Tuesday 8 February 2011
Today was a day of catching up on much needed tasks aboard as we remained tied up against the Eden visitor’s wharf. The list of jobs was slowly ticked off as the day wore on.
Our new best friends, Colin and Hellen came through with the repaired sails and to say we were grateful when they returned this morning with the main and jib duly patched was a real understatement. In particular, thank you Helen for your late night sewing and hand stitching.
In addition, we arranged for a diesel tanker to come alongside to top up the tanks, Bruce and Bill worked wonders fitting two new bilge pumps and there was even some time to walk up to the shops for some basic groceries.
James cooked up Chicken Korma for dinner, which was much appreciated and quite a departure from the “Iron Can Chef” preparations of the past few days. That said, when it’s cold, windy and the high seas are making things uncomfortable, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as a can of heated SPC spaghetti on toast, washed down with a can of Sprite lemonade.
The weather, which caused us to return to Eden, also brought another couple of yachts back here for shelter and we briefly compared stories.
Speaking of the weather, the forecast for the next few days is looking good … very good … so the plan is to get away from here in the morning and make tracks to Port Phillip Heads. We intend to reach The Rip at “slack water” on Friday afternoon, around 2:40pm. It sounds a fairly precise time, but it coincides with the changing of the tide and is usually the quietest time to enter. We’ll keep you posted.
With a big day ahead it’s now time to go to sleep.
Smooth seas, fair breeze and one more sleep in Eden
Rob Latimer