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Well Galini has been up on the slip for some maintenance, and she is now as ready as she will be for her delivery voyage, tentatively scheduled for 26-30 Aug.

The charts have arrived and I've put the tracks on the charts and we it's a 102nm passage - excluding port visits. And while there isn't a huge amount of spare time, it wouldn't be a sailing trip without a port visit or two.

The plan is an early departure on the 26th from Sans Souci and aiming for Pittwater, for a heads stop, and a few hours rest.

Early next morning we will up pick and make for Newcastle, with an aim to be alongside at the foreshore in time for dinner.

That gives the last day as a short hop of about 12 nm into Nelson Bay.
The long range forecast looks pretty good, though I'll take the long range forecast with a grain of salt.

I'm really looking forward to this, and it will be great to have the yacht nearby where I can go and work on it and more importantly use it.
There is one minor issue - my offsider who was going to help me has been told that his leave may be denied. Anyone interested in a few days sailing?

Hi Alyosius,
I may be able to help, just can't let you know until I see the work diary for those dates.

You can do it on your own if you have an auto pilot. Both those legs I've done on my own in our TopHat. Take a good book, camera and lots of your favourite food! You'll love it.

Blue Moon and I did your planned route in Hansel II about a year ago. We made the Basin in Pittwater before dark and Newcastle on dusk. If you get delayed on day two you can always go into Lake Macquarie instead. Shaun then continued on to Southport stopping a few more times on the way.

Just like to second what Miker said about autopilot. After several hours of motoring with steep 1 metre plus chop coming against the back of Windchaser and pushing me around while I hand tillered, I could not believe the difference when I connected up the autopilot. Boat was still slewing around with the waves but not as much as when I was manually doing it and it gave me time to grab a drink of water or whatever. For solo travel, I think an autopilot is extremely useful. When the going gets tough, not as hard work and so a bigger safety margin I think.

Sounds like your trip is going to be a good one. The distance is no quick afternoon sail around the bay, I reckon a journey to remember. Ahh, boats and adventure. Have fun.

Troppo

The thought of doing it on my own has crossed my mind, but I'm hesitate to do it on the first voyage - until I've used the boat a few times and I can understand what she is telling me. Unfortunately it's a moot point anyway as I don't have an autopilot and because of how far away she is, setting up sheet to tiller steering before I go would be a challenge. I will buy one eventually - but before I even think about that I'll need to buy some new solar panels etc......

All of that being said I'm starting to get a little worried about the long range weather forecast - so I'm toying with the idea of doing the hop to Pittwater this Saturday - should be easier to find someone to help and then should be able to do the second hop without taking time off work when the weather is suitable.

Just be careful when using auto pilots in very rough weather.

If they over work they will burn out, just ask Shaun.

Put your hand on them from time to time to ensure they are not overheating.

Sent from Stonehaven Anchorage on Hook Island with 20 knots blowing!!!

Check the Seabreeze weather site, it's usually quite accurate. For this weekend - northerlies 10-15 knots all day Sat, south and south east 5-10 Sun. There'll be a reasonable swell, but nothing a Top Hat can't handle, about 1.5 metres. If it was me I'd go this Sunday if I could, at least to Pittwater. Then leave it until Wed for the next leg.

Whatever you do, you're sure to enjoy it!

So, alas, Galini remains attached to her mooring in Sans Souci. Basically the reason why boils down to "stupid user error"

So when I did my inspection, Gary demonstrated how to start the engine. Apply a little bit of throttle, Run the glow plugs for 15-20 seconds, followed by turning the key to on until the engine turns over. Easy.....
Or it should have been. The thing I failed to realise was how to take the engine out of gear. So what did I do? Tried to start the engine in gear - followed by retarding the throttle to neutral. At which point the engine knoked out. Eventually with my wife's help we got the engine going and underway. And the engine ran fine while there was minimal weight on the engine. Unfortunately I was trying to get alongside so eventually the engine knoked out again, probably being we were no longer attached to the mooring.
Due to a substantial amount of luck we drifted close enough to a vacant mooring to pick it up and secured it. The friendly staff at Endeavour Marine gave us a lift back to our mooring and we called it a day - I'd used enough of my bucket of luck for the day.

I made contact with Gary and discovered my error - below the throttle leaver is a small button - pull that out to pull the engine out of gear, then follow the procedure above to get the engine started - let the engine run for 3-5 minutes to warm up then put the engine into gear and proceed as planned.

Was today a failure - No. I loaded some equipment into the yacht that I needed for when I move it. I learnt a lot about how to operate an engine and I'm more confident about what to do next time. I pulled some equipment, namely one of the life jackets that came with the yacht, so I can service it. And ultimately - better to make these mistakes where help is available.

The long range forecasts are looking kind for next week. So our new plan is a shakedown cruise on Friday afternoon then over the next two days make our way as far as we can. Though to be safe we will probably only try to get as far as Brooklyn. Trying to push further than that might be more risk than is sensible.

The next step in the adventure will follow as soon as it happens.

Well Alyosius, these sort of learning experiences happen fairly regularly. There is a LOT to think about with boats. For me, that is part of the attraction, I am always learning something new. Even if I am embarrassed during it.

I admire your positive attitude. And I enjoyed reading about your experience.

troppo

Have a safe voyage.

I have an autopilot but it uses massive amounts of power and I do not think it is strong enough in really big swells.
The sort of big swells where you loose the wind when in the hollow then get it strong at the top of the wave.

Well the plan is to attempt the first part of the delivery again this weekend. The passage plan is complete, I'll transfer the courses to the charts tonight. I am feeling...cautious....about the weather. Up until the 4pm forecast I was expecting 0.5m - 1.5m, but the 4pm forecast has a following southerly swell at 1.5-2.5m.
METEYE has the 2.5m swell dying down to 1.5-2m between 4am and 7am, which will be slightly less comfortable than planned, but should be do able.

We will see what the forecast does overnight...Pity about the swell, the wind is beautiful.