Benoa Outbound Day 5

Hi everyone,
It's been a fairly quiet day today with mostly light winds. We are currently at 17 46.2S 116 55.4E, about 170nm north of Dampier. The wind is northerly at 8-10 knots so we're having to zig-zag downwind towards Dampier. Boat speed is between 4 and 5 knots.

Sunset Day 5

Last night winds were quite light during the evening and then died almost completely after midnight. We motor-sailed from 0200 until 0700 when a sailing wind returned. It was good to motor for a while since it recharged the batteries and chilled the fridge. There was an amazing thunderstorm well west of us for much of the night. Lightning was striking horizontally across a large cloud mass many miles wide. Dawn was spectacular this morning, shining on the underside of the clouds left behiind.

Today has been very hot and we've been staying below for much of the time. The wind change from easterly to northerly means our progress has been slowed too. A little frustrating but we expected less favourable winds during the last days of hte passage.

We found another rig issue this afternoon. This time the bolts holding the boom to its forward bracket were coming loose, and one is gone altogether. Happily they don't appear to have stripped out. I've retightened the three remaining bolts and added two lashings to help keep the two items in place together. Very frustrating that the rig refurbishment has caused more problems than it solved.

We're gradually eating up our remaining fruit and veg, which we'll have to surrender to AQIS otherwise. The clearing in process will be expensive, but hopefully it'll be carried out efficiently.