On Monday 1 Dec at 9.20hrs we dropped anchor in Coffs Harbour after 5 days and 2 hours, of which some 13hrs of motoring due to light winds combined with an unfavourable counter current for a day.

We had a great sail the last night and day, at times doing 10.8kn with the favourable S setting current, even though yesterday afternoon we feared it to become a problematic last day. The main sail still did not furl in completely, although we thought we had solved the issue by removing the batten that had come apart. We then noticed that one of the 4 short battens at the top of the leech had twisted in its pocket and was preventing the sail from furling through the narrow slot in the mast. The only solution to get it fixed was going up the mast, never an easy task out at sea with a swell making the boat roll, which gets amplified significantly the higher you get up the mast. After Daph had hoisted me to some 2/3rds of the total height or 14m of the waterline, I had to hold on to the mast with one leg hooked behind the mast, one hand to try and untwist the batten and one hand to either assist or stabilise me, when swinging sideways too badly. Ultimately I spent some 45 min up there, finally managing to get the twisted batten out and get it back in straight again. It got me some bruises and cramps, but it did in the end solve the issue, the main furled in completely again.

Clearance this afternoon, drinks and a well deserved early dinner on shore this evening, more about that in tomorrow’s blog.