Thursday 17th March 2011 Bass Strait
1600
When we left Cape Barren Island at 0730 we had the usual pod of dolphins escort us for awhile. At times we have had maybe 50 around the boat showing off by jumping completely out of the water and doing a belly flop. For awhile there was lots of bird life but as we get further from land just the occasional bird.
So far the seas have been as flat as Sydney Harbour with no wind so the motor has been running all day. We had a scare a couple of hours ago when we noticed a change in the engine noise and on investigation found the gear box extremely hot. Very little oil in it. We have a leak somewhere and fortunately have plenty of oil to keep it topped up.
Friday 0300
I have just come on watch and Geoff is in his bunk, its been an uneventful night so far. The wind filled in from the W about 1500 yesterday and for a few hours built up an uncomfortable quartering swell. The wind has remained constant about 14 knots and we are making good progress. As always I will be happy to see the sunrise in about 4 hours. Geoff and I take 3 hour watch's which seems to work ok and we spend most of that time reading.
Friday 1100
Well the good news is the Australian mainland popped up over the horizon exactly where it should have been. The bad news is we have started to be headed by the East coast current so don't expect to get into Eden till after dark. The weather is overcast but quite warm so it's just laying about reading and doing little things about the boat.
Just had a nice hot shower that certainly made me feel better.
I will post this as soon as I get into range of internet.