Travels in Meridian of Sydney |
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More Disaster!
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We left around 6am as we wanted to get to Gizo in the
afternoon. The weather was fine, and not much breeze to start with, but
it soon became clear that we had some current against us as we weren't
going as fast for the engine revs that we were running. While down
below, I heard a noise that seemed ominous. I checked the engine and saw
that the drive belts had broken! No drive, and we were going backwards
at around 1knot. The belts had been cracking and I knew that they would have to be replaced, in fact I had spoken to Noel about it. Anyway, we were adrift about half a mile from a reef! I called on VHF Channel 16 and got no response at first, so called Noel on HF radio. Luckily he was there and heard my call. He in turn called RAMSI in Gizo to see if they could help. Meanwhile, Joe on Lola Resort had heard me and offered to send his workboat. His workers arrived about 20 minutes later in a tinny with two 40HP outboards. We set to organising the tow rope and deciding where to go. |
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They recommended taking us behind the nearby island
while we waited for RAMSI to arrive. It was pretty slow going, but they
got us to a place where they said we could anchor in ONLY 25m! Luckily
we had added an extra 25m of nylon rode to the anchor chain.
About an hour and a half later, RAMSI arrived, 4 men in a RIB with 2 * 60HP outboards. They hitched alongside as we thought the weight of Meridian was too much to pull from the transom. We only went about 500m when we decided that it wouldn't work. The relative motion of the two boats, combined with the light weight of the RIB meant it was too dangerous to continue. They took us back to where we had anchored. Meanwhile Mike and Helen on 'Integrity' had heard about our problem as he was leaving Lola resort. He radioed to say he was on his way, they arrived a couple of hours later and anchored nearby. We decided that we would wait until early morning when the conditions should be calmer. It wasn't of course, so we had a slow trip at around 2 knots or less into the chop until we turned to go over Munda Reef. From there it was relatively smooth sailing up the Diamond Narrows and to Noro. |
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It took a while to find an anchorage spot less than
20m on the western side of the wide bay. Mike then took me ashore so
that we could go to the bank, do some shopping and enquire about a tow
to Liapari. We didn't find a tow, but Noel managed to get a dive boat
from Gizo to do the job. They turned up at 8am the next day in a large tinny with 2 * 100HP outboards. They had no trouble towing us at 5 knots or more, so we got into Liapari Lagoon by 3pm. Soon we were securely tied up to a mooring. Later Noel invited us to his house for dinner, making us feel very welcome. Meridian was there until a new mast was built by AllYacht Spars in Brisbane. The mast was shipped to Honiara, then to Liapari where Noel, Peter and I erected the new mast. |
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