Autopilot Out
26 April 2015 | Sydnet to Southport, Australia
David
The above picture is of the new autopilot (Kim) next to the old autopilot (Raytheon) held by Zack. Notice the broken aluminum bracket that is supposed to hold it to the boat. We are on day three of a four day passage from Sydney north towards Brisbane and we will have to hand steer for the last 24 hours. No worries mate, as the Aussies say. We will just have to buy another aluminum angle piece and drill some holes in it and then reinstall the autopilot when we make port tomorrow. We have caught several Frigate Mackerel, but they are not good eating so we threw them back. On the passage down to Sydney we were screaming along with an added three to four knots of current in the EAC (East Australian Current) but on this passage north we are trying to hug the coast to minimize the current and we are averaging 1 1/2 knots of current against us the entire trip. It was worth it, Sydney is fantastic. We could surf Manly Beach every day (except it's starting to get cold for us St Johnians and we need to head back towards the tropics.) Great Barrier Reef, here we come..