We
are back on the water! Since leaving X-Pat in the Bay of Islands Marina in Opua
at the end of August, we have been away doing other things (on land). With the
exception of a one week visit by Pat in November to check things were all ok,
X-Pat has been looking after herself.
Pat
arrived back on Sunday 13th January to start getting things back in order.
This has included cleaning out the diesel tanks, fixing broken bits and pieces
following our boisterous trip back from Tonga and updating the software and
charts on the navigation systems.
Debi
arrived back on Wednesday and we hired a car to go and get all the provisions
and sort out the all-important internet contract. We also filled the gas
bottles and so are now well and truly provisioned for some time away from
civilisation.
On
Thursday our long awaited new mainsail arrived. Fitting took a bit longer than
we anticipated and so we delayed our departure until Saturday. This allowed us
to get the sail fitted but unfortunately the new sail bag wasn’t ready so we
had to return again on Monday afternoon to get this done.
 |
| Fitting the new mainsail |
 |
| Shakedown of the new sail |
We
are now bobbing around in very light conditions in the Bay of Islands trying to
get everything recommissioned. We have had a short trip with the new sail,
which all went well and the reefing system is certainly greatly improved. We
also got the water maker back up and working and the dinghy is back in the
water. We had one small fright when, after a short break, Pat went to jump in
the dinghy and found it wasn’t there! A quick scan of the horizon revealed
nothing. However, a walk to the bow
revealed that the dinghy had somehow got itself around the bow of the boat and
was now off the starboard side rather than the port side where it was tied up.
Phew!!
 |
| Fitting the new sail bag |
 |
| Job done! |
Unfortunately
recommissioning the outboard motor has not gone so well. Although normally
reliable we can’t get the thing to start. This is despite taking what we
thought were precautions before the winter to flush the cooling and fuel
systems. We have now put in new fuel, changed the fuel filter and replaced the
spark plug all to no avail. After
sleeping on the problem we were just on the brink of removing the carburettor
(gulp) when Pat had one more go at starting it and detected some signs of life.
After some frantic cranking it finally started. Pat gave it a good blast around
the bay and all seems to be fine now. It was probably some dirty fuel in the
system. A lesson for next time we lay it up for the winter.
Time
for some relaxation …
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