A Cloudy Day in the Middle of a High
16 March 2019 | about 26nm Southeast of Cape Kidnappers
Charles
17th March 2019
Magically at 8pm last night the wind filled in from the south and the engine has been off ever since. Which means three things: firstly we are no longer doing 5kts under engine but a good 7 plus, secondly we aren't using any fuel which means we have the minimum of 300l left for the last leg home, thirdly it also means that we no longer arrive on Monday afternoon in Gisborne, but in the small hours of Monday morning meaning that we might have to hove too till daylight. Sooo.. we will see if we still want to be in Gisborne for Monday night. We will make a final call later.
Surprisingly we have been continually escorted by some Royal Albatrosses and Mollymawks since we left Stewart Island.
As part of the skippers regular checks he noted that the belts on the fridge compressor where a little loose. So when the morning watch had finished Charles and Tom started to tackle what should have been a fairly simple task but....
The mounting bolt for the compressor had sheared off and the nut and the end of the bolt were sitting in the bilge. Fortunately we have a reasonable collection of spares and we just happen to have a spare high tensile bolt for this purpose. We couldn't get a picture of the repair for you because Vicky was stuck outside on watch and Tom and Charles were covered in black down below. So you'll just have to do with a picture of the engine room without the occupants.
Turns out that the east coast is pretty busy shipping wise and our AIS is continually picking up Cruise Liners, Container ships, Tankers and lots of fishing vessels. Not all the fishing vessels appear to have AIS in this area and this might prompt the use of the radar tonight.
Now there is Cruising and there is Cruising: After having left Stewart Island we had reason to call the âGolden Princessâ a large 220m cruise ship to ask her to give us a reasonable offing as she was on her way to Dunedin. And again this happened as we were tacking towards Akaroa and blow me down again if she didn't pass us again last night on route for Gisborne. We have also met the Le Laperouse again coming through Cook Straight (this was one of the cruise liners that we saw in Enderby) The only difference is that we have not got off the boat and they have spent each day exploring a new venue. But then again our travel is a lot more eco-friendly.
There is less than 400nm to go and we are excited about the prospect of being home before the end of the week all things being equal.
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