Sailing around the World ( Presently about to depart Darwin for Bali.)
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Wed 1 Sep 2010 23:18
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WEDNESDAY 1st
SEPTEMBER 2010.
Its hard to believe that its September already,
but today we are leaving Darwin and sailing 990 n
miles to Bali in Indonesia, so as usual there is plenty of
excitment.
We checked our emails, had some tea, freshened up
before Neill winched the skipper up the mast to change the Tricolour
bulb.
We are replacing the LED bulb with a 25 / 50
w bulb as the one installed in Mackay was only 12w and definatly not
bright enough.
Especially when we had passing Ships Captains
giving out about it.
We then topped up the water tank , secured the rib
and put on the cover, disconected the shore power, and we were almost ready to roll.
08.45hrs, We manovered ouselves out of the
berth and made our way slowely to the Lock gate and squeesed ourselves into the
tiny lock ( barely big enough for " A Lady "
) Keith, the lock keeper and marina manager , lowered us 1m to the river
level
and off we went down to a temperory anchoring spot
in the bay and had our breckfeast there as the race did not start untill
12.00hrs.
11.30hrs We set off again under engine and motored
the 2 miles to the starting area, we had the benifit of a 2 knot tide with us,
so we
got there quickly. Most of the other
boats sailing today were already at the starting area when we arrieved.
The weather was beautifull, A clear sunny day,
20knots of wind, a bit humid, but who cares,
12.00hrs Bang , and away we went, a broad
reach and flat water, with the benifit of the tide we were trucking along at
10.10 knots
and soon were out in front of the fleet.
We picked our first waypoint NW of Darwin and is
just about 300 n miles out there.
12.45hrs, We passed a big Submarine on its way into
the harbour and got some cool snap shots as it silently sailed
by.
The wind held steady for most of the afternoon, and
we had very good sailing .
It is great to have our E 120 raymarine unit back
and working properly again with all its functions,
We examined our route very carefully and its
fantastic to see the amount of detail given on the charts, apart from the
depts,the reefs, the shoals,
submerged cables etc. but all the oil and gas rigs
as well . and these stretch hundreds of
miles out to sea.
We had an email from our yanky friends on " Ocean
Jasper " they had only just arrived in Darwin from Mackay,, Talking
about Yanks,
( and Skipper likes Americans ) we had a
lovely email from a " Rikke Dreesman " from
Breckenridge in Colorado.
USA.
who reads oue blog every day, and she and her
husband are planning a round the World sailing trip,
Skipper , Aileen, Paul & Christine ( son and
daughter in law ) stayed in Breckenridge many years ago for a week or
so, Small world.
18.00hrs We had covered 42 miles,
averaging 7 knots,
20.30hrs the wind died off completly , so we
started the engine and motored at 1700 rev,s boat speed approx
7.knots.
Dinner consisted of Roast rack of lamb, creamed
potatoes, and carrots, no ice cream as the freezer and fridge water pump is
acting up,
so lets keep them closed for the
moment.
22.00hrs, we lay down on the deck and admired
the stars, Stargazing,, just such a wonderfull sight.
Night Watches :-
10.00hrs / 01.00hrs ............................
Neill
01.00hrs
/ 04.00hrs ..............................Stephen
04.00hrs / 07.00hrs...............................
Aileen
No booze today, a dry day for a
change.
Thats it for now,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde, ( Skipper )
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