Tues 26th June
As we left Lord Howe Island (lovely island but Lord! Howe they
charge!) last Tuesday, the sun sparkled on a flat sea, a nice breeze blowing
from the south as we headed Northeast, dolphins played at our bow - all the
signs for a magical sail at last! Well it was great for the first afternoon, but
as evening fell, random squalls appeared. These can have quite strong gusts
which cause havoc for the autopilot and us as we try to get back on course, all
in pitch darkness.
The wind got up, so we reduced sail. Still made pretty good progress, but during
Wednesday, the nice sailing breezes also generated nice big waves and swell (up
to 4 - 5m) that hit us on the starboard quarter. This caused a fair amount of
rolling and general discomfort. Around 8pm, as Paul went down for another serve
of pasta, both hands occupied, a wave hit which sent him reeling to the other
side of the cabin, landing on his back on the battery switches. Quite severe
pain ensued, so some Nurofen, followed by Panadol were taken.
Wednesday 27th June
The next morning he was feeling quite lousy with headache,
nausea, clammy and temperature, signs of delayed shock. Judy rang Meredith and
asked her to ring the RFDS who rang us. Just as well we had the satellite phone.
Anyway the doctor's opinion was that in the absence of any bleeding, and by then
a regular pulse, there was no internal damage to spleen or kidney, and that it
was probably acute soft tissue damage. Too many painkillers may have contributed
to the lousy feeling. Anyway it is wearing off.
While Paul was laid low, Judy kept the boat running, cooking and generally
performing magnificently, while getting very little sleep.
The winds gradually turned east and lightened as predicted. This meant that
various sail changes were made - reefs in the main in and out, headsail in and
out to cope with the squalls. We generally reduced sail at night. The motor had
to come on to keep up the speed - the winds were predicted to turn to the
northeast, making it even more difficult for us. It was at this time we
discovered that the batteries weren't holding charge and starting the Detroit
was getting difficult. So we motor-sailed at around 5.5kt when the wind and
currents allowed, other times we were below 4kts.
Sunday 3rd July
We managed to keep the speed up so that we entered Dunbea Pass
just after sunset on Sunday, with the anchor down outside the marina at 8pm.
Monday 4th July
Monday morning saw the formalities completed. The Quarantine
officer stayed in the cockpit and took what we offered - *some* vegies, honey,
an egg and our parboiled, cryovac'ed sausages. Other foodstuffs were kept out of
sight. Immigration stamped our passports, and Customs didn't feel the need to
visit after our details were faxed to them.