Well it has been a very disappointing and frustrating week. We sailed out of Coffs last Wednesday (21st) bound for Noumea. We had a really good sail for most of the day and were just getting ready for our first night at sea when the autopilot stopped. We re-engaged but it kept dropping out. We had the same issue about a year ago and we really did think that it was sorted.
After a bit of debate we reluctantly decided to turn back for Coffs Harbour to try and get it sorted out. That took us 16 hours of hand steering to get back. It soon became apparent that there was no one in Coffs Harbour who could sort the problem out. The last week has been spent making phone calls to various "experts" up and down the coast and crawling around the boat with the multi-meter measuring voltages and resistances.
We are now fairly convinced that the problem lies in the drive but by no means certain. The plan is to try to head up to the Gold Coast and try to get it looked at there. However, on top of everything we have now discovered a diesel leak in the engine and so are delayed in departing until we sort that out. We have pretty much abandoned hopes of sailing to Noumea.
At least Coffs Harbour is a nice place to be stuck in, with plenty of facilities nearby and some nice neighbours on adjacent boats.
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