the yacht. We have to make and install a plague with the number and the length of the boat before final papers will be sent to us.
The plague business is a complete madness. It probably comes from middle ages when the boats had to be somehow recognisable after a battle or when washed on a shore. The Official Number “shall be cut in the main beam” (!) the document states.  Well, we can’t cut thus we need a plague. Anyway we are very happy that we conquered the problem of filling in the forms and convincing the bureaucracy that we actually own the yacht.
We got the new headsail. So far it has been in the bag as we had no opportunity to hoist it. It should be smaller than the one we now. The sail maker said it could be used as a storm sail and it would be very good in lighter winds. 

24-Feb – 09-Mar, 2008  Skiing  in  Niseko,  Japan

Trip to and back was not pleasant. We took a taxi to the airport, then flight to Cairns, flight to Tokyo, wrong bus to a wrong hotel, returned to the airport, took a bus to the domestic airport (two hour trip), another bus to the hotel (this time right one), next day bus to the airport, waited for hours to board the plane, circled above Sapporo for nearly two hours, took bus to Niseko and lastly a bus to the lodge. The way back was nearly the same. Except of wrong busses and snow storm, we had a 12 hour break in Cairns.

All together we had 11 days in the lodge. We skied ten days. The first week was very snowy. It hardly stopped snowing. Temperatures were about minus ten.

Skiing in Niseko is very good. There are many lifts and we encountered only short queues. There are four resorts that have common tickets. We could move between them freely although sometimes in dense fog. That was in the first week. The second week weather changed and we had plenty of sun. Temperatures also went up but the snow still was good. On some days we skied in powder as it snowed at night.

Living in the lodge was also good. We met many people there and spent long evenings having dinners and talking. We ate breakfast in the lodge as it was provided. Lunches and dinners we had in restaurants. Food was of variable quality. All restaurants seemed to have the same menus. We went to nearby town Kuchan to have dinners. On both occasions we enjoyed it but I was not impressed. Later I discovered that food in Tokyo is much more different and the choices are greater.

Busses to the ski fields from the lodge were so good that we hardly had to walk. They run regularly although not at any fixed time. Since we were at the end of the season we had no problems with seats. Service was always excellent and that is true for the whole trip.

One of the highlights – except for skiing – were visits to hot springs. Water was hot and we felt wonderfully each time we went there.

The holiday was great. We are back however and tomorrow we return to work.

Some work was done on the boat when we were away. We now have new four 120Ah AGM batteries. They fitted in the same place as the previous ones. We hope they will provide us with lots of energy. Other works will be done after Easter as the electrician is busy with other works till then. 

03 – April – 2008  Preparing  for  the  season

We have been officially registered and entered on the list of the Sail Indonesia Rally. The yacht has also international registration. We had an issue with the size of the plague (it has registration number and the length of the boat) as it is rather big. 
Our new headsail is ready for use. It is about 40cm shorter than the forestay. After consulting the Furlex manual and the sail maker we attached its tack end with a Spectra rope. The furling works well. We still have to sail to know how the sail performs.
Out list with “thing to do” is one page long and it seems to grow every day, like in a Greek legend, as soon as we have removed one head another two grow back. We’re making progress however. Most of the orders have already been done. We have electronic charts for the whole region and we tested them. Paper charts will be ordered this week. AIS and associated software should arrive any day now. It will be installed at the same time as the HF radio which we have already received. Country courtesy flags are also on their way.

This weekend I will be busy installing some pipes for the toilet. They will be our backup in a case the main pump fails. The only issue with the work is that it has to be done under the floor in the locker. The weather in Darwin has not changed much – it is still above 30 degree every day (and night… well… OK, maybe 25). We are told it will become cooler soon.
Late in June we will lift the yacht out of the water to paint the hull and to serve the engine. The place has been booked. It is in Cullen Marina. The tides are going to be right for going out and in the marinas’ locks. We were taken aback by the booking already in place for lifting the boats. There were hardly any spare slots four months ahead. I guess most yachties prefer to come to Cullen Marina as the only other place in Darwin requires really high tides to enter it. We would need seven metres tide. When we checked the times it looked that if we stayed just one day longer (more than three) we would have to wait another month to get out. They charge for the yacht on hard stand. Well, we hope Cullen Marina will work out well.

21 – April – 2008  Works on the yacht

Our list of things to do on the yacht is slowly getting shorter. The main job of installing a bypass for the toilet pump has been done. We still have to test it under pressure but I am confident it will be fine. The works took three mornings for me to complete. The first two were really about learning how to install the hoses that are not very flexible and seem to be smaller than tubes in diameter. An experienced plumber told me that to take the hose off I had to cut it. To put the hose on the tube I had to get the hose real hot. It worked really well. Interestingly, original hoses from Europe did not pose the same problems as the local plastic ones. They were easy to fit. The only surprise was a steel wire in the hose. Eventually, after many scratches, cuts and bruises the hoses are installed. This was the biggest job I had to do. We are still waiting for the installation of the HF radio and the solar panels. I started to hassle the stainless steel people as they seem to be delaying the delivery of the frame. 

We sent the new jib back to the sail maker as it was too short. The maker had no problem with us sending the sail back, although we have to pay for the courier – one way. Organising a courier was not easy here. Most of the companies are not interested in private deliveries. Others charge enormous amounts, such as over $500.oo! I ended up using the sail maker’s account. We should have the sail back in a couple of weeks.
We ordered and received paper charts that cover the whole of the area we going to visit. We are still to make sure there is nothing missing and we will do it by charting the routes, if we can. The places on the list from the Sail Indonesia are not easy to find and often just indicate a whole island as a stop. I hope they will provide more precise information before we leave Darwin. 
We also have electronic charts that cover the area from Indonesia till Egypt. We can use the charts in our Raymarine chartplotter and on the PC. This should make our lives easier as we will be able to prepare the routes on a computer before moving the card to the plotter. We can also run two navigation systems (even three) at the same time. We will not be lost as long as the charts are correct! Moving the route from PC to the chart plotter proved a bit difficult as the software would not export the route in the format accepted by the device. I ended up downloading Raymarine free planning software. We will use the software to create a route then export it in plotter format and format accepted by the PC navigation software.  All that has been tested and it works. Interestingly, the vendor of the software could not be more useless in this case.

The other items we bought recently include: electric washing machine, AIS device, hours display for the tachometer, laptop, sea sickness electronic straps, camping food for about two weeks, mosquito nets and some tools. 
We are now anxiously waiting for the works to be completed. The solar panel frame was to be installed last week but… there was some theft somewhere and the workers were redirected to fix the place. Our job is still waiting and we do not even know for how long.

24-30 – April – 2008  Visiting  national  parks

We used the long weekend, extended by two days of annual holiday, and the visit by Gosia to see some of the Territory. We started on Thursday morning. The first stop was the yacht to run the watermaker. We discovered that the backstay was removed, meaning it was taken for the installation of isolators for the HF radio antenna. We removed the bimini to make the installations of the backstay and the solar panels easier.

We drove towards Kakadu Park and stopped at a tourist information centre with a view on the wetlands. The centre had a small exhibition describing the seasons and wild life around it. It was interesting.
The next stop was Adelaide River. We went on a cruise to see some crocs. They showed up quickly enough. The guide claimed the crocs could jump naturally and that stories about tour operators training them are false. Who knows? The crocs jumped to get the food and we took some good photos. I do not think we would go on the cruise again.
In Jabiru we checked in to a caravan park where we got a cabin. Later in the afternoon we drove to Ubiru to see the Aboriginal paintings. 
Next day we drove to Katherine stopping in a couple of places to explore the park. One was interesting as it also had the paintings as well as a lookout with good views. The other was a 1.6km walk uphill and offered rather dull view. 
Before we reached Katherine we took a detour to Edith Falls. This was the highlight of the day as we could swim in the billabong. Fresh water swimming is always so good!
There are signs that crocs live there and the swimmers should not bother them as they may become aggressive. We have not seen any although they would have seen us. They are fresh water crocs and it is not in their habit to eat or hurt people. 

In Katherine we stayed again in a cabin. Next day we drove to the Katherine Gorge where we joined a three gorge tour. It was very nice experience. The views are great, especially the second gorge with high – wall like – rocks on both sides. Near the third gorge we went swimming again. We saw some crocs on the way back but they were small. Swimming in the river is not allowed as yet. Rangers set the traps to make sure no salt water crocs occupy the place. They cannot enter the river during the dry season but they swim there during the wet. Our guide – who also gave us a very good didjeridu concert – hoped the river would be open for water sports in about two weeks.
On return to the cabin we felt rather tired. After some rest we drove to the town and visited other tourist places. Spring waters proved to be a big disappointment. We also did not find a restaurant we would like to have dinner in. Instead we bought some ingredients and we had dinner in the cabin. 
The following day we drove to see caves located south of the town. It was interesting but not very necessary tour. The guide was dull and bored with the job of telling the same stuff every hour.
From there we started moving back towards Darwin. We made a detour to Douglas/Daly River but there was nothing of interest. We drove to the Tourist Park in Litchfield Park where we checked in. With some time of the day still left we went to have a swim in the rock pools. This was a good, relaxing fun. We soaked in every pool we could find and massaged our backs in the little waterfalls. 
On the last day we visited three more waterfalls. All are very nice and spectacular. Only in one of them we could have a swim as others were not cleared of crocs as yet (one is not accessible). We also had some walks with very good views. Since we left the waterfall we could swim in as last we returned home refreshed and ready for more activities. We visited Cullen Bay Marina, East Point, Nightcliff beaches and the Darwin Yacht Club, where we had dinner watching the sunset.

13 – May – 2008  Things start happaning

After a few frustrating weeks works started on the yacht. The frame to hold solar panels has been installed. It was a real struggle as the stainless people kept delaying it week after week. I would call them to ask when they are going to install and they would say in a couple of days. After that time nothing was done. Eventually, I told them we would cancel the order. Four days later the frame was installed! 
It looks good. The electrician started working on the yacht. He hopes to have everything done by the end of the week although he qualified that saying he could need one day more. We got the backstay with the isolators for the HF radio antenna. When they are installing it the rigger will also check the shrouds and the top of the mast. We will have a written report that may be needed by the insurance. We applied for the insurance a week ago and… we are still waiting for their reply. I guess I may have to get a bit tougher with them too.

We checked and sorted the charts we bought. It took good three hours to do that. In the process we discovered we needed four more. Since we had to order at least 10 we decided to order the charts for the route to Cairo. We may never use or need them but that seemed to be the most logical way to order the charts. Well… instead of four missing charts we will get about 100.
Our second laptop has been configured and it runs well. All the software works. I was a bit worried as the laptop runs Vista, but there were no problems at all. We will install the older laptop permanently on the navigation table and the second one will be our entertainment unit as well as a backup. Both laptops are linked via the wireless network. 
We are now also registered in Winlink2K. This gives us an email account to request and receive the weather forecasts. At present everything works via the Internet. Once the HF radio is installed we will make it work through the ether. This may happen this weekend! Exciting!

 
05 – June – 2008  Finished?

After a two months delay it seems we have the major works on the yacht completed. At least we think they are. Initial tests are positive but the process was not that straight forward. For example, we have solar panels installed quadrupling the power output. I asked the electrician if he replaced the existing voltage regulator. He did not! He therefore had a 7 Amp regulator and upto 16 Amps load. 

After he replaced the regulator we started observing how the panels charged the batteries. We disconnected the yacht from the shore power and turned on both fridges. To our dismay the batteries would not recover all the power that was used during the night. After two nights the batteries were 10% below the full charge at the end of a sunny day. It looked bad. I spoke to the electrician and he insisted everything was fine. I started checking manuals. In the regulator manual I discovered there were switches to select type of batteries. The electrician did not check them and they were in default positions. I had to push him hard to change the switches and show me how to do this. Reluctantly, he did. Since then the batteries are fully charged at the end of the day, more likely much earlier, but we will confirm that once we had more time to watch them. I also called the manufacturer of the regulator and their engineer said the switches were in correct position now.
Well, we hope to take the yacht for a sail this weekend. Hopefully, no major problems will occur.

HF radio has been installed and it seems to work although I am still to find time to actually try and call someone. The other issue is to make the mail working. I printed a manual – it is 166 pages! Back to school I guess.

We still have a large job to do – antifouling and engine service. We booked the services on June 30. This will be a major operation as we have to leave the Bayview Marina a day before then spend the night on anchor. The next day we will enter Cullen Bay Marina for the yacht to be lifted. We have three days booked on the cradle. The owners sent us emails that everything has been arranged. I will try to confirm that again – this is Darwin after all!

We have more than a month before the rally starts. Yachts are arriving in Darwin. There are at least two other boats in the marina with the plans to sail in the rally. We met one of the owners. He is from Austria and sails a large catamaran. He decided to have a break from sailing and went back home for five weeks. Fanny Bay is getting busy and full. It is rather difficult to imagine more than 100 more yachts there. We will probably stay in the marina till the last night. Tides are good to leave the marina just in time for the start.

23 – June – 2008 Major works nearly done

Recently, we spent lots of time checking if the HF radio works. Attempts to connect to Winlink radio network failed many times. Fortunately a new catamaran arrived in marina and Chris – the owner – knows lots about the radios. Firstly, he told me which frequencies are used by yachts coming from Eastern Coast to Darwin to sail in the rally. We managed not only to listen to them but also to make a call and find out we were heard "loud and clear". The other yacht was near Flinders Islands, far enough for me.
Later I also managed to establish two email connections – one with Sailmail and the other with Winlink. Success rate for connections is rather poor. One of the reasons could be that in the marina there is a lot of "radio noise". Chris seems to think that our radio is actually better than his and he has not too many problems to use email when sailing. I guess we will know once we leave the marina. 
We actually wanted to sail during the last weekend but the weather was bad with strong wind warning. We also overheard a yacht that just arrived in Darwin in Fanny Bay and the sailor was complaining the wind was too strong for comfort. Next weekend we will have no choice. We have to take the yacht to the other marina to be lifted. The forecast looks better but who believes 7-day weather predictions?

Well, I will try to post the next update after we had the boat painted and the engine serviced. We may move to the Cullen Bay marina as there are berths available. They will not however take bookings thus we will find out only four/five days earlier. It would be nice to stay there as it would save us going up the creek again at the right tide. It is also located in a nicer part of the town. 

19 – July – 2008   Nearly  ready  to  go

Last few weeks have been rather busy. We spent five days visiting national parks and after that we have been preparing to the trip to Indonesia.

We moved from Bayview Marina to Bullen Bay Marina at the end of June. The boat was put on the hardstand and painted. Since this was done in Cullen Bay we decided to stay there. It is much nicer place than the other marinas in Darwin but also it is dearer. My main attraction is that we do not have to negotiate a creek to enter or leave the place.

We went for a couple of weekend trials and we have not found any serious problems. Whatever needed maintenance has been serviced. Salt water pump started leaking but a change of washers removed the problem. We bought a spinnaker pole. It is held along the mast. We needed someone to do this urgently and we managed to find him although for a price.

Today we have really finished preparing the yacht for sailing. There are no outstanding issues and everything tests well. We have a few days to buy the supplies. The plan is to leave the marina on Wednesday. The rally starts on Saturday thus we will have a couple of days on the water before sailing to Indonesia. Fanny Bay where the yachts gather for the rally is packed. We think about going somewhere else but that we will probably not need to.

Well this is the last entry on the page. A new page has been created to start the log for the new season.