Skippers log #1
Aukland was an increadible stop over, the best that I have ever experienced in my racing career. Trevor and Ann Hackett were our host, and own KZ Marine. Their company became a sponsor, with Trevor working on our boat all the time, and taking employees off projects to get us ready. Sadly the stop over was too short. Last Sunday night we were introduced at the Starlight Sympohny to a crowd of 25,000 to 30,000 people by yaching broadcast legend, Peter Montgomery. I am amaized by the number of South Africans I have met, including naval architect Angelo Laveranos who introduced me to some interesting people. I did a make up at the Takapoona Rotary Club where I made some good contacts for returning here in a few months time. I will talk more later about the work we did on the boat. Right now I am very sea sick and can't write.
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Skippers log #2
37 19s 177 08E with 5800 miles to Uruaguy.
The winds have eased off a bit and I am feeling better and can write some more. We lifted No Barriers out of the water to access the damage of the collision. The bow had a gash and 9 feet back was another gash. It looks like I hit something very solid. That is repaired, and we did some maintance while out such s tightening keel bolts, anitfouling and on checking the rudder, found it very loose. Larry and Trevor dropped the rudder out of the boat and found the bearings worn and over 50% of the needle bearings broken. I am a little bit upset about this as I bought what I thought were the best bearing system, and was told it would get me around the world. It did not get me half way and failed. Good it was checked as had it failed at sea, I might not have been able to steer. Larry managed to fix the heater, but it was temperamental and he hopes that it will keep going. I was so impressed by my Anderson winches, that I removed the last pair of old winches and bought a replacement pair of Anderson winches. Now every pair of winches on board are Anderson, the best winches on the market. Eddie from Anderson serviced the winches and took that work off my list. He also replaced broken blocks that have been on baord for years. I wish Anderson went into the block market and all boating gear as they have good people to support a great product. Eddie did not have to replace the blocks. On relaunching, Malcomb Goodbody from Ireland arrived to help. The boom was taken off to be serviced and painted. The rigging was checked and two shrouds with broken wires were found and replaced. One fitting that was suspicious on the rigging was replaced. Nothing has been left to chance. Glen when over the electronics and power system checking and repairing what he could. I even went to the Dentist when I got a tooth ache, thanks to Susan Rachtman. The Dentist, Michael Dawson, found one hole and filled it. He has restored my faith in dentists, not hurting me. So when I get to Cape Town later this year, I will let the Netcare dentists go over my teeth. We did repairs to the sails and replaced reefing lines with Spectra rope. I have left Aukland better prepared than when I left Charleston. Gwen again prepared all my meals. I had too little time in Aukland. We took three hours out to go sight seeing and that was it. I did one program with children from South Aukland who were Mauri and Pacific Islanders. This was filmed by TVNZ who did a great peice on our foundation. As a result of the news item, I was linked up with old friends who circumnavigated. For our departure, a group Mauries did a spiritual dance to send us off with good spirits. The skippers, we participated in once dance in which we placed our foreheads and touched noses while holding the Mauri hands. This symbolised peace and safety, a very touching experience. Towed out with our National Anthems playing, the start gun was fired by Sir Peter Hillary and I took line honors again, my second time to cross the line first in this even. If only I had the boat spead to maintain that lead. Some day, and it might happen to be built in Aukland.
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Skippers log#3
39 14s 179 21e at 11:45 GMT
As we approach the international dateline, we are dealing with fickle winds. Pre-dawn this morning the winds died away and were replaced by squally conditions as I battled to get away from the New Zealand shores. It was hard getting to these shores, and it is being equally hard leaving them. It took all day to put the land across the horizon astern. Finally the wind filled from the northeast and we are moving well. Then next land I will see will be Cape Horn. My bilges were filling with water and today I figured out why. When we were out of the water, we sat in a craddle that reached up the sides of the boat. It appears that it distorted the portside hull slightly, opening the seams of the port side ballast tank. The tank is leaking like a seive, dumping 135 galleons of water over a three hour period into the bilge. This is a pain as it means topping up the tank when I need it and having to empty the bilge constantly. But we will manage. I have to think of a way to fix this sometime. Today the sun shone and it was warm. I took of my fleece top and enjoyed the warmth. Soon I will be missing it, so I made the most of the heat. In a few more days time we will be in the Southern Ocean.
