SV SEAKA: CRUISING AUSTRALIA IN 2019.

Well at lunch time today we [Seaka and I] were ready for our third trip north to Queensland, this time towards Lizard Island. At present we are on the LUSC wharf in the Camden Haven Inlet on the Mid North Coast of new South Wales.
But, while checking the boom bag this afternoon, I discovered that the cloth material in the main zipper had perished and was coming apart. A quick call to my neighbour Rohan, of Mid Coast Sails, resulted in a quick strip [the boom bag … not me] and a return home to get a new zip installed. My thanks to Rohan for the quick response in getting the repair done. Returning to Seaka [a half hour trip from home] saw the boom bag in place and zipped up around the main sail. I then realized that I had another three hours work to restore all the Jack lines back into place.
So I will go onboard tomorrow morning and move back to my mooring at Dunbogan to do the necessary work. I am now planning for a departure early Saturday morning with at least two other local yachts. This is an easy lost day as the boom bag is repaired, anywhere else and it would have been a real drama.
My last posts saw us returning from our voyages in 2015 and 2017. On returning I did a minor refit, the major part of which was fitting a new mainsail [see Cruising Helmsman, March 2017, ‘Seaka gets a new mainsail’] and a new furler and sail earlier this year. I also removed the motor and fitted a larger bilge pump. A new single level control to the motor and new engine control cables were installed. A new exhaust hose was fitted. The motor was reseated and yesterday I found that we had the alignment correct for the first time in a long while. I fitted a 35 litre frig in the forward dining seat position. Two new house 130 Amp Hour batteries, and a 110 Amp Hour motor starter battery along with a new 180 W solar panel. A completely new engine control panel was also made with a tachometer added. The seacock to the toilet was also replaced. I also completed the steps up the mast and refitted the navigation lights along with a new wind vane. A new am/fm radio was fitted. I also brought 30 metres of new chain and a 10kg Racna anchor. Various other items that had reached their use by dates were also replaced.
As I stated above we are sailing towards Lizard Island this year. I intend to do those places I’ve missed south of Bowen and then an intensive cruise north of there. I must be back home in the first week of November, this may lead to Seaka being ‘parked’ somewhere, possibly the Brisbane area, until late November before I sail her home.
At the moment the local seas are D*** flat with hardly any wind so I am anticipating that the first legs will involve a lot of motoring. The initial voyage plan is: Port Macquarie, Trial Bay, Coffs Harbour, Iluka, Goldcoast then Raby Bay. At Raby Bay I hope to take the previous owners of Seaka for a sail.