I went down to meet Lexmark at MHYC. He has bought a great boat so I spent an hour or two going through it with him. The wheel pilot is the biggest, not the only, problem. We may have found the problem and I look forward to confirmation when it is repaired.
I am hoping to go with him to Broken Bay to get her sailing properly.

Lexmark, Thursday is looking like the best weather window to go north. Will you have the Raymarine up and running by then?

Sounds good. You will be a happy bloke when it is reliable.

I am away Saturday and Sunday and will need to know if you plan to go Monday so I can rearrange a few things.

Thanks, still waiting to get auto steer, motor and ram back, still in Sydney

Hi to all
Just a quick note, have left Sydney, auto steer working well, now in Pitt Water, heading north, first thing in the morning
Stephen

Hi Yes hope to catch with some other sailors, from this site, there are a few yachts going north at or near the weekend from Camden Haven,
Yes give her some revs, she will be better for it

Good stuff, you probably got in to Newie around 1600 at a guess

BlueMoon said...
Good stuff, you probably got in to Newie around 1600 at a guess

Yep Shaun, 1630 to be exact. We lost the wind about 1400, it backed right off for about an hour, so we motor sailed the last two hours to make sur we got in the riverbefore dark. It also takes 5 hours by train and bus for me to get home, so didn't want to miss the 17.20 train.

Starlight Express is a great boat, and has all the gear for a long trip. She sails very, very well, although we were both novices at the the Fleming. So we didn't manage to get that working very well and relied on the Raymarine. spud is the best sea dog. He sits in the cockpit and dozes all the way, even when we had whales no more than 10 metres away, he just sat there snoozing.

The only mishap was the lower port running back stay. As soon as we set off from the jetty and there was weight on it from the main, it pinged off at the mast. We decided to continue on as there are a two running stays per side, and we only broke one. To make sure we didn't load it up too much weredouble riffed the main. Even with the double reef we showed around 7 knots until the wind backed off later in the day.

I think Steve can sail better than he lets on, but if anyone is available for the next few legs, I'm sure he'd welcome you on board with a ginger beer and a ham sandwich! Don't let spud get it though,,,,,,

Hi Blue Moon, yes should be there, are there any changes to the leaving date ??????
Michael repaired the running back stay, had them both replaced

Hehe knew I should of checked the latest forecast(which has changed since this morning) before writing the above, the 30-35kts has been cancelled, so may be leaving Camden on Saturday or sometime on the weekend

Lexmark said...
Left Newcastle about 7 nice breeze, sitting on 7.4kts untill about 2 hours out of Nelson bay, needed to motor then, what a difference the auto helm makes, off again north tomorrow, dont think there is going to be much wind, but havnt checked the conditions today
Thanks

looked a few hours ago see what wind you had not much by the look of it then anyway

Yes, It is totally different :) There are a number of boats leaving Camden Haven, I was trying to get there and sail with them, but the weathers good for them on Saturday, and I wont make it by then, I have learnt my lesson about pushing too hard, so will head for Seal Rocks and spend the night, I have been advised that Forster is not a great place to get into and I would be there at low water ????????
Thanks
Stephen

That is a lovely yacht.

Stephan, There is a lot of North in the wind tomorrow forecast for Friday, I think your going to have a tough trip.
And you certainly don't want to be in spending the night in Sugarloaf Bay, Seal Rocks with any North in the wind it will be a hell hole!
I have only stayed at Sugarloaf Bay once (in SW & wouldn't consider in anything other than W to S winds)

Not many (easy, enter at any time...because of tides over bars) places for refuge in this part of the NSW coast, fatigue for single handers needs to be a serious consideration here, especially if you need to keep going to the next port for any reason.
cheers

Steve should enter Camden Haven in the next hour [now 1745 hrs].

I'll be helping him to refuel tomorrow morning. Steve will have a rest day before moving on on Sunday.

Four yachts heading north tomorrow morning from Camden Haven for Trail Bay.

That will leave about five yachts in here, unless two who came in today leave tomorrow as well.

Busy Busy Busy......