Well, today was a short passage indeed! I weighed anchor at around 5:30AM and motored out through Strong Tide Passage at the turn of the high tide. As it was spring tide it was the ideal time to make the passage and it turned into a complete non event.

The south-easter was still blowing though and I was glad we hadn’t tried to make Pearl Bay the previous night.

My self-satisfaction was soon shattered however, when the starter-motor kicked in to the accompaniment of a very expensive howling noise. I killed the motor immediately and bore away under sail for Pearl Bay. There was no way we could sail straight into the south-easterly or enter the marina at Rosslyn Bay without an engine.

We sailed into the anchorage at Pearl Bay and dropped the anchor under sail – a very satisfying experience! Anna took the helm while I directed from the foredeck. We had ideal conditions for it, but it was still a great feeling to sail into the anchorage under full main and part furled genoa, turn into the wind, heave to and drop the hook while she drifted slowly astern. Our neighbour Graham, a yachtmaster/instructor was impressed enough that he came over in the dinghy later to invite us to drinks!

I took the opportunity to lubricate the ignition switch, which had swallowed a lot of sea water with all our beating into the breeze, and also replaced the transmission shift cable as it had become increasingly difficult to select reverse. I also installed a new alternator drive belt, just for good measure (the old one came with the boat…)!

I looked at the secondary diesel filter and, while I thought the colour of the diesel was pretty dodgy, I couldn’t get the little drain cock open, so ignored it.

We have just returned from a great evening sharing drinks with Graham and his two Hebrew backpacker crew, Ari and Ben. Ben and Ari wasted no time getting to know Anna and Yvonne, while Graham and I shared sailing war-stories…

This evening I used my new Degen 1103 HF/SSB receiver to listen to the HF weather and receive a weather fax – what a great setup for less than $80! The girls nattered on (as you do…) and we all felt rather at home!