Adventures on Yarramundi
27 October 2012
22 August 2012 | Trinity Inlet, Cairns
17 August 2012 | Cairns Harbour
16 August 2012 | 14 56.8653'S:148 11.3993'E, The Coral Sea
15 August 2012 | 14 14.19156'S:149 5465'E, The Coral Sea
14 August 2012 | 13 12.0330'S:150 26.6810'E, Still in PNG Waters, Coral Sea
14 August 2012 | 70 miles north east of Australian Waters, Coral Sea
13 August 2012 | N N'N:E E'E, The Coral Sea
13 August 2012 | N N'N:E E'E, Solomon Sea
12 August 2012 | N 'N:E 'E, Solomon Sea
11 August 2012 | 'N: 'E, Solomon Sea
10 August 2012 | N N'N:E E'E, Solomon Sea - South of Deep Planet
09 August 2012 | N 'N:E 'E, Solomon Sea
09 August 2012 | 'N: 'E, Solomon Sea
09 August 2012 | Blanche Bay 4 miles from Rabaul
08 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
07 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
06 August 2012
06 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
05 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
Engine working - preparing to leave tomorrow evening
07 August 2012 | Rabaul Yacht Club
David
We took out the injector pump and completely disassembled it today. Cleaned each part down, sanding some with sanding grease till everything was sliding easily into place. We had used a manual for stripping down the pump emailed to us by a mechanic in Cairns. It took a few hours. Some parts were supposed to slide into place if held at 60 degrees. Others 90 degrees. I did not know how these things were tested until now. Put it all back into place, replaced the fine fuel filter (also courtesy of the Yacht which sailed in yesterday from Tasmania) and after some time getting it to bleed it started. Bit of smoke at first but then is settled down. Have had it running tied to the dock in gear at 80% throttle for 90 mins now and seems to be working fine.
I will go to Customs in Kokopo tomorrow and check out of PNG, refuel, buy some fresh food and sail out in the evening or first light Thursday.
The course will depend on what the wind is doing when I get out of the St George’s Channel. If it is light I will motor south for as much as I can and try and make it to Cairns. The forecast has it picking up over the weekend at which point I will have to choose to head to Honiara for a round trip down to Mackay or if I have made enough south cross west to Cairns.
Whilst we were incredibly unlucky with the fuel problem I was very lucky to have found Rod Pearce, the WW2 salvage man of Rabaul. Standing at the back of his boat at the Yacht Club dock, Rod spent 3 days stripping down and rebuilding the injector pump and the 3 injectors. Work which, according to the manual, should only be performed by a qualified engineer in a machine room. The other bit of luck was the yacht arriving from Tasmania carrying a spare injector nozzle for Yarramundi's engine and a couple of fine fuel filters they were happy to part with. Without the injector nozzle I would have had to waited for a spare to come in from Australia or go there myself and get one. Can you believe it?!
If I had not have gotten the engine going I might have ended up like Steve picture above towing his own sailboat yesterday early morning by his own paddle power. He has been stuck in Rabaul for 9 months on his way to Japan from Australia.
I will go to Customs in Kokopo tomorrow and check out of PNG, refuel, buy some fresh food and sail out in the evening or first light Thursday.
The course will depend on what the wind is doing when I get out of the St George’s Channel. If it is light I will motor south for as much as I can and try and make it to Cairns. The forecast has it picking up over the weekend at which point I will have to choose to head to Honiara for a round trip down to Mackay or if I have made enough south cross west to Cairns.
Whilst we were incredibly unlucky with the fuel problem I was very lucky to have found Rod Pearce, the WW2 salvage man of Rabaul. Standing at the back of his boat at the Yacht Club dock, Rod spent 3 days stripping down and rebuilding the injector pump and the 3 injectors. Work which, according to the manual, should only be performed by a qualified engineer in a machine room. The other bit of luck was the yacht arriving from Tasmania carrying a spare injector nozzle for Yarramundi's engine and a couple of fine fuel filters they were happy to part with. Without the injector nozzle I would have had to waited for a spare to come in from Australia or go there myself and get one. Can you believe it?!
If I had not have gotten the engine going I might have ended up like Steve picture above towing his own sailboat yesterday early morning by his own paddle power. He has been stuck in Rabaul for 9 months on his way to Japan from Australia.
Comments
| Vessel Name: | Yarramundi |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Jeanneau Espace 990 33 feet |
| Hailing Port: | Sydney |
| Crew: | David Devlin |
| Extra: | Yarramundi now lies in Mooloolaba and is occasionally sailed with my son. I do plan to evenutally get her to Sydney. |
Yarramundi's Photos - Main
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Andrew and I don’t think he is human – probably some Viking god who has came back to earth for a visit. He setup a vodka distribution business in 22 countries and sold it to Diageo retiring at the age of 32. He spent the following 2 years designing and building his 56 foot $6 million boat and has been sailing it for the last 6 years. He sails alone and has been everywhere – including Antarctica. Neither of us have seen anything like the boat – The interior is like an upmarket modern Scandinavian apartment, it has every convenience imaginable (both domestic and maritime), and the outside with it’s teak and stainless steel looks like it just came out of a show room. We certainly did not see Bart cleaning it so are convinced it has been blessed. Or he has some little helpers stowed away somewhere and they come out at night and clean it. In fact we did not see Bart do anything else accept hang around and be cool until he left. He does not use a motor. Despite being in the corner of the harbour he untied his huge floating bachelor pad himself and used only the wind to turn the corner and sail out. We motored out to wave him off and even at full throttle could not keep up. He is off to Kyushu and then Hokkaido where he plans to stay for about a year skiing and photographing the wildlife. He had a coffee table book on board. It was of his boat and it’s Antarctic adventures. Of course he would. Very cool guy - we were privileged to meet him in Chichijima, have dinner with him a couple of times and tour his boat.
David
7 Photos
Created 6 April 2012
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Yarramundi is now provisioned with 400 litres of water, 350 litres of diesel, 60kgs of rice and pasta, hundreds of cans of soup, spam, sauces etc to make up more than 800 meals. She is leaning a bit to port side so we will have to do some rearrangement of the contents before taking off on Sunday March 25.
1 Photo
Created 21 March 2012
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Weather permitting Yarramundi will depart Shimoda, Japan on March 25 for Saipan on her first leg to Sydney. Following that we will sail to Chuuk (Truk) via Guam, then Honiara, Cairns and onto Sydney visiting many of the remote atolls of the Caroline and Solomon Islands.
1 Photo
Created 5 March 2012
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I've been lucky to have my sister Maria and cousins Holly, Adam, Liam and his wife Zoe visit Japan and sail on Yarramundi
6 Photos
Created 24 February 2012
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Why is it that every winter I've seem have had to dive below the boat to fix or retrieve something?
4 Photos
Created 22 February 2012
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Yarramundi has been taken to Seabornia Marina on the west side of the Muira Penninsula for some major work. We made it in record time within one day thanks to the 30knot wind from the north but little thanks to George who fell asleep at the helm.
5 Photos
Created 22 February 2012
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A few friends visited Yarramundi on Seijin no Hi (coming of age day) while she was in Tokyo Bay. A brief sail was followed by a turkey lunch.
10 Photos
Created 20 January 2012
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People who have helped fit-out and maintain Yarramundi
7 Photos
Created 26 December 2011
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From Shimoda to Wakayama and Mie Prefectures - a 12 day trip with 3 other yachts from TSPS.
24 Photos
Created 2 December 2011
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Who: David Devlin
Port: Sydney
