We are finally on our way back to Australia. On Saturday we arrived into Portsmouth to catch the Caribbean 1500 Rally that departs on 8th Nov weather permitting. Very busy doing last minute installs and downloading chart plotter updates and electronic charts. Also busy fitting locks to all external l storage areas. The pic is a USA navy boat making sure that I leave the USA.
The trip to Tortola had good winds we only had to motor for about 15 hours during the 8 and three quarter days it took to get there. The sea state was rough especially crossing the Gulf stream but this is often the case when the wind is going in the opposite direction of the current.
Russell now belongs to the select group of humans that are hunter gatherers. The Mahi Mahi made a fantastic meal that night.
proto-type blues
The new Hyrovane self steering unit is terrific. Just before we left I was lucky to be given one of the new extendable wind vanes. This vane is wider than the original and can extend to gain power in light winds. Unfortunately there was a problem with the gluing process for the locking mechanism which potentially could let the vane blow off. Here I am attaching a line to it to prevent that from happening. Hydrovane have fixed the problem and offered to send me a complete new vane. They do stand behind their product.