Oz East Coast
Tues Jan 6th 2009, - Sydney Harbour
Well another New Years Eve party ticked off watching the spectacular fireworks display on the harbour amongst hundreds of other boats.
Spectacular fireworks, Sydney Harbour, NYE 2008
Great to have sons James, Chris, granddaughter Chloe, the boys partners Paige & Amanda, and some of their friends aboard.
Chris left on an overseas study tour two days ago as the final unit in his Masters Degree.
Also even better to see them all finally head off home so Marg and I (and seadog Elliot) can get some seniors solitude around in Middle Harbour for a few weeks.
Our daughter Fi and, husband Mick, and their three kids, Paddy (Patrick), Emmy (Emily), & baby Harry (Harrison) arrive tomorrow from Melbourne to spend a few days.
Five year old Patrick will be enthralled to see the bridge being raised to allow sail boats to pass through which is adjacent to our marina berth.
Time is on the wing for getting things together for the VDL-C in Tassie.
Yesterday I had a technician on board to fix up my computers so that we have a network going off one router. I'm having a specialist John Deere mechanic coming on board shortly to check the computerized diagnostic report on the main engine before we head off for our next 1500 nm journey.
Marine Maintenance System alerts issue
Have to fix up an odd issue on the boat such as PH windscreen wipers not working, and attend to 33 maintenance alerts showing up on my Seakits preventative Marine Maintenance System, which is controlled online from a server in the US, and is a boon for a mechanical greenhorn like me.
Most current alerts are just about inspecting every component we have on the boat, and there are a lots of them. These alerts are based on the manufacturers recommendation for inspection and maintenance. This is activated by me by updating hours of usage from the 3 engines, and all I have to do is plug in our engine hours.
This system also controls our spares inventory which is pretty extensive, but will be more so when I add the offshore kit which has spare starter motors, house water pumps etc.
When we use a part it is automatically put onto a "parts to replace list", and at a push of a key, these parts will arrive in 3 days from the US via DHL. Naturally bulky items like oil are sourced locally.
The boat has been a dream so far with minimal problems after 7000 odd nm over the past 18 months.
I would rate the unblocking the PH head the toughest physical job I've ever endured due to nil space to work in. I'm going to keel haul anyone who puts anything down these toilets that is not the toilet paper supplied, or natural body waste.
Just received some pics from fellow 55 owner Roger Allard showing his set up for his Besenzoni Passarelle (gang plank) which we will need for Med mooring (anchor out, and backed into the dock) when we get to Europe.
Roger also sent some pics of where he stores his second smaller RIB inflatable. This is something we have to buy as the big 540 kg Caribe inflatable cannot be beached as it is much too heavy to drag with just the two of us.
I fortunately have a wizard SS fabricator in Sydney who is incredibly inventive and will design and make storage for these new items.
As the Yanks say just some BOAT units (bring on another thousand) are needed.
The trip to Tassie will be planned a lot more carefully than last year to make sure we don't get knocked around by the weather this time.
The best lesson I have learnt is never have anyone on board for a passage that's on a timeframe, because mother nature just aint interested.
We have two ports of refuge on the way to Hobart, and if we have to we will gunkhole there until the conditions are right. We don't wish to see Bass Strait in her full fury, and as I'm re-reading Fatal Storm which is an excellent book on the disastrous 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, it is etched indelibly in my mind.
Sanctuary Cove Boat Show 2009
The below gallery shows SKIE when she first arrived at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show.
