Bundaberg to pancake creek

The skipper here, I thought that I would post a blog and talk about the good ship Evening Star, so that those readers itching for yacht information will be satisfied. apart from the initial rigging issues that no one could have foreseen, ES has performed magically. unfortunately the winds have Ben light so we have effectively motored all the way from Sydney, have a look at the sea conditions in the fish photo and you will see what I mean. The sails are up everyday and do provide some power, yet I get compliants that they block out the sun! I have no doubt that over 15knots that the engine will not be needed. we are averaging 7 knots and get up to over 8 knots in any wind gusts, when you think that a good time in a yacht race (what are they again)is an average of 7 knots, then we are doing ok. Fuel wise has been an eye opener for me, having a tank of 1000 liters, not including the forward tank, the pump bill does not fit into the new Hunter family austerity program me, luckily it was only 1/2 a tank too Hervey bay, at 1200rpm she doesn't drink too much diesel. engine wise the 120hpford Lehman has chugged allong and not missed a beat, we have put approx 120 hours on the meter, so are due for oil, filters, and fuel filter changes. the previous owner used to do this himself and has left Onboard plenty of spares to do the task. It will not be as hard as you think as there is a puand a tunamp that actually removed the engine oil, then just refil, and with the generic Coles brand oil, now that fits into the austerity program.
Bildge pump decided not to work as I clogged it up trying to degreaser the bilge, now that was a stink cleaning out the strainer. other jobs have been minor repairs to woodwork and catches, remember ES is over 30years old, so fairly young when compared to Yumsing, which is nearly 100. just reminded myself that it is Carl Halvorsens 99th birthday today, he is still going strong and lunches Fridays at rays.
Power wise ES is very well set up thanks to the previous owner Simon, 800 ah is more that enough for laptop, iPad two iPhones, and alastairs iPod and ps2!! there is a very sexy xanrex meter that gives the ah usage, running the engine so often and the odd night hooked up the shore power, thus battery chargers, has meant that they are nearly always fully charged.

Now the fish! We caught a tuna yesterday on a red head lure and Ben lillymans tackle, mmm shasmi and a tuna dish for dinner, it could have fed 20 of us, unfortuantley there were just two eating, alastairs only interest is in the catching, not the eating!

Once a day I plot our position on a website called www.skipr.com search for Evening Star and you can see what port we are in.

Enjoy work
Mark