Well look at her now! Tonight will be 3 weeks since Valiam ended up on the rocks. My Captain Underpants has done it again. Mr Fix it extraordinaire and number one rescuer using his brain and knowledge to winch her off. I’m in awe.

He received a call yesterday from Harwood Marine to say they were ready to lift her back into the water. The water was calm and it was drizzly with rain when Bill motored back to Iluka the 8 miles down the Clarence back to Iluka.
Meanwhile I have just arrived in Port Stephens for the Women Who Sail Australia Gathering. So enjoying meeting up with old sailing friends and new ones. I’m presenting tomorrow on the topic of ‘Sailing Overnight’

20th March
Day 3 in the boatyard. So industrial and big is Harwood Marine! Everyone is very friendly but I had to laugh when insect silverfish crawled out of my borrowed hard hat. I stood out in the bright pink strolling through the yard. All so I could bring the hard working captain his lunch. He’s ground down and sanded the worst bits and is waiting for the wood to dry out before he can patch with fibreglass. It doesn’t look as bad now. There’s great big strong pillar things holding Valiam up. It’s certainly a different experience to previous boatyards.

18th March
Well she’s out of the water… 3 cheers for Bills crew Tim who got up early to assist for the 8 nautical mile trip to Harwood Marine. Also thanks to John on the gigantic travel lift for 400 tonnes 😳!! Valiam is 10 tonnes. There’s more damage than Bill thought including the keel and many gouges on her starboard hull where she was against the rocks. Lucky he got her upright with ropes that day and immediately off the rocks just before high tide on Saturday 8th March at 2.30am winching her slowly with the strong ropes tied to the dinghy pontoon. If she’d been on her starboard side on the rocks for another tide, Bill says she would have filled with water and we would have lost her. She took some pounding that’s for sure…. He estimates that he will be busy fixing the damage for a couple of weeks. Mostly grinding and applying new fibreglass over the exposed wood and keel. Another ‘adventure’ to write about! The rudder is ok.
19th March
Found some hi viz clothing at the op shop to be allowed in the boatyard. 💗hee hee Covered shoes ✅ Long pants ✅ Long sleeved hi viz shirt ✅ Just need a hard hat.

9th March
Hmmm "a chain is only as strong as the weakest link...."
So this is what caused our 9 tonne yacht to break free and end up on the rocks. A weak link.
10th March
Valiam is safe now in a much more protected part of Iluka Bay. (The first one on the right as you come in past the Fish co-op). Finally feeling more normal emotionally after the near disaster of her on the rocks after the first mooring chain broke in the more exposed part of Iluka Bay.
12 th March
Valiam is sitting tranquil once more. This 2nd mooring is temporary for the moment until things sort themselves out. Bill is checking her each day removing a small amount of water trickling in. We are contacting local slipways to hopefully get her hauled out as soon as possible so Bill can repair her. Still a bit shellshocked by the whole incident of ending up on the rocks during cyclone Alfred but glad she was strongly built by Bill 30 years ago. She kept us safe during our 40,000 nautical miles together around the world and in Oz so now we have to keep her safe. We've taken the dirty soggy Turkish rug home to clean and dry out. I bought it in Turkey when we were on board Lati sailing to Turkey.
So now we wait for a local slipway to get back to us on when we can haul her out. She's a little soggy in places and not sinking that's the main thing.